In translating it may be more satisfactory to indicate specifically “Spirit of God,” rather than Spirit, especially in languages in which a term for “Spirit” may be associated with either neutral or mischievous spirits.

Jesus said this about the Spirit may be rendered “When Jesus was talking, he was talking about God’s Spirit.”

In place of the aorist tense believed, some Greek manuscripts have the present “believe.” Although the evidence is not conclusive, the UBS Committee on the Greek text judges that a scribe would tend to replace the aorist with the present tense of the verb, since doing so makes an easier reading in the present context.

Which those who believed in him were going to receive may be rendered as a separate sentence, for example, “Those who put their trust in Jesus were later going to receive God’s Spirit” or “This is the Spirit which those who put their trust in Jesus were going to receive” or “… were those upon whom the Spirit of God was going to come.”

The Spirit had not yet been given (similarly Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée, Phillips) is more literally “for there was no Spirit as yet” (Jerusalem Bible; see New American Bible, Luther, and Moffatt). It was not John’s intention to deny the previous existence of God’s Spirit; in 1.32 he explicitly stated that God’s Spirit descended on Jesus as the beginning of his ministry. What John meant is that the Holy Spirit had not yet been given in the specifically Christian sense, since this depended on the glorification of Jesus Christ. That is, the experience of God’s Spirit in the life of the believers is dependent upon Jesus’ having been raised to glory.

The passive expression the Spirit had not yet been given may be made active by saying “God had not yet given the Spirit to those who believe.”

Raised to glory is rendered “glorified” in most translations. In particular, 12.23 and 17.1 refer to the glorification of Jesus; and, according to the Gospel of John, Jesus’ glorification always comes by his being “lifted up.” Moreover, this “lifting up” always has a double connotation in John’s Gospel: it refers to his being lifted up on the cross and to his being lifted up to the presence of the Father (see 3.14). In some languages the double significance of “being lifted up” and “given glory” may be rendered as “lifted up and given honor” or “lifted up and made wonderful.”

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 .