John 1: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

John's Gospel opens by saying that the Word was with God in the beginning, was God, made all things, and became a human being who lived among people, full of grace and truth. John the Baptist tells priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem that he is not the Christ, and points to Jesus as the Lamb of God on whom he saw the Spirit rest. Over the following days Jesus gathers his first followers: Andrew, Simon (renamed Cephas), Philip, and Nathanael. The chapter ends with Jesus telling Nathanael he will see heaven open and angels going up and down on the Son of Man.

Claim by Claim

1. 1:1
   • In the beginning the Word already was.
   • The Word was with God.
   • The Word was God.
2. 1:2
   • This same Word was in the beginning with God.
3. 1:3
   • All things came into being through him.
   • Apart from him not one thing came into being of what has come into being.
4. 1:4
   • In him was life.
   • That life was the light of men.
5. 1:5
   • The light shines in the darkness.
   • The darkness did not overcome or grasp the light (the word carries both senses).
6. 1:6
   • A man appeared.
   • That man was sent from God.
   • His name was John.
7. 1:7
   • John came for a witness.
   • He came to bear witness about the Light.
   • The purpose was that all might believe through him.
8. 1:8
   • John was not the Light.
   • He came to bear witness about the Light.
9. 1:9
   • There was the true Light.
   • The true Light gives light to every man.
   • The phrase 'coming into the world' may describe every man or may describe the Light; the King James attaches it to every man that comes into the world.
10. 1:10
    • He was in the world.
    • The world was made through him.
    • The world did not know him.
11. 1:11
    • He came to his own.
    • His own did not receive him.
12. 1:12
    • As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God.
    • Those who received him are those who believe on his name.
13. 1:13
    • They were born not of blood.
    • They were born not of the will of the flesh.
    • They were born not of the will of a man.
    • They were born of God.
14. 1:14
    • The Word became flesh.
    • He pitched his tent and dwelt among us.
    • We beheld his glory.
    • The glory was as of the only begotten from the Father.
    • He was full of grace and truth.
15. 1:15
    • John bears witness about him.
    • John cried out.
    • John said this was the one he had spoken of.
    • John said the one coming after him has come to be ahead of him.
    • John said the reason is that he existed before him.
16. 1:16
    • Of his fullness we have all received.
    • We have received grace in place of grace.
17. 1:17
    • The law was given through Moses.
    • Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18. 1:18
    • No one has ever seen God.
    • The only begotten Son is in the bosom of the Father.
    • He has made God known.
19. 1:19
    • This is the testimony of John.
    • The Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem.
    • They were sent to ask him who he was.
20. 1:20
    • He confessed.
    • He did not deny.
    • He confessed that he was not the Christ.
21. 1:21
    • They asked him what then he was.
    • They asked whether he was Elijah.
    • He said he was not.
    • They asked whether he was the Prophet.
    • He answered no.
22. 1:22
    • They asked him who he was.
    • They said they needed an answer for those who sent them.
    • They asked what he said about himself.
23. 1:23
    • He said he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
    • He quoted the command to make straight the way of the Lord.
    • He said this was as the prophet Isaiah had said.
24. 1:24
    • Those who had been sent were of the Pharisees; the wording leaves open whether they belonged to the Pharisees or were sent by them.
25. 1:25
    • They asked him why he baptized.
    • They based the question on his not being the Christ.
    • They based it also on his not being Elijah.
    • They based it also on his not being the Prophet.
26. 1:26
    • John answered them.
    • John said he baptizes with water.
    • John said one stands among them.
    • John said they do not know that one.
27. 1:27
    • John said that one comes after him.
    • John said that one is preferred before him.
    • John said he is not worthy to untie the strap of that one's sandal.
28. 1:28
    • These things happened in Bethabara beyond the Jordan.
    • John was baptizing there.
29. 1:29
    • On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him.
    • John said to look at the Lamb of God.
    • John said the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.
30. 1:30
    • John said this is the one he had spoken about.
    • John said a man comes after him.
    • John said that man has come to be ahead of him.
    • John said the reason is that he existed before him.
31. 1:31
    • John said he did not know him.
    • John said he came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.
32. 1:32
    • John bore witness.
    • John said he had seen the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove.
    • John said the Spirit remained upon him.
33. 1:33
    • John said he did not know him.
    • John said the one who sent him to baptize with water spoke to him.
    • That one said the man on whom he saw the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
34. 1:34
    • John said he had seen.
    • John said he had borne witness that this one is the Son of God.
35. 1:35
    • On the next day John was standing there again.
    • Two of his disciples were with him.
36. 1:36
    • John looked at Jesus walking.
    • John said to look at the Lamb of God.
37. 1:37
    • The two disciples heard him speak.
    • They followed Jesus.
38. 1:38
    • Jesus turned.
    • Jesus saw them following.
    • Jesus asked them what they were seeking.
    • They called him Rabbi.
    • Rabbi means Teacher.
    • They asked where he was staying.
39. 1:39
    • Jesus told them to come and see.
    • They came and saw where he was staying.
    • They stayed with him that day.
    • It was about the tenth hour.
40. 1:40
    • Andrew was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
    • Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter.
41. 1:41
    • Andrew first found his own brother Simon.
    • He told Simon they had found the Messiah.
    • Messiah means Christ.
42. 1:42
    • He brought Simon to Jesus.
    • Jesus looked at him.
    • Jesus said he was Simon the son of Jona.
    • Jesus said he would be called Cephas.
    • Cephas by interpretation is a stone.
43. 1:43
    • On the next day Jesus wanted to go out into Galilee.
    • He found Philip.
    • Jesus told Philip to follow him.
44. 1:44
    • Philip was from Bethsaida.
    • Bethsaida was the city of Andrew and Peter.
45. 1:45
    • Philip found Nathanael.
    • Philip said they had found the one Moses wrote of in the law.
    • Philip said the prophets also wrote of him.
    • Philip identified him as Jesus of Nazareth.
    • Philip identified him as the son of Joseph.
46. 1:46
    • Nathanael asked whether any good thing can come out of Nazareth.
    • Philip told him to come and see.
47. 1:47
    • Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him.
    • Jesus said of him that he was truly an Israelite.
    • Jesus said there was no deceit in him.
48. 1:48
    • Nathanael asked how Jesus knew him.
    • Jesus answered him.
    • Jesus said he saw him before Philip called him.
    • Jesus said he saw him while he was under the fig tree.
49. 1:49
    • Nathanael answered him.
    • Nathanael called him Rabbi.
    • Nathanael said he is the Son of God.
    • Nathanael said he is the King of Israel.
50. 1:50
    • Jesus answered him.
    • Jesus asked whether he believes because Jesus said he saw him under the fig tree.
    • Jesus said he would see greater things than these.
51. 1:51
    • Jesus said to him, truly, truly, he says to them.
    • Jesus said that hereafter they would see heaven opened.
    • Jesus said they would see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

