John 1

John opens his Gospel by showing who Jesus is: the eternal Word, God himself, who made all things and became a human being. The rest of the chapter shows John the Baptist pointing to him, and the first disciples finding him and following. The chapter moves from eternity to a few ordinary men saying, “We have found Him.”

John 1:1

Before anything was created, the Word already existed. He was with God, distinct from the Father, yet he was God. John states in one verse that the Word is eternal, personal, and fully divine.

BSA: Word (“Logos, divine Expression”): The Word is God’s own self-expression, the way the unseen God speaks and makes himself known. with (“in close relationship to”): This is more than being nearby; it describes a face-to-face, personal fellowship.

Greek: Λόγος (Logos, G3056) — “word, expression, reason.” Greek thinkers used this word for the reason behind the world, and Jews knew God’s word as his creating power. John says this Word is a Person.

See also: Genesis 1:1; Revelation 19:13.

John 1:2

John repeats the point to make it clear. The Word did not come into being at some later time. From the very start he was in the presence of God.

BSA: beginning (“the origin, the starting point”): The Word was there at the very origin of everything, not made along the way.

John 1:3

Everything that exists was made through the Word. Nothing came into being apart from him. So Jesus is Creator, not a creature, and the world around us carries his handiwork.

BSA: Through (“by means of”): The Word is the One through whom the Father’s creative work was carried out. nothing (“not even one thing”): No exceptions: not a single thing lies outside his making.

See also: Colossians 1:16-17; Genesis 1:3.

John 1:4

Life is found in the Word as its source, and that life gives light to people. He does not merely have life; he gives it, and he lights our way out of confusion.

BSA: life (“eternal existence, spiritual vitality”): This life is more than breathing; it is the life of God, which he shares with us.

See also: John 8:12; John 14:6.

John 1:5

The Light shines in a dark world, and the darkness cannot put it out. The word can also mean the darkness did not grasp it. Either way, evil and ignorance have never won against him.

BSA: overcome (“grasped, seized”): The darkness could neither seize the Light nor understand it, so it could not stop it.

Greek: κατέλαβεν (katelaben, G2638) — “overcame, seized, grasped.” The word can mean to overpower or to take hold of with the mind. John may intend both: darkness neither defeats the Light nor comprehends it.

John 1:6-7

God sent a man named John, known as the Baptist, with one job: to bear witness to the Light. A witness points away from himself so that others will believe.

BSA: witness (“a testimony”): John speaks as a witness in court, telling what he has seen and heard.

See also: Luke 1:13-17.

John 1:8

John is careful to say what John the Baptist was not. He was not the Light himself. He was a lamp-bearer who pointed to the true Light. Great servants of God always point beyond themselves.

BSA: testify (“bear witness, give evidence”): His whole purpose was to give evidence about Jesus.

John 1:9

The true Light, the real thing and not a shadow of it, was coming into the world. His light reaches every person, showing what is true about God and ourselves.

BSA: true (“genuine, authentic”): Other lights point toward truth, but he is the genuine and original Light. gives light (“enlightens, shines upon”): He shines on every person, bringing understanding.

John 1:10

The Creator walked into his own creation, and creation did not know him. This is the sadness of the Gospel’s opening: the One who made the world was not recognized by it.

BSA: recognize (“know, acknowledge, or understand”): The world failed to know him, and this was a failure of heart as well as of mind.

John 1:11

Jesus came to his own land and his own people, Israel, and most did not welcome him. He came to what was already his, and he found the door closed.

BSA: receive (“take to their hearts, accept”): Receiving him means welcoming him personally, not merely hearing about him.

See also: Luke 19:41-44.

John 1:12

Anyone who welcomes Jesus and trusts him receives a gift: the right to become God’s child. It is not earned. Receiving and believing are two sides of one act of trust.

BSA: right (“authority, power”): He gives the standing and authority to belong to God’s family. name (“character, authority”): To believe in his name is to trust who he really is.

Greek: ἐξουσίαν (exousian, G1849) — “right, authority.” This is a granted right, not a natural possession. Sonship comes as a gift from him, not as something we achieve.

See also: Romans 8:15-16; 1 John 3:1.

John 1:13

This new birth does not come through family line, human desire, or anyone’s decision. It is God’s own work. Being his child begins with what God does, not with what we manage.

