John 1 - The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition

The First Strophe: The Logos and God (1:1–2). John begins by establishing the preeminence of the Word existing before the creation of the world. The initial allusion to Genesis 1 cannot be missed. This is a Gospel that will record the re-creation of men and women, the giving of life in darkness where there is no hope.

John begins by introducing Jesus as “the Word” (logos) and is building here on much contemporary Jewish thought, where the word of God took on personal creative attributes. John identifies this Word as Jesus Christ. As such John can attribute to him various divine functions, such as creation and giving of life.

But John goes further. He is ready to infer some personal identity between the Logos and God. “And the Word was God.” John is making an absolute affirmation about the eternal existence of the Word. It did not come into being nor was there ever a time when “the Word was not.” Whatever we can say about God, we can and must say about the Word.

Some have argued that because theos (“God”) does not have an article, the better translation would be, “The word was divine,” thereby limiting any absolute claim for the Logos. But this cannot be the case. Greek has another common word for divine (theios), and in other passages John omits the article but does not imply a change in meaning.

This is John’s overture to Christology and the beginnings of his Trinitarian thought. We will be introduced to Jesus time and time again, and in each case we will be forced to picture Jesus with increasingly profound images. He is the greatest of all people; he is the Messiah of Jewish expectation; yet more—and this is John’s unique message—he is the Son of God, the divine messenger from the Father.

The Second Strophe: The Logos and Creation (1:3–8). Once John has identified the Logos with God, he continues to mark the relation of this Logos to the world. As God’s creative agent, he was responsible for the creation of the world. John’s language here is careful and specific: the Logos was never created. Nothing came into being without him. John stresses not merely that who God is, the Logos is (the first strophe), but that what God does, the Logos does. Therefore, in the Gospel what Jesus does is divine activity.

The entry of the Logos into the world (his incarnation) is described as light shining in the darkness (v. 5). Even though John the Baptist’s testimony was clear, still Jesus experiences rejection. The darkness is hostile. There is enmity.

John suggests that the darkness cannot defeat or overcome the Word. This theme gives us some hint of the struggle between light and darkness that will sound throughout the Gospel. The opposition to Jesus will be severe.

John emphasizes the true nature of the Baptist’s ministry and shows how he came as a witness to Jesus; this theme is clear in the other “Baptist” sections of the Gospel. What does the writer say? John the Baptist was not the Messiah or the light. Instead, he came as a witness to tell the truth about what was happening in the world.

This is the first time we see the word group for “witness” (v. 8; Gk. martyreō, martys, martyria) in the Gospel. As if in a courtroom, evidence and witnesses will come forward to verify the truth of Jesus’s case. John the Baptist is the first of these literary witnesses. Essential to John’s mission is a denial of his own significance: “He himself was not the light” (v. 8). John’s main role is simply to identify and glorify Jesus.

The Third Strophe: The Logos and Revelation (1:9–13). John the Baptist was bearing witness not to an abstraction or a hope, but to a reality. The “true light” was coming (v. 9). The virtue of this divine entry is in how it reaches all people, particularly those hostile to God. In John’s vocabulary, the “world” (kosmos) is an important theological term, appearing seventy-eight times in this Gospel alone. For the most part, references to kosmos are decidedly negative. The world is not the created order of things; it is not the natural environment per se. It is the sphere of creation that lives in rebellion against God.

But if the world is hostile, how can the true light enlighten everyone? Does its arrival illumine every heart? Perhaps John is thinking of the accessibility of everyone to this one source of illumination. The light invades the darkness, shining on every person and exposing them for who they are.

Despite the presence of the Logos in the world, despite his creative work making the world and leaving the marks of general revelation, still the world failed to recognize him. Similar to the parable of the vineyard owner and his renters, the residents repudiated his visit. Therefore, John has made a startling claim. Even though the focus of revelation has been in Israel, the natural home for the truth of God, the Word has come for the entire world, not merely for the Jews.

John indicates, however, that the light has its followers; Jesus has his disciples. Even though his own people—adherents to Judaism—spurned his message, those who did receive him obtained power to become God’s children. Verses 12–13 anticipate the story of Nicodemus, in which this rebirth is explored (see 3:1–21).

Those who follow the Word, who believe and obtain divine power, will share in divine birth. This is John’s understanding of conversion: deliberate faith joined with divine transformation. In other words, there will be a powerful transformation of those who embrace this light, who align themselves with the light instead of the darkness, who cling to the Messiah instead of the world.

