As you begin to read John’s Gospel it becomes immediately obvious that you are looking into the deep mysteries of Christ – his nature, his ministry and his relationship with the Father. Nowhere is this more evident than the very first chapter of the book!
After completing a study of the Gospel according to John, I have pulled out just the first section of my notes on the first chapter for this publication because I believe the first chapter is a study that can stand wholly on its own.
John introduces most (if not all) of his key themes in the Gospel in this first chapter and so getting to grips with his extended introduction is an incredibly rewarding study.
Before we begin with the text and the commentary, I will begin by introducing some of the key commentators that I have drawn from in my study. As you will notice, I have leaned more heavily on the ancient Christian commentators because they bring such a fresh perspective.
Information regarding major contributors to this study:
Augustine (Ancient):
Lived 354-430 AD, Bishop of Hippo.
Benson (Modern):
Lived 1749-1821, an early English Methodist minister, one of the leaders of the movement during the time of John Wesley.
Chrysostom (Ancient):
Lived 344/354-407, Bishop of Constantinople.
Cyril of Alexandria (Ancient):
Lived 375-444, Patriarch of Alexandria.
Cyril of Jerusalem (Ancient):
Lived 315-386, Bishop of Jerusalem.
Gregory of Nazianzus (Ancient):
Lived 329/330-?, Bishop of Constantinople.
Gregory the Great (Ancient):
Lived 540-604, Pope from 590 AD.
Maclaren (Modern):
Lived 1826-1910, an English non-conformist minister whose sermons have been collected into a Bible commentary.
Origen (Ancient):
Lived 185-?, Influential exegete and systematic theologian.
Romanus Melodus (Ancient):
Lived 536-556, his ‘sermons’ were sung rather than preached.
Theodore of Mopsuestia (Ancient):
Lived 350-428, Bishop of Mopsuestia.
Chapter 1
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown: Of the peculiarities of this Gospel, we note here only two. The one is its reflective character. While the others are purely narrative, the Fourth Evangelist, “pauses, as it were, at every turn,” as Da Costa says [Four Witnesses, p. 234], “at one time to give a reason, at another to fix the attention, to deduce consequences, or make applications, or to give utterance to the language of praise.” See Joh 2:20, 21, 23-25; 4:1, 2; 7:37-39; 11:12, 13, 49-52; 21:18, 19, 22, 23. The other peculiarity of this Gospel is its supplementary character. By this, in the present instance, we mean something more than the studiousness with which he omits many most important particulars in our Lord’s history, for no conceivable reason but that they were already familiar as household words to all his readers, through the three preceding Gospels, and his substituting in place of these an immense quantity of the richest matter not found in the other Gospels. We refer here more particularly to the nature of the additions which distinguish this Gospel; particularly the notices of the different Passovers which occurred during our Lord’s public ministry, and the record of His teaching at Jerusalem, without which it is not too much to say that we could have had but a most imperfect conception either of the duration of His ministry or of the plan of it. But another feature of these additions is quite as noticeable and not less important. “We find,” to use again the words of Da Costa [Four Witnesses, pp. 238, 239], slightly abridged, “only six of our Lord’s miracles recorded in this Gospel, but these are all of the most remarkable kind, and surpass the rest in depth, specially of application, and fulness of meaning.
Vs 1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Maclaren: Time and creatures came into being, and, when they began, the Word ‘was.’ Surely no form of speech could more emphatically declare absolute, uncreated being, outside the limits of time.
Benson: It is observable, “that John’s discourse rises by degrees. He tells us first, that the Word, in the beginning of the world, existed. Next, that he existed with God: and last of all, that he was God, and made all things.”
Ancient Christian Commentary overview: He begins his gospel with the eternal generation of the Son, leaving his human birth from Mary to be understood in the context of this first birth… Scripture uses “beginning” in a number of different senses, but here the apostle speaks of the eternal beginning, linking the Word’s generation with the creative wisdom present at the beginning, which, according to Proverbs 8:22, brought about the creation of the world. He is the light before the world came into being, the intellectual and essential Wisdom existing before the ages…
Chrysostom: While all the other Evangelists begin with the incarnation… John, passing by everything else – his conception, his birth, his education, and his growth – speaks immediately of his eternal generation.
