28 These things came to pass in Bethabara, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing,
29 on the morrow John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, `Lo, the Lamb of God, who is taking away the sin of the world;
30 this is he concerning whom I said, After me doth come a man, who hath come before me, because he was before me:
31 and I knew him not, but, that he might be manifested to Israel, because of this I came with the water baptizing.
32 And John testified, saying -- `I have seen the Spirit coming down, as a dove, out of heaven, and it remained on him;
33 and I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water, He said to me, On whomsoever thou mayst see the Spirit coming down, and remaining on him, this is he who is baptizing with the Holy Spirit;
34 and I have seen, and have testified, that this is the Son of God.'
35 On the morrow, again, John was standing, and two of his disciples,
36 and having looked on Jesus walking, he saith, `Lo, the Lamb of God;'
37 and the two disciples heard him speaking, and they followed Jesus.
38 And Jesus having turned, and having beheld them following, saith to them, `What seek ye?' and they said to them, `Rabbi, (which is, being interpreted, Teacher,) where remainest thou?'
39 He saith to them, `Come and see;' they came, and saw where he doth remain, and with him they remained that day and the hour was about the tenth.
40 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard from John, and followed him;
41 this one doth first find his own brother Simon, and saith to him, `We have found the Messiah,' (which is, being interpreted, The Anointed,)
42 and he brought him unto Jesus: and having looked upon him, Jesus saith, `Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas, thou shalt be called Cephas,' (which is interpreted, A rock.)
43 On the morrow, he willed to go forth to Galilee, and he findeth Philip, and saith to him, `Be following me.'
44 And Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter;
45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him, `Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets, we have found, Jesus the son of Joseph, who `is' from Nazareth;'
46 and Nathanael said to him, `Out of Nazareth is any good thing able to be?' Philip said to him, `Come and see.'
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming unto him, and he saith concerning him, `Lo, truly an Israelite, in whom guile is not;'
48 Nathanael saith to him, `Whence me dost thou know?' Jesus answered and said to him, `Before Philip's calling thee -- thou being under the fig-tree -- I saw thee.'
49 Nathanael answered and saith to him, `Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel.'
50 Jesus answered and said to him, `Because I said to thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, thou dost believe; greater things than these thou shalt see;'
51 and he saith to him, `Verily, verily, I say to you, henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened, and the messengers of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man.'
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.