Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 1:10
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
10. and the world ] Note three points; (1) the close connexion obtained by repetition, as in Joh 1:4-5; (2) the tragic tone, as in Joh 1:5; (3) the climax. ‘He was in the world’ (therefore the world should have known Him); ‘and the world was His own creature’ (therefore still more it should have known Him); ‘and (yet) the world knew Him not.’ ‘And’ = ‘and yet’ is very frequent in S. John; but it is best not to put in the ‘yet;’ the simple ‘and’ is more forcible. Comp. Joh 1:5 ; Joh 1:11.
Note that ‘the world’ has not the same meaning in Joh 1:9-10. Throughout N.T. it is most important to distinguish the various meanings of ‘the world.’ It means (1) ‘the universe;’ Rom 1:20: (2) ‘the earth;’ Joh 1:9; Mat 4:8: (3) ‘the inhabitants of the earth;’ Joh 1:29, Joh 4:42: (4) ‘those outside the Church,’ alienated from God; Joh 12:31, Joh 14:17, and frequently. In this verse the meaning slips from (2) to (4).
knew him not ] Did not acquire knowledge of its Creator; did not recognise and acknowledge Him. Comp. Act 19:15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He was in the world – This refers, probably, not to his pre-existence, but to the fact that he became incarnate; that he dwelt among human beings.
And the world was made by him – This is a repetition of what is said in Joh 1:3. Not only men, but all material things, were made by him. These facts are mentioned here to make what is said immediately after more striking, to wit, that men did not receive him. The proofs which he furnished that they ought to receive him were:
- Those given while he was in the world – the miracles that he performed and his instructions; and,
- The fact that the world was made by him. It was remarkable that the world did not know or approve its own Maker.
The world knew him not – The word knew is sometimes used in the sense of approving or loving, Psa 1:6; Mat 7:23. In this sense it may be used here. The world did not love or approve him, but rejected him and put him to death. Or it may mean that they did not understand or know that he was the Messiah; for had the Jews known and believed that he was the Messiah, they would not have put him to death, 1Co 2:8; Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Yet they might have known it, and therefore they were not the less to blame.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 1:10-11
He was in the world
The treatment of Christ by men
I.
By the WORLD.
1. They were in a condition in which they might have known much of Him. He made the world and preserved it and was in it. Yet there was no proper recognition of Him.
2. This ignorance of Christ was the sin of the world, and it is its sin now, a sin for which there is no excuse. In addition to creation and providence we have revelation.
II. By His own.
1. Who are His own. In a sense
(1) All mankind by the right of creation;
(2) The converted by the right of redemption and adoption;
(3) As distinguished from both these, the Visible Church. That its members are His own arises from their possession of advantages peculiarly distinctive–the oracles of God–the ordinances of the kingdom. They are in covenant. Christ is under engagement to grant to them eternal life: they are under engagement to seek that gift and accept it.
(a) Virtually such was the covenant at Sinai. Christ engaged to bring His own to Canaan, through their obedience to the law by which they were to live. They engaged to go up and possess their inheritance in reliance on Him. The covenant was typical as well as temporal, and typified a spiritual salvation.
(b) Israel violated this covenant, by the rebellion in the wilderness, and by slowness of heart to understand its moral meanings.
(c) This covenant has passed away, the substance of its shadows having come, but thousands like Israel are false and perfidious to the new and better covenant: they have the profession without the power of godliness.
2. He came to His own.
(1) This was unsolicited by them, the kindness and consideration were all His.
(2) He came to them in the wilderness and at various periods of their history, but they rejected Him.
3. He came as the Incarnate Word, and they received Him not. Is this also true of the Visible Church to-day? The unconverted hearers of the gospel are more guilty than the Jews, and will therefore he visited with a heavier condemnation. (A. Beith, D. D.)
The rejection of the Light
I. GENERALLY AND PRIOR TO THE INCARNATION BY THE WORLD. The world knew Him not, which was
1. Inexcusable (Rom 1:20).
2. Unnatural, since those who lived and moved and had their being in Him should have known Him who made them (Psa 103:22).