Ephrem the Syrian: Our Lord is called the Word because those things that were hidden were revealed through him, just as it is through a word that the hidden things of the heart are made known.
Reference: Prov 8:22-31
“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,
before his deeds of old;
I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
when there were no springs overflowing with water;
before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
before he made the world or its fields
or any of the dust of the earth.
I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.”
Upon reading the very first line of this Gospel, you realize that you are in for something completely different to the other three Gospels. Reading the first verse you find yourself staring down the barrel of eternity, the eternity of the only begotten son – “In the beginning was the Word”. We fast-forward to the very beginning of creation and what do we find? we find that the Word already “was”. Every other Gospel begins with the birth of Christ on earth, John begins with the eternal generation before the beginning of the world!
Vs 3 “Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.”
Cyril of Alexandria: The fact that “all things were made through him,” will not, I think, cause any damage concerning what is said about the Son. For the Son is not introduced here as an employee or servant of someone else’s will just because it says that the things that exist were made through him, implying that he should be no longer conceived of as being by nature Creator. Nor is he someone who was given the power of creation by someone else, but rather being himself alone the strength of God the Father, as Son, as only begotten, he works all things, the Father and the Holy Spirit co-working and coexisting with him. For all things are from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.
This insight into the workings of the trinity and the role of the Son at creation sets up a contrast which is shocking when it is later announced – “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.” Not only was the creator not recognized by his creation – “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”
Vs 4 “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Origen: none who believe not in Christ live, and that all who live not in God, are dead… when we turn away from what seems to be life but really is not and we yearn to truly possess life – that is when we first share in it. Once this kind of life exists in us, it also becomes the foundation of the light of knowledge.
Augustine: perhaps the foolish hearts cannot receive that light because they are so encumbered with sins that they cannot see it… This is how every foolish person, every unjust person, every irreligious person is blind in heart… What then is he to do? Let him become pure, that he may be able to see God.
Gregory of Nazianzus: the adverse power leaping up in its shamelessness against the visible Adam but encountering God and being defeated –in order that we, putting away the darkness, may draw near to the Light and may then become perfect Light.
Cyril of Alexandria: For the Word of God shines upon all things that are receptive to his radiance and illumines without exception things that have a nature that is receptive to being illumined.
Chrysostom: First then, the Evangelist hath instructed us respecting the creation, after that he tells us of the goods relating to the soul which He supplied to us by His coming; and these he has darkly described in one sentence, when he says, “And the Life was the Light of men.” (Ver. 4.) He does not say, “was the light of the Jews,” but universally “of men”: nor did the Jews only, but the Greeks also, come to this knowledge, and this light was a common proffer made to all.
In Christ is true knowledge, moral purity, and the light that reveals the true nature of God.
Vs 5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
With the coming of Christ was the dawn of a new day. ‘On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.’
Reference: Isaiah 9:2-7
“The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death,
a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
and increased its joy.
The people rejoice before You
as they rejoice at harvest time
as men rejoice in dividing the plunder.
For the yoke of their burden,
the bar across their shoulders,
and the rod of their oppressor
You have shattered as in the day of Midian.
For every trampling boot of battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given,
and the government will be upon His shoulders.
And He will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness
from that time and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.”
Chrysostom: He calls death and error, “darkness.” For the light which is the object of our senses does not shine in darkness, but apart from it; but the preaching of Christ hath shone forth in the midst of prevailing error, and made it to disappear. And He by enduring death hath so overcome death, that He hath recovered those already held by it. Since then neither death overcame it, nor error, since it is bright everywhere, and shines by its proper strength, therefore he says, “And the darkness comprehended it not.” For it cannot be overcome, and will not dwell in souls which wish not to be enlightened. But let it not trouble thee that It took not all, for not by necessity and force, but by will and consent does God bring us to Himself. Therefore do not thou shut thy doors against this light, and thou shalt enjoy great happiness. But this light cometh by faith, and when it is come, it lighteth abundantly him that hath received it; and if thou displayest a pure life (meet) for it, remains indwelling within continually. “For,” He saith, “He that loveth Me, will keep My commandments; and I and My Father will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.” (John xiv. 23; slightly varied.) As then one cannot rightly enjoy the sunlight, unless he opens his eyes; so neither can one largely share this splendor, unless he have expanded the eye of the soul, and rendered it in every way keen of sight. But how is this effected? Then when we have cleansed the soul from all the passions. For sin is darkness, and a deep darkness; as is clear, because men do it unconsciously and secretly. For, “every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light.” (c. iii. 20.)… In order then that this light may ever richly enlighten us, let us gladly accept these bright beams, for so shall we enjoy both the good things present and those to come, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Maclaren: John takes ‘the Fall’ for granted, and in John 1:5 describes the whole condition of things, both within and beyond the region of special revelation. The shining of the light is continuous, but the darkness is obstinate. It is the tragedy and crime of the world that the darkness will not have the light. It is the long-suffering mercy of God that the light repelled is not extinguished, but shines meekly on.
