aIn the beginning before all time was bthe Word , and the Word was cwith God, and 2dthe Word was God Himself. Gen 1:1; Is 9:6In John the Apostle’s vision (Rev 19), he sees Christ returning as Warrior-Messiah-King, and “…His name is called The Word of God…and LORD OF LORDS.” (Rev 19:13, 16).In this phrase, “God” appears first in the Greek word order, emphasizing the fact that “the Word” (Christ) was God—so “God Himself.”Gen 1:1; Col 1:17; 1 John 1:1John 1:14; Rev 19:13John 17:5; 1 John 1:2Phil 2:6 2 He was continually existing in the beginning co-eternally with God. 3 aAll things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not even one thing was made that has come into being.John 1:10; 1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2 4 aIn Him was life and the power to bestow life, and the life was bthe Light of men.John 5:26; 11:25; 14:6John 8:12; 9:5; 12:46 5 aThe Light shines on in the 1darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it and is unreceptive to it. Gen 1:3I.e. the world immersed in sin: all that stands in opposition to God and biblical truth.John 3:19
6 There came a man commissioned and sent from God, whose name was 1aJohn. Mal 3:1The births of both John the Baptist and Jesus were foretold by the angel, Gabriel (Luke 1:5-80). This passage is about John the Baptist, the son of Zacharias the priest and his wife, Elizabeth. Elizabeth was related to Mary the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:36). John the Baptist is considered to be the last of the OT prophets, and is not to be confused with John the Apostle who wrote this Gospel, three brief letters (1 John, 2 John, 3 John) and Revelation.Matt 3:1 7 This man came aas a witness, to testify about the Light, bso that all might believe in Christ, the Light through him.John 1:15, 19, 32; 3:26; 5:33John 1:12; Acts 19:4; Gal 3:26 8 aJohn was not the Light, but came to testify about the Light.John 1:20
9 There it was—athe true Light the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone. Is 49:61 John 2:8 10 He was in the world, and though athe world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2 11 He came to that which was His own that which belonged to Him—His world, His creation, His possession, and those who were His own people—the Jewish nation did not receive and welcome Him. 12 But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right the authority, the privilege to become achildren of God, that is, bto those who believe in His name— Is 56:5John 11:52; Gal 3:26John 1:7; 3:18; 1 John 3:23; 5:13 13 awho were born, not of blood natural conception, nor of the will of the flesh physical impulse, nor of the will of man that of a natural father, but of God that is, a divine and supernatural birth—they are born of God—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified.John 3:5f; James 1:18; 1 Pet 1:23; 1 John 2:29; 3:9
14 And athe Word bbecame flesh, and clived among us; and dwe actually saw His glory, glory as belongs to the One and only begotten Son of the Father, the Son who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, who is full of egrace and ftruth . Is 40:5Rev 19:13Rom 1:3; Gal 4:4; Phil 2:7f; 1 Tim 3:16; Heb 2:14; 1 John 1:1f; 4:2; 2 John 7Rev 21:3Luke 9:32; John 2:11; 17:22, 24; 2 Pet 1:16f; 1 John 1:1John 1:17; Rom 5:21; 6:14John 8:32; 14:6; 18:37 15 John atestified repeatedly about Him and 1has cried out testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance, “This was He of whom I said, ‘bHe who comes after me 2has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, cfor He existed before me.’”Here John the writer uses the Greek perfect tense (“has cried out”), emphasizing the truth and continuing importance of John the Baptist’s testimony.Lit has become before (in front of) me, because He was first of me. The Greek is difficult because John the Baptist was making a word-play on the adverbs/adjective “after” (or “behind”), “before,” and “first.” The playful wording assumes the form of a riddle which, like some of Jesus’ parables, conceals the speaker’s meaning from those who are hostile toward him and have neither the patience nor the spiritual inclination to learn from him.John 1:7Matt 3:11; John 1:27, 30John 1:30 16 For out of His afullness the superabundance of His grace and truth we have all received grace upon grace spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift.Eph 1:23; 3:19; 4:13; Col 1:19; 2:9 17 For athe Law was given through Moses, but bgrace the unearned, undeserved favor of God and ctruth came through Jesus Christ. Ex 20:1John 7:19John 1:14; Rom 5:21; 6:14John 8:32; 14:6; 18:37 18 aNo one has seen God His essence, His divine nature at any time; bthe One and only begotten God that is, the unique Son who is cin the intimate presence of the Father, dHe has explained Him and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father. Prov 8:30Ex 33:20; John 6:46; Col 1:15; 1 Tim 6:16; 1 John 4:12John 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9Luke 16:22; John 13:23John 3:11
19 This is athe testimony of John the Baptist when bthe Jews sent priests and Levites to him cfrom Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”John 1:7John 2:18, 20; 5:10, 15f, 18; 6:41, 52; 7:1, 11, 13, 15, 35; 8:22, 48, 52, 57; 9:18, 22; 10:24, 31, 33Matt 15:1 20 And he confessed truthfully and did not deny that he was only a man, but acknowledged, “aI am not the Christ !”Luke 3:15f; John 3:28 21 They asked him, “What then? Are you aElijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you bthe promised Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Deut 18:15, 18; Mal 4:5Matt 11:14; 16:14Deut 18:15, 18; Matt 21:11; John 1:25 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am aTHE VOICE OF ONE SHOUTING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” Is 40:3Is 40:3; Matt 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4
