The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ, According to St. John

Chapter 1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

(The Holy Scripture reveals to us that there is one God in Three Persons, called the Holy Trinity - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Word, the Second Person in the Holy Trinity exists since eternity as He is God.)

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

(God is constant, always the same, and unchanged from the beginning. To the Eternal God, there is no concept of time. Time was created for the mortal like us.)

3 All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.

(All things were created by God, by Three Persons in unison, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thus without the Word, nothing would come into being. We belong to Him, we are His own.)

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

(Only being communion with God that our souls are alive. In Him was Life, away from Him is death, the death of a soul which is created by Him. And this Divine Life is the Light Which illuminates a soul or his conscience. A soul therefore is dead when its conscience is lost. )

5 And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

(The Divine Light or the Lord is even present in the souls which are immersed in darkness but they cannot recognize Him. Men in sin cannot comprehend the Divine Truth as their conscience is not illuminated by the Grace but obscured by the deceits of the Evil One. They cannot distinguish right from wrong as darkness cannot comprehend light.)

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

(St. John the Baptist was sent by God. He was the Lord's messenger.)

7 This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him.

(St. John the Baptist was born for one purpose only, to be a witness who testified that Jesus Christ was truly the Son of God.  St. John prepared  the Jews of his time for a sincere repentance which would lead to the acceptance of the Lord and His Teaching.)

8 He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light.

(St. John himself was not divine. He revealed nothing, taught no doctrine, but only gave testimony to the Divine Truth Which is the Lord.)

9 That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.

(The Lord is the Light, the Truth Which illuminates the conscience of every person who has ever been born. God is most visible and active when He enlightens or stirs up our conscience. When we commit an evil or a sin against our own conscience, we have moved further away from God, less inclined to recognize Him, we have destroyed a part of our soul. Continuing in sins, we finally will kill our own soul completely as it will no longer recognize God and the Divine Truth. This soul has lost its conscience. It has lost its God forever!!)

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

(The world that the Word or our Lord Jesus created did not and does not recognize Him. God created us, was with us in the Person of Jesus, is still with us in the Third Person, the Holy Spirit, but we do not recognize Him as between God and us is the darkness of sin. We have moved further and further away from God by sinning)

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

(Jesus the Lord came to His own creatures and they rejected Him as the children rejected their father.)

12 But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.

(Those who receive Jesus have become the adopted children of God, not merely His creatures, who will share Heaven with the Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. We shall become like Christ meaning we shall become love, more spiritual than carnal. The name of Jesus or Joshua  means Saviour. To believe in this Name means to believe and hope for our salvation through the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord.)

13 Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

( The believers, the children of God are born out by the Redemption and Grace, not by human biological conception or by our own will or merit.)

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

(The Second Person of the Holy Trinity was incarnated to be a man like us, lived and died as a man. And He was glorified as the Begotten Son of God. We are the created, not begotten, sons and daughters of God.)
 

15 John beareth witness of him, and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: He that shall come after me, is preferred before me: because he was before me.

(He was preferred because He existed before I was. His will is preferred before mine as He is my God.)

16 And of his fulness we all have received, and grace for grace.

(He is Fulness, we are nothing. All graces come from Him, all blessings come from Him. Nothing we could claim as our own doing. You are Fulness and we are void, Your are everything, we merely nothing. And from You all blessings have been bestowed upon us, your lowly creatures.)

17 For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Law and commandments of the Old Testament was given to Moses, but the Divine Grace and Truth come from Jesus Christ.)

18 No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

(No man had ever seen God before Jesus was born. After God the Son or the Word was incarnated, He was the only human being who ever saw God Face to Face because even he was on earth, Jesus was always "in the bosom" or in spiritual communion with His Heavenly Father in Heaven.)

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to him, to ask him: Who art thou?

(The following is the tribute to St. John the Baptist. The Pharisees who were sent from Jerusalem to ask who  St. John was.)
 
20 And he confessed, and did not deny: and he confessed: I am not the Christ.

( He said that he was not the Messiah, the Anointed One or Christ, Who was to come to liberate His people.)

21 And they asked him: What then? Art thou Elias? And he said: I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered: No.

(Then Pharisees asked if he was the great prophet Elijah who was prophesied to come before the Messiah appeared. St. John answered he was neither Elijah nor a prophet.)

22 They said therefore unto him: Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?

23 He said: I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias.

(The life of St. John the Baptist had been prophesied by the Prophet Isais. His mission was to prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to prepare the Jews to accept the Teachings from Christ.)

24 And they that were sent, were of the Pharisees.

(The Pharisees were the religious authority of the Jews  around 30 A.D.)

25 And they asked him, and said to him: Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?

(The Pharisees as St. John that how he could have the authority to cleanse repentant sinners from sin through the baptism if he was not Christ, Elijah, or a prophet. Who gave him permission to emit sins by baptism.)

26 John answered them, saying: I baptize with water; but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.

(St. John answered by saying that he only baptised with water, probably meaning his baptism was only symbolic, the rehearsal of the true baptism to come. He was revealed that Christ was already in their midst.)

27 The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.

(Christ would be born after him but would be preferred over him as he was not worthy even to loosen His sandals.)

