CHAPTER 1

(A.D. 26)

THE DEITY OF CHRIST

¹In the beginning (does not infer that Christ as God had a beginning, because as God He had no beginning, but rather refers to the time of Creation [Gen. 1:1]) was the Word (the Holy Spirit through John describes Jesus as the Eternal Logos), and the Word was with God (was in relationship with God, and expresses the idea of the Trinity), and the Word was God (meaning that He did not cease to be God during the Incarnation; He was and is God from eternity past to eternity future).

²The same was in the beginning with God (this very Person was in eternity with God; theres only one God, but manifested in three Persons God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit).

³All things were made by Him (all things came into being through Him; it refers to every item of Creation one by one, rather than all things regarded in totality); and without Him was not any thing made that was made (nothing, not even one single thing, was made independently of His cooperation and volition).

⁴In Him was Life (presents Jesus, the Eternal Logos, as the first cause); and the Life was the Light of men (He Alone is the Life Source of Light; if one doesnt know Christ, one is in darkness).

⁵And the Light shines in darkness (speaks of the Incarnation of Christ, and His coming into this world; His Light, because it is derived from His Life, drives out darkness); and the darkness comprehended it not (should have been translated, apprehended it not; it means that Satan, even though he tried with all his might, could not stop the Light; today it shines all over the world, and one day soon, there will be nothing left but that Light).

JOHN THE BAPTIST

⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

⁷The same came for a witness (speaks of the Mission of the Prophet), to bear witness of the Light (spoke of Jesus and only Jesus), that all men through Him might believe (presents that Jesus is not only for Israel, but also for the entirety of the world).

⁸He was not that Light (John the Baptist was not the Light), but wassent to bear witness of that Light (presents the sum total that man can do).

THE INCARNATION

⁹That was the True Light (there are many false lights; Jesus is the only True Light), which lighteth every man who comes into the world (if man is to find Light, it will be only in Christ, and it is for every man).

¹⁰He was in the world (the Eternal Logos, the Creator), and the world was made by Him (as it was originally created before the fall of Lucifer and the Fall of man), and the world knew Him not (the world cannot know Christ by wisdom, but only by Revelation).

¹¹He came unto His Own (the world in general, but more specifically to the Jews), and His Own received Him not (He came as the Heir unto His Own Possessions [Mat. 21:38], but His Own servants did not receive Him; on the contrary, they killed Him).

¹²But as many as received Him (some did receive Him, and some do receive Him), to them gave He power to become the sons of God (constitutes one of the greatest Promises in the Word of God), even to them who believe on His Name (Faith in Christ and in what He has done for us at the Cross alone can make a person a son or daughter of God):

¹³Which were born, not of blood (means that men become Gods Children not by natural birth), nor of the will of the flesh (man cannot earn Salvation, it is a free gift, received upon Faith), nor of the will of man (refers to mans religious efforts), but of God (Salvation is not at all of man, but altogether of God).

¹⁴And the Word was made flesh (refers to the Incarnation, God becoming man), and dwelt among us (refers to Jesus, although Perfect, not holding Himself aloft from all others, but rather lived as all men, even a peasant), (and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father,) (speaks of His Deity, although hidden from the eyes of the merely curious; while Christ laid aside the expression of His Deity, He never lost the possession of His Deity) full of Grace and Truth (as flesh, proclaimed His Humanity, Grace and Truth His Deity).

THE TESTIMONY

¹⁵John bear witness of Him (John the Baptist was raised up for this very purpose), and cried, saying, This was He of Whom I spoke (concerns the Ministry of John regarding the Person of Jesus), He who comes after me is preferred before me (should have been translated, existed before me): for He was before me (once again, a testimony to the Deity of Christ; as God, He has always been).

¹⁶And of His fulness have all we received (John has told us Who Jesus is, now he tells us what He does), and Grace for Grace (should have been translated, Grace upon Grace; this is the provision of His Love heaped one upon another in this supply of His Peoples needs).

¹⁷For the Law was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ (proclaims Him as the Representative Law-keeper for all humanity, i.e., to all who will believe; the Law manifested man [full of wickedness]; the Son manifested God [full of goodness]).