24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor athe Prophet?”Deut 18:15, 18; Matt 21:11; John 1:21 26 John answered them, “aI baptize only 1in water, but among you there stands One whom you do not recognize and of whom you know nothing. Mal 3:1The Greek here can be translated in, with, or by.Matt 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5 27 It is aHe the preeminent One who comes after me, the 1bstrap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie even as His slave.”During this era it was customary for a household servant to remove a guest’s sandals and wash the dust from his feet. John is saying that he is not worthy even to remove Christ’s sandal, let alone to touch His feet.Matt 3:11; John 1:30Matt 3:11; Mark 1:7; Luke 3:16 28 These things occurred in Bethany aacross the Jordan at the Jordan River crossing, where John was baptizing.John 3:26; 10:40
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Look! The aLamb of God 1who btakes away the sin of the world! Ex 12:3; Is 53:7John is referring to the fulfillment of the need for the OT Passover lambs which was now fulfilled in Christ’s sacrifice, the ultimate and final sacrifice for sins.Is 53:7; John 1:36; Acts 8:32; 1 Pet 1:19; Rev 5:6, 8, 12f; 6:1Matt 1:21; 1 John 3:5 30 This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘aAfter me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, bfor He existed before me.’Matt 3:11; John 1:27John 1:15 31 1I did not recognize Him as the Messiah; but I came baptizing 2in water so that He would be publicly revealed to Israel.”John the Baptist and Jesus were related through their mothers, Elizabeth and Mary, but He was unknown as the Messiah until God revealed it to John at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.The Greek here can be translated in, with, or by. 32 John agave further evidence testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance, saying, “bI have seen the 1Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. Matt 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:22, 23The descent of the Holy Spirit identified Jesus in His humanity for His ministry as the Messiah.John 1:7Matt 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22 33 I did not recognize Him as the Messiah, but He who sent me to baptize 1in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, athis One is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’The Greek here can be translated in, with, or by.Matt 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5 34 I myself have actually seen that happen, and my testimony is that this is athe Son of God!”Matt 4:3; John 1:49
35 Again athe next day John was standing with two of his disciples,John 1:29 36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked along, and said, “Look! aThe Lamb of God!”John 1:29 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they 1followed Jesus.The concept of “follow” can represent three separate possibilities: in the early stages of His ministry (1) walking with Him physically (literally), that is merely being in His presence regardless of personal belief or commitment; (2) accepting and identifying with the salvation He offered; and later on (3) being identified with Him by being subject to the scorn and rejection of unbelievers because of personal belief and commitment to Him. 38 And Jesus turned and saw them following Him, and asked them, “What do you want?” They answered Him, “aRabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?”Matt 23:7f; John 1:49 39 He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went with Him and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the 1tenth hour.The Romans reckoned time from midnight, so in Roman time the tenth hour would be 10:00 a.m. The Jews reckoned daytime from sunrise (about 6:00 a.m.), so in their system the tenth hour would be 4:00 p.m. Here, either time is possible, though the Roman reckoning may be more likely because if it were 4:00 p.m. the disciples might have felt compelled to go home before evening set in. 40 aOne of the two who heard what John said and as a result followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.Matt 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:2-11; John 1:40-42 41 He first looked for and found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the 1aMessiah” (which translated means the Christ).The words “Messiah” and “Christ” are not personal names, but titles derived respectively from Hebrew and Greek verbs meaning “to anoint.”Dan 9:25; John 4:25 42 Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of aJohn. You shall be called bCephas (which is translated 1cPeter).”I.e. rock or stone in Greek.Matt 16:17; John 21:15-171 Cor 1:12; 3:22; 9:5; 15:5; Gal 1:18; 2:9, 11, 14Matt 16:18
43 aThe next day Jesus decided to go into bGalilee, and He found cPhilip and said to him, “dFollow Me as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher, and walking the same path of life that I walk.”John 1:29, 35Matt 4:12; John 1:28; 2:11Matt 10:3; John 1:44-48; 6:5, 7; 12:21f; 14:8fMatt 8:22 44 Now aPhilip was from bBethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.Matt 10:3; John 1:44-48; 6:5, 7; 12:21f; 14:8fMatt 11:21 45 aPhilip found bNathanael and told him, “We have found the One cMoses in the Law and also dthe Prophets wrote about—Jesus from eNazareth, fthe son of Joseph according to public record.”Matt 10:3; John 1:44-48; 6:5, 7; 12:21f; 14:8fJohn 1:46-49; 21:2Luke 24:27Matt 2:23Luke 2:48; 3:23; 4:22; John 6:42 46 Nathanael answered him, “aCan anything good come out of Nazareth?” bPhilip replied, “Come and see.”John 7:41, 52Matt 10:3; John 1:44-48; 6:5, 7; 12:21f; 14:8f 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Here is an aIsraelite indeed a true descendant of Jacob, in whom there is no guile nor deceit nor duplicity!”Rom 9:4 48 Nathanael said to Jesus, “How do You know these things about me?” Jesus answered, “Before aPhilip called you, when you were still under the fig tree, I saw you.”Matt 10:3; John 1:44-48; 6:5, 7; 12:21f; 14:8f 49 Nathanael answered, “aRabbi , You are bthe Son of God; You are the cKing of Israel.”John 1:38John 1:34Matt 2:2; 27:42; Mark 15:32; John 12:13 50 Jesus replied, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe in Me? You will see greater things than this.” 51 Then He said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, you will see aheaven opened and bthe angels of God ascending and descending on cthe Son of Man the bridge between heaven and earth.” Gen 28:12; Dan 7:13Ezek 1:1; Matt 3:16; Luke 3:21; Acts 7:56; 10:11; Rev 19:11Gen 28:12Matt 8:20