John 1 - Introduction
[1. Prologue (John 1:1). THE WORD (1) _was God_ (John 1:1); (2) _became man_ (John 1:6); (3) _revealed the Father_ (John 1:14).]... [ Continue Reading ]
[1. Prologue (John 1:1). THE WORD (1) _was God_ (John 1:1); (2) _became man_ (John 1:6); (3) _revealed the Father_ (John 1:14).]... [ Continue Reading ]
(1) IN THE BEGINNING. — The reference to the opening words of the Old Testament is obvious, and is the more striking when we remember that a Jew would constantly speak of and quote from the book of Genesis as _Berçshîth_ (“in the beginning”). It is quite in harmony with the Hebrew tone of this Gospe... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SAME WAS. — This is a summary in one clause of the three assertions made in the first verse. THE SAME, that is, the Word who was God, existed before any act of creation, and in that existence was a person distinct from God. Yet it is more than a re-statement. We have arrived at the thought that... [ Continue Reading ]
From the person of the Word we are guided to think of His creative work. The first chapter of Genesis is still present to the mind, but a fuller meaning can now be given to its words. All things came into existence by means of the pre-existent Word, and of all the things that now exist none came int... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HIM WAS LIFE. — The creation, the calling into existence life in its varied forms, leads up to the source of this life. It is in the Word by original being, while of the highest creature made “in the image of God” we are told that God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LIGHT SHINETH IN DARKNESS. — The vision of brightness is present but for a moment, and passes away before the black reality of the history of mankind. The description of Paradise occupies but a few verses of the Old Testament. The outer darkness casts its gloom on every page. But in the mora... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WAS A MAN, OR, _THERE APPEARED A MAN._ The word is the same as that which is used in John 1:3, “were made,” “was made,” and, as contrasted with the verb “was” in John 1:1; John 1:4, signifies the coming into being, as contrasted with original existence. In the same way “man” is emphatically op... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR A WITNESS. — Stress is laid upon the work of John as “witness.” This was generally the object of his coming. It was specially to “bear witness of the Light.” The purpose of testimony is conviction “that all men through him might believe,” _i.e.,_ through John, through his witness. Compare with t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WAS NOT THAT LIGHT, BUT WAS SENT. — It is necessary to repeat the statement of John’s position and work in an emphatic form. Now first for 400 years a great teacher had appeared in Israel. The events of his birth and life had excited the attention of the masses; his bold message, like the cry of... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WAS THE TRUE LIGHT. — The right rendering of this verse is uncertain. It would, probably, give a better sense to translate it, _The true Light which lighteth every man was coming into the world, i.e.,_ was manifesting itself at the time when John was bearing witness and men were mistaking the l... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE WORLD. — This manifestation in the flesh recalls the pre-incarnate existence during the whole history of the world, and the creative act itself. (Comp. John 1:2, Note). The two facts are the constant presence of the true Light, and the creation of the world by Him. The world, then, in its hig... [ Continue Reading ]
He came, as distinct from the “was” of the previous verse, passes on to the historic advent; but as that was but the more distinct act of which there had been foreshadowings in every appearance and revelation of God, these Advents of the Old Testament are not excluded. HIS OWN is neuter, and the sam... [ Continue Reading ]
Yet the light ever shineth, and the better things lie hidden. AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM. — The words are less wide and yet more wide than “His own.” The nation as such rejected Him; individuals in it accepted Him; but not individuals of that nation only. All who according to their light and means acc... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH WERE BORN. — The result of receiving Him remains to be explained. How could they become “sons of God?” The word which has been used (John 1:12) excludes the idea of adoption, and asserts the natural relation of child to father. The nation claimed this through its descent from Abraham. But they... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT. — The reality of the moral power and change wrought in those that believed recalls and is itself evidence of the reality of that in which they believed. Man came to be a son of God, because the Son of God became man. They were not, as the Docetæ of that time s... [ Continue Reading ]
JOHN BARE WITNESS OF HIM, AND CRIED. — Better, _John beareth witness of him, and crieth._ The latter verb is past in tense, but present in meaning. For the sense comp. Note on John 7:37. The writer thinks of the testimony as ever present, ever forceful. Twice on successive days had he heard them fro... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OF HIS FULNESS. — Not a continuance of the witness of John, but the words of the evangelist, and closely connected with John 1:14. This is seen in the “all we,” and in “fulness” (“full”) and “grace,” which are key-words of both verses. FULNESS is a technical theological term, meeting us again in... [ Continue Reading ]
