John 01

The Prologue to the Gospel

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.

The Book of John was written by the Apostle John around 90 A.D., John had to deal with a heretical group called the gnostics. The gnostics claimed to have a super-knowledge that others did not possess. They claimed that Jesus only became deity at His baptism, but the deity left Him at His crucifixion. John was going to dispel this false theology. Gnosticism was very similar to Hinduism, which teaches that the divine spirit enters certain people at birth and leaves them at death.

The Greek word for "the Word" is ὁ Λόγος (ho logos). In Greek philosophy, it meant an expression of an idea of thought, especially a philosophical thought which was to be debated and proven. However, John was not a Greek philosopher. He was a Jewish fisherman.

To John, ὁ Λόγος (ho logos) was rabbinic terminology. The Hebrew word is דָּבָר (debar), meaning a thought or idea expressed in words. However, the rabbi took this concept even deeper.

The Aramaic word is מאמר (memra), meaning the personified Word of God. This means that the Word became a person. The rabbi also used מאמר (memra) to speak of the Word as the Revealer of truth, the Agent of creation, the Mover of all things, the One that comes and goes, and the Righteous One. The rabbi taught that sometimes the מאמר (memra) was distinct from God, but sometimes it was God. This was Jewish trinitarian thinking, but the rabbi would never accept the Trinity (although it was taught clearly in their Hebrew language). The rabbi also taught that everything exists because of the מאמר (memra). Therefore, in Jewish rabbinic thinking and in the thinking of John the Jewish fisherman, ὁ Λόγος (ho logos) possessed a much deeper meaning than that of the Greek philosophers.

The Greek word for "was" is ἦν (han), an imperfect active indicative verb, meaning he is continually existing forever. The imperfect tense gives the verb a continual action. The active voice means that the subject of the sentence is performing the action. The indicative mood means that this is a 100% statement of fact. This continuous active verb is used four times in the first two verses.

The first part of the sentence should be translated as "In the beginning the Messianic Person, the Revealer of truth, the Agent of creation, the Mover of all things. the One who comes and goes, the righteous One, the One who is distinct from God yet He is God, the One who causes everything to exist, He was continually existing in eternity forever. Therefore, "the Word" cannot be a created angel as the Jehovah Witnesses falsely claim. The Greek will not allow it. If Jesus was created, then the perfect tense would have been used instead of the imperfect tense.

The second part of the sentence should be translated as "And the Messianic Person, the Revealer of truth, the Agent of creation, the Mover of all things. the One that comes and goes, the righteous One, the One who is distinct from God yet He is God, the One who causes everything to exist, He was continually existing in eternity forever with God. 

In the third part of the sentence, most English translators reverse the nouns. In the Greek, "God" actually comes before "Word." The third part of the sentence should be translated as "And God is continually existing as the Messianic Person, the Revealer of truth, the Agent of creation, the Mover of all things, the One who comes and goes, the righteous One, the One who is distinct from God yet He is God, and the One who causes everything to exist. The simplified translation would be "God is the Word". 

Many Jehovah Witnesses who do not know Greek point out that there is no article in "God," so it should be translated as "a god." This is a deceptive attempt to make Jesus into less than deity. There are three problems with this interpretation. First, God is listed first as the emphatic subject and should be translated first, so no article is needed. Second, there are many verses in which "God" is not translated without the article which refer to Jehovah as God, but the Jehovah Witnesses ignore these verses (verse 18 in this chapter is an example). Third, no Greek article is even needed when "God" is used. Basically, the Jehovah Witnesses do not have enough Greek skills to test out their teachers, so they are being deceived. Then, they teach this false doctrine to others, which places the Jehovah Witness teachers under the anathema curse of Galatians 1:8. The penalty for this curse is eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire.

If a Jehovah Witness confronts a believer, then Scripture commands the believer not to greet him, not to allow him into his home, and not to bless him as he leaves. He is teaching false doctrine and attempting to lead others astray. He is an agent of the devil and leading others to Hell.

