John 1:(1-9), 10-18
God with us
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being
1:4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
1:6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
1:7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
1:9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
1:10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him.
1:11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
1:12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,
1:13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
1:14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
1:15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”)
1:16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
1:17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
1:18 No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
[1] Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος,
καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν,
καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος.
[2]
Οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν.
[3]
πάντα δι᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο,
καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο
οὐδὲ ἓν ὃ γέγονεν.
[4]
ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν,
καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
[5]
καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει,
καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.
[6]᾿Εγένετο ἄνθρωπος ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ Θεοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ ᾿Ιωάννης·
[7]
οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς μαρτυρίαν, ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός, ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσι δι᾽ αὐτοῦ.
[8] οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖνος τὸ φῶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός.
[9]
῏Ην τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν,
ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον
ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.
[10]
ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν,
καὶ ὁ κόσμος δι᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο,
καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνω.
[11]
εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθε,
καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον.
[12]
ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτόν,
ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν
τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι,
τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ,
[13]οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν.
[14]
Καὶ ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο
καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν,
καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ,
δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός,
πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας.
[15] ᾿Ιωάννης μαρτυρεῖ περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ κέκραγε λέγων· οὗτος ἦν ὃν εἶπον, ὁ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἔμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν, ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἦν. [16]
Καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ
ἡμεῖς πάντες ἐλάβομεν,
καὶ χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος·
[17] ὅτι ὁ νόμος διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐδόθη, ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐγένετο.
[18] Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακε πώποτε· ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρός, ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο.
Comments
The prologue is a hymn with an impenetrable term (Logos) and a verse (9) which has been variously translated. As in other Gospels, some of the key terms retain the meaning and nuance they have in classical Greek, e.g., ἐθεάσατο (v. 14).
[1] ἦν ὁ Λόγος: ἦν, impf., ‘was’. The Evangelist casts his mind back to the continuous past. Λόγος is notoriously difficult. Recourse to the Stoics may be indirectly helpful: λόγος, ‘speech’, ‘word’ resides in the mind of the speaker, and becomes activated or realised; cf. the Stoic ένδιάθετος λόγος, ‘innate speech’ as distinct from προφορικός λόγος, ‘spoken or oral speech/word’.
καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν,
καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος: note the neat interlacing (chiaston) of Λόγος and Θεός (A, B ~ B, A), suggesting interrelationship. John’s opening verse is an example of the iconic (‘picturing’) function of language.
[5] οὐ κατέλαβεν: καταλαμβάνω, ‘conquer and capture by a military operation’ (LXX: Muraoka s.v.); here used fig. ‘Darkness did not conquer it (sc. the light).’ Alternatively the aor. κατέλαβεν can be taken as perfective, ‘Darkness has not conquered it’.
[9] ῏Ην τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν: the implied subject of ῏Ην (impf.) is Christ/ Logos (so Trembelas & others ad loc.). The syntax of the sentence suggests this sense: ‘He was the true light, which illumines every human being that comes into the world.’ This reading coheres with the next verse (10), ‘He was in the world, etc.’
The standard Engl. tr. of v. 9 is quite different: ‘The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.’
ἀληθινόν: ἀληθινός, ‘true, genuine, real’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v I.2), of objects, materials, colours, persons, etc. Cf. ἀληθής, ‘true as opp. to false’ (LSJ s.v. I.1); but also ‘true, real’, of qualities, events, persons (LSJ s.v. II.1); these senses also occur in LXX (Muraoka s.v.).
[10] καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνω: the conj. καὶ here is adversative, ‘yet, but’.
οὐκ ἔγνω: γι(γ)νώσκω in LXX Gk can mean ‘recognise’ or ‘acknowledge as true, important, etc.’ (Muraoka s.v. 4 and 9).
[11] οὐ παρέλαβον: παραλαμβάνω, c.acc. pers., ‘associate with’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. II.1); in this context, ‘accept, receive’.
[12] ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτόν: ἔλαβον, coming immediately after παρέλαβον, means παρέλαβον.
[14] ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν: σκηνόω, ‘pitch tents, encamp’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. I.1), hence fig., ‘dwell’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. I.2). (In LXX, ‘pitch a tent as a settler’; ‘live in a tent’ [Muraoka s.v. 1 & 2]). Cf. σκηνή, ‘tent’, ‘makeshift structure’, hence ‘stage-building’ (LSJ s.v. σκηνή); cf. Engl. scene. In our passage ‘the Logos settled/ encamped among us a settler’. His was a temporary presence in the desert of human beings.
ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ: θεάομαι, θεῶμαι, ‘gaze at, behold, mostly with a sense of wonder’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.I.1). ‘We wondered at/ beheld…’
δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς: in the LXX δόξα can mean ΄external splendour, magnificent appearance’ (Muraoka s.v. 2).
μονογενοῦς: μονογενής, ‘only, single’ (LSJ s.v. : already in Hesiod WD 376); as a noun as here = ‘only child’ (Muraoka). Cf. v. 18.
[18] ἐξηγήσατο: ‘set forth, explained’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. III). Cf. Engl. exegesis.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 