Does John 12.41 speak of Jesus or of God?
Question: I am a believer but have been stumped with this question for a while. This is a question about the deity of Jesus. In John 12:41 the pronouns seem to refer to Jesus from verse 36 – 37. But someone suggested that the pronouns actually referred to the Lord from verse 40. My question is this, Is there a grammatical or syntax related reason that the pronouns relate to Jesus. If there is a Greek grammar reason that is fine also. I replied: The short answer: 1. There is nothing in the pronouns that would determine this one way or another. 2. The word “lord” does not appear in verse 40 (the ‘he’ in each case is implied by the verb form, not by the presence of a pronoun) [verse 40 doesn’t contain any nouns or pronouns, other than the objects in the sentences (e.g. eyes, hearts), for any LATER pronouns to refer to, actually] 3. The only way to determine pronoun reference is by context in this (and many cases).
