Bible Commentaries
John 1

Verse 1

1 In the beginning. It should be asked, beginning of what? The almost universal answer would be, "the beginning of time." That answer would be wrong, not only from the context, but also because time never had a beginning any more than did God. The Bible makes no distinction between "time" and "eternity." The sec ond word occurs once in the Bible (Isa 57:15), and the definition is, "duration," and that quality belongs to the word "time" as well. The popular notion is that "time" means the period before the judgment day, and "eternity" means the period afterward; the Bible makes no such distinction. The English word "time" occurs several times in the New Testament, and it comes from 12 different Greek words, but in no single place is it used as an abstract name of the space this side of the day of judgment, as distinguished from that afterwards In the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Old Testament, the first three words of Genesis are exactly the same as the original for the italicized words in this paragraph, and have exactly the same meaning. The reader should consult the first paragraph in volume 1 of the Old Testament Commentary. The entire context shows the writer is considering the work of creation of the heavens and the earth, which is the subject of Genesis first chapter. The Being whom we call the Son of God was in existence before the creation of the universe, but He is here designated as the Word. The Word was God is said on the basis that God is the family name of the Deity, hence any member of that family would rightfully take that name, just as any member of the Smith family is a Smith. That is why Jesus is called God in Isa 9:6; Mat 19:17; Act 20:28. And it explains why the terms "church of Christ" and "church of God" means the same, and are used interchangeably in the New Testament.

Verse 2

2 This verse does not change the meaning of the preceding one, but it is a significant passage, showing that while the term "God" applies to each of the Beings considered, yet they are to be understood as two separate personalities, else one of them could not be "with" the other.

Verse 3

3 The pronoun him means the Word of verse 1, and whom we know as the Son in the New Testament. All things were made by Him. That accounts for the plural pronoun "us" in Gen 1:26; Gen 3:22; Gen 11:7. In all of the domain of creation, providence and redemption, God the Father and God the Son, worked together in perfect unison although they are separate personalities.

Verse 4

4 A careful attention to the language of this book, will show us that John was especially impressed with the divine character of Christ, and that He has been present, either apparently or otherwise, in all of the movements and influences pertaining to the works of God. In him was life, then, applies from the very "beginning" which is explained above. When God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, the Word contributed to that life. Of course, the writer is not especially thinking of that fact as he writes this verse, but is viewing the subject more directly as it pertains to His influence upon the spiritual lives of men as he lived upon the earth. Thus we hear Jesus saying, "I am the light of the world" (Joh 8:12).

Verse 5

5 The light shineth refers to the general favors of a spiritual character that Christ has offered to the world. What John says about the attitude of men in darkness toward the light has been and always will be true. (See chapter 3:19, 20.) Comprehended is from KATALAMBANO, and Thayer defines it, "To lay hold of so as to make one's own, to obtain, to attain; to appropriate." The thought is that even though the Lord has offered the benefits ob divine enlightenment to the darkened world, the men groping in darkness (as a rule) refuse to take advantage of the light.

Verse 6

6 The preceding 5 verses may be considered as John's preface to his account of the Gospel. The importance of the light of heaven, as it was to be shed on the world by the personal life of Christ, was of such great proportions, that God deemed it well to send a forerunner among men, to prepare a people for the reception of the Light. That man's name was John (the Baptist).

Verse 7

7 It is customary, when some notable person is about to appear before an audience, for another to present or introduce him. And even this temporary speaker is supposed to be a man of some importance. He will usually make a brief reference to the timeliness of the subject to be discussed before the audience, and always bears testimony of the qualifications of the speaker to handle the matter. Likewise, it is stated that the forerunner of the Light bore witness of Him, and the purpose stated is, that all men through him might believe.

Verse 8

8 He was not that light. John was always attentive to keep the people informed about his relation to Christ in his work, and did not want them to confuse the one with the other. (See verses 15, 20, 27.)

Verse 9

9 The spiritual light that Christ had to offer was for the whole mass of mankind, not just for the Jews or any other special group. The word world is from KOSMOS, and with the exception of chapter 9:32, every occurrence of the word "world" in this book is from that Greek word. It has a wide range of meanings, but the one that Thayer gives for its most general application is, "The inhabitants of the earth."

