John 1:1-18

1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was already with God in the beginning.

3 Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him.

4 He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity.

5 The light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it.

6 God sent a man named John to be his messenger.

7 John came to declare the truth about the light so that everyone would become believers through his message.

8 John was not the light, but he came to declare the truth about the light.

9 The real light, which shines on everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him. Yet, the world didn't recognize him.

11 He went to his own people, and his own people didn't accept him.

12 However, he gave the right to become God's children to everyone who believed in him.

13 These people didn't become God's children in a physical way--from a human impulse or from a husband's desire [to have a child]. They were born from God.

14 The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth.

15 (John declared the truth about him when he said loudly, "This is the person about whom I said, 'The one who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.'")

16 Each of us has received one gift after another because of all that the Word is.

17 The Teachings were given through Moses, but kindness and truth came into existence through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has ever seen God. God's only Son, the one who is closest to the Father's heart, has made him known.