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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 18:36 - 18:36
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36. ἡ β. ἡ ἐμή. This emphatic form, ‘the kingdom that is Mine’ (see on Joh 8:31) prevails throughout the verse. ‘Υπηρέται must be rendered ‘servants,’ not ‘officers,’ although there is doubtless an allusion to the officials of the hierarchy (Joh 18:3; Joh 18:12; Joh 18:18; Joh 18:22, Joh 7:32; Joh 7:45-46; Mat 5:25). In Luk 1:2 and 1Co 4:1, the only places in Gospels and Epistles in which the word is used of Christians, it is rendered ‘ministers,’ both in A. V. and R.V. ‘Officers’ would here suggest military officers. ‘The kingdom that is really Mine does not derive its origin (ἐκ) from this world (Joh 4:22, Joh 8:23, Joh 15:19, Joh 17:14; Joh 17:16, Joh 10:16): if from this world sprang My kingdom, then would the servants that are really Mine be striving’ (Luk 13:24; 1Co 9:25). For the construction see on Joh 5:46, and for τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις see on Joh 13:33.
νῦν δέ. The meaning of νῦν is clear from the context; ‘as it is, as the case really stands:’ comp. Joh 8:40, Joh 9:41, Joh 15:22; Joh 15:24. It does not mean ‘My kingdom is not of this world now, but shall be so hereafter;’ as if Christ were promising a millennium.