John 1

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

• Papyrus 75 (written c. 175 – c. 225 AD)
• Papyrus 66 (c. 200; complete)
• Papyrus 5 (c. 250; extant verses: 23–31, 33–40)[2]
• Papyrus 119 (c. 250; extant verses 21–28, 38–44)
• Papyrus 106 (3rd century)
• Codex Vaticanus (c. 325 – c. 350)
• Codex Sinaiticus (c. 350; complete)
• Papyrus 120 (4th century; extant: verses 25–28, 38–44)
• Codex Bezae (c. 400; extant verses 1-15)
• Codex Washingtonianus (c. 400)
• Codex Alexandrinus (c. 400 – c. 440; almost complete)
• Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (c. 450; extant verses 4–40)
• Codex Borgianus (5th century; extant verses 24–32 in Greek; 16–23 in Sahidic Coptic)
• Papyrus 55 (6th/7th century; extant verses 31–33, 35–38).
• Papyrus 59 (7th century; extant: verses 26, 28, 48, 51).

• 
  Papyrus 5
  John 1:33-40
• 
  Papyrus 75, page containing the end of the Gospel of Luke (Luke 24:51–53), followed by the beginning of the Gospel of John (John 1:1–16)
• 
  Papyrus 120,
  John 1:25–28
• 
  Codex Bezae,
  John 1:1–16
• 
  Codex Alexandrinus, John 1:1–7.
• 
  Lectionary 86, folio 1 recto (1336 AD). John 1:1-5
• 
  Lectionary 240 folio 1 recto. John 1:1-6 with decorated headpiece

The end of Gospel of Luke and the beginning of Gospel of John on the same page in Codex Vaticanus (4th century).

John 1:18-20 in Codex Harcleianus (Lectionary 150) from 995 AD.

The first part (verses 1–18), often called the Hymn to the Word, is a prologue to the gospel as a whole, stating that the Logos is "God" ("divine", "god-like", or "a god"[4] according to some translations).

Comparisons can be made between these verses and the narrative of Genesis 1, where the same phrase "In the beginning" first occurs along with the emphasis on the difference between the darkness (such as the "earth was formless and void", Genesis 1:2) and the light (the ability to see things not understood/hidden by the darkness, John 1:5).

Methodist founder John Wesley summarised the opening verses of John 1 as follows:

• John 1:1–2 describes the state of things before the creation
• John 1:3 describes the state of things in the creation
• John 1:4 describes the state of things in the time of man's innocence
• John 1:5 describes the state of things in the time of man's corruption.[5]

According to the writers of the Pulpit Commentary, the phrase "the light of men" (John 1:4) "has been differently conceived by expositors. John Calvin supposed that the "understanding" was intended—"that the life of men was not of an ordinary description, but was united to the light of understanding," and is that by which man is differentiated from animals. Hengstenberg regards it, in consequence of numerous associations of "light" with "salvation" in Holy Scripture, as equivalent to salvation; Christoph Ernst Luthardt with "holiness" and many with the "eternal life", which would introduce great tautology."[6]

3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.[7]

Some translations, including the New American Bible (Revised Edition) and the New Revised Standard Version, connect the final words of verse 3, εν ο γεγονεν (en ho gegonen) with verse 4:

3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.[8]

The New American Bible (Revised Edition) explains that "the oldest manuscripts have no punctuation here, the corrector of Bodmer Papyrus P75, some manuscripts, and the Ante-Nicene Fathers take this phrase with what follows [in verse 4], as staircase parallelism. Connection with John 1:3 reflects fourth-century anti-Arianism.[9]

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.[10]

English translations of John 1:5 variously translate the Greek κατελαβεν as "understanding" (e.g. the New King James Version), but in other translations the meaning is given in terms of a struggle between darkness and light: "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (Revised Standard Version).

