In Greek, verses 1-3 are one sentence, which begins with the clause that Good News Translation introduces as the first part of verse 3 (When Jesus heard what was being said). Good News Translation does so for the sake of natural English discourse structure, as does New English Bible. This technique avoids the complication of breaking into the major statement with the parenthetical statement of verse 2, as many translations do.
This clause, which Good News Translation includes in verse 3, presents a textual problem. Instead of when Jesus heard, some manuscripts have “when the Lord heard.” Jesus may be the more difficult reading, since it seems unlikely that a scribe would have replaced “the Lord” by Jesus if the text had originally been “the Lord.” However, some scholars argue in the other direction and mention that “the Lord” represents the more difficult reading in a narrative passage. It is also possible that originally neither of these terms was included in the text, and that the subject of the verb was left unclear. If so, then some scribes inserted Jesus while others inserted “the Lord.” It is important that the translation of this verse be explicit, so that the reader will understand who the subject is, whether translated as “the Lord” or as Jesus.
As already indicated (see 3.1), it is possible to identify the Pharisees by a type of classifier, for example, “a religious sect called Pharisees” or “a religious group called Pharisees.” Such an identification should be made only once or twice, at the beginning of the Gospel. Further information can and should be included in a glossary.
In this context the word disciples refers to more than the twelve immediate disciples of Jesus. Therefore, disciples is best translated here by some term identifying them as “followers” or “adherents.” Particular care must be taken in rendering such a term as winning. In many languages it is rendered as a causative, for example, “causing people to follow” or “causing people to join with him.”
The seeming contradiction in the use of baptizing in verse 1 and the explanation which occurs in verse 2 (compare John 3.22) could be resolved by translating baptizing here as “causing disciples to be baptized.” Verse 2 may be translated “Jesus himself did not actually baptize anyone, but his disciples did the baptizing.”
All languages have some way of indicating a comparative, though they frequently do not use such a conjunction as than. In some languages of Africa, for example, one may say, “Jesus was surpassing John in gaining and baptizing disciples.” In other languages a positive-negative contrast is employed, for example, “Jesus was gaining and baptizing many disciples; John was not.” What counts is not the particular form used to indicated comparison, but the meaning communicated.
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 .