In verse 14, the Apostle John, who was an actual eyewitness to the life of Christ, revealed that the Word became the man Jesus. Therefore, Jesus is God, not a created angel.

1:2 The Word was with God in the beginning.

The imperfect active indicative verb is used again, meaning that Jesus was with God continually and forever in the very beginning. According to the Greek, there is no way that Jesus could be a created angel. The perfect tense verb would have to be used. If a Jehovah Witness brings up this argument, then the return question should be "If Jesus was not eternal and He was created, then why did John use the imperfect tense instead of the perfect tense"?

1:3 All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

John agrees with rabbinic theology. The Memra was the One who created everything.

1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.

John lived with Jesus for three and a half years. He was one of the three inner disciples. 

Jesus is the Shekinah Glory, meaning the visible presence of God. When Jesus was on this earth, the skin of Jesus hid his Shekinah Glory light. However, Jesus did reveal Himself one time during His earthly ministry as the Shekinah Glory. He revealed Himself to His three inner disciples, Peter, James and John. John was there and saw the glorified Jesus. His ministry was to reveal this Shekinah Glory light to others.

John is really driving his point home in the Greek. He used ἦν (hain) again to prove that life and the light of mankind was continually in Jesus for eternity. Since the perfect tense of the verb was not used, then there is no possible way that the Greek language will allow Jesus to be a created angel.

1:5 And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.

There is a divine principle that light expels darkness, but darkness cannot expel light. Jesus is the light who dispels darkness. Darkness cannot exist in His presence.

1:6 A man came, sent from God, whose name was John.

This man was John the Baptist, a different John with the same name as the author, but a different ministry.

1:7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that everyone might believe through him.

John the Baptist was the herald of the King. He came to witness that the Shekinah Glory had come to earth in the form of a man. He testified so that everyone might believe in Christ.

1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.

John the Baptist was not the Shekinah Glory. He came to testify about the Shekinah Glory.

1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

The Shekinah Glory gives light to everyone. He was stepping down from heaven to visit His creation. He had left during the days of Ezekiel, but now He is coming back.

1:10 He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him.

The Shekinah Glory created the world. He came to His creation, but his own creation did not recognize His identity. 

1:11 He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him.

Even the Jews, who contained all of the prophets and the actual, historical, visual appearances of the Shekinah Glory, did not receive Him. In fact, they called Him "demon-possessed". They placed Him in a mockery of a trial and condemned Him to death. Then, they humiliated Him on the cross in public nudity in front of both Jews and Gentiles.

1:12 But to all who have received him – those who believe in his name – he has given the right to become God’s children

The Memra is acting as the agent of salvation. All those who believed in His name, or in His character, were adopted into God's royal family to become a prince with God. They will eventually co-reign with Christ during the Millennial Kingdom.

1:13 – children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God.

John is not talking about a human birth. He is talking about a supernatural birth, where the dead spirit is made alive and the one dead in Christ becomes alive in Christ. This is the experience of the new birth, which Jesus will explain in more detail to Rabbi Nicodemus in chapter three. 

1:14 Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

The Word became flesh, meaning that Jesus, the Second person of the Trinity, became human. This is called the incarnation. Father Jehovah was the first member of the Trinity, but He never became flesh. The Holy Spirit was the third member of the Trinity, but he never became flesh. Therefore, the Word is Jesus and Jesus is God who became a human being.

The Greek word for "took up residence" is σκηνόω (skaynow), which comes from the Hebrew word שכינה (shekinah), meaning shekinah. Jesus is God who became a man and the Shekinah Glory dwelt inside of a human being just as it once dwelt inside the Holy Place of Israel.  John commented that "we saw His glory". The "we" are the three inner disciples (Petr, James, John) who saw the Shekinah Glory revealed at the Mount of Transfiguration. 

Jesus is the one and only Shekinah Glory. He is full of grace, meaning kindness. He is full of truth, which is the opposite of the devil, who is full of lies. Jesus is the Son of God who was sitting at the right hand of God the Father as the Second person of the Trinity. He left His throne and came down to earth as a human. His Shekinah Glory form was tabernacled inside of the tent of a human body

The rabbi taught that the Memra takes on visible form. Christians called it a theophany, but the rabbi called it the Shekinah, or the Shekinah Glory of God.