Vs 7 John came “that all (πάντες) might believe through him”
To a people lost in the darkness of sin and ignorance, John came to point towards the light – Jesus, so that it would be possible for everyone to believe in Christ and be illuminated. How similar our role as believers is today, we point toward the true light who is able to save completely.
Vs 9 “the true light which enlightens everyone (πάντα ἄνθρωπον), was coming into the world”
Compare: 1 John 2:8
“Then again, I am also writing you a new commandment, which is true in Him and also in you. For the darkness is fading and the true light is already shining.”
Chrysostom: And what, tell me, is the nature of this “light”? This kind (of light) is the object not of the senses, but of the intellect, enlightening the soul herself. And since Christ should hereafter say, that “None can come unto Me except the Father draw him” (c. vi. 44); the Apostle has in this place anticipated an objection, and declared that it is He (the Son) who “giveth light” (ver. 9).
Chrysostom here links the ‘enlightening’ work of Christ with the ‘drawing’ of the Father. I think the ‘objection’ here would be to do with whether it is the Father or the Son which ‘enlightens’/ ‘draws’ the soul to salvation. Chrysostom’s point here is that it was by the coming of Christ and the proclaiming of the Gospel that God drew men unto himself.
Chrysostom: how is it that so many continue unenlightened?.. He enlightens all who live in him. But if some, wilfully closing the eyes of their mind, would not receive the rays of that light, their darkness arises not from the nature of the light but from their own wickedness as they wilfully deprive themselves of the gift… For if when the gate is opened to all and there is none to hinder, any who are wilfully evil remain outside. They perish through no one else but their own wickedness.
Jesus is called ‘the Light’ because he is the revelation of the Father. To know the Son is to know the Father. To know the Son is also to receive the knowledge of salvation; he reveals and is himself ‘the Way’ to the Father. When Jesus came, the true light of revelation began to rise on the world and made it possible for all to know God and be saved.
Vs 10 “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.”
Chrysostom: By “the world” here, he means the multitude that is corrupt and closely attached to earthly things – the common, turbulent, foolish people. For the friends and admired of God all knew him, even before his coming in the flesh. Concerning the patriarch, Christ himself speaks by name, “that your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad…” “The world,” he says, “did not know him,” but those of whom the world was not worthy knew him. And having spoken of those who did not know him, he quickly informs us of the cause of their ignorance. For he does not absolutely say that no one knew him but that “the world knew him not.” He is speaking about those persons who are, as it were, nailed to the world alone and who always worry about the things of the world… The world then was ignorant, not only of him but also of his Father. For nothing so darkens the mind as to be closely attached to present things.
Cyril of Alexandria: we do not say that there is a deficiency with the sun’s ray, but rather, it is because of the disease of the sight… But the god of this world, as Paul too says, has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, lest the light of the knowledge of God should be seen by them… not that it reached a total deprivation of light (for the God-given understanding is surely preserved in his nature), but that he was quenching the desire to see God with his foolish manner of life and that by turning aside to the worse he was wasting and melting away the measure of the grace.
Cyril of Jerusalem: For it lies in me to speak, but in you to set your mind upon it, and in God to make perfect. Let us nerve our minds, and brace up our souls, and prepare our hearts. The race is for our soul: our hope is of things eternal: and God, who knows your hearts, and observes who is sincere, and who is a hypocrite, is able both to guard the sincere, and to give faith to the hypocrite: for even to the unbeliever, if only he give his heart, God is able to give faith.