3. Heinous. The non-recognition less intellectual than moral, arising not from failure to discern, but from want of inward affinity to the light Joh 3:19; Eph 4:18; Job 24:13).
4. Prophetic, since it foreshadowed Christs reception by Israel with the outlook towards which it is here introduced.
II. PARTICULARLY AND DURING THE PERIOD OF HIS INCARNATION BY HIS OWN, i.e, by the Jews, whose rejection of Him, besides sharing the criminality incurred by the world, displayed
1. Monstrous ingratitude. He selected them for no peculiar excellence on their part, and vouchsafed centuries of gracious teaching and discipline to prepare them to recognize and embrace Him.
2. Shamefaced robbery. Christ presented Himself as the Heir claiming His inheritance (Mat 21:38); as a Master (Mat 25:14) only to find His possessions forcibly withheld from Him, and Himself cast forth and killed.
3. Incorrigible wickedness. They could not discern the signs of Messiahship in Him.
4. Dire infatuation, for in rejecting Him they thrust from themselves the kingdom of God, and missed the true vocation of their race. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Christ rejected by the world
His own world rejected Him, as a rebel country might reject a lawful and beneficent king. The very work of His hands, that which was indebted to Him for its very being, refused to recognize Him. (G. J. Brown, M. A.)
The world
Corrupted mankind are called the world, because they love the world more than their Creator. Through love, we make something our dwelling-place; and therefore what we have made by our love to be our dwelling-place, from that we have deserved to be called. (Augustine.)
The world knew Him not.
Let us give the largest scope to these words. If you apply them to the world of matter, I need not say that matter can never interpret spirit. God cannot be known in the charity and richness of His inward nature by anything that matter represents. Nor can men whose whole intercourse with matter either disprove or affirm the invisible and inward truth of Christ. Neither does the race know Him: for they are seeking to live by bread alone. Three-fifths of the world live as the sheep, the ox, and the swine do. The heavens to them contain little unless it be some terror that superstition interprets. They cross the plain of life, with heads down, as herds of cattle cross the prairie browsing as they go. They live for and by the senses. They know not the God who created them, and sustains and blesses them. (H. W. Beecher.)
The non-recognition of Christ
When Ulysses returned with fond anticipations to his home at Ithaca, his family did not recognize him. Even the wife of his bosom denied her husband–so changed was he by an absence of twenty years, and the hardships of a protracted war. In this painful condition of affairs he called for a bow which he had left at home. With characteristic sagacity he saw how a bow so stout and tough that none but himself could draw it, might be made to bear witness on his behalf. He seized it. To their surprise and joy, like a green wand lopped from a willow tree, it yields to his arms, it bends till the string touches his ear. His wife, now sure that he is her long lost and lamented husband, throws herself into his fond embraces, and his household confess him to be the true Ulysses. If I may compare small things with great, our Lord gave such proof of His Divinity when He, too, stood a stranger in His own house, despised and rejected of men. He bent the stubborn laws of nature to His will. He proved Himself Creator by His mastery over creation. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Genius unrecognized
When Verdi the celebrated musician first made application for admission as a student at the Conservatoire Musicale at Milan, he was rejected by the director, Francesco Basily, on the ground that he could make nothing of the new comer, who showed no disposition for music! How this early verdict was reversed is a matter of notorious history. (H. O. Mackey.)
Recognition
Some literary reputations are like fairies, in that they cannot cross running water. Others, again, are like the mystic genii of the Arabian Nights which loom highest when seen afar. Poe, e.g., is more appreciated in England than at home; and Cooper is given a higher rank by French than by American critics. (Matthews.)
Judgment by contemporaries
Contemporary judgment is least of all judicial. The young forestall novelty itself. The old mistrust or look backward with a sense of loss. It is hard for either to apply tests that are above fashion; we adopt, as lightly as formerly we contemned, a fashion that at last we avow we rightly interpret. (E. C. Stedman.)
God present but unknown
I have swept the heavens with my telescope and have found no God. (E. C. Stedman.)