It is also important to note that John did not use the normal Greek word for "shekinah". He used a transliteration. Greek does not have a "sh" sound. Greek only possesses a hard "s" sound. The point that John was driving home was that the Shekinah Glory had left Israel during the days of Ezekiel, but He was returning back to Israel. However, He was not returning in light, fire, or cloud. Instead, the Shekinah Glory was returning in the flesh of a human being. The body of Jesus was the Shekinah Glory, but the skin of Jesus hid this glory. John knows this was true, because he was one of the three eyewitnesses. The modern liberals who attack the deity of Jesus were not there, so ignore their false claims. Believe the primary documents written by eyewitnesses, not the modern books which are written by johnny-come-lately liberals for profit.

1:15 John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’”

John the Baptist was the herald of the King. His ministry was to introduce the Messianic King to the nation of Israel. 

1:16 For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another.

The Lord Jesus Christ gave not only the gift of eternal life, but He gave other spiritual gifts as well.

1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.

According to the rabbi, the Memra signed and sealed all of the Jewish covenants. The Law was given by Christ through Moses. Jesus was the Memra who signed this covenant. However, the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31 was also signed by the Memra. Jesus signed this covenant with His own blood.

1:18 No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.

The Memra was the Revealer of knowledge. Jesus came to reveal the Father to man. He did not come to fulfill the goals of Greek philosophy. He came to fulfill the Messianic Hope of the Jewish covenants and prophets. Jesus was the Messianic Hope of Israel and the One who would bring the Abrahamic Covenant blessings to the Gentiles.

The Testimony of John the Baptist

1:19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

The Jewish leaders investigated possible problems in three stages. First, they observed and said nothing. Second, they asked questions. Third, they eliminated the problem.

During the first stage, John accused them of spreading poisonous doctrine that was harming the people. He informed them that even though they were descendants of Abraham, that this genealogical connection will not save their souls from Hell. They did not like this message. They saw John as a threat. Therefore, they began their second stage of investigation by asking questions.

1:20 He confessed – he did not deny but confessed – “I am not the Christ!”

John confessed that he was not the Messiah.

1:21 So they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not!” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No!”

Elijah was promised to arrive and prepare the people before the Messiah arrived. John was dressed like Elijah and gave the same spirit of the message as Elijah, but he was not Elijah. 

In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses predicted that a prophet would appear to Israel who would be similar to himself. This prophet would lead Israel into her promised land away from a powerful dictator. John admitted that he was not this prophet.

1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us so that we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

The ones who sent these questioners were the religious leaders who were part of the second stage of investigation. They were sent by the Sanhedrin to find out John's identity. 

1:23 John said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Isaiah predicted that the Messianic King would be preceded by a herald in the wilderness. The message to the people was that they needed to clean up their lives before the Messiah returned.

1:24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)

This was the second stage of the investigation. This same group of Pharisess would later send out a similar group to Jesus in all three of these stages.

1:25 So they asked John, “Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

The Pharisees thought that they were the only ones who could baptize. The Pharisees had the authority to baptize Gentile proselytes into Judaism at the Jewish temple. They were claiming that John did not have authority to baptize Jews, especially in the wilderness, which was outside the temple area.

1:26 John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize,

John was only baptizing with water. This was a baptism of identification. The Messiah Himself was quietly standing among the Pharisees, but they were not able to recognize Him.

1:27 who is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal!”

King Messiah was in their midst, but they were unaware. John was only the messenger. He was not even worthy to tie the sandals of the Messianic King. 

1:28 These things happened in Bethany across the Jordan River where John was baptizing.

John identified the exact location of the baptism.

1:29 On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

John did not introduce Jesus as God, King, Messiah, or Savior. He introduced Him as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world". All of the lambs who were sacrificed in the Old Testament pointed to King Messiah.

1:30 This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’

John was six months older than his cousin Jesus. He was informing the crowd that Jesus was the eternal God who was continually existing before John was born.