Verse 6 introduces "a man sent from God, whose name was John".[11] Benson notes that "John" means "grace": "a name fitly given to the Messiah’s forerunner, who was sent to proclaim the immediate accomplishment of God’s gracious intentions".[12]

Verses 10 and 11 state that "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him"[13] but theologians differ in their interpretation of these verses. Wesley viewed "in the world" as meaning "even from the creation",[5] the Pulpit Commentary speaks of the "pre-Incarnation activity" of the Word[6] and Joseph Benson wrote that "He was in the world ... from the beginning, frequently appearing, and making known to his servants, the patriarchs and prophets, the divine will, in dreams and visions, and various other ways",[12] whereas in Albert Barnes' opinion, "He was in the world [...] refers, probably, not to his pre-existence, but to the fact that he became incarnate; that he dwelt among human beings".[14]

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.[15]

The word "flesh" is emphasized as a 'symbol of humanity', drawing the attention to 'the entry of the Word into the full flow of human affairs'.[16]

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.[17]

The incarnate Word's name is first mentioned in this verse; thereafter "John never uses the noun λόγος, the word, in this signification, throughout this whole book".[18]

No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.[19]

The final verse of the prologue recalls verse 1, that no other possibility of human to know God except through Jesus Christ.[20]

John 1:29–35 on Papyrus 106, written in the 3rd century

The second part (John 1:34) shows the preparation that John the Baptist was in the process of making for the coming of the Messiah, the Messiah's arrival and the Messiah's first disciples. John has been introduced in verse 6, "a man sent from God",[21] and his witness, known already by the reader, has already been recalled: "This is the One I told you about".[22] The Greek text has the past tense (εἶπον) but both H. W. Watkins, in Charles Ellicott's commentary, and Alfred Plummer, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, prefer a present tense translation such as "John bears witness".[23]

Verses 19–34 present John's manifesto, delivered to the priests and Levites sent by the Pharisees to investigate his message and purpose. In response to their enquiries, John confesses that he is not the Messiah, nor the reappearance of the prophet Elijah (contrast Matthew 11:14, where Jesus states that John is "Elijah who is to come"), nor "the prophet", the one of whom Deuteronomy 18:15, 18 had spoken.[24] In this passage the Messiah and the foretold "prophet" are not necessarily identified with each other; "on the contrary", notes Johann Bengel, "they looked on the prophet as a distinct person from the Christ" (cf. John 7:40–41: Many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet". Others said, "This is the Christ").[18]

John then reveals that when the Messiah comes he would be unfit to even so much as untie his sandals, let alone baptize him like the many he had up to that point. The next day Jesus appears before John the Baptist, and he then acknowledges Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29) of whom he had been speaking (John 1:30).

The evangelist divides this series of events into four 'days': the day (or period) when the Jerusalem delegation met John to enquire into his identity and purpose (John 19–29) is followed by John seeing Jesus coming towards him "the next day" (John 1:39), and on "the next day again"[25] he directs his own disciples towards following Jesus (John 1:35–37). A fourth 'day' follows (John 1:43) on which Jesus wanted to go to Galilee and invited Philip to follow him. Bengel calls these "Great Days!", because "the care of this Evangelist in marking times is remarkable".[18]

As the chapter progresses further, the gospel describes how Jesus calls his first disciples, Andrew and an unnamed disciple (verses 35–40). The unnamed disciple was possibly John, the evangelist.[6] Andrew finds his brother Simon (verses 41–42), and Jesus changes Simon's name to Cephas (Peter) (verse 42). Cephas, original Greek: Κηφᾶς (Kēphâs), means "a rock" (Young's Literal Translation) or "a stone" (King James Version). This provided a powerful analogy as to the role Peter would have after the crucifixion; to lead the development of the church. Name changes occur in other places in the Bible and demonstrate God's authority as well as what that person would become, do, or had done, such as Abram to Abraham and Jacob to Israel.

Jesus' first active sign of insight comes in his recognition of Nathaniel as an Israelite "in whom there is no guile",[26] "an affirmation showing intimate knowledge",[18] leaving Nathaniel thoroughly impressed by Jesus' foreknowledge of his personal character (cf. Jesus' knowledge of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:18, 30).