John 18

John 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This chapter records the events on the day of the Crucifixion of Jesus, starting with the arrest of Jesus the evening before. The three denials of Peter are interwoven into the narrative concerning the trials of Jesus.
The book containing this chapter is anonymous; however, early Christian tradition generally considers that John the Evangelist composed the Gospel of John.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 40 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Rylands Library Papyrus P52
Papyrus 90
Papyrus 108
Papyrus 66
Codex Vaticanus
Codex Sinaiticus
Codex Bezae
Codex Alexandrinus
Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
Papyrus 60
Papyrus 59.
Places

The events recorded in this chapter took place in Jerusalem.

Jesus' betrayal and arrest in Gethsemane (verses 1-11)

The opening of chapter 18 is directly connected with the final words of chapter 14:
The intervening chapters record Jesus' Farewell Discourse. Alfred Plummer, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, suggests that Jesus and His disciples have "rise from table and prepare to depart at John 14:31, but that the contents of chapters 15-17 are spoken before they leave the room". The editors of the New American Bible Revised Edition note that this gospel does not mention Jesus' Agony in the Garden or the kiss of Judas.

Verse 1

Some translations instead open with "When He had finished praying" or similar words. John Chrysostom observed that Jesus' words, "spoken for His disciples' sake" were at the same time "His prayer".
and refer to "a place called Gethsemane", but the place is unnamed here, simply referred to as a garden. In, the place is the Mount of Olives.

Verse 2

Judas is now called "Judas the betrayer" or "Judas, who is betraying" . He comes to this familiar place with troops, a captain and officers and servants of the chief priests and the Pharisees, carrying torches and lanterns and weapons. H. W. Watkins surmises that Gethsemane might have been belonged to "a friend or disciple" of Jesus. Where many modern translations say that Jesus "met" there with his disciples, or "gathered" there in the Revised Geneva Translation, older versions such as the King James states that they "resorted" there.
The New American Standard Bible notes that the troops were the Roman cohort whereas Richard Francis Weymouth identified them as a detachment of the Temple police. This was the garrison band from Fort Antonia, at the north-east corner of the Temple. Peter also came with a weapon :

Verse 4

Plummer notes from this verse that the evangelist's narrative confirms:

the voluntariness of Christ's sufferings, and
the fulfilment of a divine plan in Christ's sufferings

and that the aim of the narrative is to endorse Jesus' earlier words,
and the evangelist's earlier commentary

Verse 5

A more literal translation of the guards' answer is "Jesus the Nazarene", which Plummer calls "a rather more contemptuous expression than 'Jesus of Nazareth'". Jesus' response is Ἐγώ εἰμι : the word 'he' is not expressed in the Greek text. This is a familiar expression throughout John's Gospel, seen in,,,,, and. Plummer comments that "Judas, if not the chief priests, must have noticed the significant words". Verses 6 and 8 repeat the words Ἐγώ εἰμι.

Verse 9

According to the New American Bible Revised Edition, the citation may refer to John 6:39, 10:28 or 17:12.

John 6:39: This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
John 10:28: And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
John 17:12: While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Henry Alford, Plummer, and Watkins concur in associating this verse with John 17:12. Alford uses this fulfillment to argue that John 17 is a historical account of the words of Jesus and not merely "a description of the mind of our Lord at the time".

Verse 11

Heinrich Meyer argues that "the sword" is the original wording, and that "your sword", which is widely used wording in modern English translations, is an import, "against decisive witnesses", from Matthew 26:52.

In the High Priest's courtyard (verses 12-27)

Jesus and "another disciple", or "the other disciple", who was known to the high priest, are taken to the High Priest's courtyard, where initially Jesus meets with Annas. The other disciple then brings in Peter. Unusually, John Wycliffe's bible translates, tō archierei as "the bishop".

Verse 19

Annas is here referred to as "the high priest", although Caiaphas was the high priest that year. Meyer notes that Jesus ignores the first part of the question and answers only the second part, "and that by putting it aside as something entirely aimless, appealing to the publicity of His life".

In Pilate's court (verses 28-38)

Verse 28

The Jewish leaders: words supplied by the New International Version to clarify "they". The reference is to the Sanhedrists, according to Scottish Free Church minister William Nicoll. The text here confirms that in John's timeline, the trial of Jesus took place before the Passover and therefore likewise the events of chapters 13-17 preceded the Passover: cf. : ''before the Feast of the Passover...''

Verse 31

John's gospel is alone in offering this reason for his accusers bringing Jesus before Pilate.

Verses 33-34

Verna Holyhead writes that here, Jesus who is on trial confronts Pilate, calling on him to decide whether his own personal commitment underlies the question, or his concern for what "others" have said: "the issue is no longer Jesus' guilt or innocence, but whether Pilate will respond to the truth of Jesus' kingship".

Verse 37

The question repeats Pilate's question in verse 33. Cross reference: Matthew 27:11; Mark 15:2; Luke 23:3