John 1:11

Unto his own (ei ta idia). Neuter plural, "unto his own things," the very idiom used in John 19:27 when the Beloved Disciple took the mother of Jesus "to his own home." The world was "the own home" of the Logos who had made it. See also John 16:32 ; Acts 21:6 . They that were his own (oi idioi). In the narrower sense, "his intimates," "his own family," "his own friends" as in Acts 13:1 . Jesus later said that a prophet is not without honour save in his own country ( Mark 6:4 ; John 4:44 ), and the town of Nazareth where he lived rejected him ( Luke 4:28 ; Matthew 13:58 ). Probably here oi idioi means the Jewish people, the chosen people to whom Christ was sent first ( Matthew 15:24 ), but in a wider sense the whole world is included in oi idioi. Conder's The Hebrew Tragedy emphasizes the pathos of the situation that the house of Israel refused to welcome the Messiah when he did come, like a larger and sadder Enoch Arden experience. Received him not (auton ou parelabon). Second aorist active indicative of paralambanw, old verb to take to one's side, common verb to welcome, the very verb used by Jesus in Matthew 14:3 of the welcome to his Father's house. Cf. katelaben in verse Matthew 5 . Israel slew the Heir ( Hebrews 1:2 ) when he came, like the wicked husbandmen ( Luke 20:14 ).