Verse 10

0 He was in the world, means he was among mankind as a citizen. Knew is from GINOSKO, and Thayer's first and "universal" definition is, "To learn to know, get a knowledge of; passive, to become known." Robinson defines it in virtually the same words. We might recognize a certain man to be John Doe, and yet not know, or care to know much about him. In that way the people of the world did not care to know much about Christ. (See the definition of comprehended in verse 5.) The world (mankind) was made (caused to be) by him. The words in parentheses are according to lexicon definitions. Verse 3 declares that all things were made by Him; also the definition of "us" in that verse is important and should be consulted again by the reader.

Verse 11

1 Came unto his own. Luk 1:17 says of John that he was to precede Christ, "To make ready a people prepared for the Lord." These people were Jews, and had been all of their lives, but had to be reformed before they could become a part of the "people prepared for the Lord." That is why chapter 3:25 makes a distinction between the Jews as such, and the disciples of John. Own received him not. The same "own" is meant in both instances in this verse. The meaning is, that the disciples of John as a group did not receive Jesus. According to Mat 3:5-6; Mar 1:5, great multitudes from the regions named were baptized by John. However, according to Act 1:15, only about 120 disciples, which would include the ones made by both John and Christ, were accounted for on that day of Pentecost. This explains the words received him not, stated in verse 11.

Verse 12

2 As many as received him. There is a familiar saying, "All rules may have some exceptions." In the preceding verse we learned that the disciples of John, as a group, rejected Christ. That was the "rule," and the exception is indicated by the italicized words here. For instance, the apostles had all been baptized by John, and were prepared for the work of Christ as soon as He called upon them. (See the comments at Mat 9:9.) Hence the apostles, at least, were among "his own" who "received him." Power is from EXOUSIA, and its first meaning is, "right or privilege." Sons of God or children of God, is a term denoting family relations. While Jesus was on earth with_the apostles, the spiritual family of God had not been formed. But as soon as that was done (which was on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2), all of the faithful disciples of both John and Christ became "charter members" of the new family, and in that sense they became children of God.

Verse 13

3 People became members of the Mosaic system by fleshly conception and birth. Being born into the spiritual family of God is accomplished according to His will, that was made known through the Gospel of Christ. However, the persons specifically referred to at first in the present passage, were those who had been baptized by John. The principles involved in their birth, though, were the same as pertain to all others who afterward were to become members of the divine family. John's disciples were baptized upon their repentance, after having believed on Him (which should come after him, Act 19:4), while all others were to be baptized upon believing on Him who has come.

Verse 14

4 The Word was wholly spiritual until the time for God's great "will" (Heb 10:7; Heb 10:9) to be carried out, the purpose of which was to have a Son begotten by His own bodily vitality, but clothed upon by the flesh, so that He could become a complete sacrifice for sin. (See the comments on Luk 1:34-35.) Full of grace and truth denotes that through Christ we are furnished completely in those blessings.

Verse 15

5 Of whom I spake. (See Mat 3:11; Mar 1:7; Luk 3:16.) The word before is used twice, but it is from different Greek originals. The first means before in the sense of being previous; therefore it denotes being before in the sense of rank or importance. The second means previous in time, or in any succession of things. John's reasoning is based on the priority of Christ. Since He existed before John did, he (John) felt that he ought to accord to Him the place of seniority. Christ was six months younger than John in the flesh, but existed before the beginning of the world spiritually.

Verse 16

6 Grace for grace is the outstanding phrase in this verse. For is from ANTI, and Thayer explains it to mean, "grace (or favor) succeeding grace perpetually, I. e., the richest abundance of grace, Joh 1:16."

Verse 17

7 The law of Moses was truthful, and many favors were bestowed on the Jews by it. But in contrast, the system given by Jesus Christ was far superior, because it bestowed one favor upon another in more complete measure, as the preceding verse with its comments shows.

Verse 18

8 No man with fleshly eyes has ever seen God, for that would have caused his death (Exo 33:20). Yet God wished to give man some kind of glimpse at Him that he could endure, hence the Son of God came among man in the form of flesh, who then declared, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (Joh 14:9).

Verse 19

9 For comments on priests and Levites, see at Luke 10:31. 32.

Verse 20

0 The messengers' the Jews sent to John asked him about his identity. He was the most unusual person who had come among them in that generation, and it had raised questions and suggestions in connection with some historic characters of the Old Testament. Many knew it was predicted that the Christ (the Anointed) was to come into the world, and perhaps John was that person. The inquiry was doubtless prompted by both curiosity and genuine interest. Confessed often implies some unfavorable charge having been made; it does not in this case. The first definition of the original shows it to mean simply, "to declare." It had been the attitude of John all along, to be humble and to show deep respect for the One who was to follow him, hence he wished to leave no uncertainty as to his position.

