John 12:20

Ἔλληνες. In A.V. translated ‘Gentiles’ John 7:35 (where see note), and ‘Greeks’ here. Care must be taken to distinguish in the N.T. between Hellenes or ‘Greeks,’ i.e. born Gentiles, who may or may not have become either Jewish proselytes or Christian converts, and Hellenistae or ‘Grecians,’ as our Bible renders the word, i.e. Jews who spoke Greek and not Aramaic. Neither word occurs in the Synoptists. Ἔλληνες are mentioned here, John 7:35, and frequently in the Acts and in S. Paul’s Epistles. Ἑλληνισταί are mentioned only Acts 6:1; Acts 9:29 : in Acts 11:20 the right reading is probably Ἔλληνας.

τῶν�. That were wont to go up to worship. This shews that they were ‘proselytes of the gate,’ like the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:27): see on Matthew 23:15. In this incident we have an indication of the salvation rejected by the Jews passing to the Gentiles: the scene of it was probably the Court of the Gentiles; it is peculiar to S. John, who gives no note of time.