28 These things were done in Bethania, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him, and he saith: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world.

(Behold the Lamb of God, the Divine Holocaust, the Sacrifice and Burnt Offering, offered to God the Father as the Ransom for the Forgiveness of men's sins.)

30 This is he, of whom I said: After me there cometh a man, who is preferred before me: because he was before me.

31 And I knew him not, but that he may be made manifest in Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

32 And John gave testimony, saying: I saw the Spirit coming down, as a dove from heaven, and he remained upon him.

(God the Holy Spirit often appeared as a white dove. The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus Christ when he emerged from the River Jordan, after His Baptism by St. John the Baptist.)

33 And I knew him not; but he who sent me to baptize with water, said to me: He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon him, he it is that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

(God the Father revealed to St. John that God the Holy Spirit would descend upon Jesus, God the Son in Flesh Who came to baptize sinners, not with water, but with His Spirit, the Spirit of God.  Jesus actually did not baptize anybody but the Holy Spirit descended upon earth only after our Lord ascended onto Heaven. And all baptisms from that day forward have been carried by the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. Jesus was born, lived, was crucified and died, resurrected, and ascended to Heaven.)

34 And I saw, and I gave testimony, that this is the Son of God.

( The son of Jona means the child born by Jona. The son of man means the human begotten by human parents. The Son of God means the Divine begotten by God Himself.)

35 The next day again John stood, and two of his disciples.

(The two disciples of John were St. Andrew and probably St. John the Evangelist. Both later became the apostles of Jesus Christ.)

36 And beholding Jesus walking, he saith: Behold the Lamb of God.

(The Lamb of God, the burnt Offering, the Ransom for the sins of the world, offered to Heavenly Father for the remission of all our sins ever committed. The Lord paid for our salvation with His own Immolation and Death.)

37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

38 And Jesus turning, and seeing them following him, saith to them: What seek you? Who said to him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?

( We are also the disciples of the Lord, the followers of Christ, and what are we seeking? Did we ever ask ourselves this question?)

39 He saith to them: Come and see. They came, and saw where he abode, and they stayed with him that day: now it was about the tenth hour.

40 And Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who had heard of John, and followed him.

41 He findeth first his brother Simon, and saith to him: We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

(The Christ, the Greek word for the Anointed One, the Chosen One by God to save His people.)

42 And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looking upon him, said: Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter.

(The Lord told Simon Peter about his family background even though He did not know him. He named Simon Cephas or the Rock, the appropriate name for the first leader or Pope of the Church of Christ.)

43 On the following day, he would go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip. And Jesus saith to him: Follow me.

(Thus on the first day of His Ministry, the Lord was baptised. On the second day He continue to select His disciples. "Follow Me", the command which was so simple but so meaningful, follow Christ in all His Teachings, follow Christ in all, abandon oneself totally for the sake of God's Glory.)

44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

(Bethsaida, the town  located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Peter, Andrew, and Philip all were the fishermen.)

45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him: We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth.

46 And Nathanael said to him: Can any thing of good come from Nazareth? Philip saith to him: Come and see.

(Nathanael, the self-righteous one who looked down upon the lowly Nazareans among whom the Lord Himself was one.)

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him: and he saith of him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.

( The Lord praised Nathanael for his righteousness. Nathanael could not be just a simple fisherman but a learned person who was familiar with the laws and commandments. Quite a honor to be praised as such by the Lord.)

48 Nathanael saith to him: Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered, and said to him: Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.

(Nathanael appeared to be pleased and accepted that praise. It seemed that he had said, ' Yes, it is me but how did you know'.  Nathanael probably did not have high regard for any Nazarean. To the educated or ruling Jews, pride was not considered as a vice. To that the Lord simply answered, ' I saw thee under the fig tree'.)

49 Nathanael answered him, and said: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.

(Upon hearing this, Nathanael immediately adored the Lord: " Rabbi, you are the Son of god, you are the King of Israel." Rabbi, an honorable title for a wise man, a teacher on the religious matter; the Son of God, the title for the Divine; and the King of Israel, the title of the Messiah. Nathanael acknowledged that Jesus Christ indeed came from God and He was the Messiah as Philip had told him.

We see here a complete turn-about in Nathanael's attitude toward the Lord. When he first met Him, he probably looked at Him with indifference or disdain because after all, He came Nazareth. To Nathanael, nothing worthy could come out of Nazareth. And when Jesus praised him for his rightful conduct  and strict observance of the laws, Nathanael was ready to accept that comment without any sign of humility. But after the Lord said that He had seen under the fig tree, Nathanael's attitude toward the Lord was not only completely changed but changed in such a profound manner that he was willing to be His disciple who revered Him with the utmost reverence reserved only for the Divinity! "You are the Son of God". The Lord exalted Nathaniel to humble him and often humbled us to lift us up. We would never know what the Lord actually saw with Nathanael under the fig tree. But for certainty, He saw a man's heart, not his outer appearance.)

50 Jesus answered, and said to him: Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, thou believest: greater things than these shalt thou see.

 51 And he saith to him: Amen, amen I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

(The scene of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.)
 
 

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