BSA: born (“begotten, brought into being”): God himself is the Father who brings this new life into being.

See also: John 3:3-6; 1 Peter 1:23.

John 1:14

The Word became a real human being and lived among us. His glory was seen in Jesus, and it was full of grace and truth. God did not stay far off; he came near and was visible.

BSA: made His dwelling (“tabernacled, resided”): It recalls the tent where God lived among Israel in the wilderness; now he lives among us in person. one and only (“unique, one-of-a-kind”): Jesus is the Son in a way no one else is.

Greek: ἐσκήνωσεν (eskēnōsen, G4637) — “pitched his tent, dwelt.” The verb is built on the word for tent or tabernacle. John pictures God’s presence living in a human body, as it once lived in the tent of meeting.

See also: Exodus 40:34-35; Philippians 2:6-8.

John 1:15

John the Baptist cried out that the one coming after him ranks above him, because he existed before him. Jesus was born after John, yet he is eternal. John gladly takes second place.

BSA: surpassed (“is preferred, become before”): Jesus holds a higher rank than John, even though he came later.

John 1:16

All who belong to Christ draw from his fullness, and what we receive is grace after grace. Each gift is followed by another. His supply never runs dry.

BSA: fullness (“completeness”): Everything God is overflows in him, and believers draw from it. upon (“one after another”): Grace comes in wave after wave, each replacing the last as it is used.

See also: Colossians 1:19; Ephesians 1:7-8.

John 1:17

The law came through Moses and showed God’s standard. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. This is not a quarrel between them; Jesus fulfills what the law pointed toward and gives what the law could not.

BSA: grace (“unmerited favor”): It is favor freely given, not wages we have earned. truth (“reality”): In Jesus we meet the real thing that earlier shadows pointed to.

See also: Romans 10:4; Hebrews 10:1.

John 1:18

No human being has seen God in his full being. But the Son, himself God and close to the Father, has made him known. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.

BSA: made Him known (“declared, told, revealed”): The Son tells the Father’s story plainly, so that we can know him.

Greek: ἐξηγήσατο (exēgēsato, G1834) — “explained, led out, made known.” Our word exegesis comes from this verb. Jesus is the full explanation of God, drawing out and telling what the Father is like.

See also: John 14:9; Colossians 1:15.

John 1:19-20

Religious leaders from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to question John. People were wondering whether he might be the promised Messiah. John answered at once and plainly: he was not.

BSA: confess (“acknowledge and agree”): He stated the truth openly, even though letting people think otherwise would have raised his standing.

John 1:21-22

They tried other possibilities: Elijah, whom Malachi said would return, or the Prophet like Moses. John said no to each. The delegation needed an answer to take back, so they pressed him to say who he was.

See also: Malachi 4:5; Deuteronomy 18:15.

John 1:23

John described himself with words from Isaiah: a voice crying in the wilderness. He wanted to be known only as a sound announcing the coming King, calling people to prepare their hearts.

BSA: voice (“a sound or noise”): John saw himself as only a sound; the message mattered, not the speaker. straight (“to straighten or guide”): It pictures clearing a road so a king can arrive; here it means repentance.

See also: Isaiah 40:3.

John 1:24-25

The Pharisees’ representatives asked why John baptized if he held none of those great roles. They saw baptism as something an important figure would do. They wanted to know by what authority he acted.

BSA: baptize (“immerse in water”): The word means to dip or immerse, as John did with people in the Jordan.

John 1:26-27

John said his baptism was only with water. The real Person of importance already stood among them and they did not know him. John would not even be fit for a slave’s task of untying his sandals.

BSA: worthy (“deserving, fit”): John says he is not even good enough to do a servant’s smallest job for Jesus.

John 1:28

John names the place where this took place: Bethany beyond the Jordan, on the far side of the river. He wants the reader to know these events really happened in a real place.

BSA: beyond (“on the other side of”): It was on the east side of the Jordan, and not the Bethany near Jerusalem.

John 1:29

Seeing Jesus, John gave a name that sums up his mission: the Lamb of God. Jews knew lambs offered in sacrifice. Jesus carries away the sin of the whole world, not just that of one nation.

