John 1

Quick answer

The eternal Word, who was with God and was God, becomes flesh; John the Baptist points to him as the Lamb of God.

John's prologue (1:1–18) deliberately echoes Genesis 1 to declare Jesus' deity and pre-existence, then announces the incarnation. The rest of the chapter gathers the first witnesses and disciples around him.

Part of The Word Became Flesh📖 John introduction

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¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ✦ ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. ✦ ⁴In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. ✦ ⁵And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it. ✦ ⁶A man came, one sent from God, and his name was John. ✦ ⁷He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. ✦ ⁸He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. ✦ ⁹This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every person. ✦ ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. ✦ ¹¹He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. ✦ ¹²But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, ✦ ¹³who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. ✦ ¹⁴And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ✦ ¹⁵John *testified about Him and called out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who is coming after me has proved to be my superior, because He existed before me.’ ” ✦ ¹⁶For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. ✦ ¹⁷For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. ✦ ¹⁸No one has seen God at any time; God the only Son, who is in the arms of the Father, He has explained Him. ✦ ¹⁹This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ✦ ²⁰And he confessed and did not deny; and this is what he confessed: “I am not the Christ.” ✦ ²¹And so they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ✦ ²²Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” ✦ ²³He said, “I am the voice of one calling out in the wilderness, ‘Make the way of the Lord straight,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” ✦ ²⁴And the messengers had been sent from the Pharisees. ✦ ²⁵They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” ✦ ²⁶John answered them, saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. ✦ ²⁷It is He who comes after me, of whom I am not worthy even to untie the strap of His sandal.” ✦ ²⁸These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing people. ✦ ²⁹The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ✦ ³⁰This is He in behalf of whom I said, ‘After me is coming a Man who has proved to be my superior, because He existed before me.’ ✦ ³¹And I did not recognize Him, but so that He would be revealed to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” ✦ ³²And John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. ✦ ³³And I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ ✦ ³⁴And I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” ✦ ³⁵Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, ✦ ³⁶and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” ✦ ³⁷And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. ✦ ³⁸And Jesus turned and saw them following, and *said to them, “What are you seeking?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” ✦ ³⁹He *said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day; it was about the tenth hour. ✦ ⁴⁰One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ✦ ⁴¹He first *found his own brother Simon and *said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). ✦ ⁴²He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). ✦ ⁴³The next day He decided to go to Galilee, and He *found Philip. And Jesus *said to him, “Follow Me.” ✦ ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ✦ ⁴⁵Philip *found Nathanael and *said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets also wrote: Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!” ✦ ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good be from Nazareth?” Philip *said to him, “Come and see.” ✦ ⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and *said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit!” ✦ ⁴⁸Nathanael *said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ✦ ⁴⁹Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel!” ✦ ⁵⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ✦ ⁵¹And He *said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

In this chapter

Theme Light & Darkness Person / place John the Baptist Person / place Moses Concept The Lamb of God Concept The Word (Logos)

Where this chapter connects

John 1 ·56 John 3 ·29 John 6 ·17 Matt 3 ·16 Luke 1 ·15 John 5 ·15 Luke 3 ·14 Mark 1 ·13

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryFollowing the MessiahAppian Media · Free · evangelical
A free, beautifully shot 10-part series walking the lands of Jesus' life — Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, and more.
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
DocumentaryHolyLandSiteHolyLandSite · Free · evangelical
Free on-location videos tying biblical events to the actual sites in Israel — the Temple Mount, Galilee, Capernaum, and more.
ApologeticsCold-Case Christianity (J. Warner Wallace)J. Warner Wallace · Free · evangelical
A cold-case homicide detective examines the Gospels' reliability — forensic faith for skeptics and seekers.

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
CommentaryCommentary on John 1Matthew Henry · Free
Henry on the prologue — rich on the Word and the incarnation.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Seminary

★ Start hereApologeticsGary Habermas — the resurrectionGary Habermas · Free · evangelical
130+ free videos and lectures from the scholar behind the "minimal facts" method — the start-here on the historical evidence for the resurrection. (Only his books are paid.)
★ 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

VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on John 1YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — John 1David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — John 1Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

John 2 →