Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
Except (ean mh). Negative condition of third class (undetermined, supposable case) with second aorist active participle peswn (from piptw, to fall) and the second aorist active subjunctive of apoqnhskw, to die.
A grain of wheat (o kokkov tou sitou). Rather, "the grain of wheat."
By itself alone (autov monov). Both predicate nominatives after menei. It is not necessary to think (nor likely) that Jesus has in mind the Eleusinian mysteries which became a symbol of the mystery of spring. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:36 uses the same illustration of the resurrection that Jesus does here. Jesus shows here the paradox that life comes through death. Whether the Greeks heard him or not we do not know. If so, they heard something not in Greek philosophy, the Christian ideal of sacrifice, "and this was foreign to the philosophy of Greece" (Bernard). Jesus had already spoken of himself as the bread of life (John 6:35-65).
But if it die (ean de apoqanh). Parallel condition of the third class. Grains of wheat have been found in Egyptian tombs three or four thousand years old, but they are now dead. They bore no fruit.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
John 12:2
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