John 1
The chapter in full, then what it says, what the Greek or Hebrew decides, and where readers have disagreed.
John 1 WEB
- 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- 2 The same was in the beginning with God.
- 3 All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.
- 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
- 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it.
- 6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.
- 7 The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him.
- 8 He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light.
- 9 The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
- 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn't recognize him.
- 11 He came to his own, and those who were his own didn't receive him.
- 12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name:
- 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
- 14 The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- 15 John testified about him. He cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.'"
- 16 From his fullness we all received grace upon grace.
- 17 For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
- 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
- 19 This is John's testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
- 20 He declared, and didn't deny, but he declared, "I am not the Christ."
- 21 They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No."
- 22 They said therefore to him, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"
- 23 He said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as Isaiah the prophet said."
- 24 The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees.
- 25 They asked him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?"
- 26 John answered them, "I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don't know.
- 27 He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to loosen."
- 28 These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
- 29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
- 30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.'
- 31 I didn't know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water, that he would be revealed to Israel."
- 32 John testified, saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him.
- 33 I didn't recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.'
- 34 I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."
- 35 Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples,
- 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"
- 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
- 38 Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), "where are you staying?"
- 39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour.
- 40 One of the two who heard John and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
- 41 He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah!" (which is, being interpreted, Christ).
- 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is by interpretation, Peter).
- 43 On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, "Follow me."
- 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
- 45 Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
- 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."
- 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"
- 48 Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."
- 49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!"
- 50 Jesus answered him, "Because I told you, 'I saw you underneath the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these!"
- 51 He said to him, "Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
What is happening
John's Gospel opens differently from Matthew, Mark, or Luke. There is no genealogy, no birth narrative — the fourth evangelist begins before time itself, then moves in a single chapter from eternity to a Galilean fig tree. The chapter falls into three movements: a prologue on the eternal Word (1:1–18), the testimony of John the Baptist (1:19–34), and the first disciples' encounter with Jesus (1:35–51). By the tradition of the church this Gospel is ascribed to John the son of Zebedee, writing later than the other three and assuming a readership that already knows the outline of Jesus' life. The prologue functions as the interpretive key to everything that follows: whatever else this Gospel narrates — signs, discourses, a trial, a cross — it is to be read as the action of the one introduced here.
The passage, walked through
The opening line echoes Genesis — "In the beginning" (Ἐν ἀρχῇ) — but where Genesis begins with God creating, John begins with something already there: "the Word was" (ἦν, imperfect — continuous existence, not a coming-into-being). The Greek states three things in careful sequence: the Word existed in the beginning; the Word was with God (πρὸς τὸν Θεόν — a relation, face to face); and "the Word was God" (Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος). Word order matters here: Θεὸς stands first for emphasis, without the definite article that marks God the Father elsewhere in the sentence. The grammar distinguishes the Word from the Father as a person while affirming full deity — precisely the distinction the church would later formalize at Nicaea. This is not John saying the Word was "a god" or "divine" in some diminished sense; it is the foundation of everything the creeds would later state about the Son's nature.
Verses 3–5 turn to what the Word does: "All things were made through him" — creation itself is the Word's act, not merely God's plan executed by an agent. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (1:4). Verse 5 states a claim that runs through the whole Gospel: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it." The verb κατέλαβεν carries a double sense worth noting — it can mean "overcome" or "grasp/comprehend." Both senses are true of what follows: the world neither defeats the light nor understands it.
John the Baptist is introduced (1:6–8) with a careful negative: "He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light." The evangelist is anxious to subordinate the Baptist immediately — a signal that some in his own day may have overrated John's role.
Verses 9–13 state the tragedy and the exception. "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn't recognize him" (1:10). "He came to his own, and those who were his own didn't receive him" (1:11) — almost certainly Israel specifically, given what follows in the Gospel. But "as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children" (1:12), a birth described three ways by negation and one by affirmation: "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (1:13). This new birth is not biological, not a matter of ethnicity or human decision — it originates entirely from God.
Then the turn the whole prologue has been building toward: "The Word became flesh and lived among us" (1:14) — ἐσκήνωσεν, "tabernacled," a word that recalls God's presence in the tent of meeting in the wilderness. "We saw his glory" — not a metaphor for the disciples' collective memory, but a claim of eyewitness. Verses 16–17 draw the contrast that structures the rest of the Gospel: "the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." This is not a rejection of the law but a claim that something greater than Moses has now arrived. Verse 18 closes the prologue with the claim that grounds it all: "No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son... has declared him" — the Word is not merely a messenger about God but the one who makes God known because he is God.
