seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders[c] in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”[d]
24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 “I baptize with[e] water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”[f]
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter[g]).
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”
50 Jesus said, “You believe[h] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “Very truly I tell you,[i] you[j] will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’[k] the Son of Man.”
a. John 1:5 Or understood
b. John 1:18 Some manuscripts but the only Son, who
c. John 1:19 The Greek term traditionally translated the Jews (hoi Ioudaioi) refers here and elsewhere in John’s Gospel to those Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus; also in 5:10, 15, 16; 7:1, 11, 13; 9:22; 18:14, 28, 36; 19:7, 12, 31, 38; 20:19.
d. John 1:23 Isaiah 40:3
e, John 1:26 Or in; also in verses 31 and 33 (twice)
f. John 1:34 See Isaiah 42:1; many manuscripts is the Son of God.
g. John 1:42 Cephas (Aramaic) and Peter (Greek) both mean rock.
h. John 1:50 Or Do you believe … ?
I. John 1:51 The Greek is plural.
j. John 1:51 The Greek is plural.
k. John 1:51 Gen. 28:12
I used the easy English site and the blueletterbible.org site. I think this comment from the second commentary does a pretty good job of declaring the mission Jesus was on.
Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! At the very dawn of His ministry, Jesus is greeted with words that remind Him of his destiny: His sacrificial agony on the cross for the sin of mankind. The shadow of the cross was cast over the entire ministry of Jesus.
And this says a lot about how His disciples chose Him.And they followed Jesus: John did not care about gathering disciples after himself. He was perfectly satisfied to have these disciples leave his circle and follow Jesus. It fulfilled his ministry; it did not take away from it.
Come and see: Jesus invited John and Andrew to be a part of His life. Jesus didn't life a cloistered, ultra-private life. Jesus taught and discipled others by allowing them to live with Him.
Now it was about the tenth hour: This was such a memorable occasion for writer that he remembered the exact hour that he met Jesus. This is a subtle clue that one of the two disciples who came to Jesus from John was the apostle John himself.
The first time I read out of John must have been when I was a child. I've always known that John [the author of this Gospel] was one human Jesus really loved. He was a good friend to Jesus.
Now John tells me that Jesus was around when His Father [God Himself] designed and created everything. Jesus was there when God designed and created the hands of an author... the brain cells of an author..... and Jesus knew that John was a brilliant creation of His Dad's.
There were two men named John in this chapter. One was John the Baptist and the other is the one credited with writing a Gospel, three letters and the Book of Revelation.
John the Baptist was a rebel in his own account. He had no love for the men in office at the time. That guy Herod had married his brother's wife.... he was an adulterer with little regard for human life..... He proved his lack of regard for human life when he murdered John the Baptist because his stepdaughter drove him into an erotic frenzy and then asked for the head of John the Baptist... and he complied rather than look bad in front of his guests.... like lusting over his step daughter was a good thing. John called Herod out on it.... in public... called Herod and his wife adulterers.
John the Baptist was an odd sort... he ate honey and wore a hairy coat. I guess today he would have been known as a tree huger.... a naturalist.... but John the Baptist was baptizing people to show them they needed to change their ways because the cure to death [Jesus] was on the way. John the Baptist was preaching change and he had a lot of followers. John the Baptist kept telling everyone that Jesus was coming.... people thought John was calling for a warrior like King David and a wise man like King Solomon [David's second son] .... they thought this man John the Baptist was talking about... would get rid of the Roman rulers that were taking all their money and leaving them destitute.
There is a lot of talk in the commentaries that tries to explain the Trinity.... and how Jesus could be human and God at the same time.... It's a lot easier to just let myself believe than trying to figure it all out.....
When I was a kid.... I developed a love for math. It's logical. It's truthful. It's trending and it tracks trends. But then when I got to high school and college math took on a different meaning.... it explained everything.... there's even a TV show about people who love math.... "Numbers". But not everyone likes math.... some people just get so far down in the weeds trying to work out how each number knows it's numerical value.
In the seventh grade I remember solving for pi! Pi.... a symbol.. helps a person figure out just how big that one portion of stuffed crust is on that stuffed crust pizza..... it's a number that is so huge.... no one has gotten to its end. I have seen teachers fill two or three chalk boards "solving for pi".... but they never get to the exact answer..... I've seen a lot of teachers try to solve for pi..... and then they all turn around and say "so you just have to accept it".
I've seen a lot of preachers try to explain the Trinity. "God is God... Jesus is God... the Spirit is God.... but there is only one God". Sometimes stupid humans... ooops I mean ignorant humans.... just need to "accept it".... like solving for pi!
God in three persons... perfect harmony... can't put a finite value on that.... because God created everything.. including finite and pi!