¹⁸No man has seen God at any time (better translated, No man has ever comprehended or experienced God at any time in all His fullness); the Only Begotten Son (Jesus Christ and the Incarnation, Who Alone could perfectly declare the Father), which is in the bosom of the Father (proclaims the most intimate and loving fellowship with the Father), He has declared Him(in essence, God the Father and God the Son are One).

¹⁹And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? (At the time, some thought that John the Baptist was the Messiah.)

²⁰And he confessed (there was absolutely no hesitation in his confession regarding who he actually was, and above all, his mission), and denied not (he did not deny that some were calling him Christ, however, to not even the slightest degree did he encourage this and, in fact, grandly repudiates the rumor); but confessed, I am not the Christ (in the Greek actually says, I, for my part, am not the Christ, and is said with emphasis).

²¹And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? (Malachi had predicted the coming again from Heaven of Elijah the Prophet [Mal. 4:5].) And he said, I am not (presents a categorical negative; some of the Jews were insinuating that He was the actual reincarnation of Elijah). Are you that Prophet? (This spoke of the Prophet mentioned by Moses in Deut. 18:15-18. This was the Messiah. So again, they asked him if he was the Messiah?) And he answered, No.

²²Then said they unto him, Who are you? that we may give an answer to them who sent us (they were not really seeking proper information, or the Truth about the matter, but rather desired that he claim something of which they could accuse him). What say you of yourself? (His answer is extremely revealing!)

²³He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness (is taken from Isa. 40:3), Make straight the Way of the Lord, as said the Prophet Isaiah (proclaims his mission as the first phrase proclaims his identity).

²⁴And they which were sent were of the Pharisees (the Holy Spirit is careful to delineate the source of these questions; the opposition now begins).

²⁵And they asked him, and said unto him, Why do you baptize then, if you be not that Christ, nor Elijah, neither that Prophet? (They were indignant that John not only baptized without ecclesiastical authority, but baptized contrary to the practice of the Pharisees. In other words, he had not asked nor sought their permission, nor did it seem that he cared whether they agreed or not!)

²⁶John answered them, saying, I baptize with water (meaning that it was but a temporary symbol of the true, abiding, and effectual baptism of the One Who would baptize with the Holy Spirit): but there stands One among you, Whom you know not (points to their spiritual ignorance; Christ was in their very midst, and they did not know!);

²⁷He it is (the Messiah is already here, even though you do not know Him, and He, as stated, is not me), Who coming after me is preferred before me (Who existed before me, in fact, has existed eternally), Whose shoes latchet I am not worthy to unloose (by comparison to Christ, the greatest Prophet born of woman labels himself, and rightly so!).

²⁸These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing (probably not far from Jericho).

²⁹The next day (refers to the day after John had been questioned by the emissaries from the Sanhedrin) John sees Jesus coming unto him (is, no doubt, after the Baptism of Jesus, and the temptation in the wilderness), and said, Behold the Lamb of God (proclaims Jesus as the Sacrifice for sin, in fact, the Sin-Offering, Whom all the multiple millions of offered lambs had represented), which takes away the sin of the world (animal blood could only cover sin, it could not take it away; but Jesus offering Himself as the Perfect Sacrifice took away the sin of the world; He not only cleansed acts of sin, but, as well, addressed the root cause [Col. 2:14-15]).

³⁰This is He of Whom I said (proclaims John making a positive identification; it is the One Who takes away the sin of the world), After me comes a Man which is preferred before me (affirms His essential Humanity): for He was before me (affirms His essential Deity).

³¹And I knew Him not (doesnt mean that he was not acquainted with Christ, but that he was not to introduce Christ until the Holy Spirit said so): but that He should be made manifest to Israel (means that at a certain time, and not before, Jesus was to be introduced to Israel as the Messiah, which John carried out exactly as led), therefore am I come baptizing with water (proclaims that which the Holy Spirit told him to do).

³²And John bear record (means that this is exactly what the Holy Spirit said would happen, concerning the identity of Jesus as the Messiah), saying, I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove (we must come to the conclusion that John saw something, which was the Holy Spirit; Luke recorded, descending in a bodily shape like a Dove upon Him, [Lk. 3:22]; we must conclude from these statements that the Holy Spirit has a Spirit Body of some nature), and it abode upon Him (the Spirit coming upon Him signaled the beginning of His Ministry).