1:31 I did not recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he could be revealed to Israel.”

 At first, John did not recognize Him, even though Jesus was his own cousin. However, when John began baptizing in the wilderness, it was revealed to John that Jesus was the Messiah.

1:32 Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.

John received direct revelation from God. The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove from heaven. The dove from heaven referred to the Holy Spirit in Genesis 1:2. In this verse, the Holy Spirit is hovering over the water just as a bird hovers over its eggs before they are hatched. The rabbi identified this bird as a dove.

1:33 And I did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining – this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

John received direct revelation from God that Jesus was the Messiah. John was the last Old Testament prophet. God had been silent for 400 years, but He spoke again through John.

1:34 I have both seen and testified that this man is the Chosen One of God.”

John completed his testimony. 

1:35 Again the next day John was standing there with two of his disciples.

The two disciples of John the Baptist were John, who was the author of this book, and Andrew, who was the brother of Peter.

1:36 Gazing at Jesus as he walked by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

John the Baptist identified Jesus as "the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world." Jesus would fulfill the Passover by becoming the Passover Lamb. He would also fulfill the slaughtered lamb prophecy of Isaiah 53.

1:37 When John’s two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

John the Baptist lost two of his disciples. John and Andrew became the first two disciples of Jesus.

1:38 Jesus turned around and saw them following and said to them, “What do you want?” So they said to him, “Rabbi” (which is translated Teacher), “where are you staying?”

According to Jewish culture, if a person wanted to be a disciple of a rabbi, then he would begin following the rabbi around everywhere that he went. Eventually, the rabbi would notice, turn to him, and ask "What do you want?"

If the person wanted to be a disciple of the rabbi, then he would ask "Where are you staying". 

If the rabbi answered "none of your business," then he was not interested in disciplining the person.

1:39 Jesus answered, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. Now it was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

If the rabbi said, "Come and you will see," then the rabbi was accepting the person as his disciples. 

Andrew’s Declaration

1:40 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus.

Andrew's brother was Peter, who would later become the apostle with the keys to the kingdom. These keys of the kingdom were not popery. Peter was never the first pope, as Catholics falsely claim.  

1:41 He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is translated Christ).

Simon was the apostle Peter. Andrew told his brother that they had found the Messiah.

1:42 Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Simon became the third disciple. The Greek name for Cephas is petra, meaning little rock.  

The Calling of More Disciples

1:43 On the next day Jesus wanted to set out for Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”

Philip was the fourth disciple. Notice that Jesus did the calling. 

1:44 (Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.)

Three of the disciples were from this same town. 

1:45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Moses wrote about the Messiah. All of the prophets wrote about the Messiah. There were a lot of messianic rumors going around the Jewish communities of the Roman Empire. Phillip told Nathaniel that they had found the Messiah.

1:46 Nathanael replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip replied, “Come and see.”

This was a typical Galilean attitude. The Judeans felt as they had the best rabbinic schools. Therefore, they looked down upon the Galileans. The Galileans looked down upon the Nazarenes.

1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, “Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”

This was the first time the two had met. The true Israelite was Jacob, because he fathered the 12 tribes of Israel. However, he had deceived his brother Esau and stolen the birthright. However, he did so at his mother's request. This information came from Genesis 28.

1:48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

There were very few scrolls in that day. They were very rare and extremely expensive. The serious students had to go to the local school and memorize them. After they memorized them, the rabbi told them that the best place to meditate upon them was under a fig tree. Nathaniel was under a fig tree memorizing Scripture.  

1:49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel!”

Jesus not only saw Nathaniel under the fig tree, but He knew that he was meditating upon Genesis 28. Nathaniel recognized that Jesus was omniscient.

1:50 Jesus said to him, “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”

Jesus promised Nathaniel that he would see greater miracles than his omniscience.

1:51 He continued, “I tell all of you the solemn truth – you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

This verse also came from Genesis 28, which was the passage that Nathaniel was memorizing. According to the Book of Daniel, the Son of Man is the Messiah.