New Testament · Gospels and Acts

John chapter 1

Before anything else existed, the . The Word was , and the Word was God.He was with God .Everything through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him. itself was in him, and that life was the for all people.The light keeps shining in the , and the darkness has never been able to it.God a man named John.He came to the light so that through him everyone might come to in it.John himself wasn’t the light — he came to point people toward the light.The light that illuminates every person was coming into the .He was in the world — the very world that came into existence through him — and yet the world didn’t him.He came to , and his own people didn’t welcome him.But to everyone who did him — those who put their trust in who he is — he gave the to become .These are children born not through human lineage, or physical desire, or any human decision — but himself.And the Word became an actual and among us. We saw his with our own eyes — the kind of magnificence that belongs to a father’s son — overflowing with and .John about him, calling out, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me has stepped ahead of me, because he existed long before I did.’”Out of his , every single one of us has received .The was given through Moses, but generous favor and truth came through Jesus, .No one has ever seen God. But the one and only Son, who is himself God and is — he has .Now this is the testimony John gave when the in Jerusalem sent priests and to ask him, “Who are you?”John didn’t dodge the question. He stated it plainly and without hesitation: “I am not .”“Then who are you?” they pressed. “Are you ?” He said, “No, I’m not.” “Are you ?” He answered, “No.”So they said to him, “Then who are you? We need to bring an answer back to the people who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”John replied using the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I am a : ‘Clear the way for the Lord!’”Now these questioners had been sent by the .They challenged him, “If you’re not The One, and not Elijah, and not the Prophet, then what right do you have to people?”John answered them, “I submerge with water, but standing among you is someone you don’t even know.”“He is the one coming after me, and I’m not even worthy to .”All this happened at River, where John was submerging people.The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The , who the of the world!”“This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me who has stepped ahead of me, because he existed long before I did.’”“I didn’t know who he was myself, but the reason I came submerging people in water was so that he would be to Israel.”Then John gave this testimony: “I watched come down from the sky like a and remain on him.”“I wouldn’t have recognized him, but the one who sent me to submerge people in water told me, ‘The man you see the Breath of God come down and remain on — he is the one who will .’”“I have seen this with my own eyes, and I am telling you: this is the .”The next day, John was standing there again with two of his .When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!”When the two followers heard him say this, they started following Jesus.Jesus turned around and saw them following him. “What are you looking for?” he asked. They said, “” — which means Teacher — “where are you staying?”“Come and see,” he said. So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent the rest of the day with him. It was about ., Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John said and followed Jesus.The first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him, “We’ve found !” — which means the promised anointed king.Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called ” — which means Rock.The next day, Jesus decided to head to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “.”Philip was from , the same town as Andrew and Peter.Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found in the Law and that the prophets wrote about too — Jesus, the son of Joseph, from !”“Nazareth?” Nathanael said. “” Philip replied, “Come and see for yourself.”When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said about him, “Now here is a — there is about him.”“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you before Philip even called you.”Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the !”Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You’re going to see things far greater than that.”Then he said, “: you will see , and the on the .”