Verse 21

1 The inquirers became specific in their questioning. By Elias, they meant the person predicted in Mal 4:5. That prophet was their reference to a prediction of Moses in Deu 18:15-20. To all of these questions, John gave a negative answer which left the inquirers without the desired information.

Verse 22

2 The negative answers did not furnish these messengers with a satisfactory report to take back with them. They insisted that John take the affirmative line and give them a specific answer as to his identity. veryone knew the personal and family name of John, and hence this inquiry did not pertain to that. What the messengers wanted to know pertained to his connection with the vital affairs of the Jews.

Verse 23

3 John's answer must have been a surprise to these men, for he had nothing to say about himself personally. The voice of one, etc., was to direct their attention to what he was saying to the people in the wilderness, and not to anything pertaining to him as an individual. He verified that "voice" by referring to a prediction of Esaias (Isaiah), chapter 40:3, 4, of that prophet's book.

Verse 24

4 The Pharisees were a prominent sect of the Jews in the time of Christ, and they had been so for several years before. They were very formal, and made great pretensions to righteousness. For a more extended description of them, with the Saddu-cees, see the notes at Mat 16:12.

Verse 25

5 It is uncertain as to when the practice of baptism began among the Jews. History reveals that it became a part of the ceremonies that introduced Gentile proselytes into the religion of the Jews, and in some particulars admitted them to the privileges of the same. But since those cases were performed upon Gentiles only, and John performed his baptism on Jews only (Luk 1:16), the Pharisees thought the work he was doing was for the purpose of introducing some new system (which was true). And such a radical movement, as they thought, should properly be initiated by some note-worthy person, such as the ones they named to John.

Verse 26

6 John did not say anything to lessen the importance of his work, neither did he wish them to think he regarded It as the most important. Hence he stated that his ceremony consisted of water baptism only. He further told them that an unknown (to them) person was standing among them.

Verse 27

7 See comments at verse 15.

Verse 28

8 These things means the conversations just reported. There is some uncertainty with the works of reference, as to the exact identity of Bethabara, but all agree that it was a town on the east shore of the Jordan, near a spot where John was baptizing at that particular period in his work.

Verse 29

9 The next day means the day after the conversations mentioned above. John saw Jesus coming to wards them, and he recognized him from the events recorded in verse 33. Behold the Lamb of God. This should be understood as John's presentation of Jesus to his (John's) disciples, and his speech corresponds with the opening of the sheepfold in chapter 10:3. Taketh is translated "beareth" in the margin, and the lexicon agrees with it. The whole sentence is worded in view of the use made of the scapegoat to "bear upon him" the iniquities of the congregation of Israel (Lev 16:22). Yes, Jesus became the scapegoat for the whole world, but that does not relieve sinners of their personal obligation to appropriate the benefits of that arrangement by proper conduct of life. The ceremony with the scapegoat was for the congregation as a whole, but the individual members of the congregation had their personal duties to perform in order to benefit by the national sacrifice. Likewise, men have their individual duties to obey, in order to obtain any benefit from Crist's sacrifice.

Verse 30

0 This is the same as verse 15.

Verse 31

1 John knew some person was to come among the people of Israel, but did not know what particular man it was. He was given a cue (stated in verse 33) whereby he would have the promised one pointed out, and it was to take place while performing an act of baptism. Therefore signifies that because of the part water baptism was to play, John engaged in that kind of baptism, as well as to be preparing a people for that special One.

Verse 32

2 Luk 3:22 says the Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove, while the other three records say the Spirit descended like a dove. The point is in bringing out the idea that the Spirit had to be in some visible form, in order that it could be seen by John. Not only did John see this form descend, but it alighted on Him and remained for the occasion.

Verse 33

3 And I knew him not. John means that up to that instant he did not know this person as the promised Messiah, and the One for whom he was baptizing penitent Jews. There was to be no mistake, or confusion caused by a mere incident. It might not be regarded so strange for a dove to alight momentarily, but such a timid creature would not ordinarily be seen "remaining" on the head of a man. Hence that item was added to the circumstance to give it the force of evidence. Just how long before this verse it was that the baptism had taken place, we do not know; but it was prior to the "presentation" of verse 29.