God unrecognized in His own world
Sir Isaac Newton had among his acquaintances a philosopher who was an atheist. It is well known that the illustrious man, who takes the first rank as a mathematician, natural philosopher, and astronomer, was at the same time a Christian. He had in his study a celestial globe, on which was an excellent representation of the constellations and the stars which compose them. His atheist friend, having come to visit him one day, was struck with the beauty of tiffs globe. He approached it, examined it, and, admiring the work, he turned to Newton and said to him, Who made it? No one! replied the celebrated philosopher. The atheist understood, and was silent. (Christian Age.)
Christ is often near but unknown
Every faculty of the soul, if it would but open its door, might see Christ standing over against it, and silently asking by His smile, Shall I come in unto thee? But men open the door and look down, not up, and thus see Him not. So it is that men sigh on, not knowing what the soul wants, but only that it needs something. Our yearnings are home-sicknesses for heaven; our sighings are for God, just as children that cry themselves asleep away from home, and sob in their slumber, know not that they sob for their parents. The souls inarticulate meanings are the affections yearning for the Infinite, and having no one to tell them what it is that ails them. (H. W. Beecher.)
He came to His own
Christs coming and rejection
I. IN WHAT SENSE HE CAME TO HIS OWN, AND HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT. He came as the long-expected Messiah (Hag 2:7; Joh 4:26), answering all the characters given Him as such in the Old Testament.
1. He came as Immanuel (Isa 7:14; Isa 9:6; Isa 35:4; Isa 40:9-10). His testimony to this effect was confirmed by exercising the authority of God
(1) by forgiving sins (Mat 9:2);
(2) by healing the sick (Mat 8:3);
(3) by raising the dead (Mar 5:41; Joh 11:43),
(4) by calming the storm (Mar 4:39).
But so far were His own from receiving Him that they accounted Him a sinner (Joh 9:24), a deceiver (Mat 27:63), mad and possessed of the devil (Joh 10:20).
2. He came as the Prophet like unto Moses (Deu 18:15), whom He resembled in many things. But they rejected Him because His doctrine contradicted their prejudices, censured their vices, and laid a restraint on their dominant lusts.
3. He came as High Priest and Mediator between God and man, typified by Aaron; but they, depending on being Abrahams seed, on circumcision, the priesthood, and expiations of their law, received Him not.
4. He came as Redeemer and Saviour (Isa 59:20; Isa 42:6; Isa 24:7), but not seeing their want of redemption (chap. 8:33), and having no desire for spiritual blessings, they received Him not.
5. He came as King (Psa 2:6; Jer 23:5-6; Zec 9:9), to rescue them from their enemies, and govern them with good laws. But as His kingdom was not of this world they rejected Him (Joh 19:13; Joh 19:15; Joh 18:40, Luk 19:14).
II. IN WHAT SENSE IT IS NECESSARY THAT WE SHOULD RECEIVE HIM We receive His name, and therefore receive Him by profession; the Scriptures, as declaring His will; His ordinances: but do we receive Him in all the offices and characters He sustains?
1. Acknowledging Him as a Divine Teacher, do we learn and practise His precepts?
2. Acknowledging that He is Mediator, do we rely on His atonement and intercession?
3. Confessing Him to be all-sufficient Redeemer, do we glorify Him in our body and spirit, which are His?
4. Do we in reality as well as in profession receive Him as our King? It is implied in these questions that we received
(1) His doctrine as the rule of our faith, experience, and practice;
(2) His merits as the ground of our confidence;
(3) His Spirit, without which we are none of His;
(4) His example as our pattern;
(5) His exaltation as the ultimate object of our desire.
III. THE GREAT PRIVILEGE THEY ATTAIN WHO RECEIVE HIM
1. They are unspeakably near to Him as made sons of God by regeneration Joh 5:1).
2. They are dear to Him above all others. They are favoured with access to Him, taken under His protection, and assured of a great reward. (J. Benson.)
Christs coming to His own
The Jewish nation was His own, by choice (Deu 7:6); by purchase (Exo 19:4-5); by covenant (Deu 26:18); and by kindred (Heb 2:16). (F. H.Dunwell, B. A.)
