The eternal existence, divine nature and distinct personality of the Word
The first chapter asserts what He was before all things, and the different characters in which He is a blessing to man, being made flesh. He is, and He is the expression of, the whole mind that subsists in God, the Logos. In the beginning He was. If we go back as far as is possible to the mind of men, how far soever beyond all that has had a beginning, He is. This is the most perfect idea we can form historically, if I may use such an expression, of the existence of God or of eternity. “In the beginning was the Word.” Was there nothing beside Him? Impossible! Of what would He have been the Word? “The Word was with God.” That is to say, a personal existence is ascribed to Him. But, lest it may be thought that He was something which eternity implies but which the Holy Spirit comes to reveal, it is said that He “was God.” In His existence eternal-in His nature divine-in His Person distinct, He might have been spoken of as an emanation in time, as though His personality were of time, although eternal in His nature: the Spirit therefore adds, “In the beginning he was with God.” It is the revelation of the eternal Logos before all creation. This Gospel therefore really begins before Genesis. The Book of Genesis gives us the history of the world in time: John gives us that of the Word, who existed in eternity before the world was; who-when man can speak of beginning-was; and, consequently, did not begin to exist. The language of the Gospel is as plain as possible, and, like the sword of paradise, turns every way, in opposition to the thoughts and reasonings of man, to defend the divinity and personality of the Son of God.
The Creator of all things
By Him also were all things created. There are things which had a beginning; they all had their origin from Him: “All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” Precise, positive and absolute distinction between all that has been made and Jesus. If anything has been made, it is not the Word; for all that has been made was made by that Word.
“In Him was light . . . the life of men,” shining in darkness
But there is another thing, besides the supreme act of creating all things (an act that characterizes the Word)-there is that which was in Him. All creation was made by Him; but it does not exist in Him. But in Him was life. In this He was in relation with a special part of creation-a part which was the object of the thoughts and intentions of God. This “life was the light of men,” revealed itself as a testimony to the divine nature, in immediate connection with them, as it did not with respect to any others at all.1 But, in fact, this light shone in the midst of that which was in its own nature2 contrary to it, and evil beyond any natural image, for where light comes, darkness is no longer: but here the light came, and the darkness had no perception of it- remained darkness, which therefore neither comprehended nor received it. These are the relations of the Word with creation and with man, seen abstractedly in His nature. The Spirit pursues this subject, giving us details, historically, of the latter part.
(1. The form of expression in Greek is very strong, as identifying completely the life with the light of men, as coextensive proposition.)
(2. It is not here my object to develop the manner in which the Word meets the errors of the human mind; but, in fact, as it reveals truth on God’s part, it also replies, in a remarkable way, to all the mistaken thoughts of man. With respect to the Lord’s Person, the first verses of the chapter bear witness to it. Here the error, which made of the principle of darkness a second god in equal conflict with the good Creator, is refuted by the simple testimony that the life was the light, and the darkness a moral condition, without power, and negative, in the midst of which this life was manifested in light. If we have the truth itself, we have no need to be acquainted with error. The voice of the Good Shepherd known, we are sure that none other is of Him. But, in fact, the possession of the truth, as revealed in the Scripture, is an answer to all the errors into which man has fallen, innumerable as they are.)
The manifestation of the Word made flesh; the true Light and its reception
We may remark here-and the point is of importance-how the Spirit passes from the divine and eternal nature of the Word who was before all things, to the manifestation, in this world, of the Word made flesh in the Person of Jesus. All the ways of God, the dispensations, His government of the world, are passed over in silence. In beholding Jesus on the earth we are in immediate connection with Him as existing before the world was. Only He is introduced by John, and that which is found in the world is recognized as created. John is come to bear witness of the Light. The true Light was that which, coming into the world, shone for all men, and not for the Jews only. He is come into the world; and the world, in darkness and blind, has not known Him. He is come unto His own, and His own (the Jews) have not received Him. But there were some who received Him. Of them two things are said: they have received authority to become the children1 of God, to take their place as such; and, second, they are, in fact, born of God. Natural descent and the will of man went for nothing here.
