John chapter 1
The Word
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.1
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all might believe through him.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light, which lights every man coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.
12 But as many as received him, to them he gave jurisdiction to become children of God, to those who believe in his name,
13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John bore witness of him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has been put before me, for he was before me.’”
16 And from his fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
The witness of John
19 And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 And he confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? That we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 And those who were sent were from the Pharisees.
25 And they asked him and said to him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you do not know.
27 It is he who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”
28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 The next day John sees Jesus coming toward him and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.’
31 And I did not know him; but that he should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he remained upon him.
33 And I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
The first disciples
35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.
36 And looking at Jesus as he walked, he says, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
38 Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and says to them, “What do you seek?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), “where are you staying?”
39 He says to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and remained with him that day; it was about the tenth hour.
40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41 He first finds his own brother Simon and says to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is, being interpreted, the Christ).
42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus looked at him, he said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is interpreted, A stone).
43 The next day Jesus wanted to go out into Galilee, and he finds Philip and says to him, “Follow me.”
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip finds Nathanael and says to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip says to him, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and says of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
48 Nathanael says to him, “Where do you know me from?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49 Nathanael answered and says to him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”
51 And he says to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
1 v. 1, the deep layers of the Logos. Three clauses. Each adds a layer. None of them should swallow the others.
Layer one — “In the beginning was the Word.” Not “in the beginning God created the Word.” John echoes the opening of Genesis 1:1 and changes the verb. Genesis says things began to exist (בָּרָא, created). John says the Word already was (ἦν, imperfect: ongoing existence, not a start). The Word does not have a beginning inside the beginning. The Word is already there when the beginning happens.
Layer two — “and the Word was with God.” πρὸς τὸν Θεόν — more nearly “toward God,” face to face with God. Nearness of relation, not mere place. This layer keeps distinction. The Word is not the same as “God” as one unmarked point. There is a with: someone facing someone.
Layer three — “and the Word was God.” Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος — “God” first for weight. No article on Θεὸς (unlike τὸν Θεόν in the clause before). The missing article does careful work. It keeps the line from meaning “the Word was the God,” which would erase the distinction just made. It still says full deity: the Word has the nature of God, and is not interchangeable with the one just named “God” in the clause before.
Hold the three together. Eternal existence (no beginning). Personal distinction (a real with). Full deity (fully God, distinction not erased). John packs into one sentence what a philosopher would unwind for pages — and he does it before the story starts. The reader is told who Jesus is before being shown one thing he does.
Why “Word.” λόγος carried two loads at once for the first readers: the Greek sense of the ordering word of the world, and the Hebrew sense of God’s spoken word that makes by being said (Genesis 1, “and God said”). John does not pick one background and drop the other. The term does both jobs: Christ as the coherence of all things, and as the active speech of God. ↑
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