Christ rejected by His own people
He came unto His own things, and His own people received Him not. He was as a householder coming to his own house and being kept out by his own servants. What is the earth but one great apartment in the house of God! Its furniture (its hills and valleys, and rivers, fruits and flowers, and harvest fields) is Jesus Christs, for, apart from Him, was not anything made that was made: yet when He came to His own house His ownership was denied by the servants who had been put into temporary possession by His own power and grace. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Advent
The coming of Christ had
I. AN OBJECT.
1. Men had lost sight of God. Some had lost it. Others had never had it. All were destitute of it except a small class of Hebrew believers. Three kinds of sin had blinded, corrupted, usurped the human soul.
(1) Self-admiration,which makes a rebel of the intellect;
(2) Self-will of the conscience;
(3) Self-indulgence of the passions.
Curiosity was all that was left as the highest aim in science; war, in enterprise; and a sensuous enthusiasm for the beautiful in art. Alexandria, Rome, and Athens represented these three ambitions.
2. In losing God, man had lost himself. Faith in God and the dignity of man went down together. With Divine worship fell human rights and liberties. Seneca stood for the worlds idea of learning; Caesar, for its idea of politics; Corinth, for its idea of pleasure.
3. The object of the Advent, therefore, was to restore to man his God and Father, and himself.
II. A METHOD. Not by creating a religious capacity, but by quickening men with trust and love.
1. Not first by a book: that would have reached not one in ten thousand, nor him in his heart.
2. Not chiefly by oral instructions, which have to be certified to the understanding before they can inspire faith.
3. Not by a mere creature-image of Deity, for that would have been only adding another to the old Pantheon of idolatries.
4. This infinite goodness, this One Spirit of God, must come in a life. Christ must be the Son of the Father; must touch humanity and enter into it; must wear its flesh; must lift its load; must partake its experience; must be tempted with it; must be seen, nay, felt, suffering for it. This will complete the manifestation. This will be, not an education, not an inspiration, not a human self-elevation, which neither history nor logic hints at; but a coming of Heaven to earth; a theophany, or manifesting of God. This is perfect compassion, and effectual relief. This gets the sundered souls together. Even stolid and blinded eyes will behold their Lord. This will move, and melt, and convince of sin, and arouse to holiness.
III. A MOTIVE. There could be but one (Joh 3:16). (Bp. Huntington.)
The Advent of Christ.
I. THE GREAT ADVENT; OR, THE ARRIVAL OF THE HEIR.
1. The illustrious personage described.
(1) The Word of God; implying personality, intelligence, eternity, divinity.
(2) The Creator of the universe.
(3) The life and light of men; the source of whatever mental, moral, or spiritual truth ever entered into the soul of man.
(4) The heir of Israel and humanity. He came into His own possessions.
(a) Into the world which by reason of His creatorship was His.
(b) Unto Israel, the special creation of His grace, and His peculiar treasure.
2. The manner of His coming pictured. He came
(1) Voluntarily. The Baptist was sent; Christ came.
(2) Opportunely. In the fulness of the times; the time pre-appointed by God; the time pre-eminently adapted for a new religion. The false faiths had been tried and found wanting. The Mosaic economy had served its purpose. The Roman power had provided a means of universal communication, and Greece a universal language.
(3) Graciously. To communicate the life and the light without which neither Israel nor humanity could be saved. It would not have been surprising had He come to condemn rather than to save.
(4) Unostentatiously. We might have anticipated an advent in great power and glory.: instead of that it was in the form of a servant.
II. THE MOURNFUL REJECTION; OR, THE REPUDIATION OF THE HEIR. Israels conduct representative of the worlds. This rejection was
1. Symbolized at His birth. No room for Him in the inn. Manger for His cradle.
2. Experienced throughout His life. Despised and rejected of men. Calumniated as a wine-bibber, a blasphemer, an impostor, a confederate of Beelzebub, and persecuted and scorned.
3. Confirmed by His death. Away with Him! Crucify Him! Learn
(1) The amazing condescencion of Christ.
(2) The supreme claim of Christ.
