John
In the beginning was the word,
and the word
was with
God, and
the word was fully expressive of God Himself.
This was with God in the
beginning.
Everything came into existence through it, and without it nothing
of what came into being existed.
In it there was life and that life was the
light of men.
And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not
overwhelm it.
There came on the scene of history a man sent from God.
His name
was John.
This man came as a witness
so that he might bear witness to
the Light and that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the Light
himself, but he witnessed concerning the Light.
This was the genuine Light, which enlightens every person, coming into the
world.
He was in the world and the world came into existence through
him, and the world did not recognize him,
the Light.
He came to his own
land and his own people did not accept him.
As many, however, as did
accept him, to these he gave the right to become children of God —
namely the ones believing in his Gospel revelation.
These were born not
from blood, nor from the desire of the flesh, nor from the desire of a male,
but from God.
And the word became a human being
and tabernacled
among us, and we saw his glory, the glory such as a uniquely begotten
Son enjoys from his Father,
full of grace and truth.
John gave his witness
concerning him and cried out with these words, “This was the one of whom I
said, ‘The one coming after me has now moved ahead of me, because he
always was my superior.’”
For from his fullness all of us have received
grace and more grace.
For the Law was given through Moses, but grace
and truth came through Jesus Messiah.
No one has seen God at any time. A
uniquely begotten Son,
one who is in the bosom of the Father — he
has explained God.
And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent a commission of
priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
And
he confessed and did not deny, “I am not the Messiah.”
And they asked
him, “Who are you? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the
expected prophet?” He answered, “No.”
And they said to him, “Who are
you? Tell us so that we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you
say about yourself?”
He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the
wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet
spoke.”
The ones sent were from the Pharisees.
And they asked him a further
question, “Why do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, or Elijah or the
prophet who was to come?”
John answered them, “I am baptizing in water. Among you there stands one whom you do not recognize —
the one
coming after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
These things happened in Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was
baptizing.
The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and he said, “This is the
lamb of God, the one who removes the sin of the world.
This is the one
of whom I said, ‘After me there comes a man who has now moved ahead of
me, because he was always my superior.’
And I did not recognize him,
but so that he might be recognized by Israel, for that reason I came baptizing
with water.”
And John witnessed with these words: “I saw the spirit
descending as a dove out of heaven and remaining on him,
and I did not
recognize him. But the one who sent me to baptize in water spoke to me and
said, ‘The one on whom you see the spirit descending and remaining on him,
he is the one who is baptizing with holy spirit.’
And I saw this, and I
have witnessed to the fact that this is the Son of God.”
The next day John stood with two of his disciples,
and seeing Jesus
walking by, he said, “This is the lamb of God.”
And John’s two
disciples heard him speaking and followed Jesus.
Jesus, turning round and
seeing them following him, said, “What are you looking for?” They said,
“Rabbi (which translated means teacher), where are you staying?”
And he
said to them, “Come and see.” And so they went and saw where he was
staying and remained with him that whole day. It was about four in the
afternoon.
This was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, one of the two
who had heard from John and followed Jesus.
He first found his brother
Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated
means the Christ).
He brought him to Jesus, and Jesus looked at him and
said, “You are Simon the son of John. You will be called Cephas,” which
translated
means Peter.
The next day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and he found Philip and said
to him, “Follow me.”
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew
and Peter.
Philip then found Nathanael and said to him, “The one about
whom Moses wrote in the Law and whom the prophets predicted, we have
found, Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
Nathanael said to him, “Can
anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said, “Come and see.”
Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him and remarked, “Look, a genuine
Israelite in whom there is no guile.”
Nathanael said to him, “How is it that
you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you
under the fig tree.”
Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of
God; you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus answered him with these words:
“Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, you are a believer? You
will see greater things than this.”
And he said to him, “I tell you on the
highest authority: you will see heaven opened and the angels of God
ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
John