Augustine: because of their eagerness to enjoy the creature in place of the Creator, people have been conformed to this world and have been fittingly called “the world.” Consequently, they did not know wisdom, and therefore, the Evangelist said, “the world knew him not.”
Vs 11,12,13 “he came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, born not of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
This is one of several ‘summary statements’ in which John gives broad, sweeping overviews of how Christ was received when he came. It is summary statements like this one which are crucial to understanding how the story unfolds throughout the rest of the book. ‘His own people did not receive him’, ie, the Jews rejected their Messiah. Here he is speaking of a nation and giving a summary of their reception of Christ, but he does not find it contradictory to go on to say “but to all who did receive him.” What is also significant is that the words “receive” and “believed” are synonymous and used interchangeably. This is reminiscent of the language Jesus used of soil which receives the seed of the Gospel and goes on to produce a harvest. Perhaps most significant of all is the order of salvation described here, first comes faith, then regeneration.
Chrysostom: Speaking of the ancient times, John said that “the world knew him not.” Afterwards, he comes down in his narrative to the times of the proclamation of the gospel and says, “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him,” now calling the Jews “his own,” as his particular people, or perhaps even all humankind, as created by him… So here again, being troubled beyond what he could bear… he makes his accusation in an even more striking manner, saying, “His own did not receive him”.
Cyril of Alexandria: But of those of Israel who were considered among those especially belonging to him, he says they “received him not.” For it would not have been true to say “knew him not,” when the older law had preached about him and the prophets who came after led them by the hand to the apprehension of the truth… For the world, or the Gentiles, having lost their relation… with God through their downfall into evil, also lost the knowledge of him who enlightens them. But the others, who were rich in knowledge through the law and called to a governance pleasing to God, were at length voluntarily falling away from it, not receiving the Word of God who was already known to them and who came among them as to his own… But when Christ was not received, he transfers the grace to the Gentiles. And the world, which knew him not at the beginning, is enlightened through repentance and faith, whereas Israel returns to the darkness it came from.
Maclaren: Note the sad issue of the coming- ‘The world knew Him not.’ In that ‘world’ there was one place where He might have looked for recognition, one set of people who might have been expected to hail Him; but not only the wide world was blind {‘knew not’}, but the narrower circle of ‘His own’ fought against what they knew to be light {‘received not’}… The act of faith is the condition or means of ‘receiving.’ It is the opening of the mental eye for the light to pour in. We possess Jesus in the measure of our faith. The object of faith is ‘His name,’ which means, not this or that collocation of letters by which He is designated, but His whole self-revelation. The result of such faith is ‘the right to become children of God,’ for through faith in the only-begotten Son we receive the communication of a divine life which makes us, too, sons. That new life, with its consequence of sonship, does not belong to human nature as received from parents, but is a gift of God mediated through faith in the Light who is the Word.
Vs 14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt (ἐσκήνωσεν – tabernacled) among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
This pre-existent Word, who at the beginning when all this world came into being simply “was”, “became flesh”. John communicates through his progression of description the truly remarkable event that this was when the Creator of all came to dwell in his own creation as a man. The Light, the Life of all mankind has come to us, he has revealed the Father to us and this is glory.
Maclaren: These four words, ‘The Word became flesh,’ are the foundation of all our knowledge of God, of man, of the relations between them, the foundation of all our hopes, the guarantee of all our peace, the pledge of all blessedness. ‘He tabernacled among us.’ As the divine glory of old dwelt between the cherubim, so Jesus is among men the true Temple, wherein we see a truer glory than that radiant light which filled the closed chamber of the holy of holies.
Vs 16 “from his fullness we have all received grace upon (ἀντὶ) grace”
The NIV translates this phrase, “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given” which is picking up on the very next line about the Law from Moses and the Grace through Christ. So in this construction the Law was the first grace given.
Origen: when we received of his fullness, we have also understood that the law has been given “through Moses,” not “by Moses,” but that grace and truth have not only been given through Jesus Christ but also have come into existence through him, since his God and Father has both given the law through Moses and has produced through Jesus Christ the grace and the truth that have come to people.
Theodore of Mopsuestia: And he fortunately added, “grace for grace,” indicating with the name of grace the law as well. He says, instead of that grace [of the law] this grace is given.
