The Greek text begins with a phrase, “in this,” which relates to what follows, rather than to what precedes in verse 7. Good News Translation indicates this relation by restructuring: My Father’s glory is shown by …. (Note also New English Bible “My Father has been glorified in your bearing much fruit and becoming my disciples.”) Goodspeed translates “When you are very fruitful and show yourselves to be disciples of mine, my Father is honored.” Jerusalem Bible renders “It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples;” while Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch reads “When you bear much fruit, you will prove yourselves to be my disciples, and so the glory of my Father will be shown.”

In some languages the relation between the clauses in verse 8 must be made clearer than is indicated by the order employed in Good News Translation. In general, the order must be arranged to make by your bearing much fruit the first part, followed by and in this way you become my disciples. These two expressions state essentially the means by which the Father’s glory is shown. In some languages it is necessary to restructure the relations between the various components of the first clause. If so, verse 8 may have to be restructured to read, for example, “When you are accomplishing much and in this way show that you are my disciples, you are showing people how wonderful my Father is.”

My Father’s glory is shown is more literally “My Father was glorified,” rendered by Revised Standard Version “My Father is glorified.” It is perhaps best to take the aorist “was glorified” to indicate something timeless, that is, “is always glorified.” This force of the verb is indicated in the translations quoted above, though they do not translate literally either “is glorified” or “was glorified.” “To glorify” means to reveal the Father’s true glory.

There is a textual problem in the last part of this verse, and it relates to the verb translated become. If it is taken as a subjunctive (as in the UBS Greek text), become my disciples is grammatically coordinate with bearing much fruit. New American Bible has “My Father has been glorified in your bearing much fruit and becoming my disciples.” This also seems to be the meaning of Moffatt “As you bear rich fruit and prove yourselves my disciples, my Father is glorified.” So also New English Bible “This is my Father’s glory, that you may bear fruit in plenty and so be my disciples.” However, Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible (“It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples”), and New English Bible footnote (“… that you may bear fruit in plenty. Thus you will be my disciples”) follow the reading in the apparatus of the UBS Greek text, which has the verb in the future. The choice is difficult, and the UBS Committee rates its decision a “D” choice, indicating a very high degree of doubt as to the original text. To be a disciple means that one “remains in Jesus” and simultaneously “bears much fruit.”

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 .