BSA: takes away (“lifts up, removes”): He lifts sin off us and bears it away. Lamb (“a young sheep”): It recalls the sacrificial lambs, and now a Lamb provided by God himself.

Greek: αἴρων (airōn, G142) — “lifting up, taking away.” The verb can mean both to lift up and to carry off. Jesus bears the weight of sin and removes it.

See also: Isaiah 53:7; Exodus 12:3; 1 Peter 1:18-19.

John 1:30-31

John repeats that Jesus ranks above him because he existed before him. John says he did not know Jesus as Messiah at first. His whole baptizing work was meant to uncover Jesus before Israel.

BSA: revealed (“made manifest, disclosed”): John’s work was to bring Jesus into plain view for the people.

John 1:32-34

God had told John to look for the one on whom the Spirit would come down and stay. John saw it happen like a dove. So he testified that Jesus is the Son of God and the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

BSA: resting (“staying, remaining”): The Spirit did not merely visit; he remained on Jesus. baptize (“immerse, fill”): Jesus will immerse his people in the Holy Spirit.

See also: Matthew 3:16-17; Acts 1:5.

John 1:35-37

The next day John pointed again: Look, the Lamb of God. Two of his own disciples heard it and left to follow Jesus. John was glad to lose followers to the One he pointed to.

BSA: followed (“walked with”): It means more than walking behind him; they began to travel with him as learners.

John 1:38-39

Jesus turned and asked what they wanted. They asked where he stayed, and he invited them: Come and see. They spent the day with him. It was about four in the afternoon, a time they never forgot.

BSA: staying (“dwelling, abiding”): They wanted to know where he lived because they wanted time with him. Come (“and follow”): His invitation is to come close and find out for yourself.

Greek: μένεις (meneis, G3306) — “you remain, you abide.” John loves this verb, used here for where Jesus is staying. Later it becomes the word for abiding in him.

See also: John 15:4.

John 1:40-42

Andrew was one of the two. He went first to his brother Simon and said they had found the Messiah. He brought him to Jesus, who saw who he was and gave him a new name, Cephas, or Peter, meaning rock.

BSA: Messiah (“Christ, the Anointed One”): Both words mean the Anointed One, God’s chosen King. Cephas (“a rock or stone”): Jesus gives Simon a name that speaks of the strong man he will become.

See also: Matthew 16:18.

John 1:43-44

On the next day Jesus went to Galilee and found Philip, saying simply, Follow Me. Philip came from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter.

BSA: Follow (“come after”): Jesus calls Philip into a lasting life with himself, not just a short walk.

John 1:45-46

Philip told Nathanael that they had found the One promised in the Law and the Prophets. Nathanael doubted because Nazareth was a small, unimportant place. Philip did not argue; he answered, Come and see.

BSA: Nazareth (“a small, insignificant town”): Nathanael’s doubt reflects how unlikely the place seemed.

See also: Deuteronomy 18:18; Isaiah 53:2.

John 1:47-48

Jesus called Nathanael a true Israelite without deceit. Nathanael was surprised that Jesus knew him. Jesus said he had seen him under the fig tree before Philip called. He knows people before they meet him.

BSA: deceit (“guile, cunning, or trickery”): Nathanael was straightforward and honest, with nothing false in him.

See also: Psalm 139:1-4.

John 1:49

Nathanael answered at once with a bold confession. He called Jesus Teacher, Son of God, and King of Israel. His doubt turned to faith after meeting Jesus.

BSA: Son (“having God’s nature”): Nathanael recognizes Jesus as standing in a unique relationship to God.

See also: Psalm 2:6-7.

John 1:50

Jesus gently said that Nathanael believed because of one small sign. He promised much more to come. Faith is only beginning; there is more of Jesus to see.

BSA: greater (“more remarkable, extraordinary”): What lies ahead will outshine this first moment of surprise.

John 1:51

Jesus promised that heaven would stand open and the angels would go up and down on the Son of Man. This recalls Jacob’s ladder. Jesus himself is the meeting place between heaven and earth.

BSA: Truly, truly (“I assure you”): Jesus uses this phrase to mark a solemn and certain promise. open (“unlocked, accessible”): Through Jesus, the way to God stands open to us.

See also: Genesis 28:12; Daniel 7:13-14.