John 1:34

And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. AND I SAW [OR 'HAVE SEEN' - heooraka (G3708 )] THAT THIS IS THE SON OF GOD. There is some appearance of inconsistency between the First and the Fourth Gospels, as to the Baptist's knowledge of his Master before the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Him. Matthew seems to write as if the Baptist had immediately recognized Him, and accordingly recoiled, as a servant, from baptizing his Master: whereas John makes the Baptist himself to say that he "knew Him not," and seem to say that until the Spirit descended upon Him he perceived no difference between Him and the other applicants for baptism that day. But by viewing the transaction in the following light the two statements may be harmonized. Living mostly apart-the One at Nazareth, the other in the Judean desert, t...

34._I saw and testified. _He means that what he declares is not doubtful; because God was pleased to make him fully and thoroughly acquainted with those things of which he was to be the witness to the world; and it is worthy of notice, that he _testified _that Christ was_the Son of God, _because he who gives the Holy Spirit must be the Christ, for to no other belongs the honor and the office of reconciling men to God....

29-36 John saw Jesus coming to him, and pointed him out as the Lamb of God. The paschal lamb, in the shedding and sprinkling of its blood, the roasting and eating of its flesh, and all the other circumstances of the ordinance, represented the salvation of sinners by faith in Christ. And the lambs sacrificed every morning and evening, can only refer to Christ slain as a sacrifice to redeem us to God by his blood. John came as a preacher of repentance, yet he told his followers that they were to look for the pardon of their sins to Jesus only, and to his death. It agrees with God's glory to pardon all who depend on the atoning sacrifice of Christ. He takes away the sin of the world; purchases pardon for all that repent and believe the gospel. This encourages our faith; if Christ takes away the sin of the world, then why not my sin? He bore sin for us, and so bears it from us. God could ha...

THE SAME SAID ... - This was the sign by which he was to know the Messiah. He was to see the Spirit descending like a dove and abiding on him. It does not follow, however, that he had no intimation before this that Jesus was the Christ, but it means that by this he should know it infallibly. From Matthew 3:13, it seems that John supposed, before the baptism of Jesus, that he claimed to be the Messiah, and, that he believed it; but the infallible, certain testimony in the case was the descent of the Holy Spirit on him at his baptism. THAT THIS IS THE SON OF GOD - This was distinctly declared by a voice from heaven at his baptism, Matthew 3:17. This John heard, and he testified that he had heard it....

EXPOSITION THE title of the book is differently given in the manuscripts and ancient versions, and the differences are so considerable that they cannot be referred to the original text. The simplest form of the title is found in א, B, D, and is nothing more than "_according to_ John," ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ (B gives only one N in John's name, but א two); and this is followed by the vulgate and Syriac as a running title. The immense proportion of the uncials—A, C, E, F, G, L, and eight or nine others—read "Gospel according to John" (Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ιωάννην). This is followed by Tregelles, Lachmann, Alford. The T.R., with a large number of manuscripts, reads, "The Gospel according to John;" and in Stephen's third edition the word "holy" occurs before "Gospel." The cursives 69, 178, 259, read Εὐαγγέλιον ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Ἰωὰνην. Some cursives read, "Of the (holy) Gospel according to John." The p...

AND I SAW,.... The Spirit descending from heaven as a dove, and lighting upon Jesus, and remaining some time on him; this he saw with his bodily eyes: AND BORE RECORD; at the same time, before all the people that were with him, when he baptized Jesus: THAT THIS IS THE SON OF GOD; the natural, essential, and eternal Son of God; who being sent in the fulness of time, had assumed an human nature, in which he became subject to all ordinances, and had the Spirit without measure bestowed on him; and which was an evidence who he was, and of what he came about....

May the Holy Spirit, who inspired these words, inspire us through them as we read them! John 1:1. _In the beginning was the Word._ The divine Logos, whom we know as the Christ of God. «In the beginning was the Word.» The first words of this gospel remind us of the first words of the Old Testament: «In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.» Even then «the Word» was; he existed before all time, even from everlasting. John 1:1. _And the Word was with God, and the Word was God._ I know not how the Deity of Christ can be more plainly declared than in his eternal duration. He is from the beginning. In his glory he was «with God.» In his nature he «was God.» John 1:2. The sam

JOHN 1:34 o` ui`o,j {B} Instead of “the Son of God” several witnesses, chiefly Western (codex Bezae is defective here), read “the chosen one of God” (î5vid a* itb, e, ff2* syrc, s Ambrose) and a few read “the chosen Son of God” (ita, ff2c syrpalmss copsa). On the basis of age and diversity of witnesses a majority of the Committee preferred the reading o` ui`o,j, which is also in harmony with the theological terminology of the Fourth Evangelist....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. The Only-begotten, the Eternal Word; His Glory and His Manifestation -- Chapter 1:1-2:22 CHAPTER 1 __ 1. The Word: the Creator, the Life and the Light. (John 1:1 .) 2. The Light and the Darkness. The Light not Known. (John 1:5 .) 3. The Word Made Flesh and Its Gracious Results. (John 1:12 .) 4. The Witness of John. (John 1:19 .) 5. Following Him and Dwelling With Him. (John 1:35 .) 6. The Next Day. Nathanael's Unbelief and Confession. ...

THE BAPTISTS WITNESS TO HIMSELF. The baptism of Jesus has apparently taken place. John points to Him as the greater one of whom he had spoken. His own work of baptism, which has not been described but is assumed to be known, is, he says, preparatory to the manifestation of Messiah to Israel. Like others John had been ignorant, till the sign of the Spirit descending and abiding on Jesus had revealed to him the true Baptizer, who should give men the true baptism of the Spirit. The section ends with John's witness that such an one is the very Son of God. [In John 1:34 there is a variant reading, the Elect of God instead of the Son of God. It has very strong early attestation, and is accepted by Blass, Nestle, and Zahn. In the work already mentioned on John 1:13, Harnack has adopted it and sought to show its importance. It i