1:1

"The Word" translates the Greek word logos. In ordinary use it meant a spoken word, a statement, an account or the reasoning behind something. Greek thinkers used it for the rational order running through the universe, and Jewish writers used similar language for God's word and God's wisdom at work in creation. No one English word carries that whole range, so translators keep "Word" and let the context fill it out.

1:3

Ancient Greek manuscripts were written without punctuation, so the sentence division here is a translator's choice. The words can be read as the King James reads them, or as "without him was not any thing made. That which was made, in him was life," attaching the last phrase to the next verse. Both readings are old and both are defensible.

1:5

The Greek verb behind "comprehended" carries two senses that English splits apart: to grasp with the mind, and to seize or overpower. Ancient readers would have heard both, so the line can mean the darkness did not understand the light or that it did not overcome it.

1:6

This is John the Baptizer, a preacher at the Jordan River, not the John whose name later became attached to this book. The two are different men, and the book itself never names its author.

1:7

"Witness" and "bear witness" are courtroom words, and the same Greek root gives "testify" and "testimony." John uses this legal vocabulary all through the book: a case is being made and evidence is being given.

1:9

The Greek is genuinely ambiguous. "Coming into the world" can attach to "every man," as the King James takes it, giving "the true Light that gives light to every person who comes into the world." It can equally attach to the Light itself: "the true Light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world." Translators have gone both ways for centuries.