(1. Sons in Paul’s writings is the place Christians have in connection with God into which Christ has brought them by redemption, that is, His own relative place with God according to His counsels. Children is that they are of the Father’s family. (Both are found in Romans 8:14-16,14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:14‑16) and the force of both may there be seen. We cry Father, so are children, but by the Spirit we take up the place of grown-up sons with Christ before God.) Up to the end of verse 13, we have abstractedly what Christ intrinsically was and from eternity, and what man was-darkness. This first to the end of verse 5. Then God’s dealings, John’s place and service; then the Light came, came into the world He had made, and it did not know Him, to His own, the Jews, and they would not have Him. But there were those, born of God, who had authority to take the place of children, a new race.)
What the Word became on earth
Thus we have seen the Word, in His nature, abstractedly (vss. 1-3); and, as life, the manifestation of divine light in man, with the consequences of that manifestation (vss. 4-5); and how He was received where it was so (vss. 10-13). This general part, in regard to His nature, ends here. The Spirit carries on the history of what the Lord is, manifested as man on earth. So that, as it were, we begin again here (vs. 14) with Jesus on the earth-what the Word became, not what He was. As light in the world, there was the unanswered claim of what He was on man. Not knowing Him, or rejecting Him where He was dispensationally in relationship, was the only difference. Grace in life-giving power then comes in to lead men to receive Him. The world did not know its Creator come into it as light, His own rejected their Lord. Those who were born not of man’s will but of God received Him. Thus we have not what the Word was (ην; en), but what He became (εγενετο; egeneto).
The Word made flesh; the glory of an only Son with the Father
The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us in the fullness of grace and truth. This is the great fact, the source of all blessing to us;1 that which is the full expression of God, adapted, by taking man’s own nature, to all that is in man, to meet every human need, and all the capacity of the new nature in man to enjoy the expression of all in which God is suited to him. It is more than light, which is pure and shows all things; it is the expression of what God is, and God in grace, and as a source of blessing. And note, God could not be to angels what He is to man-grace, patience, mercy, love, as shown to sinners. And all this He is, as well as the blessedness of God, to the new man. The glory in which Christ was seen, thus manifested (by those who had eyes to see), was that of an only Son with His Father, the one concentrating object of His delight as Father.
(1. It is indeed the source of all blessing; but the condition of man was such that without His death no one would have had any part in the blessing. Unless the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.)
These are the two parts of this great truth. The Word, who was with God and who was God, was made flesh; and He who was beheld on the earth had the glory of an only Son with the Father.
Grace and truth come in Jesus Christ; God revealed by the only Son
Two things are the result. Grace (what greater grace? It is love itself that is revealed, and towards sinners) and truth, that are not declared, but come, in Jesus Christ. The true relation of all things with God is shown, and their departure from it. This is the groundwork of truth. Everything takes its true place, its true character, in every respect; and the center to which all refers is God. What God is, what perfect man, what sinful man, what the world, what its prince, Christ’s presence brings all out. Grace then and truth are come. The second thing is that the only Son in the bosom of the Father reveals God, and reveals Him consequently as known by Himself in that position. And this is largely connected with the character and revelation of grace in John: first, fullness, with which we are in communication, and from which we have all received; then relationship.
The fullness of grace and truth received
But there are yet other important instructions in these verses. The Person of Jesus, the Word made flesh, dwelling among us, was full of grace and truth. Of this fullness we have all received: not truth upon truth (truth is simple, and puts everything exactly in its place, morally and in its nature); but we have received that which we needed-grace upon grace, the favor of God abundantly, divine blessings (the fruit of His love) heaped one upon another. Truth shines-everything is perfectly manifested; grace is given.
