John 1:1-18

1 In [the] beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 *He* was in the beginning with God.

3 All things received being through him, and without him not one [thing] received being which has received being.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ^[a]

5 And the light appears in darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from ^[b] God, his name John.

7 He came for witness, that he might witness concerning the light, that all might believe through him.

8 *He* was not the light, but that he might witness concerning the light.

9 The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens ^[c] every man.

10 He was in the world, and the world had [its] being through him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came to his own, ^[d] and his own received him not;

12 but as many as received him, to them gave he [the] right ^[e] to be children ^[f] of God, to those that believe on ^[g] his name;

13 who have been born, not of blood, nor of flesh's will, nor of man's will, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt ^[h] among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with ^[i] a father), full of grace and truth;

15 (John bears witness of him, and he has cried, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me;)

16 for of his fulness we all have received, and grace upon grace.

17 For the law was given by Moses: grace and truth subsists ^[j] through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in ^[k] the bosom of the Father, *he* hath declared [him].

Footnotes

• [a] This latter is a reciprocal proposition, i.e. it can also he read 'the light of men was the life.'
• [b] Para, with genitive, 'from with,' see v. 14, Note d.
• [c] Or 'is light to every man.' Not 'enlightens,' but 'sheds its light upon.'
• [d] Or, 'what was his own,' but the neuter is used by John in the most general way for persons.
• [e] Exousia: 'right to take that place:' see Matt. 10.1.
• [f] Teknon: see Note, Mark 7.27.
• [g] Eis: see Note. 2Tim. 1.12.
• [h] Lit. 'tabernacled.'
• [i] para, with a genitive as here, means 'on the part of;' 'from with' gives the sense. But this must not be understood in the sense of 'with' merely. It has not this significance in the New Testament.
• [j] Ginomai, 'has come,' that which, not having actually been in being before (i.e. in the world), now begins to be so. So the Word was (v. 1), but everything else 'began to be.' The world 'had its being,' 'began to be,' through Him (v. 10). He 'became flesh' (v. 14), ginomai. So 'grace and truth came into being.' I am not satisfied with 'subsists,' but 'came' gives the idea of coming into the world. No doubt they did so, but the word has not this force. They began to exist de facto down here. The verb is singular, and 'grace and truth' go together in the person of Christ. Nothing subsisted by the law, it was a rule given; but grace and truth actually commenced to be, not in God's mind of course, but in revelation and actual existence down here. But its so taking place supposes its continuance.
• [k] Eis, not en: perhaps 'on.' The expression indicates the place where, or the state: see Acts 8.23; Mark 1.9. In chap. 13 it is en in ver. 23, epi in ver. 25.