John 1:15

John 1:15

13 ^awho were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Word Becomes Flesh

14 ^aAnd the Word ^bbecame ^cflesh and dwelt among us, and ^dwe beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, ^efull of grace and truth.

15 ^aJohn bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ^b‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, ^cfor He was before me.’ ”

16 And of His ^afullness we have all received, and grace for grace.

17 For ^athe law was given through Moses, but ^bgrace and ^ctruth came through Jesus Christ.

18 ^aNo one has seen God at any time. ^bThe only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

A Voice in the Wilderness

19 Now this is ^athe testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

20 ^aHe confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you ^athe Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

23 He said: ^a“I am
^b‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.

25 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 John answered them, saying, ^a“I baptize with water, ^bbut there stands One among you whom you do not know.

27 ^aIt is He who, coming after me,¹ is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

28 These things were done ^ain Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! ^aThe Lamb of God ^bwho takes away the sin of the world!

30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who¹ is preferred before me, for He was before me.’

31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, ^atherefore I came baptizing with water.”

32 ^aAnd John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.

33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, ^athis is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

34 And I have seen and testified that this is the ^aSon of God.”

The First Disciples

35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.

36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, ^a“Behold the Lamb of God!”

37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they ^afollowed Jesus.

38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?”

39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).

Commentaries:

Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)

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Beareth witness (marturei). Historical (dramatic) present indicative of this characteristic word in John (cf. John 1:17 f.). See John 1:32, John 1:34 for historical examples of John's witness to Christ. This sentence is a parenthesis in Westcott and Hort's text, though the Revised Version makes a parenthesis of most of verse John 1:14. The witness of John is adduced in proof of the glory full of grace and truth already claimed for the Incarnate Logos.

Crieth (kekragen). Second perfect active indicative of krazw, old verb for loud crying, repeated in dramatic form again for emphasis recalling the wonderful Voice in the wilderness which the Beloved Disciple can still hear echoing through the years.

This was (outov hn). Imperfect indicative where John throws the tense back in past time when he looked forward to the coming of the Messiah as in Acts 3:10 where we should prefer "is" (estin). Gildersleeve (Syntax, p. 96) calls this the "imperfect of sudden appreciation of the real state of things."

Of whom I said (on eipon). But B C and a corrector of Aleph (Westcott and Hort) have o eipwn "the one who said," a parenthetical explanation about the Baptist, not the words of the Baptist about Christ.

After me (opisw mou). See also John 1:27. Later in time John means. He described "the Coming One" (o erxomenov) before he saw Jesus. The language of John here is precisely that in Matthew 3:11 o opisw mou erxomenov (cf. Mark 1:7). The Beloved Disciple had heard the Baptist say these very words, but he also had the Synoptic Gospels.

Is become (gegonen). Second perfect active indicative of ginomai. It is already an actual fact when the Baptist is speaking.

Before me (emprosqen mou). In rank and dignity, the Baptist means, o isxuroterov mou "the one mightier than I" (Mark 1:7) and isxuroterov mou "mightier than I" (Matthew 3:11). In John 3:28 emprosqen ekeinou (before him, the Christ) does mean priority in time, but not here. This superior dignity of the Messiah John proudly recognizes always (John 3:25-30).

For he was before me (oti prwtov mou hn). Paradox, but clear. He had always been (hn imperfect) before John in his Pre-incarnate state, but "after" John in time of the Incarnation, but always ahead of John in rank immediately on his Incarnation. Prwtov mou (superlative with ablative) occurs here when only two are compared as is common in the vernacular Koin‚. So the Beloved Disciple came first (prwtov) to the tomb, ahead of Peter (John 20:4). So also prwton umwn in John 15:18 means "before you" as if it were proteron umwn. Verse John 1:30 repeats these words almost exactly.

**Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing John 1:15:**

John 1:30
John 1:32
John 3:28
John 15:18
Acts 1:1
Acts 19:4
1 John 1:2
Revelation 7:14

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