The verb gave is in the aorist tense, and points to a specific act in past time, most likely the giving of authority to the Son as a special prerogative of his earthly ministry.

Authority is the same noun translated the right in 1.12. Some translations render by “power,” but the meaning of authority seems closer (see comments at 1.12).

All mankind (so also Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Goodspeed, Barclay, New American Bible) is literally “All flesh” (Revised Standard Version, Moffatt) and is rendered “all men” by Phillips.

If a first person reference is introduced in verse 1, it must be continued in verse 2: “for you gave me authority over all mankind.” The first person reference would then continue in the following clause, “so that I might give eternal life to all those you gave to me.”

In some languages it is difficult to speak about “giving authority,” but one may often say “assigned me to command,” “allowed me to give orders to,” “placed me in front of all men,” or “… above all men.”

As in many other contexts, give eternal life may be rendered as a causative, for example, “cause to live without ceasing” or “cause to live always.” For a fuller discussion of eternal life, see comments at 1.4 and 3.15.

Good News Translation reorders the last clause of this verse to make it sound natural in English. The Greek literally reads “so that everything which you gave to him he might give to them eternal life.” Although the pronoun “everything which” is neuter singular in Greek, it is used in a collective sense for the masculine plural and so may be followed by the pronoun “to them,” which is masculine in Greek. Good News Translation combines the pronouns (“all which … to them”) and translates to all those (Revised Standard Version “to all whom”). The neuter is also used in 6.37,39, and it appears again in verses 7 and 24. That the reference is to “men” (= “people”) is made clear both by the use of the masculine pronoun (“to them”) of this verse and by the phrase “to the men you gave me” of verse 6.

It may be difficult to speak in some languages of “persons being given to someone,” but one can speak of “those whom you caused to be my followers.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .