Jn1-18 NAB http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/john/john1.htm#foot1
1 [1-18] The prologue states the main themes of the gospel: life,
light, truth, the world, testimony, and the preexistence of Jesus Christ, the
incarnate Logos, who reveals God the Father. In origin, it was probably an
early Christian hymn. Its closest parallel is in other christological
hymns, Col
1:15-20 and Philippians
2:6-11. Its core (John
1:1-5, 10-11,
14) is poetic
in structure, with short phrases linked by "staircase parallelism,"
in which the last word of one phrase becomes the first word of the next. Prose
inserts (at least John
1:6-8, 15)
deal with John the Baptist.
2 [1] In the
beginning: also the first words of the Old Testament (Genesis 1:1).
Was: this verb is used three times with different meanings in this verse:
existence, relationship, and predication. The Word (Greek logos): this term
combines God's dynamic, creative word (Genesis), personified preexistent Wisdom
as the instrument of God's creative activity (Proverbs), and the ultimate
intelligibility of reality (Hellenistic philosophy). With God: the Greek
preposition here connotes communication with another. Was
God: lack of a definite article with "God" in Greek signifies
predication rather than identification.
3 [1] What came to be: while the oldest
manuscripts have no punctuation here, the corrector of Bodmer
Papyrus P75, some manuscripts, and the Ante-Nicene Fathers take this phrase
with what follows, as staircase parallelism. Connection with John 1:3 reflects
fourth-century anti-Arianism.
4 [5] The ethical
dualism of light and darkness is paralleled in intertestamental
literature and in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Overcome: "comprehend" is
another possible translation, but cf John 12:35; Wisdom 7:29-30.
5 [6] John was sent just as Jesus was
"sent" (John
4:34) in divine mission. Other references to John the Baptist in this
gospel emphasize the differences between them and John's subordinate role.
6 [7] Testimony: the testimony theme of John is
introduced, which portrays Jesus as if on trial throughout his ministry. All
testify to Jesus: John the Baptist, the Samaritan woman, scripture, his works,
the crowds, the Spirit, and his disciples.
7 [11] What was his
own . . . his own people: first a neuter, literally, "his own
property/possession" (probably =
8 [13] Believers in Jesus become children of
God not through any of the three natural causes mentioned but through God who
is the immediate cause of the new spiritual life. Were born:
the Greek verb can mean "begotten" (by a male) or "born"
(from a female or of parents). The variant "he who was
begotten," asserting Jesus' virginal conception, is weakly attested in Old
Latin and Syriac versions.
9 [14] Flesh: the whole person, used probably
against docetic tendencies (cf
1 John 4:2; 1:7). Made his dwelling: literally, "pitched his
tent/tabernacle." Cf the tabernacle or
tent of meeting that was the place of God's presence among his people (Exodus 25:8-9).
The incarnate Word is the new mode of God's presence among his people. The
Greek verb has the same consonants as the Aramaic word for God's presence (Shekinah). Glory: God's visible manifestation of majesty in
power, which once filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34)
and the temple (1
Kings 8:10-11, 27), is now
centered in Jesus. Only Son: Greek, monogenes, but see the note on John 1:18. Grace
and truth: these words may represent two Old Testament terms describing Yahweh
in covenant relationship with
10 [15] This verse,
interrupting John
1:14, 16
seems drawn from John
1:30.
11 [16] Grace in place of grace: replacement
of the Old Covenant with the New (cf John 1:17). Other
possible translations are "grace upon grace" (accumulation) and
"grace for grace" (correspondence).
12 [18] The only Son, God: while the vast
majority of later textual witnesses have another reading, "the Son, the
only one" or "the only Son," the translation above follows the
best and earliest manuscripts, monogenes theos, but takes the first term to mean not just "Only
One" but to include a filial relationship with the Father, as at Luke 9:38
("only child") or Hebrews 11:17
("only son") and as translated at John 1:14. The
Logos is thus "only Son" and God but not Father/God.
13 [19-51] The
testimony of John the Baptist about the Messiah and Jesus' self-revelation to
the first disciples. This section constitutes the introduction to the gospel
proper and is connected with the prose inserts in the prologue. It develops the
major theme of testimony in four scenes: John's negative testimony about
himself; his positive testimony about Jesus; the revelation of Jesus to Andrew
and Peter; the revelation of Jesus to Philip and Nathanael.