The second movement (1:19–34) shows the Baptist refusing every messianic title offered him — not the Christ, not Elijah, not "the prophet" — and defining himself only as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (quoting Isaiah 40:3). His testimony climaxes at Jesus' baptism: "I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove... I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God" (1:32, 34).
The third movement (1:35–51) is a chain of introductions — Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathanael — each finding another and bringing him: "We have found the Messiah!" (1:41). Nathanael's skepticism about Nazareth ("Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" 1:46) dissolves the moment Jesus names something he could not have known by ordinary means, prompting the confession "You are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!" (1:49) — echoing the prologue's own claim, now spoken by a human witness.
Where readers have disagreed
The chief crux is 1:1's third clause. Some translations and groups (notably Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation) render it "the Word was a god," arguing from the absence of the article before Θεός. Greek grammarians across the tradition — and most working translators — reject this: the absence of the article on a predicate noun preceding the verb is standard Greek style (Colwell's rule) and does not indicate indefiniteness; it indicates quality — the Word possesses the nature of God fully, while remaining distinct in person from ὁ Θεός, the Father. The creedal reading of the church has never wavered on this point.
A second point of debate concerns 1:9's "true light that enlightens everyone" — whether this implies universal salvation or a general revelation available to all people regardless of hearing the gospel. The text itself does not resolve the question of the unevangelized; it does say plainly that light comes and is met by both reception and rejection (1:11–12), which cuts against reading it as automatic universal enlightenment unto salvation.
What it asks of a reader
The chapter does not ask for an opinion about Jesus; it makes a specific, unavoidable claim and then narrates people meeting it. The Word who made all things becomes flesh and can be touched, questioned, followed. The chapter's own logic will not allow a reader to regard Jesus as merely a great teacher who later got theologized into deity — that is precisely the move the text forecloses in its first verse. What it presses is the same alternative it stages repeatedly in its final section: recognition or failure to recognize, reception or rejection, "the world didn't recognize him" set against "we have found him." Athanasius, in On the Incarnation, states the stakes of the Word's becoming flesh starkly: "God became man so that man might become God" — not that humanity is absorbed into deity, but that the taking of flesh in 1:14 is the hinge on which everything the church has said about salvation turns.
The verses this turns on
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος.
- Ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- ἀρχῇ ἀρχή noun · dative singular feminine G746
- ἦν εἰμί verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- Λόγος, λόγος noun · nominative singular masculine G3056
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- Λόγος λόγος noun · nominative singular masculine G3056
- ἦν εἰμί verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
- πρὸς πρός preposition G4314
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- Θεόν, θεός noun · accusative singular masculine G2316
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
- John 17:5 Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
- Revelation 19:13 He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called "The Word of God."
- Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.
- John 1:14 The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
- ζωὴ ζωή noun · nominative singular feminine G2222
- ἦν, εἰμί verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- ζωὴ ζωή noun · nominative singular feminine G2222
- ἦν εἰμί verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
- τὸ ὁ article · nominative singular neuter G3588
- φῶς φῶς noun · nominative singular neuter G5457
- τῶν ὁ article · genitive plural masculine G3588
- ἀνθρώπων. ἄνθρωπος noun · genitive plural masculine G444
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 8:12 Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."
- John 12:46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.
- 1 John 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
- John 5:26 For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
- John 9:5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος, ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ Θεοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάνης·
- Ἐγένετο γίνομαι verb · aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular G1096
- ἄνθρωπος, ἄνθρωπος noun · nominative singular masculine G444
- ἀπεσταλμένος ἀποστέλλω verb · perfect passive participle, nominative singular masculine G649
- παρὰ παρά preposition G3844
- Θεοῦ, θεός noun · genitive singular masculine G2316
- ὄνομα ὄνομα noun · nominative singular neuter G3686
- αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
- Ἰωάνης· Ἰωάννης noun · nominative singular masculine G2491
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Malachi 3:1 "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me! The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Behold, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, is coming!" says Yahweh of Armies.
- John 3:28 You yourselves testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before him.'
- Isaiah 40:3 The voice of one who calls out, "Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
- Acts 13:24 before his coming, when John had first preached the baptism of repentance to Israel.
- John 1:33 I didn't recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.'
The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.