(3) The wickedness and danger of the unbelief which rejects Christ. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Jesus of Nazareth the true promised Messiah
No Scripture has so directly and immoveably stood in the way of opposers of Christs divinity, from Socinius backwards, than this chapter. In the text we have
I. CHRISTS COMING INTO THE WORLD.
1. The person who came. The Second Person in the Trinity, whose infinity makes the act of His coming miraculous. But Christ, who delighted to mingle mercy with miracle, took a finite nature, so that what was impossible to a Divine nature was done by a Divine Person, and being made man could do all that a man could do except sin. The endeavour to account for this mystery has been the source of all heresy, both of hypothesis and denial.
2. The state and condition from which Christ came. From the bosom of the Father, a state of eternal glory, joy, and Divine communion. How great the humiliation from this to that of a crucified malefactor! And yet it was perfectly voluntary.
3. To whom He came. Everything was His own by creation, possession, and absolute dominion; but the Jews were His by
(1) The fraternal right of consanguinity; and
(2) Churchship, as selected by Him. That it was Palestine and not Rome He came to was of His sovereign mercy.
4. The time at which He came. When they were at their worst.
(1) Nationally. Only a remnant left, and that under a foreign yoke; when to be a Jew was a mark of infamy.
(2) Ecclesiastically. When most corrupt, hypocritical, sceptical. In this we may see
(a) the invariable strength of Christs love;
(b) the immoveable veracity of Gods promise.
II. CHRISTS ENTERTAINMENT BEING COME. May we not expect for Him a magnificent reception, a welcome as extraordinary as His kindness, especially when we consider His purpose? But His own received Him not. This is not strange. The Jews only followed the common practice of men, whose.emulation usually preys on those superior to them.
1. The grounds of His rejection.
(1) Christ came not as a temporal prince, which frustrated their carnal hopes. They therefore derided the carpenters son.
(2) They supposed that He set Himself against the law of Moses by His spiritual interpretations, human exceptions, and exposures of rabbinical glosses.
2. The unreasonableness of these grounds.
(1) He came to be not a temporal prince, but
(a) a blessing to all nations, which is inconsistent with the idea of a warrior Messiah. This is the burden of prophecy
(b) of a low, despised estate (Psa 22:1-31; Isa 53:1-12.)
(2) He came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it. The ceremonial law was fulfilled and passed away, therefore, of itself.
3. The reasons which should have induced them to receive Him.
(1) All the marks of the Messiah appeared in Him.
(2) His whole behaviour was a continued act of mercy and charity. Conclusion: The Jews are not the only persons concerned in this guilt, but also all vicious Christians. (R. South, D. D.)
The ingratitude of man
I. THE PEOPLE AMONGST WHOM OUR LORD DWELT WERE GUILTY OF INGRATITUDE TOWARDS HIM.
1. It was an act of distinguished favour our that He should be born among them; yet they rejected Him, which was a high-handed act of national ingratitude.
2. Special cases occurred involving still greater ingratitude.
(1) Among them were many whom our Lord healed. Strange ingratitude that a man should owe his eyes to Him and yet refuse to see in Him the Saviour; should owe to Christ his tongue and be silent in the great Physicians praise.
(2) He fed thousands of hungry persons: yet they followed Him, not for Himself, but for what they could get out of Him.
(3) When He acted as a teacher they tried to murder Him.
3. The further our Lord went on in life the more ungratefully was He treated. He forgot Himself and gave Himself away that He might seek and save the lost; and yet men strove to take away His life which was more valuable to them than to Him.
4. At last that evil generation had its way with Him and crucified Him.
5. When He rose and tarried for forty days to minister blessing, they first doubted and then invented an idle tale to account for it.
6. In this ingratitude those who were nearest to Him had a share. One denied Him, and all forsook Him and fled.
II. WE ALSO HAVE BEEN UNGRATEFUL TO OUR LORD.
1. Those who are most indebted to Christs love and grace–believers.
(1) Every sin is ingratitude since Christ suffered for it and came to destroy it.
(2) The setting up of any rival on His throne in the heart, when Christ is dethroned in favour of wife, child, friend, ambition, pleasure, wealth, is base ingratitude.