1:11

The first "his own" is neuter in Greek and means his own things, his own property or home. The second is masculine and plural and means his own people. The sentence turns on that shift, which English cannot show without spelling it out.

1:12

"Power" in 1611 English often meant legal right or authorization, which is what the Greek word means here: he granted them the standing or entitlement, not an ability or a force. And the word behind "sons" is the general word for children, covering sons and daughters alike.

1:13

The Greek literally says "not of bloods," a plural that in ancient usage pointed to bloodlines and physical parentage. "The will of the flesh" is bodily desire. "The will of man" uses the Greek word for a male or a husband, not the general word for a human being. The three phrases pile up ordinary human reproduction and rule it out as the explanation.

1:14

"Flesh" here is the Greek word for a human being of flesh and blood, not a comment on the body as opposed to the soul. "Dwelt among us" translates a verb built on the word for a tent: he pitched his tent among us, language that recalls the portable tent-shrine where God's presence was said to stay with Israel in the desert. "Only begotten" translates a word meaning one of a kind, the only one of its sort; it is about uniqueness rather than about any process of being begotten.

1:15

In 1611 English "is preferred before me" meant ranks above me, has been given the higher place. It does not mean someone likes him better. "He was before me" is a claim about time, not rank: he existed earlier.

1:16

"Grace" translates the Greek charis, which meant favor freely shown, generosity, a gift given without the recipient earning it. "Grace for grace" is literally "grace in place of grace," one gift replacing another as it is used up, which is why modern versions render it as grace on top of grace or one gift after another.

1:17

"The law" is the body of instruction given through Moses at Sinai, the Torah, which for a first-century Jewish reader covered not only commandments but the whole framework of national and religious life.

1:18

"In the bosom of the Father" is an idiom. At a meal, guests reclined on their sides, and the person next to the host lay with his head at the host's chest; that was the place of closest intimacy and confidence. The manuscripts also differ in this verse: some read "the only begotten Son" and some read "the only begotten God," which is why modern translations vary here. And "declared him" translates a verb meaning to set out or explain in full, the root of the English word "exegesis."

1:19

In this book "the Jews" usually means the religious authorities based in Jerusalem rather than Jewish people in general; the writer, John the Baptizer and Jesus are all themselves Jewish. Priests served at the temple and offered the sacrifices; Levites were members of the same tribe who handled the temple's supporting work, including music, gatekeeping and maintenance. Sending such a delegation was an official inquiry. "Record" in 1611 English meant testimony, evidence given.

1:20

"Christ" is not a name but a title. The Greek christos translates the Hebrew mashiach, "anointed one." Kings and priests were installed by having olive oil poured on their heads, and by this period "the anointed one" had become the standing term for the awaited deliverer from David's line. The question being put to John is whether he is claiming that role.

1:21

"Elias" is simply the Greek spelling of Elijah, the prophet who, according to the last lines of Malachi, would be sent back before the day of the Lord, so people watched for his return. "That prophet" refers to another specific expectation: the prophet like Moses promised in Deuteronomy 18. The delegation is running through a checklist of recognized roles.

1:23

"Esaias" is the Greek spelling of Isaiah, and the quotation is from Isaiah 40. The image is road work: when a king traveled, crews went ahead to level and straighten the route. "Wilderness" means uninhabited open country, dry scrubland and bare hills used for grazing, not a sand desert.

1:24

The Pharisees were a movement, not an office, known for close attention to the law and to the traditions built up around it. They were widely respected and influential in local religious life, which is why their interest in an unauthorized preacher at the Jordan mattered.

1:25

The Greek verb means to dip, immerse or wash. Ritual washing was already familiar in Jewish practice, and non-Jews joining the community were immersed as part of that process. What puzzles the delegation is that John is immersing Jews, and doing it on his own authority, without holding any recognized office that would license it.

1:27

"Latchet" is an old English word for a strap or thong. Untying and carrying a man's sandals was slave's work, and a Jewish teaching of the period said a disciple should do anything for his teacher except loosen his sandals, because that task was too degrading. John is placing himself lower than the lowest servant.