Vs 17 “the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”
Cyril of Alexandria: And the law too used to give grace to people, calling them to the knowledge of God and drawing away from the worship of idols those who had been led astray. It also pointed out evil and taught good, if not perfectly, yet in the manner of a teacher and usefully. But the truth and grace that are through the Only Begotten do not introduce to us the good that is in types or to limited things that are only profitable as in shadow.
Augustine: This grace was not in the Old Testament, because the law threatened but did not bring aid; commanded but did not heal; made known but did not take away our feebleness. Instead it prepared the way for that physician who was to come with grace and truth. He is the kind of physician who, when about to come to anyone to cure him, might first send his servant so that he might find the sick person bound. He was not healthy; he did not wish to be made healthy and just in case he should be made healthy, he boasted that he was so. The law was sent; it bound him. He finds himself accused, so now he cries out against the bondage. The Lord comes, cures with somewhat bitter and sharp medicines. For he says to the sick, “Bear.” He says, “Endure.” He says, “Do not love the world, have patience, let the fire of continence cure you, let your wounds endure the sword of persecutions.”
Vs 18 “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known”
This is what is meant by Christ being the Word, Christ being the Light, Christ being the Way. He is the perfect revelation of the Father. This also explains what it means that Christ ‘illuminates the dark’. If God had not chosen to reveal himself to the world in this way, it would be impossible for us to know him.
Vs 23 “He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
ESV Commentary: By preaching a word of repentance and divine judgment, this messenger of God was to prepare the way for the Lord God of the Old Testament (Yahweh himself) to come to his people through the wilderness.
Reference: Isaiah 40:1-5
“Comfort, comfort My people,”
says your God.
“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her forced labor has been completed,
her iniquity has been pardoned;
for she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.”
A voice of one calling:
“Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness;
make a straight highway for our God in the desert.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill made low;
the uneven ground will become smooth,
and the rugged land a plain.
And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Vs 29 “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Romanus Melodus: Put your hands on Him, All of you who confess your sins, For he has come to take them away, those of the people, and of the whole world.
John the Baptist is fond of calling Jesus ‘the Lamb’. What is perhaps significant about this proclamation is the scope of Jesus’ ministry. He is not only the saviour come for the Jews but for the whole world, all of mankind. He is the paschal lamb that atones for the sin of the people. His atonement is not limited by himself but only by those sinners unwilling to come to him for forgiveness.
Vs 32, 33 “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him…. this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”
Gregory the Great: the man Christ Jesus, always had all the gifts of the Spirit without interruption.
Augustine: The adopted sons are the ministers of the only Son. The only Son has power, the adopted sons have the ministry.
Benson: As a visible token of a new degree of the Holy Ghost’s operation in Christ, now at his entrance upon his public employment, even of that Spirit by which, according to the intimations God had given in his word, he was anointed in a peculiar manner, and abundantly fitted for his public work. Psalm 45:7; Isaiah 61:1. And thus was Christ installed into his ministerial function, both by baptism and the unction of the Holy Ghost, as the priests of old were by washing and anointing.
Reference: Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me,
because the Lord has anointed Me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives
and freedom to the prisoners;
This phrase has lead Pawson to call him ‘Jesus the Baptizer’. His baptism is of a different kind but it still makes Jesus a baptizer.
Vs 41 “We have found the Messiah”
This simple phrase expresses so much of the expectation and anticipation of the faithful in Israel. He was found by those who were seeking him.
Vs 49 “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel! Jesus answered him, ‘Because I said to you… do you believe?”
When I first read this I was surprised that Nathaniel could determine so much about the identity of Jesus in such little time. I would have thought ‘Son of God’ would be quite a foreign thought to an Israelite. Upon reading the Psalms, however, you realize this was a common expectation – “I have consecrated My King on Zion, My holy mountain.” I will declare the Lord’s decree: He said to Me, “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.”(Psalm 2:6)
Faith is: Believing who he is – Nathaniel is credited for believing that Jesus is the one promised by God.
has come to the decision that all elderly people past the age of retirement who are dependent upon the state or family will be phased out of the system through the systematic introduction of involuntary euthanasia.
Epiphanies and Orthodoxy 