The word “for” connects this verse by way of explanation with what has gone before. The Old Testament thought of grace and truth has been already present in John 1:14. The fulness of these divine attributes has been beheld in the glory of the Word. The revelation of them, that is, the removing of th... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN HATH SEEN GOD AT ANY TIME. — The full knowledge of truth is one with the revelation of God, but no man has ever had this full knowledge. The primary reference is still to Moses (comp. Exodus 33:20; Exodus 33:23), but the words hold good of every attempt to bridge from the human stand-point th... [ Continue Reading ]
The narrative is connected with the prologue by the record of John, which is common to both (John 1:15), and opens therefore with “And.” THE JEWS. — This term, originally applied to the members of the tribe of Judah, was extended after the Captivity to the whole nation of which that tribe was the c... [ Continue Reading ]
CONFESSED, AND DENIED NOT; BUT CONFESSED. — Comp. for the style, Note on John 1:3. I AM NOT. — The better reading places the pronoun in the most emphatic position: “It is not _I_ who am the Messiah.” He understands their question, then, “Who art thou?” as expressing the general expectation, “Is it... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT THEN? — Not “What art thou then?” but expressing surprise at the answer, and passing on with impatience to the alternative, “Art thou Elias?” (Comp. on this and the following question, Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:18; Isaiah 40 ff.; Malachi 4:5; 2MMalachi 2:1; and Note on Matthew 16:14). T... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WE MAY GIVE AN ANSWER. — He has given the “No” to all the ideas they had formed of him. There is nothing left to them but to draw the definite statement from himself, or to return to their senders empty handed.... [ Continue Reading ]
But he still gives the “No.” They think of his person and his work. He thinks of neither. His eye is fixed on the coming One. In this presence his own personality has no existence. He is as a voice, not to be inquired about but heard. They are acting as men who ask questions about the messenger of a... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WHICH WERE SENT. — The best MSS. omit the relative, and the verse thus becomes, “And they had been sent from the Pharisees.” (For account of the Pharisees, see Note on Matthew 3:7.) The statement is made to explain the question which follows, but it should be observed that in this Gospel, where... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY BAPTIZEST THOU THEN? — Baptism, which was certainly one of the initiatory rites of proselytes in the second or third century A.D., was probably so before the work of the Baptist. It is not baptism, therefore, which is strange to the questioners, but the fact that he places Jews and even Pharisee... [ Continue Reading ]
I BAPTIZE WITH WATER. — The passage of Ezekiel is probably present to the mind, with its contrast between water and spirit.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IT IS... IS PREFERRED BEFORE ME. — Insertions made to harmonise the verse with John 1:15; John 1:30. Omitting them we have, “He who cometh after me” as the subject of the verb “standeth,” and the whole sentence, is “He who cometh after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose, sta... [ Continue Reading ]
BETHABARA BEYOND JORDAN should be, _Bethany beyond Jordan._ Origen found “Bethany” in “almost all the copies,” but not being able to find the place, he came to the conclusion that it must be Bethabara which he heard of, with a local tradition that John had baptised there; and in this he is followed... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NEXT DAY. — We pass on to the witness of John on the second day, when he sees Jesus coming unto him, probably on the return from the Temptation. Forty days had passed since they met before, and since John knew at the baptism that Jesus was the Messiah. These days were for the One a period of lon... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS HE. — These words meet us here for the third time. They come in John 1:15, and in part in John 1:27. Here, as before, they are a quotation of an earlier and unrecorded statement of the Baptist, uttered in proverbial form, and to be understood in their fulfilment. (Comp. John 3:30.)... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I KNEW HIM NOT. — Better, _and I also knew Him not;_ so again in John 1:33. The reference is to “whom ye know not” of John 1:26, and the assertion is not, therefore, inconsistent with the fact that John did know Him on His approach to baptism (Matthew 3:13, see Note). In the sense that they did... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAW. — Better, _I have seen,_ or _beheld._ The vision is in its result ever present, and is all-conclusive evidence. (Comp. the words in their historic setting, Matthew 3:16, Note.)... [ Continue Reading ]
