CCChurch CommonsBible Reader

Shared Word Translation

John 13

The New Commandment

I give you a new commandment: that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

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Notes

Translation notes for John 13.

v01

“he loved them to the end” — Love is defined by endurance and completion; the coming cross is framed as love’s full reach, not tragedy alone.

v02–03

“betray… all things into his hands” — Jesus serves from security, not insecurity; betrayal is real, yet Jesus’ authority and origin remain clear.

v04–05

“laid aside… towel… wash” — The Lord’s glory takes the form of embodied humility; leadership is redefined as costly service.

v06–08

Peter’s protest — Refusing to be served can be pride disguised as reverence; receiving Jesus’ cleansing is part of belonging to him.

v10–11

“clean… though not all” — The community contains both genuine belonging and hidden betrayal; Jesus is not naïve about mixed motives.

v14–15

“wash one another’s feet” — This is not mere ritual reenactment but a pattern: mutual, low-status service as normal discipleship.

v16–17

“slave… not greater… happy… if you do” — Knowledge without practice is incomplete; blessing is tied to obedience shaped like humility.

v18

“lifted his heel” — Betrayal arises from within the table fellowship; scripture is used not to excuse evil but to locate it within God’s foreknown story.

v19

“so that… you may trust that I am he” — Jesus interprets the coming rupture as trust-formation: foretelling is pastoral, meant to stabilize disciples after shock.

v20

“whoever receives the one I send” — Hospitality becomes Christology: receiving Christ’s messengers is receiving Christ, and receiving Christ is receiving the Father.

v21

“troubled in spirit” — Jesus is not stoic; divine love includes real anguish in the face of treachery.

v23

“the one Jesus loved” — Nearness is pictured as attentive relationship; discipleship includes intimacy and listening.

v27–30

“Satan entered… And it was night” — John layers moral and spiritual darkness; Judas’ exit is both physical departure and symbolic descent.

v31–32

“glorified” — Glory is paradoxical: it arrives through surrender and the cross, not through dominance.

v33

“little children” — Tender address in a moment of looming absence; leadership speaks with affection, not only command.

v34

“a new commandment… as I have loved you” — The newness is the measure: love patterned on Jesus’ self-giving becomes the community’s defining ethic.

v35

“everyone will know” — The church’s credibility is relational; love is the public marker of discipleship, not performance or power.

v36–38

Peter’s confidence and denial — Zeal is not the same as endurance; Jesus names failure without abandoning Peter, framing denial within “afterward” hope.

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Vocabulary

Selected source-language vocabulary for John 13.

v01

πάσχα (pascha)

Passover

v01

ὥρα (hōra)

hour; appointed time

v01

ἀγαπάω (agapaō)

to love (self-giving love)

v04

τίθημι (tithēmi)

to lay aside; to set down

v04

λέντιον (lention)

towel; linen cloth

v05

νίπτω (niptō)

to wash (often hands/feet)

v05

λεκανή (lekanē)

basin

v08

μέρος (meros)

share; portion; participation

v10

λούω (louō)

to bathe; to wash fully

v13

διδάσκαλος (didaskalos)

teacher

v13

κύριος (kyrios)

Lord; master

v14

ὀφείλω (opheilō)

to owe; to be obligated; ought

v15

ὑπόδειγμα (hypodeigma)

example; pattern

v16

δοῦλος (doulos)

slave; servant

v16

ἀπόστολος (apostolos)

messenger; envoy; one sent

v17

μακάριος (makarios)

happy; blessed; flourishing

v19

πιστεύω (pisteuō)

“To trust; to believe.”

v21

ταράσσω (tarassō)

to trouble; to agitate; to disturb

v26

ψωμίον (psōmion)

morsel; piece of bread

v27

σατανᾶς (satanas)

Satan; adversary

v30

νύξ (nyx)

night

v31

υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (huios tou anthrōpou)

Son of Man

v31

δοξάζω (doxazō)

“To glorify; to honor; to reveal glory.”

v33

τεκνία (teknia)

little children; dear children

v34

ἐντολή (entolē)

commandment

v34

καθὼς (kathōs)

just as; in the same way

v38

ἀπαρνέομαι (aparneomai)

to deny; to disown