John 1:1-10

 John 1:1-10

John 1 — The Word Made Flesh

John opens his Gospel differently from Matthew and Luke. He does not begin with Bethlehem. He goes all the way back before creation.

John 1:1–3 — The Word

• “In the beginning was the Word.”
• The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
• All things were made by Him.
• This establishes Christ as eternal—not a created being who came into existence at Bethlehem.

John 1:4–5 — Life and Light

5 for the darkness comprehended it not.

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The darkness could not overcome it.

John is presenting Christ as the source of both life and spiritual light.

John 1:6–13 — Who qas John the Baptist
John the Baptist wasn't the light but was sent by God as a witness to the Light.

verse 9 says that the Light lighteth every man that comes into the world click here to view the moment at conception.

 in verse 11 it speaks of the the light being sent to His own and being rejected by His own. Paul writes in Romans 15:8 and explains what Jesus mission was in that he was sent to His own, the circumcision/Israel, to be a minister confirming the promises made unto the Fathers.

Read more on John the Baptist role.

Isaiah 40:3 → Malachi 3:1 → Malachi 4:5–6 → Matthew 3 → Luke 1 → Luke 3 → Matthew 11.

John himself was not the Light. His job was to point people toward Christ.

But when Christ came into the world, the world did not recognize Him, and His own people did not receive Him. Yet those who received Him were given power to become the sons of God.

John 1:14 — The great statement

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…”

The eternal Word became flesh. John says they beheld His glory.

This is the heart of the chapter: the eternal Son of God entered as flesh into history as Jesus Christ.

John 1:15–18 — Grace and Truth
John the Baptist testified that Christ existed before him, even though John was born first according to the flesh.

Verse 17 gives an important contrast:

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

And verse 18 says that Christ has declared the Father.

John 1:19–34 — John's Witness

The religious leaders questioned John the Baptist about who he was.

John made it clear that he was not the Christ.

He identified himself as:

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord.”

Then John sees Jesus and declares:

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

That is a major introduction to Christ. John is connecting Jesus with the sacrificial Lamb and showing that His work reaches beyond Israel to the world.

John then testifies that he saw the Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove and says:

“And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”

John 1:35–51 — Jesus Begins Calling His Disciples

Two of John's disciples begin following Jesus. One is Andrew, who immediately goes and tells his brother Simon.

Jesus gives Simon the name Cephas, which is Peter.

Then Jesus calls Philip, and Philip finds Nathanael.

Nathanael initially asks:

“Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

Philip simply tells him:

“Come and see.”

Jesus reveals that He already knew Nathanael, and Nathanael responds:

“Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.”

Jesus then tells him that he will see greater things, culminating in the statement about heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

The big picture

John 1 is almost like John's introduction to the entire Gospel. Before John starts telling us what Jesus did, he tells us who Jesus is:

Eternal Word → Creator → Life → Light → Flesh → Son of God → Lamb of God → King of Israel → Son of man