14 [19] The Jews: throughout most of the
gospel, the "Jews" does not refer to the Jewish people as such but to
the hostile authorities, both Pharisees and Sadducees, particularly in
Jerusalem, who refuse to believe in Jesus. The usage reflects the atmosphere,
at the end of the first century, of polemics between church and synagogue, or
possibly it refers to Jews as representative of a hostile world (John 1:10-11).
15 [20] Messiah: the anointed agent of Yahweh, usually considered to be of Davidic descent. See
further the note on John
1:41.
16 [21] Elijah: the Baptist did not claim to
be Elijah returned to earth (cf Malachi 3:23;
Matthew
11:14). The Prophet: probably the prophet like Moses (Deut
18:15; cf Acts 3:22).
17 [23] This is a repunctuation and reinterpretation (as in the synoptic
gospels and Septuagint) of the Hebrew text of Isaiah 40:3
which reads, "A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the
Lord."
18 [24] Some Pharisees: other translations,
such as "Now they had been sent from the Pharisees," misunderstand
the grammatical construction. This is a different group from that in John 1:19; the
priests and Levites would have been Sadducees, not Pharisees.
19 [26] I baptize with water: the synoptics add "but he will baptize you with the holy Spirit" (Mark 1:8) or
". . . holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11;
Luke 3:16).
John's emphasis is on purification and preparation for a better baptism.
20 [28]
21 [29] The Lamb of God: the background for
this title may be the victorious apocalyptic lamb who would destroy evil in the
world (Rev 5-7; 17:14);
the paschal lamb, whose blood saved Israel (Exodus 12); and/or the suffering
servant led like a lamb to the slaughter as a sin-offering (Isaiah 53:7, 10).
22 [30] He existed before me: possibly as
Elijah (to come, John
1:27); for the evangelist and his audience, Jesus' preexistence would be
implied (see the note on John 1:1).
23 [31] I did not know him: this gospel shows
no knowledge of the tradition (Luke 1) about the kinship of Jesus and John the
Baptist. The reason why I came baptizing with water: in this gospel, John's
baptism is not connected with forgiveness of sins; its purpose is revelatory,
that Jesus may be made known to
24 [32] Like a dove: a symbol of the new
creation (Genesis
8:8) or the community of
25 [34] The Son of God: this reading is
supported by good Greek manuscripts, including the Chester Beatty and Bodmer Papyri and the Vatican Codex, but is suspect because
it harmonizes this passage with the synoptic version: "This is my beloved
Son" (Matthew
3:17; Mark 1:11;
Luke 3:22). The
poorly attested alternate reading, "God's chosen One,"
is probably a reference to the Servant of Yahweh (Isaiah 42:1).
26 [36] John the Baptist's testimony makes his
disciples' following of Jesus plausible.
27 [37] The two
disciples: Andrew (John
1:40) and, traditionally, John, son of Zebedee
(see the note on John
13:23).
28 [39] Four in the
afternoon: literally, the tenth hour, from sunrise, in the Roman calculation of
time. Some suggest that the next day, beginning at sunset, was the sabbath; they would have stayed
with Jesus to avoid travel on it.
29 [41] Messiah: the Hebrew word masiah, "anointed one" (see the note on Luke 2:11),
appears in Greek as the transliterated messias
only here and in John
4:25. Elsewhere the Greek translation christos
is used.
30 [42] Simon, the son of John: in Matthew 16:17,
Simon is called Bariona, "son of Jonah," a
different tradition for the name of Simon's father. Cephas:
in Aramaic = the Rock; cf Matthew 16:18.
Neither the Greek equivalent Petros nor, with one
isolated exception, Cephas is attested as a personal
name before Christian times.
31 [43] He: grammatically, could be Peter, but
logically is probably Jesus.
32
[47] A true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him: Jacob was the first
to bear the name "
33 [48] Under the fig
tree: a symbol of messianic peace (cf Micah 4:4; Zechariah
3:10).
34 [49] Son of God: this title is used in the
Old Testament, among other ways, as a title of adoption for the Davidic king (2 Sam 7:14; Psalm 2:7; 89:27), and
thus here, with King of Israel, in a messianic sense. For the evangelist, Son
of God also points to Jesus' divinity (cf John 20:28).
35 [50] Possibly a
statement: "You [singular] believe because I saw you under the fig
tree."
36 [51] The double
"Amen" is characteristic of John. You is
plural in Greek. The allusion is to Jacob's ladder (Genesis 28:12).
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