The Fourth Strophe: The Logos and Incarnation (1:14–18). Verse 14 is one of the most important verses in the Bible. The Word did not just appear to be human; the Word became flesh. This assertion stunned the Greek mind for whom the separation of the divine spirit and the mundane world (“flesh,” sarx) was an axiom of belief. But the second phrase is equally stunning for the Jew. This Word “made his dwelling” (skēnoō) among us and revealed his “glory” (doxa, v. 14). This verb for dwelling is employed in the Greek Old Testament for the tabernacle of God. In other words, Christ is the locus of God’s dwelling with Israel as he had dwelt with them in the tabernacle in the desert. Hence the glory of God, once restricted to the tabernacle, is now visible in Christ.

This experience of glory is concrete. The glory of God took up tangible form in the person of Christ. This glory was not merely a display of power. For John the deepest irony is how glory is to be found in the cross of Christ, again and again described as Jesus’s glorification. His signs and miracles showed his glory, to be sure, but it is in the cross that the mysterious, unfathomable glory of God is to be found.

It is curious that the word grace, so common in the rest of the New Testament, is virtually unused by John and appears only here in the prologue (four times: vv. 14, 16 [[twice],17) and then disappears. John likely has in mind the generous work of God in sending his Son, which results in our salvation. Grace is found in God’s coming and working despite the hostility and rejection of the world. John emphasizes our experience and reception of this grace as its chief merit.

The more important word for John, however, is truth. Most simply it is the opposite of falsehood; but John sees truth as penetrating far deeper. Truth is the self-disclosure that alone comes from God; truth is not just what is right but what is divine—and this is right.

John the Baptist’s cry as a witness to Jesus repeats his role as witness. Even though Jesus comes after John chronologically, this does not give John priority. These words pick up on the theme in all of the Baptist texts, where John’s secondary status is underscored. Jesus does not have a relative superiority but an absolute superiority.

Throughout this Gospel, it is clear that the apostle John and his community are struggling with the counterclaims of the Jewish synagogue. John does not intend to show that the grace of Christ stands at odds with the revelation of Moses. The law likewise contains the grace of God and is an earlier display of it.

Verse 18 joins verse 1 as the closing frame of the prologue, offering a summary statement about the divine origin and exhaustive knowledge of the Son. Christ’s revelation is unique for ontological reasons: it is his identity, his being, the essence of who he is that makes his words God’s words. Indeed, Christ is fully God, who in his incarnation is revealing himself to the world.

John the Baptist’s Self-Denial (1:19–28). John’s baptizing activity at the Jordan River attracted a great deal of attention, leading many people from Jerusalem and the surrounding regions of Judea to come out to him either to be baptized or to inquire about his work. One such delegation was sent by “the Jewish leaders” to interrogate the Baptist (v. 19). The term in John’s Gospel generally represents the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem who are hostile to Jesus. It has a specialized usage stemming from John’s own world, a world in which synagogue and church were struggling.

What we have here is an interrogation by emissaries from “official Judaism,” from the temple and its interests. John the Baptist was an odd phenomenon and needed investigating. Three names are at stake, and together each of them probe John’s intentions vis-à-vis Israel.

1. John first denies that he is “the Messiah” or “the Christ.” “Christ” is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word for “Messiah.” Throughout the late Old Testament period and especially in intertestamental Judaism, hope in a coming Messiah was widespread. It is no accident that in the days of Greek and Roman oppression, the term Messiah was filled with political connotations.

2. If John were not the Messiah, perhaps then he was Elijah. Jewish speculation proposed that he was mysteriously alive and would return at the end of time. John denies that he is Elijah who has returned.

3. “The Prophet” (v. 21) is likely a reference to Deuteronomy 18:15–19, where a prophet “like Moses” would return to Israel sometime in the future. John’s answer is succinct: no.

Following this series of denials John now identifies who he is. He is “a voice” and quotes Isaiah 40:3 in order to identify his role in Jesus’s mission (v. 23). He is a tool in God’s hand, pointing to another on the horizon. John’s message said that the dawn of the messianic era was at hand and virtually no waiting was needed.

Baptism was generally reserved for gentiles who had converted to Judaism. It was a total cleansing that marked a threshold crossed. John, however, was calling Jews to be baptized, and of course this prompted the question, “What is the new order that would change us as Jews?” The promise on the horizon is not a new religion but a person. John describes him as so great that by comparison, John will be less than a slave.