1:28

The manuscripts differ over the place name: some read Bethabara, others Bethany, and this is not the Bethany near Jerusalem. "Beyond Jordan" means the east side of the river, outside the territory the Jerusalem authorities controlled.

1:29

A lamb was the standard sacrificial animal in Israel: one was killed each family at Passover, and lambs were offered at the temple morning and evening. Calling someone "the Lamb of God" would have struck a first-century listener as sacrificial language, an animal presented to God on behalf of others.

1:31

Israel is another name for the Jewish people. They came from a man named Jacob, whom God renamed Israel.

1:32

The Greek does not settle whether the comparison is with how a dove looks or with how a dove comes down, so "like a dove" may describe the appearance of the Spirit or the manner of the descent. "Abode upon him" means stayed on him and did not merely touch and leave; the same verb turns up repeatedly in this book for remaining with someone.

1:33

"Ghost" in 1611 English simply meant spirit, with none of the modern sense of a haunting. "Holy Ghost" and "Holy Spirit" translate the same Greek words.

1:34

The manuscripts divide here: some read "the Son of God" and others "the Chosen One of God." Both readings are early, and translations differ over which to print.

1:35

A disciple was a learner or apprentice attached to a particular teacher, living alongside him and following his way of life, not just a student attending lectures. Teachers of the period commonly had such a circle around them.

1:38

"Rabbi" is a Hebrew term of respect for a teacher, built from a word meaning great, so roughly "my master." John pauses to translate it, which tells you he expected readers who did not know Hebrew or Aramaic. "Where dwellest thou" in 1611 English asks where someone is lodging at present, not where he has his permanent home.

1:39

Hours were counted from sunrise, so the tenth hour is about four in the afternoon, leaving little daylight for travel and explaining why they stayed. A minority of readers have argued that this book counts hours from midnight, which would make it about ten in the morning; the question is old and unsettled.

1:41

"Messias" is the Greek form of the Hebrew and Aramaic word for anointed one, and "Christ" is the Greek translation of that same word. The writer is telling readers who knew only Greek that the two words mean one thing.

1:42

"Cephas" is Aramaic for rock or stone; the Greek equivalent is petros, which is where the name Peter comes from. The writer explains the word because his readers would not have known Aramaic. The manuscripts vary over the father's name, reading John or Jonah.

1:43

Galilee is the northern region around the inland lake, several days' walk from the Jordan crossing near Jerusalem where this scene has been set, and a long way from the religious center in the south.

1:44

Bethsaida was a fishing town at the north end of the Sea of Galilee, near where the Jordan River runs into the lake. The King James "city" translates a word used for any town.

1:45

"Moses in the law, and the prophets" names the recognized divisions of the Jewish scriptures: the five books associated with Moses, and the prophetic books. Naming both is a way of saying the whole of scripture.

1:46

Nazareth was a small and undistinguished village in Galilee, never mentioned in the Jewish scriptures and of no religious standing. Nathanael's question is the reflex of someone who knows the place and expects nothing from it.

1:47

"Israelite" means a descendant of Jacob, the man renamed Israel in Genesis. "Guile" is an old word for deceit or cunning, and the Greek word is the one used in the Greek Old Testament of Jacob's own dealings, so the remark carries a play on the name.

1:48

Sitting under one's own fig tree was a stock image of settled peace and security in the Jewish scriptures, and later Jewish sources describe the shade of a fig tree as a place for study. The text does not say what Nathanael was doing there.

1:49

Both titles Nathanael uses were royal language in Israel. "Son of God" was applied to the king in the royal psalms, and "King of Israel" is the plain national title. In this setting they are claims about who rules, spoken to a man Nathanael has just met.

1:51

"Verily, verily" translates "amen, amen," a Hebrew word meaning "truly" or "it is certain." It was normally said in response to someone else's statement; using it to open one's own is unusual, and this book records Jesus doing so repeatedly. The angels going up and down recall Jacob's dream of a stairway between earth and heaven in Genesis 28. "Son of man" is an Aramaic expression that can mean simply a human being, and it is also the title of the figure who comes with the clouds in Daniel 7; both senses were available to a first-century listener. The "you" in "ye shall see" is plural, addressed to the whole group rather than to Nathanael alone.