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Originally Posted by greenbaggins  A similar example (puzzlingly translated wrongly by every major English version I know) is John 20:31, where the English versions have "that Jesus is the Christ." It should rather be "that the Christ, the Son of God, is Jesus." See Carson's commentary on this passage for argumentation. The issue in John 20:31 is not that you can say many things about Jesus including the fact that He is the Messiah. The issue is that of all the people whom one could claim to be the Messiah, John (and God, inspiring him) say that it is Jesus. |
It would be strange for the Evangelist to now turn around and say something declaratively about "Christ" when in verse 30 he has made "Jesus" the subject who has done many other signs. Further, "hoti" indicates the content of belief, and so the subject naturally assumes prior place in the following construction. These reasons would suffice to justify the usual rendering.