In the beginning--of all time and created existence, for this Word gave it being (Joh 1:3, Joh 1:10); therefore, "before the world was" (Joh 17:5, Joh 17:24); or, from all eternity.
was the Word--He who is to God what man's word is to himself, the manifestation or expression of himself to those without him. (See on Joh 1:18). On the origin of this most lofty and now for ever consecrated title of Christ, this is not the place to speak. It occurs only in the writings of this seraphic apostle.
was with God--having a conscious personal existence distinct from God (as one is from the person he is "with"), but inseparable from Him and associated with Him (Joh 1:18; Joh 17:5; Jo1 1:2), where "THE FATHER" is used in the same sense as "GOD" here.
was God--in substance and essence GOD; or was possessed of essential or proper divinity. Thus, each of these brief but pregnant statements is the complement of the other, correcting any misapprehensions which the others might occasion. Was the Word eternal? It was not the eternity of "the Father," but of a conscious personal existence distinct from Him and associated with Him. Was the Word thus "with God?" It was not the distinctness and the fellowship of another being, as if there were more Gods than one, but of One who was Himself God--in such sense that the absolute unity of the God head, the great principle of all religion, is only transferred from the region of shadowy abstraction to the region of essential life and love. But why all this definition? Not to give us any abstract information about certain mysterious distinctions in the Godhead, but solely to let the reader know who it was that in the fulness of time "was made flesh." After each verse, then, the reader must say, "It was He who is thus, and thus, and thus described, who was made flesh."
without Him was not any thing--not one thing.
made--brought into being.
that was made--This is a denial of the eternity and non-creation of matter, which was held by the whole thinking world outside of Judaism and Christianity: or rather, its proper creation was never so much as dreamt of save by the children of revealed religion.
the life . . . the light of men--All that in men which is true light--knowledge, integrity, intelligent, willing subjection to God, love to Him and to their fellow creatures, wisdom, purity, holy joy, rational happiness--all this "light of men" has its fountain in the essential original "life" of "the Word" (Jo1 1:5-7; Psa 36:9).
the darkness comprehended it not--did not take it in, a brief summary of the effect of all the strivings of this unincarnate Word throughout this wide world from the beginning, and a hint of the necessity of His putting on flesh, if any recovery of men was to be effected (Co1 1:21).
and his own--"His own (people)"; for now the word is masculine. It means the Jews, as the "peculiar people." Both they and their land, with all that this included, were "HIS OWN," not so much as part of "the world which was made by Him," but as "THE HEIR" of the inheritance (Luk 20:14; see also on Mat 22:1).
received him not--nationally, as God's chosen witnesses.
gave he power--The word signifies both authority and ability, and both are certainly meant here.
to become--Mark these words: Jesus is the Son of God; He is never said to have become such.
the sons--or more simply, "sons of God," in name and in nature.
believe on his name--a phrase never used in Scripture of any mere creature, to express the credit given to human testimony, even of prophets or apostles, inasmuch it carries with it the idea of trust proper only towards GOD. In this sense of supreme faith, as due to Him who "gives those that believe in Himself power to become sons of God," it is manifestly used here.
not of blood, &c.--not of superior human descent, not of human generation at all, not of man in any manner of way. By this elaborate threefold denial of the human source of this sonship, immense force is given to what follows,
but of God--Right royal gift, and He who confers must be absolutely divine. For who would not worship Him who can bring him into the family, and evoke within him the very life, of the sons of God?
was made flesh--BECAME MAN, in man's present frail, mortal condition, denoted by the word "flesh" (Isa 40:6; Pe1 1:24). It is directed probably against the DocetÃ&brvbr;, who held that Christ was not really but only apparently man; against whom this gentle spirit is vehement in his Epistles (Jo1 4:3; Jo2 1:7, Jo2 1:10-11), [LUCKE, &c.]. Nor could He be too much so, for with the verity of the Incarnation all substantial Christianity vanishes. But now, married to our nature, henceforth He is as personally conscious of all that is strictly human as of all that is properly divine; and our nature is in His Person redeemed and quickened, ennobled and transfigured.
and dwelt--tabernacled or pitched his tent; a word peculiar to John, who uses it four times, all in the sense of a permanent stay (Rev 7:15; Rev 12:12; Rev 13:6; Rev 21:3). For ever wedded to our "flesh," He has entered this tabernacle to "go no more out." The allusion is to that tabernacle where dwelt the Shekinah (see on Mat 23:38-39), or manifested "GLORY OF THE LORD," and with reference to God's permanent dwelling among His people (Lev 26:11; Psa 68:18; Psa 132:13-14; Eze 37:27). This is put almost beyond doubt by what immediately follows, "And we beheld his glory" [LUCKE, MEYER, DE WETTE which last critic, rising higher than usual, says that thus were perfected all former partial manifestations of God in an essentially Personal and historically Human manifestation].
full of grace and truth--So it should read: "He dwelt among us full of grace and truth"; or, in Old Testament phrase, "Mercy and truth," denoting the whole fruit of God's purposes of love towards sinners of mankind, which until now existed only in promise, and the fulfilment at length of that promise in Christ; in one great word, "the SURE MERCIES of David" (Isa 55:3; Act 13:34; compare Sa2 23:5). In His Person all that Grace and Truth which had been floating so long in shadowy forms, and darting into the souls of the poor and needy its broken beams, took everlasting possession of human flesh and filled it full. By this Incarnation of Grace and Truth, the teaching of thousands of years was at once transcended and beggared, and the family of God sprang into Manhood.
and we beheld his glory--not by the eye of sense, which saw in Him only "the carpenter." His glory was "spiritually discerned" (Co1 2:7-15; Co2 3:18; Co2 4:4, Co2 4:6; Co2 5:16) --the glory of surpassing grace, love, tenderness, wisdom, purity, spirituality; majesty and meekness, richness and poverty, power and weakness, meeting together in unique contrast; ever attracting and at times ravishing the "babes" that followed and forsook all for Him.