The witness of John the Baptist to the character and position of the Word made flesh
The connection of this manifestation of the grace of God in the Word made flesh (in which perfect truth also displays itself) with other testimonies of God is then taught us. John bore witness to Him; the service of Moses had quite another character. John preceded Him in his service on earth; but Jesus must be preferred before him; for (humble as He might be) God above all, blessed forever, He was before John, although coming after him. Moses gave the law, perfect in its place-requiring from man, on God’s part, that which man ought to be. Then God was hidden, and God sent out a law showing what man ought to be; but now God has revealed Himself by Christ, and the truth (as to everything) and grace are come. The law was neither the truth, full and entire,1 in every respect, as in Jesus, nor grace; it was no transcript of God, but a perfect rule for man. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, not by Moses. Nothing can be more essentially important than this statement. Law requires from man what he ought to be before God, and, if he fulfills it, it is his righteousness. Truth in Christ shows what man is (not ought to be), and what God is, and, as inseparable from grace, does not require but brings to man what he needs. If thou knewest the gift of God, says the Saviour to the Samaritan woman. So at the end of the wilderness journey Balaam has to say, “According to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought?” The verb “came” is in the singular after grace and truth. Christ is both at once; indeed, if grace were not there He would not be the truth as to God. To require from man what he ought to be was righteous requirement. But to give grace and glory, to give His Son was another thing in every respect; only sanctioning the law as perfect in its place.
(1. Indeed it told what man ought to be, not what man or anything actually was, and this is properly truth.)
We have thus the character and the position of the Word made flesh-that which Jesus was here below, the Word made flesh; His glory as seen by faith, that of an only Son with His Father. He was full of grace and truth. He revealed God as He knew Him, as the only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. It was not only the character of His glory here below; it is what He was (what He had been, what He ever is) in the Father’s own bosom in the Godhead: and it is thus that He declared Him. He was before John the Baptist, although coming after him; and He brought, in His own Person, that which was in its nature entirely different from the law given by Moses.
Here then is the Lord manifested on earth. His relations with men follow, the positions He took, the characters He assumed, according to the purposes of God, and the testimony of His word among men. First of all, John the Baptist gives place to Him. It will be remarked that he bears testimony in each of the parts1 into which this chapter is divided-verse 6,2 in the effect of the abstract revelation of the nature of the Word; as light, verse 15, with regard to His manifestation in the flesh; verse 19, the glory of His Person, although coming after John; verse 29, respecting His work and the result; and verse 36, the testimony for the time being, in order that He might be followed, as having come to seek the Jewish remnant.
(1. It will be observed that the chapter is thus divided: verses 1-18 (this part is subdivided into verses 1-5, verses 6-13 and verses 14-18), verses 19-28, verses 29-34 (subdivided into verses 29-31 and verses 32-34), verse 35 to the end. These last verses are subdivided into verses 35-42 and verse 42 to the end. That is, first, what Christ is abstractedly and intrinsically-John’s testimony to Him as light; when come, what He is personally in the world-John, only forerunner of Jehovah, witness of Christ’s excellency; the work of Christ (Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, He baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and is Son of God); John gathers to Him; He gathers to Himself. This goes on till the upright remnant of Israel own Him Son of God, King of Israel; then He takes the larger character of Son of Man. All the personal characters of Christ, so to speak, are found here and His work, but not His relative characters, not Christ, not Priest, not Head of the assembly His body; but Word, Son of God, Lamb of God, Baptizer with the Holy Spirit; and, according to Psalm 2, Son of God, King of Israel; and Son of Man, according to Psalm 8, whom the angels serve; God withal, life, and the light of men.)
(2. The strictly abstract statement ends in verse 5, and goes by itself. The reception of Christ as come into the world as light introduces John. We are no longer in what is strictly abstract; though not developing the object-what the Word became-it is historical as to the reception of the light, and thus shows what man was, and what he is by grace as born of God, in respect of the object.)
John’s formal testimony to his own office
After the abstract revelation of the nature of the Word, and that of His manifestation in the flesh, the testimony actually borne in the world is given. Verses 19-28 form a kind of introduction, in which, on the inquiry of the scribes and Pharisees, John gives account of himself, and takes occasion to speak of the difference between himself and the Lord. So that, whatever the characters may be that Christ takes in connection with His work, the glory of His Person is ever first in view. The witness is occupied naturally, so to speak, with this, before bearing his formal testimony to the office which he fulfilled. John is neither Elias nor that prophet (that is, the one of whom Moses spoke) nor the Christ. He is the voice mentioned by Isaiah, who was to prepare the way of the Lord before Him. It is not precisely before the Messiah, although He was that; neither is it Elias before the day of Jehovah, but the voice in the wilderness before the Lord (Jehovah) Himself. Jehovah was coming. It is this consequently of which he speaks. John baptized indeed unto repentance; but there was already One, unknown, among them, who, coming after him, was yet his superior, whose shoe’s latchet he was not worthy to unloose.
