He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.
Parallel translations
- WEB He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him.
- KJV He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
- ESV He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
- NKJV He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
- NASB He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him.
- NLT He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Creator entered the very world He had made, yet the world failed to recognize Him. This is the tragedy of human blindness to God.
Overview
With striking irony, John notes that the One through whom the world was made walked within it unrecognized. The 'world' here means humanity in its fallen estrangement from God. This blindness is not God's failure but the result of sin, setting up the gospel's remedy: only those given new birth and faith truly perceive who Jesus is.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- John 17:25Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, I know You, and they know that You sent Me.
- 1 Jn 3:1Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
- 1 Cor 2:8None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
- 1 Cor 1:21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
- Matt 11:27All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
- Heb 11:3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
- Acts 17:24–27The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.
- John 1:18No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.
- Heb 1:2–3But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.
- John 1:5The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
- John 5:17But Jesus answered them, “To this very day My Father is at His work, and I too am working.”
- Gen 11:6–9And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them.
- Gen 16:13So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”
- Jer 10:11–12Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”
- Gen 17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
- Acts 14:17Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”
- Exod 3:4–6When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered.
- Gen 18:33When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Pastoral
Henry on the prologue — rich on the Word and the incarnation.
Seminary
- ★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 1:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.