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father--(See on Luk 1:35); not like, but "such as (belongs to)," such as became or was befitting the only begotten of the Father [CHRYSOSTOM in LUCKE, CALVIN, &c.], according to a well-known use of the word "as."
after me--in official manifestation.
before me--in rank and dignity.
for he was before me--in existence; "His goings forth being from of old, from everlasting" (Mic 5:2). (Anything lower than this His words cannot mean); that is, "My Successor is my Superior, for He was my Predecessor." This enigmatic play upon the different senses of the words "before" and "after" was doubtless employed by the Baptist to arrest attention, and rivet the thought; and the Evangelist introduces it just to clinch his own statements.
of his fulness--of "grace and truth," resuming the thread of Joh 1:14.
grace for grace--that is, grace upon grace (so all the best interpreters), in successive communications and larger measures, as each was able to take it in. Observe, the word "truth" is here dropped. "Grace" being the chosen New Testament word for the whole fulness of the new covenant, all that dwells in Christ for men.
hath seen God--by immediate gaze, or direct intuition.
in the bosom of the Father--A remarkable expression, used only here, presupposing the Son's conscious existence distinct from the Father, and expressing His immediate and most endeared access to, and absolute acquaintance with, Him.
he--emphatic; As if he should say, "He and He only hath declared Him," because He only can.
record--testimony.
the Jews--that is, the heads of the nation, the members of the Sanhedrim. In this peculiar sense our Evangelist seems always to use the term.
that prophet--announced in Deu 18:15, &c., about whom they seem not to have been agreed whether he were the same with the Messiah or no.
coming unto him--as to congenial company (Act 4:23), and to receive from him His first greeting.
and saith--catching a sublime inspiration at the sight of Him approaching.
the Lamb of God--the one God-ordained, God-gifted sacrificial offering.
that taketh away--taketh up and taketh away. The word signifies both, as does the corresponding Hebrew word. Applied to sin, it means to be chargeable with the guilt of it (Exo 28:38; Lev 5:1; Eze 18:20), and to bear it away (as often). In the Levitical victims both ideas met, as they do in Christ, the people's guilt being viewed as transferred to them, avenged in their death, and so borne away by them (Lev 4:15; Lev 16:15, Lev 16:21-22; and compare Isa 53:6-12; Co2 5:21).
the sin--The singular number being used to mark the collective burden and all-embracing efficacy.
of the world--not of Israel only, for whom the typical victims were exclusively offered. Wherever there shall live a sinner throughout the wide world, sinking under that burden too heavy for him to bear, he shall find in this "Lamb of God," a shoulder equal to the weight. The right note was struck at the first--balm, doubtless, to Christ's own spirit; nor was ever after, or ever will be, a more glorious utterance.
as he walked--but not now to him. To have done this once (see on Joh 1:29) was humility enough [BENGEL].
Behold, &c.--The repetition of that wonderful proclamation, in identical terms and without another word, could only have been meant as a gentle hint to go after Him--as they did.
What seek ye--gentle, winning question, remarkable as the Redeemer's first public utterance. (See on Mat 12:18-20.)
where dwellest thou--that is, "That is a question we cannot answer in a moment; but had we Thy company for a calm hour in private, gladly should we open our burden."
tenth hour--not ten A.M. (as some), according to Roman, but four P.M., according to Jewish reckoning, which John follows. The hour is mentioned to show why they stayed out the day with him--because little of it remained.
Peter's brother--and the elder of the two.
beheld him--fixed his eyes on him, with significant gaze (as Joh 1:36).
Cephas . . . stone--(See on Mat 16:18).
Follow me--the first express call given, the former three having come to Him spontaneously.
Moses--(See Joh 5:46).
son of Joseph--the current way of speaking. (See Luk 3:23).
Come and see--Noble remedy against preconceived opinions [BENGEL]. Philip, though he could not perhaps solve his difficulty, could show him how to get rid of it. (See on Joh 6:68).
Before Philip called thee--showing He knew all that passed between Philip and him at a distance.
when . . . under the fig tree, &c.--where retirement for meditation and prayer was not uncommon [LIGHTFOOT]. Thither, probably--hearing that his master's Master had at length appeared, and heaving with mingled eagerness to behold Him and dread of deception--he had retired to pour out his guileless heart for light and guidance, ending with such a prayer as this, "Show me a token for good!" (See on Luk 2:8). Now he has it, "Thou guileless one, that fig tree scene, with all its heaving anxieties, deep pleadings and tremulous hopes--I saw it all." The first words of Jesus had astonished, but this quite overpowered and won him.