John the Baptist Bears Witness to Jesus (1:29–34). The episode on “the next day” is a continuation of John the Baptist’s testimony to Jesus (v. 29). While previously John could only hint at the coming of Christ, now he identifies Christ plainly. Note how confidently the Baptist can speak of his knowledge of Jesus (v. 33). It was knowledge that had come to him through revelation—when the Spirit descended on Jesus (v. 32).

1. Jesus is identified as “the Lamb of God . . .” (v. 29). Here we see Jesus as a gift provided by God to take away sin. As a lamb he becomes a sacrificial animal whose death “takes away” a condition that is prohibited in the presence of God. Since this Gospel highlights the festivals of Judaism, and in particular the Passover, it is not unreasonable to see Passover imagery here as well.

2. John’s second testimony on this day occurs in verses 32–33. Here his testimony is remarkable. The Spirit descended and remained on him. This is a permanent anointing; this is an anointing unlike anything witnessed before in Judaism; this is the messianic anointing. Moreover, this Jesus is not merely anointed himself with the Spirit at his baptism, but he will baptize others in the Holy Spirit as well. Indeed, John has witnessed the dawning of the messianic era.

3. The final testimony given by John the Baptist in this day appears in verse 34: “I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” “Chosen” likely comes from Isaiah 42:1, which emphasizes the Spirit-anointing of the Messiah and uses this title for him.

Peter and Andrew in Judea (1:35–42). In verse 37 we learn that two disciples hear John testify to Jesus. One is Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. But that leaves unanswered the identity of the other disciple in verse 37. It is no accident that this unnamed disciple may be our first hidden reference to the apostle John, likely the person behind the mysterious title “Beloved Disciple” used elsewhere in the Gospel.

The language of verses 38–39 is the explicit language of discipleship. This language is consciously designed to describe discipleship: to “follow” (akoloutheō), to “come and see,” and to “stay, remain” (menō) each describe aspects of discipleship. As we explore the wider meaning of this discipleship, we will examine these words with some care.

We are told that these events occur “about four in the afternoon” (v. 39). This is not only one more indication that John is providing an eyewitness account, but it may refer to the fact that here Jesus has invited them to spend the entire day with him. This visit becomes a teaching session, in which Jesus discloses not only his messianic identity but likewise his mastery over these new followers.

In Jewish culture naming is a significant event. Names unveil something of the character of the person, and renaming indicates something of the authority of one person over another. Jesus is here asserting his authority over Peter and telling him that he is a different man, a man who is about to acquire the character of his true name, a name he has likely forgotten. It is striking that “rock” is not the image that comes through the portrait of Peter. Peter is impulsive and in the end will deny Jesus. But despite Peter’s frailty, this name signals Jesus’s vision for what Peter will become.

Philip and Nathanael in Galilee (1:43–51). The north shore of the Sea of Galilee hosted a number of fishing villages (Bethsaida means “house of fishing”), and Jesus based his Galilean ministry among them. They were important places because they resided on the main highway that brought traffic from the coastal hills of Judea to the northern regions of the country.

Philip and Nathanael were from Bethsaida. Philip appears only rarely in the Gospels. Nathanael is not listed among the apostles; this has led to speculation that perhaps he should be identified as Matthew or even Bartholomew. In all three Synoptic stories Bartholomew is listed with Philip. But we cannot be sure.

Jesus sees in Nathanael a good man, an honest man. And much to Nathanael’s surprise, Jesus refers to seeing him “under the fig tree” at an earlier time (v. 48). Jesus has a capacity for knowing that which is more than humanly possible. At once Nathanael, who now has experienced Jesus for himself, addresses him with a litany of titles. It is such a man who recognizes the true identity of Jesus.

This chapter has one more surprise. Verse 51 introduces Jesus’s first use of the “amēn, amēn” formula (obscured in the NIV’s “very truly”). Literally Jesus says, “Truly [amēn], truly [amēn] I say to you . . .” Jesus describes angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man as the heavens open. This image springs from Jacob’s life. In Genesis 28 when Jacob is en route from Beersheba to Haran, he stops in Bethel and sleeps. In Hebrew, Bethel means “house of God,” and Jesus is indicating that this is precisely who he is in his own person.

Verse 51 also introduces us for the first time to the curious phrase “Son of Man.” While “Son of Man” is likely a Hebrew self-ascription meaning “I,” in Daniel 7:13–14 it appears as the title of a heavenly personage who is given ultimate authority by God. Jesus likely picks up this term and uses it extensively in order to avoid titles that were loaded with political ideas. With it he can forge his own identity that is sufficiently ambiguous and that conveys overtones of divinity and authority.