- Ἦν εἰμί verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
- τὸ ὁ article · nominative singular neuter G3588
- φῶς φῶς noun · nominative singular neuter G5457
- τὸ ὁ article · nominative singular neuter G3588
- ἀληθινὸν, ἀληθινός adjective · nominative singular neuter G228
- ὃ ὅς relative pronoun · nominative singular neuter G3739
- φωτίζει φωτίζω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G5461
- πάντα πᾶς adjective · accusative singular masculine G3956
- ἄνθρωπον, ἄνθρωπος noun · accusative singular masculine G444
- ἐρχόμενον ἔρχομαι verb · present middle or passive deponent participle, accusative singular masculine G2064
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 12:46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.
- John 1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
- 1 John 2:8 Again, I write a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines.
- Isaiah 49:6 Indeed, he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth."
- 1 Thessalonians 5:4 But you, brothers, aren't in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief.
He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn't recognize him.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν, καὶ ὁ κόσμος δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνω.
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
- κόσμῳ κόσμος noun · dative singular masculine G2889
- ἦν, εἰμί verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- κόσμος κόσμος noun · nominative singular masculine G2889
- δι’ διά preposition G1223
- αὐτοῦ αὐτός personal pronoun · genitive singular masculine G846
- ἐγένετο, γίνομαι verb · aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular G1096
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 17:25 Righteous Father, the world hasn't known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
- 1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn't know us, because it didn't know him.
- 1 Corinthians 2:8 which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory.
- 1 Corinthians 1:21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn't know God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.
- Matthew 11:27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
He came to his own, and those who were his own didn't receive him.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθεν, καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον.
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- τὰ ὁ article · accusative plural neuter G3588
- ἴδια ἴδιος adjective · accusative plural neuter G2398
- ἦλθεν, ἔρχομαι verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular G2064
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
- ἴδιοι ἴδιος adjective · nominative plural masculine G2398
- αὐτὸν αὐτός personal pronoun · accusative singular masculine G846
- οὐ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- παρέλαβον. παραλαμβάνω verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural G3880
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Luke 19:14 But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, 'We don't want this man to reign over us.'
- Isaiah 53:2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
- John 3:32 What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.
- Acts 7:51 "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Luke 20:13 The lord of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.'
But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name:discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτόν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ,
- ὅσοι ὅσος correlative pronoun · nominative plural masculine G3745
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- ἔλαβον λαμβάνω verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural G2983
- αὐτόν, αὐτός personal pronoun · accusative singular masculine G846
- ἔδωκεν δίδωμι verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular G1325
- αὐτοῖς αὐτός personal pronoun · dative plural masculine G846
- ἐξουσίαν ἐξουσία noun · accusative singular feminine G1849
- τέκνα τέκνον noun · nominative plural neuter G5043
- Θεοῦ θεός noun · genitive singular masculine G2316
- γενέσθαι, γίνομαι verb · aorist middle deponent infinitive G1096
- τοῖς ὁ article · dative plural masculine G3588
- πιστεύουσιν πιστεύω verb · present active participle, dative plural masculine G4100
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Galatians 3:26 For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
- Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.
- 1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn't know us, because it didn't know him.
- 2 Corinthians 6:17 Therefore "'Come out from among them, and be separate,' says the Lord. 'Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you.
- Galatians 4:6 And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba, Father!"
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς ἀλλ’ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν.
- οἳ ὅς relative pronoun · nominative plural masculine G3739
- οὐκ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- ἐξ ἐκ preposition G1537
- αἱμάτων αἷμα noun · genitive plural neuter G129
- οὐδὲ οὐδέ conjunction · nominative G3761
- ἐκ ἐκ preposition G1537
- θελήματος θέλημα noun · genitive singular neuter G2307
- σαρκὸς σάρξ noun · genitive singular feminine G4561
- οὐδὲ οὐδέ conjunction · nominative G3761
- ἐκ ἐκ preposition G1537
- θελήματος θέλημα noun · genitive singular neuter G2307
- ἀνδρὸς ἀνήρ noun · genitive singular masculine G435
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- James 1:18 Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
- 1 John 3:9 Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can't sin, because he is born of God.
- 1 Peter 1:23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.
- 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
- John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can't enter into God's Kingdom.
From the interpretive tradition
God became man so that man might become God.
The Scriptures are the product of the Spirit of God, and are therefore in the highest and truest sense the Word of God, though given through the instrumentality of men.