Chapter 1

[Rabbi Eric]

ACCORDING TO JOHN

The Word Became Flesh
   1.1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2. He was with God in the beginning.  3. All things came through Him, and there was not one thing that came into being without His participation. (Wsd 9:1) What had come 4. in Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind: 5. and the Light shines in the darkness, nevertheless the darkness has not appropriated it (Jn 3:19).
   1:6. There was a man who was sent from God, his name was John: 7. he came in witness so that he could testify concerning the Light, so that all would believe through him.  8. He was not that Light, but he came so that he would bear witness concerning the Light.  9. When He came into the world, He was the true Light, He gave light to all mankind.  10. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, but the world did not know Him.  11. He came among His own people, but His own did not receive Him.  12. And so many as did receive Him, He gave them authority to become children of God, to those who believed  in His name, 13. they are not from blood  and not from the desire of flesh and not from the will of man but were begotten from God.
   1:14. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we saw His glory, glory in the same manner as the only child of the Father, full of grace and truth.  15. John bore witness concerning Him and cried out saying, “This One was He of Whom I said, ‘The One Who is coming after Me has been before me, because He is more prominent than I.  16. Because we all took grace upon grace from His fullness: 17. for the Torah  was given through Moses, but the grace and the truth came through Jesus Messiah.  18. No one has ever seen God: the only Son of God, the One Who was in the bosom of the Father.  That One declared Him.’”

The Testimony of John the Baptist
(Mt 3:1-12, Mk 1:2-8, Lk 3:15-17)
   1:19. And this was the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem so that they could ask him, “Who are you?”  20. And he confessed and would not deny, but he confessed, “I myself am not the Messiah.”  21. And they asked him, “Then who are you?  Are you Elijah?”   And he said, “I am not.”  “Are you the prophet?”  And he answered, “No!”  22. Then they said to him, “Who are you?  So that we could give an answer to those who sent us: what do you say about yourself?”  23. He said,
   “I am ‘a voice crying in the wilderness,
      you must now make straight the way of the Lord,’ (Is 40:3)
just as Isaiah the prophet said.”  24. And those who had been sent were from the Pharisees.  25. And they asked him and said to him, “Then why are you baptizing  if you are not the Messiah and not Elijah or the prophet?”  26. John answered them saying, “I am baptizing in water: among you stands Whom you do not know, 27. the One Who comes after me, of Whom I myself am not worthy to loosen the strap of His sandal.”  28. And these things happened in Bethany,  across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God
   1:29. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, the One Who takes away the sin of the world.  30. This is concerning Whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me Who was before me, because He is more prominent than I.’  31. And I had not known Him, but, so that He would be revealed to Israel through this, I came baptizing in water.”  32. And John testified, saying that “I had seen the Spirit descending from heaven as a dove and it was staying on Him.  33. And I would not have known Him, but the One Who sent me to baptize in water, that One said to me ‘Upon whomever you would see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, He is the One Who baptizes  in the Holy Spirit.’  34. And I saw and I had borne witness that this One is the Son of God.”

The First Disciples
   1:35. The next day John and two of his disciples again stood 36. and when he looked at Jesus walking he said, “You must now behold the Lamb of God.”  37. And the two disciples heard him speaking and they became disciples of Jesus.  38. And when Jesus turned around and saw them following Him He said to them, “Whom are you seeking?”  And they said to Him, “Rabbi,” which being interpreted says “Teacher,”  “Where are You staying?”  39. He said to them, “You must come and see.”  Therefore they came and they saw where He was staying and they stayed with Him that day: it was about the tenth hour.   40. Andrew, one of the two who heard from John, was the brother of Simon Peter, and after that they followed Him: 41. first he found his own brother Simon, then said to him, “We have found the Meshiach,”  which is translated Messiah:  42. he led him to Jesus.  When He looked at him Jesus said, “You are Simon the son of John.  You shall be called Cephas,”  which is interpreted Peter.

The calling of Philip and Nathaniel
   1:43. The next day He wanted to come out to Galilee and He found Philip.  And Jesus said to him, “You must continually follow Me.”  44. And Philip was from Bethsaida,  from the city of Andrew and Peter.  45. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, “We have found about Whom Moses and the Prophets wrote in the Torah,  Jesus, son of Joseph, the One from Nazareth.”  46. And Nathaniel said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”  Philip said to him, “You must come and see.”  47. And Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward Him and said concerning him, “Behold a true Israeli in whom there is no deceit.”  48. And Nathaniel said to Him, “How do You know me?”  Jesus answered and said to him, “I saw you while you were under the fig tree before Philip called you.”  49. Nathaniel answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are King of Israel.”  50. Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree?  You will see better things than these.”  51. And He said to him, “Most assuredly I say to you, you will see heaven when it opens and the angels of God are ascending from and descending  upon the Son of Man.”
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  (Title) Written about 85 AD. John has a style of writing all his own among the New Testament authors. He uses many similes and metaphors, with Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Light, the Word, the Bread and the Blood, the Good Shepherd and the Resurrection and the Life. This style is very apparent in the Book of Revelation as well as the Gospel. See John in Book Order in Glossary.
  (v.5) The forces of darkness still harden themselves against the Light of God’s Word.
  (v.12) Jesus and all who were listening knew that “believe” required action, a change in behavior. Relationship as a child of God is not an intellectual exercise, but real as with an earthly parent. The difference is that our Heavenly Father is perfect.
  (v.13) Human procreation
  (v.17) Torah means teaching or instruction. See Torah in Glossary.
  (v.25) Baptism was self-immersion, so John preached and those who responded to his message went into the river, immersing for purification. See Baptize in Glossary.
  (v.28) Bethany is the Greek spelling of Beit-Anyah, meaning House of Sighing in Hebrew, but note that this is not the Bethany near Jerusalem.
  (v.33) Immerses, with the present tense meaning He is still immersing people today.
  (v.39) 4:00 PM
  (v.41) This is Hebrew for Messiah or Anointed One. See Christ in Glossary.
  (v.41) Messiah is the translation of the Greek word Xristos or Christos. See Christ in Glossary.
  (v.42) Cephas is the Latin spelling of Kefa, an Aramaic word meaning Rock. See Cephas in Glossary.
  (v.42) A masculine form of the feminine Greek word meaning Rock. In the NT the masculine form is used only for Peter’s name.
  (v.44) Bethsaida is the Greek spelling of Beit-Tside, which in Hebrew means House or Place of Fishing, literally hunting, but including fishing. There were two cities named Bethsaida, this one on the west side of the lake, just south of Capernaum, and the other on the northeast side of the lake, about seven or eight miles from Capernaum.
  (v.45) This is a reference to the entire Old Testament. See Torah in Glossary.
  (v.51) To have the angels ascend first means they are on the Earth to start with.