34 This I saw myself and my witness is that he is the Son of God.
Nathanael said to him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are King of Israel!
And the Evil One came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, give the word for these stones to become bread.
I will make clear the Lord's decision: he has said to me, You are my son, this day have I given you being.
She said to him, Yes, Lord: my faith is that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.
And the Jews made answer, We have a law, and by that law it is right for him to be put to death because he said he was the Son of God.
But these are recorded, so that you may have faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so that, having this faith you may have life in his name.
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we were preaching among you, even I and Silvanus and Timothy, was not Yes and No, but in him is Yes.
In times past the word of God came to our fathers through the prophets, in different parts and in different ways; But now, at the end of these days, it has come to us through his Son, to whom he has given all things for a heritage, and through whom he made the order of the generations;
To which of the angels did God say at any time, You are my Son, this day I have given you being? or, I will be his Father, and he will be my Son? And again, when he is sending his only Son into the world, he says, Let all the angels of God give him worship.
Being without father or mother, or family, having no birth or end to his life, being made like the Son of God, is a priest for ever.
He who has no belief in the Son has not the Father: he who makes clear his belief in the Son has the Father.
And the love of God was made clear to us when he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.
And we have seen and give witness that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Everyone who says openly that Jesus is the Son of God, has God in him and is in God.
If we take the witness of men to be true, the witness of God is greater: because this is the witness which God has given about his Son. He who has faith in the Son of God has the witness in himself: he who has not faith in God makes him false, because he has not faith in the witness which God has given about his Son. And his witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who has not the Son of God has not the life. I have put these things in writing for you who have faith in the name of the Son of God, so that you may be certain that you have eternal life.
And we are certain that the Son of God has come, and has given us a clear vision, so that we may see him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Anyone who goes on and does not keep to the teaching of Christ, has not God: he who keeps to the teaching has the Father and the Son.
So that all men may give honour to the Son even as they give honour to the Father. He who gives no honour to the Son gives no honour to the Father who sent him. Truly I say to you, The man whose ears are open to my word and who has faith in him who sent me, has eternal life; he will not be judged, but has come from death into life. Truly I say to you, The time is coming, it has even now come, when the voice of the Son of God will come to the ears of the dead, and those hearing it will have life. For even as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to be judge because he is the Son of man.
And a voice came out of heaven, saying, This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
And they gave a loud cry, saying, What have we to do with you, you Son of God? Have you come here to give us punishment before the time?
All things have been given to me by my Father; and no one has knowledge of the Son, but the Father; and no one has knowledge of the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will make it clear.
While he was still talking, a bright cloud came over them: and a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased; give ear to him.
But Jesus said not a word. And the high priest said to him, I put you on oath, by the living God, that you will say to us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.
He put his faith in God; let God be his saviour now, if he will have him; for he said, I am the Son of God.
Now the captain and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earth-shock and the things which were done, were in great fear and said, Truly this was a son of God.
And a voice came out of heaven, You are my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
And the angel in answer said to her, The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will come to rest on you, and so that which will come to birth will be named holy, Son of God.
For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to be judge of the world; he sent him so that the world might have salvation through him. The man who has faith in him does not come up to be judged; but he who has no faith in him has been judged even now, because he has no faith in the name of the only Son of God.
The Father has love for the Son and has put all things into his hands. He who has faith in the Son has eternal life; but he who has not faith in the Son will not see life; God's wrath is resting on him.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 1
Commentary on John 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Gospel According to ST. John
Chapter 1
The scope and design of this chapter is to confirm our faith in Christ as the eternal Son of God, and the true Messiah and Saviour of the world, that we may be brought to receive him, and rely upon him, as our Prophet, Priest, and King, and to give up ourselves to be ruled, and taught, and saved by him. In order to this, we have here,
Jhn 1:1-5
Austin says (de Civitate Dei, lib. 10, cap. 29) that his friend Simplicius told him he had heard a Platonic philosopher say that these first verses of St. John's gospel were worthy to be written in letters of gold. The learned Francis Junius, in the account he gives of his own life, tells how he was in his youth infected with loose notions in religion, and by the grace of God was wonderfully recovered by reading accidentally these verses in a bible which his father had designedly laid in his way. He says that he observed such a divinity in the argument, such an authority and majesty in the style, that his flesh trembled, and he was struck with such amazement that for a whole day he scarcely knew where he was or what he did; and thence he dates the beginning of his being religious. Let us enquire what there is in those strong lines. The evangelist here lays down the great truth he is to prove, that Jesus Christ is God, one with the Father. Observe,
Jhn 1:6-14
The evangelist designs to bring in John Baptist bearing an honourable testimony to Jesus Christ, Now in these verses, before he does this,
Jhn 1:15-18
In these verses,
Jhn 1:19-28
We have here the testimony of John, which he delivered to the messengers who were sent from Jerusalem to examine him. Observe here,
Jhn 1:29-36
We have in these verses an account of John's testimony concerning Jesus Christ, which he witnessed to his own disciples that followed him. As soon as ever Christ was baptized he was immediately hurried into the wilderness, to be tempted; and there he was forty days. During his absence John had continued to bear testimony to him, and to tell the people of him; but now at last he sees Jesus coming to him, returning from the wilderness of temptation. As soon as that conflict was over Christ immediately returned to John, who was preaching and baptizing. Now Christ was tempted for example and encouragement to us; and this teaches us,
Jhn 1:37-42
We have here the turning over of two disciples from John to Jesus, and one of them fetching in a third, and these are the first-fruits of Christ's disciples; see how small the church was in its beginnings, and what the dawning of the day of its great things was.
Jhn 1:43-51
We have here the call of Philip and Nathanael.