In these verses the Evangelist again makes prominent the solemn witness of John, giving the process by which conviction had come to his own mind.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAW AND BARE RECORD. — Better, _and I have seen and have borne witness,_ as in John 1:32. The result of personal conviction was, that he forthwith testified to others, and continued to do so until the present. One of the sayings taught to his scholars was, “He was (existed) before me.” The rev... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAIN THE NEXT DAY AFTER JOHN STOOD. — Better, _The next day again John was standing._ The description is of a scene present to the mind, and by one of the two disciples (John 1:40). The “again” refers to John 1:29. TWO OF HIS DISCIPLES. — There is no reason for thinking that these were absent on th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LOOKING UPON. — Better, _and he looked upon Jesus as He was walking, and saith._ The word “looked upon” expresses a fixed, earnest gaze. (Comp. John 1:42; Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:21; Mark 10:27; &c.) At this look, all the old thoughts in their fulness come crowding back. Yes. It is He. “Behold th... [ Continue Reading ]
The disciples understand the words as the teacher meant them. There is no word cutting the link between himself and them; that would have been hard to speak, hard to hear. There is no word bidding them follow Jesus; that cannot be needed.... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS TURNED, AND SAW THEM FOLLOWING. — They follow wishing, and yet not daring, to question Him. He sees this, and seeks to draw them forth by Himself asking the first question. They are not prepared for this question, and wish for more than a passing interview. They inquire, “Where dost thou sojou... [ Continue Reading ]
COME AND SEE. — They think of a visit later, it may be, on the following day. He bids them come at once. We know not where. We have no hint of any words spoken. It was the sacred turning-point of the writer’s own life, and its incidents are fixed in a depth of thought and feeling that no human eye m... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE OF THE TWO. — The Evangelist will even here draw the veil over his own identity (see _Introduction_). The _one_ is Andrew, even now marked out as brother of the better-known Simon Peter. On these names comp. Note on Matthew 10:2; but it should be observed here, that on this first day, as the ear... [ Continue Reading ]
[(2) JESUS MANIFESTS HIMSELF TO INDIVIDUALS (John John 1:41 to John 2:11): (_a_) _To the first disciples_ — _the witness of man_ (John 1:41); (_b_) _At Cana of Galilee_ — _the witness of nature_ (John 1:1).] (41) HE FIRST FINDETH HIS OWN BROTHER. — The probable explanation of this verse, and the... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHELD. — See Note on John 1:29. A STONE. — Better, _Peter,_ as in margin. The word means a stone, but the writer translated for Greek, not for English readers. The rule of the previous verse, which places the Greek word in the text and the English word in the margin, should be followed here. CEPHA... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAY FOLLOWING, that is, the fourth day from the inquiry by the Sanhedrin (see John 1:29; John 1:35; John 1:43). FINDETH PHILIP. — Just as he was going forth from his lodging of the previous night (John 1:39). Philip is mentioned in the other Gospels only in the lists of the Twelve. The touches... [ Continue Reading ]
OF (or rather, _from_) BETHSAIDA, is added as one of the minute touches of local knowledge which give to this Gospel the colour and vividness that an eye-witness only could impart. It explains the meeting. Philip was going home, and Bethsaida was on the way which Jesus would naturally take from Beth... [ Continue Reading ]
PHILIP FINDETH NATHANAEL. — See John 1:41; John 1:44. Nathanael is the Hebrew of the Greek word Theodorus, God’s gift. The former is found in Numbers 1:8; 1 Chronicles 2:14. The latter is preserved in the names Theodore and Dorothea. He belonged to the town to which Jesus was going (Cana of, Galilee... [ Continue Reading ]
The question is not, “Can the Messiah come out of Nazareth,” but “Can there any good thing come?” The question is asked by an inhabitant of a neighbouring village who looks upon the familiar town with something of local jealousy and scorn; but the form of the question would seem to point to an ill r... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS SAW NATHANAEL COMING. — Nathanael is at once willing that his prejudice should give way before the force of truth. He is coming, when the look directed towards others rests also upon him. It finds the character which it tests earnest and honest. What gave rise to the form in which this is expr... [ Continue Reading ]
The natural explanation of the verse seems to be that Nathanael was at his own house when Philip called him to hear the glad news of the Messiah. The words rendered “under the fig-tree” include the going there and being there. It was _the_ fig-tree of his own garden (1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4; Zechariah... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU ART THE SON OF GOD. — The recognition begets recognition. That strange Presence he had felt as a spiritual power quickening hope and thought, making prophets’ words living truths, filling with a true meaning the current beliefs about the Messiah; — yes; it goes through and through him again now... [ Continue Reading ]
BELIEVEST THOU. — This is not necessarily a question, and a fuller sense is obtained by taking it as an assertion. (Comp. the same word in John 16:31; John 20:29.) On this evidence _thou believest;_ the use of the faith-faculty strengthens it. Thou shalt see greater things than these.... [ Continue Reading ]
VERILY, VERILY. — This is the first use of this formula of doubled words, which is not found in the New Testament outside St. John’s Gospel. They are always spoken by our Lord, and connected with some deeper truth, to which they direct attention. They represent, in a reduplicated form, the Hebrew “A... [ Continue Reading ]