18th May 2025, 5th Sunday of Easter

St John 13:31-35

Love one another

13:31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.

13:32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

13:33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

13:34I  give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

13:35  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

^[31]῞ Οτε οὖν ἐξῆλθε, λέγει ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· νῦν ἐδοξάσθη ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ.

 ^[32]  εἰ ὁ Θεὸς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς δοξάσει αὐτὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, καὶ εὐθὺς δοξάσει αὐτόν. 

^[33]  τεκνία, ἔτι μικρὸν μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰμι. ζητήσετέ με, καὶ καθὼς εἶπον τοῖς ᾿Ιουδαίοις ὅτι ὅπουὑπάγω ἐγώ, ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν, καὶ ὑμῖν λέγω ἄρτι. 

^[34]  ἐντολὴν καινὴν δίδωμι ὑμῖν ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους, καθὼς ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους.

 ^[35] ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάντες ὅτι ἐμοὶ μαθηταί ἐστε, ἐὰν ἀγάπην ἔχητε ἐν ἀλλήλοις.

Comments

Δόξα, ‘glory’, is preeminent in this short passage.

[31] ἐδοξάσθη: 3rd pers. sg., aor. pass. voice < δοξάζω, ‘extol, magnify’, already in cl. Gk, esp. in act. voice; the pass. voice (‘be magnified’, etc.) is more common in koine Gk (LSJ s.v., II). δόξα, honour, glory’ in cl. Gk (LSJ s.v. δόξα, III.2).

δοξάζω is used 60 x in NT, of which 22 in St John alone. ἐδοξάσθη is repeated three times, and the active δοξάσει is twice repeated in vv. 31, 32. Clearly a prominent word in this lection.

[33] τεκνία: diminutive of τέκνον, ‘child’, already in Homer (Attic Gk prefers παῖς); the emotional force of the vocative here is ‘my dear, little children’. Τέκνον < τίκτω, ‘I beget’ (of father), ‘I bring forth’ (of mother) (LSJ s.v. τίκτω). Cf. Θεο-τόκος.

[34] καινὴν: καινός, ή, όν, ‘newly invented, innovative’ (Chantraine s.v.). (In contrast, νέος (‘young’) properly refers to living beings.) Cf. MG καινούργιος.

[35] ἐμοὶ μαθηταί ἐστε: lit., ‘to me (dat.) you are disciples’; the dat. here can be relational (= ‘with respect to me’) or possessive (‘of me’).