The glorious work of Christ and its result
We have next the direct testimony of John, when he sees Jesus coming to him. He points Him out, not as the Messiah, but according to the whole extent of His work as enjoyed by us in the everlasting salvation He has accomplished, and the full result of the glorious work by which it was accomplished. He is the Lamb of God, one whom God alone could furnish, and was for God, and according to His mind, who takes away the sin (not the sins) of the world. That is to say, He restores (not all the wicked, but) the foundations of the world’s relations with God. Since the fall, it is indeed sin-whatever may be His dealings1-that God had to consider in His relations with the world. The result of Christ’s work shall be that this will no longer be the case; His work shall be the eternal basis of these relations in the new heavens and the new earth, sin being entirely put aside as such. We know this by faith before the public result in the world.
(1. As the flood, law, grace. There was a paradise of innocence, then a world of sin, by and by a kingdom of righteousness, finally a world (new heavens and new earth) wherein dwells righteousness. But it is everlasting righteousness, and founded on that work of the Lamb of God which can never lose its value. It is an immutable state of things. The church or assembly is something above and apart from all this, though revealed in it.)
Although a Lamb for the sacrifice, He is preferred before John the Baptist, for He was before him. The Lamb to be slain was Jehovah Himself.
The place and subject of the testimony
In the administration of the ways of God, this testimony was to be borne in Israel, although its subject was the Lamb whose sacrifice reached to the sin of the world, and the Lord, Jehovah. John had not known Him personally; but He was the one and only object of his mission.
Jesus sealed by the Holy Spirit; recognized and proclaimed as the Son of God
But this was not all. He had made Himself man, and as man had received the fullness of the Holy Spirit, who had descended upon Him and abode upon Him; and the man thus pointed out, and sealed on the part of the Father, was Himself to baptize with the Holy Spirit. At the same time He was pointed out by the descent of the Holy Spirit in another character, to which John therefore bears testimony. Thus subsisting and seen and sealed on the earth, He was the Son of God. John recognizes Him and proclaims Him as such.
The effect of John’s testimony to attach the remnant to Jesus, the one center of gathering
Then comes what may be called the direct exercise and effect of his ministry at that time. But it is always the Lamb of whom he speaks; for that was the object, the design of God, and it is that which we have in this Gospel, although Israel is recognized in its place; for the nation held that place from God.
The naming of Simon, an act of authority
Upon this the disciples of John1 follow Christ to His abode. The effect of John’s testimony is to attach the remnant to Jesus, the center of their gathering. Jesus does not refuse it, and they accompany Him. Nevertheless, this remnant-how far soever the testimony of John might extend-do not, in fact, go beyond the recognition of Jesus as the Messiah. This was the case, historically;2 but Jesus knew them thoroughly, and declares the character of Simon as soon as he comes to Him, and gives him his appropriate name. This was an act of authority which proclaimed Him the head and center of the whole system. God can bestow names; He knows all things. He gave this right to Adam, who exercised it according to God with regard to all that was put under him as well as in the case of his wife. Great kings, who claim this power, have done the same. Eve sought to do it, but she was mistaken; although God can give an understanding heart which, under His influence, speaks aright in this respect. Now Christ does so here, with authority and with all knowledge, the moment the case presents itself.
(1. Note, it is not on his public testimony, but on the expression of his heart addressed to no one, which they heard.)
(2. A principle of the deepest interest to us, as the effect of grace. In receiving Jesus we receive all that He is; notwithstanding that at the moment we may only perceive in Him that which is the least exalted part of His glory.)