Verse 34

4 After John saw the evidence so strangely demonstrated, he became a witness in person. The subject of his testimony was the great fact that the person he baptized under such unusual circumstances, was the Son of God.

Verse 35

5 This was the next day after the presentation in verse 29.

Verse 36

6 The Lamb of God. This phrase was significant especially to the Jews, because they were familiar with the national practice of offering animal sacrifices.

Verse 37

7 The two disciples were the ones mentioned in verse 35, to whom John repeated his presentation phrase in verse 36.

Verse 38

8 Saw them following. These disciples had hitherto been disciples of John. He had told his converts they should believe on the one who was to come. Now that One was in sight, and when John bade his disciples to behold Him, it meant to them that from then on they would desire to be in His company. That is why they asked Jesus where he dwelled, which meant for the time being, for the permanent residence of Jesus had been established in Capernaum (Mat 4:13).

Verse 39

9 Jesus invited the disciples to go with him and see where he was staying. As it was about the tenth hour (our 4 o'clock), they visited the rest of the day.

Verse 40

0 One of the two evening guests of Jesus was Andrew, brother of Peter. He had been a disciple of John, but upon introduction to Jesus, followed Him.

Verse 41

1 First is from PROTOS according to the commonly-used Greek text, but Moffatt says it is really from PROI. Thayer's definition of that word is, "in the morning, early," and it is so translated in Mat 16:3, and Moffatt so renders it in our verse, making it read, "In the morning," as being the time when Andrew went in search of his brother Peter. That is a reasonable conclusion, for we have seen that it was near the end of the day when the two disciples made their call upon Jesus with whom they spent the rest of the day. Then early the next morning, Andrew went in search of his brother, and told him the good news of finding the Messiah.

Verse 42

2 This verse corresponds in thought (but not necessarily in chronological order) with Mat 16:18. In that passage Jesus is reported to have said, "Thou art Peter," while in our present verse he said, "Thou shalt be called Cephas." The two statements are identical in thought, because the Greek words for "Cephas" and "stone" have virtually the same definition.

Verse 43

4 Day following means the day after the one on which Jesus had the conversation with Peter. Jesus left his place of lodging and started to go to Galilee. Upon arriving there he came to the home town of Andrew and Peter. There Jesus met Philip who was told to follow Him, and he became one of the 12 apostles.

Verse 45

5 I have consulted half a dozen standard works of reference, and all of them say Nathanael was another name for Bartholomew, one of the apostles. The information will be useful when we get to verse 51. Philip told Nathanael the news of, finding the person whom the prophets and Moses had predicted. This announcement would have been unmingled good news for Nathanael, had it stopped there. But Philip next specified the person he meant, by saying he was Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Verse 46

6 The information almost dashed the interest of Nathanael, for Nazareth was not a very popular town. The question Nathanael asked was not prompted by prejudice as against some territory besides his own, for he was himself a Galilaean. The origin of the lowly repute of that district is not known with certainty. Philip made a fair and logical reply to the question; come and see. He believed (and rightly), that no one could come under the influence of Jesus without being convinced that He is not only a "good thing," but the best that ever lived among men.

Verse 47

7 Guile means "deceit," and Jesus described Nathanael as an Israelite who was free from that evil. He made that announcement as Na-thanael approached, but after he was near enough to hear it.

Verse 48

8 Nathanael was surprised that Jesus knew him, even though they were in the bodily presence of each other. Then his astonishment was increased when Jesus mentioned an apparently trival circumstance such as standing under a fig tree. If Jesus knew of that circumstance while not present nor in sight of it, it would prove Him to be the very person whom Philip described in verse 45.

Verse 49

9 Upon the aforesaid evidence, Nathanael acknowledged Jesus to be all He had claimed to be, namely, the Son of God and King of Israel.

Verse 50

0 Jesus made a remark about Nathanael's belief in Him, based on the incident of relating an experience he thought no one knew. He then notified him that he was destined to see greater things than such circumstances.

Verse 51

1 This verse names the "greater things" referred to in the preceding one. Upon is from EPI, and Greenfield defines it to mean, "On account of, because of." This prediction was fulfilled at the ascension of Jesus in Act 1:9-11. Here the "two men" were angels, and they were seen coming down in the sight of the apostles (of whom Nathanael was one, verse 45). Their descending from heaven, then ascending thereto again, was brought about by the ascension of Jesus. They conducted this mission "upon" or "on account of" the performance of the Son of Man who had just disappeared in a cloud.