³³And I knew Him not (is used the second time by John, and with purpose; the Holy Spirit wants all to know that Johns introduction of Jesus as the Messiah was not according to the flesh, i.e., personal knowledge, circumstances, etc., but rather by Revelation from on High; no one can really know Jesus, unless revealed by the Holy Spirit): but He Who sent me to baptize with water (telling us that Water Baptism as instituted by John was not that Prophets idea at all, but rather was given to him by Revelation from God), the same said unto me, Upon Whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him (was to be the Revelation from God, which John was to heed, and he did), the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Spirit (proclaims what Jesus would do after His Death and Resurrection; the Cross would make this possible!).

³⁴And I saw, and bear record that this is the Son of God (John the Baptist had followed his instructions to the letter, and according to the Revelation, he knew without doubt that Jesus was the Son of God).

THE FIRST DISCIPLES

³⁵Again the next day after John stood (the day after he made the previous statements), and two of his disciples (was Andrew and no doubt John, who at that time were Disciples of the Baptist);

³⁶And looking upon Jesus as He walked (takes us back to Verse 29, for both Verses speak of the same incident), he said, Behold the Lamb of God! (This phrase is used here again, in order to develop the time frame for the account about to be given.)

³⁷And the two disciples heard Him speak, and they followed Jesus (in essence, this was the beginning of their becoming Disciples of Christ).

³⁸Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said unto them, What do you seek? (It was a penetrating question that had eternal consequences.) They said unto Him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where do You dwell? (They were speaking of an earthly abode, while the full answer to that question incorporated a dimension that was beyond the comprehension of any mere mortal. His actual dwelling place was the Throne of God.)

³⁹He said unto them, Come and see (the journey they began that day has not stopped, even unto this hour, and in fact never will!). They came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day: for it was about the tenth hour (it has been debated for centuries as to whether John the Beloved was using Jewish time or Roman time; Jewish time would have been 4 p.m., while Roman time would have been 10 a.m.).

⁴⁰One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peters brother (the manner in which Andrew is addressed, as the brother of Simon Peter, tells us that Peters name was now recognized to a greater degree than any of the other Apostles).

⁴¹He (Andrew) first found his own brother Simon, and said unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ (was entirely the cause of Andrews eagerness and excitement).

⁴²And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him (Jesus was enabled by the Holy Spirit to look into the very soul of Peter), He said, You are Simon the son of Jonah (Simon means hearing; Peter was named after Simeon, the second son of Jacob and Leah [Gen. 29:32-33]): you shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone (proclaims the ability of Christ to change men fundamentally and characteristically or rather to re-create men).

⁴³The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee (seems to insinuate that His journey from the place of His Water Baptism and Wilderness Temptation, the latter which John does not mention, toward Galilee will now commence), and found Philip, and said unto him, Follow Me (doesnt exactly tell us where this happened; however, there is some small indication that it was in Galilee).

⁴⁴Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter (this town was located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee; it had been the home of these men before they moved to Capernaum, about six miles distant).

⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael (Nathanael is also called Bartholomew), and said unto him, We have found Him, of Whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write (in Philips mind, Jesus met the criteria of the Word of God), Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph (Jesus was really not the Son of Joseph, due to the Virgin Birth, but was referred to in this manner for the obvious reasons).

⁴⁶And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? (The town of Nazareth was not held by Israel as a distinguished place, but rather the opposite.) Philip said unto him, Come and see (proclaims within itself the basic thrust of Christianity).

⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! (Jesus did not say that this man was sinless, but guileless, which means, to be without deceit.)

⁴⁸Nathanael said unto Him, From where do You know me? (This proclaims the potential Disciple as being startled.) Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you (the Holy Spirit revealed this to Him).

⁴⁹Nathanael answered and said unto Him, Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel (Nathanaels faith will never possess more than it embraces at this moment).

⁵⁰Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto you, I saw you under the fig tree, causes you to believe? You shall see greater things than these (to be sure, he certainly did!).

⁵¹And He said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter you shall see Heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (has to do with Jacobs dream [Gen. 28:11-13]; it was fulfilled in Jesus; He Alone could open Heaven, because He Alone is the way to God).