Nathanael, a figure of the remnant, at first rejecting and then confessing the Lord as Son of God and King of Israel; the Lord’s declaration of Himself as Son of Man
Verse 43.1 We have next the immediate testimony of Christ Himself and of His followers. In the first place, on repairing to the scene of His earthly pilgrimage, according to the prophets, He calls others to follow Him. Nathanael, who begins by rejecting one who came from Nazareth, sets before us, I doubt not, the remnant of the last days (the testimony to which the gospel of grace belongs came first, verses 29-34). We see him at first rejecting the despised of the people, and under the fig tree, which represents the nation of Israel; as the fig tree which was to bear no more fruit represents Israel under the old covenant. But Nathanael is the figure of a remnant, seen and known by the Lord, in connection with Israel. The Lord who thus manifested Himself to his heart and conscience is confessed as Son of God and King of Israel. This is formally the faith of the spared remnant of Israel in the last days according to Psalm 2. But those who thus received Jesus when He was on earth should see yet greater things than those which had convinced them. Moreover, thenceforth2 they should see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. He who by His birth had taken His place among the children of men would, by that title, be the object of service to the most excellent of God’s creatures. The expression is emphatic. The angels of God Himself should be in the service of the Son of Man. So that the remnant of Israel without guile acknowledges Him to be the Son of God and King of Israel; and the Lord declares Himself also to be the Son of Man-in humiliation indeed, but the object of service to the angels of God. Thus we have the Person and the titles of Jesus, from His eternal and divine existence as the Word, to His millennial place as King of Israel and Son of Man;3 which He already was as born into this world, but which will be realized when He returns in His glory.
(1. These verses 38 and 43 take in the two characters in which we have to do with Christ. He receives them and they abide with Him, and He calls upon them to follow Him. We have no world where we can abide, no center in it which gathers around itself those rightly disposed by grace. No prophet, no servant of God could. Christ is the one center of gathering in the world. Then following supposes that we are not in God’s rest. In Eden no following was called for. In heaven there will be none. It is perfect joy and rest where we are. In Christ we have a divine object, giving us a clear path through a world in which we cannot rest with God, for sin is there.)
(2. Not “hereafter.” Many authorities leave the word out.)
(3. Except what concerns the assembly and Israel. Here, He is not High Priest, He is not Head of the body, He is not revealed as the Christ. John does not give what shows man in heaven, but God in man on earth-not what is heavenly as gone up, but what is divine here. Israel is looked on all through as rejected. The disciples own Him as the Christ, but He is not so proclaimed.)
Review of chapter 1
Before going further, let us review some points in this chapter. The Lord is revealed as the Word—as God and with God—as light-as life: second, as the Word made flesh, having the glory of an only Son with His Father-as such He is full of grace and truth come by Him, of His fullness we have all received, and He has declared the Father (compare chapter 14)—the Lamb of God—the One on whom the Holy Spirit could descend, and who baptized with the Holy Spirit-the Son of God:1 third, His work, what He does, Lamb of God taking away sin, and Son of God and King of Israel. This closes the revelation of His Person and work. Then verses 35-42, John’s ministry, but where Jesus, as He alone could, becomes the gathering center. Verse 43, Christ’s ministry, in which He calls to follow Him, which, with verses 38-39, give His double character as the one attractive point in the world; with this His entire humiliation, but owned through a divine testimony reaching the remnant as according to Psalm 2, but the taking His title of Son of Man according to Psalm 8-the Son of Man: we may say, all His personal titles. His relationship to the assembly is not here, nor His function as Priest; but that which belongs to His Person, and the connection of man with God in this world. Thus, besides His divine nature, it is all that He was and will be in this world: His heavenly place and its consequences to faith are taught elsewhere, and barely alluded to, when necessary, in this Gospel.
(1. Here He is seen as the Son of God in this world; in verse 14, He is in the glory of an only Son with His Father; and verse 18, He is so in the bosom of His Father.)
The character and effect of heart testimony to Christ
Observe that, in preaching Christ, in a way to a certain degree complete, the heart of the hearer may truly believe and attach itself to Him, though investing Him with a character which the condition of soul cannot yet go beyond, and while ignorant of the fullness in which He has been revealed. Indeed where it is real, the testimony, however exalted in character, meets the heart where it is. John says, “Behold the Lamb of God!” “We have found the Messiah,” say the disciples who followed Jesus on John’s testimony.
Note also that the expression of what was in John’s heart had greater effect than a more formal, more doctrinal testimony. He beheld Jesus and exclaims, “Behold the Lamb of God!” The disciples heard him and followed Jesus. It was, no doubt, his proper testimony on God’s part, Jesus being there; but it was not a doctrinal explanation like that of the preceding verses.