John Chapter 1 - Commentary

1-5 The Eternal Genealogy of Christ

Genealogy of John’s Gospel:

• Matthew describes the genealogy of Christ as the “Lion of Judah”, from Abraham through the royal line to Joseph to show Christ’s legal right to the throne of David.

• Mark’s focus on Christ as the servant makes a genealogy irrelevant.
• Luke’s emphasis of Jesus’ humanity takes the genealogy back from Mary (the reference to Joseph the son of Heli is actually Mary’s father).
• John focuses Jesus’ pre-incarnate eternal state as God, who has no ancestors.

Attributes of the Word

logos denotes a thought or purpose (we learn of 7 divine attributes of the Word):

• Eternal – there was “nothing” before Him; He just “was…”

In the beginning is better translated “first was the Word” arche or “before anything”.

was God is known as a durative imperfect, meaning continuing action from “before”.

The world was created with time, as time is a property of this universe.

• Deity – Christ was divine in and of Himself – the I AM (Exodus 3:14). Verse 14 and 18 emphasize qualitatively that He is the One and Only Son, distinct from all others. He wears the title “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16).

• Person – distinct from the Father, you can’t be “with yourself”. John 17:24 describes how in eternity past, the Father, Son and Spirit enjoyed loving fellowship. Note Isaiah 44:6 where Christ is mentioned as a separate person:

⁶“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.

• Creator – anything that was made (caused to “be”), He made. He wasn’t made.

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”

In the Hebrew: B’raisheet barak Elohim hashmam yat’hardz

notice Elohim is plural but the verb “barak” is singular. This is an intentional syntactical error to highlight that more than one “person” was involved in the process of creation.

Colossians 1 describes Christ’s power as the sustainer of the universe:

¹⁶For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

• The Life – created things do not have life of themselves, but are animated. He is the Living One, with power over death, as described in Revelation 1:

¹⁸I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

• The Light – a title for Jesus, showing His character of revealing the truth to men. (John 1:18)

God created light ( phos – phoôs) and life (zoe - zoe), and spiritually, they are synonyms. Their opposites are Darkness and Death. The spiritually dead are also blind, likewise, those with the life, can see and apprehend God. Light and darkness cannot co-exist; darkness cannot “stand” or “possess” light. See also John 12:44-45.

• Became Flesh – incarnation identified in verse 14. Yet He is the fullness of Deity in bodily form (Col 2:9). He is both perfect as God, and yet completely man, born for the purpose of dying for us as our kinsman redeemer.

The Perfect Representation of the Father

Christ is the perfect image of the Father (Col 1:15), and Jesus emphasizes this is His mission in John 14:9 – anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. John defines these attributes around seven key “I AM” statements Jesus makes later in the gospel:

• Bread of Life - John 6:35, 41, 48, 51
• Light of the World - John 8:12, 9:5
• The Door - John 10:7, 9
• Good Shepard - John 10:11, 14
• The Resurrection and the Life - John 11:25
• The Way, the Truth and the Life - John 14:6
• True Vine - John 15:1, 5

6-14 The WORD Revealed

[6] When did the Old Testament End?

John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament Prophets. Luke 16:

¹⁶“The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.”

[9] Christ the True Light

Can man know God without the witness of Jesus Christ? While nature proclaims the glory of God, nature is itself “fallen” and in darkness, and therefore only a distorted reflection of God’s glory. Light reveals what is hidden in darkness. For man to understand God, he would first need spiritual “light”. Christ came as the “true light” as emphasized in John 14:

⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.

[12] Who are the Children of God?

The European Union anthem refers to the universal brotherhood of man. If that were true, we would all be from the same parents. (Symbol of Europa, a woman riding a horse over seven hills). Jesus states that Sonship to God is not universal, but only available to those who receive Him, the Christ. This is by the will of God, as noted in verse 13. This is further explained in John 14 by Jesus:

¹⁵“If you love Me, keep My commandments. ¹⁶And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—¹⁷the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

As adopted sons of God, we are joint heirs, as described in Romans 8:

¹⁴For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

[14] God Incarnate

“Dwelt” or some translations read “Tabernacled”, from the Greek skenoo (skenoo) means to “tent or encamp” and is the same concept as the tabernacle of Exodus 40:

³⁴Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. ³⁵And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Note the model of the tabernacle and how the materials of the tabernacle represent attributes of Christ:

• Gold - represents the Deity and Kingship of Christ
• Acacia wood - the thorn bush of the desert, speaking of Christ’s humanity
• White linen - represents righteousness
• Porpoise skins - gray outside speaks of no form or comeliness
• Silver sockets - the entire structure rests on the blood of the lamb

The implements in the Tabernacle symbolize Christ

• One door into the Holy of Holies
• Brazen (bronze) alter – represent sacrifice (to give His life a ransom for many)
• Laver (sink for cleansing) –
• Lamps – Jesus is the light of the world
• Bread – I’m am the Bread of Life
• Incense – I pray for them (John 17:9)
• Mercy Seat – the throne of God, where the blood was sprinkled.

15-23 The Witness of John the Baptist

[19] Why did the leadership of the Jews ask John the Baptist who he was? Because one of three prophets were expected:

As the Messiah Malachi 3:

¹“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. ²“But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. ³He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.

Is this the manner we would expect the coming of the Lord? As a refiner by fire?

As Elijah Malachi 4:

⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. ⁶And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Why is the coming of the Lord dreadful?

As Moses Deuteronomy 18:

¹⁵“The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear…. ¹⁸I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

The best guess of the Pharisee’s was that Moses would return some day. This is the fulfillment of the “Two Witnesses” in Revelation.

Matthew characterizes this with John’s dismissal of the Pharisee’s, and reference to judgment as well in chapter 3:

³For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’” ⁴Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him ⁶and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, ⁹and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ¹⁰And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ¹¹I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹²His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Jesus clarified why the leaders missed Him. They expected judgment and fury of the Lord against “non-Jews”, but Jesus explained His mission. Luke 4:

¹⁶So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. ¹⁷And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: ¹⁸“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; ¹⁹To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”^20Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

What is important to note is that Jesus stopped at a comma – Notice Isaiah 61:

¹“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ²To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,

The Jews were confused by both John the Baptist, because he didn’t fit the three possible scenarios, and Jesus didn’t come to “destroy” the enemies of Israel. He will! The Pharisee’s didn’t understand He was coming twice, first for the gospel, then later for a day of vengeance! Some scholars say that was in 70 A.D. (Preterist position).

[23] Parallel Isaiah 40:

¹“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God. ²“Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the LORD’S hand Double for all her sins.” ³The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. ⁴Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth; ⁵The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, And all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

The Pharisee’s missed this prophecy. John the Baptist was this proclaimer.

24-36 The Lamb of God

[25] Baptism of Jews was viewed as disgraceful, as an insult to the children of Abraham. Only proselytes were baptized with water (immersed) as a purification ceremony, and then it only allowed them to enter the outer court of the temple. John’s baptism was not of the Holy Spirit, but was a ceremonial repentance and cleansing in preparation for the coming of the Lord – showing that the Jews needed repentance and cleansing as did Gentiles.

37-51 The Calling of the Disciples

One theory is that the disciples were actually much younger, and were honored to follow a renowned rabbi, and not burdened with families or jobs, so their response is understandable.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.