John 1
1
The Word Became Human
1In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2He was with God in the beginning.
3All things were made through him;
nothing that has been made was made without him.
4In him was life,
and that life was the light for all people.
5The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
6There was a man sent from God
whose name was John.
7He came to be a witness about that light
so that all people might believe.
8John himself was not the light;
he only came as a witness to the light.
9The true light that gives light to everyone
was coming into the world.
10He was in the world,
and the world was made through him,
but the world did not recognize him.
11He came to what was his own,
but his own people didn’t accept him.
12But to everyone who did accept him
and believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God
13not children born to human parents,
or because of human choice or a husband’s wishes,
but born of God.
14The Word became human
and made his home with us.
We have seen his glory
the glory of the One and Only,
who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
15John was a witness for him. He cried out and said, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who came before me, because he was there before me.’ ”
16Out of his fullness we have all received
grace in place of the grace already given.
17The law was given through Moses,
but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18No one has ever seen God.
But the One and Only,
who is God and who is at the Father’s side,
has made him known.
John the Baptist Says He’s Not the Messiah
19When the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask John who he was, 20he didn’t deny anything; he admitted, “I’m not the Messiah.”
21“Then who are you?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?”
“No, I’m not,” he replied.
“Are you the Prophet we’ve been expecting?” they asked.
“No,” he answered.
22They asked one last time, “Then who are you? Give us an answer to take back to the people who sent us. Who do you say you are?”
23John replied, using the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I’m the voice calling out in the desert, ‘Make a straight way for the Lord.’ ”
24The Pharisees who’d been sent 25asked him, “Why are you baptizing people if you’re not the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet we’ve been expecting?”
26“I baptize people with water,” John replied, “but there’s someone already with you who’s still unknown to you. 27He’s the one who’s going to come after me. I’m not even worthy to untie his sandals.”
28This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.
John Is a Witness to Jesus
29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. He said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who came before me, because he was there before me.’ 31I didn’t know who he was, but I came and baptized with water so that Israel would find out who he was.”
32Then John told them, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and rest on him. 33I didn’t know who it would be, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘When you see the Spirit come down and rest on someone, that’s the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34Now I’ve seen that, and I’m a witness that this is God’s Chosen One.”
John’s Disciples Follow Jesus
35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37When the two disciples heard him say that, they followed Jesus. 38When Jesus turned around and saw them following, he asked, “What do you want?”
“Rabbi,” they answered, “where are you staying?” (Rabbi means Teacher.)
39He replied, “Come and see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying. They went at about four o’clock in the afternoon, and they spent the rest of the day with him.
40Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon and tell him, “We’ve found the Messiah!” (Messiah means Christ.) 42Andrew brought Simon to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You’re Simon, the son of John, but you’ll be known as Cephas.” (Cephas means Peter, or Rock.)
Jesus Chooses Philip and Nathanael
43The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me.”
44Philip was from the town of Bethsaida, like Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the one Moses wrote about in the Law. The prophets wrote about him too. It’s Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46“Nazareth!” Nathanael responded. “Can anything good come from there?”
“Come and see,” Philip answered.
47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said, “Here’s a true Israelite. There is nothing fake about him.”
48“Where do you know me from?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree, before Philip called you.”
49Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you’re the Son of God! You’re the king of Israel!”
50Jesus said, “You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You’re going to see greater things than that.” 51Then he said to the disciples, “Truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending’ on the Son of Man.”
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