(3) The same is true when we lose large measures of grace; when the Holy Spirit admits us into peculiar nearness to God and we act inconsistently.
(4) And so the little service we render and our lukewarm love. Christs love is like the ancient furnace which was heated seven times hotter; ours like the solitary spark which wonders within itself that it is yet alive.
(5) The rare consecration of our substance is another case in point. Our gifts to His poor, His Church, missions, are an insult to Him.
(6) How base is our ingratitude when we neglect His commands and have to be driven to obedience.
2. There are those whose ingratitude is even greater.
(1) Those who refuse to trust Him, in spite of gospel announcements, loving invitations, the evident manifestation of Christ.
(2) Those who oppose Him, jest at His gospel, and treat His people with indignity. What evil has He ever done you? When has He given you an ill word or look? It is to His silence that you owe your life. There is no chivalry in such conduct as this.
3. Those from whom, above all others, such conduct ought not to have proceeded.
(1) Children of pious and sainted parents.
(2) The restored from sickness.
III. WHAT THEN? What comes out of all this?
1. Let us appreciate our Saviours sufferings.
2. Admire our Saviours love.
3. Apply the cleansing blood which can take away the scarlet sin of ingratitude.
4. Learn how to forgive. Christ loved men none the less for their ingratitude.
5. Judge how we ought to live in the light of this subject: devote ourselves entirely to Him. In conclusion, what will become of the finally ungrateful? (C. H.Spurgeon.)
His own
There are two ways of belonging to another: unwilling and inevitable, or willing and hearty. You may belong to a nation by birth, and dislike it; to a family, from dependence or self-interest, and care for no welfare in it; to a university, and be out of harmony and out of temper with its administration. But so you cannot belong to the brotherhood that is of the body of Christ. You must be in sympathy both with the brotherhood and its head. The legal ownership you cannot help; it brings no animation and no comfort. By your creation you are the Lords; His to be disposed of, to live or die, to be judged. The business of your new heart, receiving Christ, is to change this reluctant belonging for the closer and grateful loyalty of affection; the legal bond for the gracious one of faith. (Bp. Huntington, D. D.)
The coming and rejection of the light
The light came into mens hearts as into its proper native dwelling-place. The Word from whom that light issued asserted His right over all the feelings, instincts, impulses, and determinations of these hearts, as over His own rightful domestics and subjects. But the light was repelled; the rightful Ruler was treated as an intruder by these domestics and subjects. There was anarchy and rebellion where there should have been subordination and harmony. A usurper had reduced those into slavery who would not have the service which is freedom. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)
Christ rejected
His own were those who believed with Him in the Scriptures; the teachers of Israel, those who had been trained for His reception. The peasants of Galilee knew Him and received Him when He fed them; for the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib. He was rejected by those who were the most rigorously orthodox; by the men who believed that their whole life should expend itself in maintaining the temple and its worship. The last days of Christ, the illustrious days of His controversy, were spent with the best, the highest, the most moral of all the people then upon the globe; and they knew Him not. The poor knew Him, and followed Him; the blind know Him, and cried out to Him; the dead knew Him, and came to life; but the armour-bearers of the then regnant faith–the priests, the teachers–looked upon Him with blank faces, and treated Him as a pretender, a traitor, and slew Him. Is the Christian spirit any more acceptable to-day? Is the policy of Christian nations saturated with blood, and bearing every insignia of the cross imbued with that spirit? Are all pompous churches, with all forms of superstition connected with their worship, and full of symbols of Him who came not to destroy but to save–are they truly Christian? Listen to the Te Deum when men knee deep in blood come back with victory on their banners. See the government of most Christian nations; how degraded have been the empires over which they have ruled. See how the Christian nations of Europe lie over against each other, like hungry lions waiting only for an opportunity to spring! What Christian nation, looking at its past history and present policy, can be said to have received Christ? (H. W. Beecher.)
Christ still rejected
As John writes, there was an advent and a rejection: a bodily advent, a bodily crucifixion: the image and outer form of the Word that was from the beginning, the ever-living Emmanuel, the Christ that comes to-day. If He is rejected to-day, it is by the pride and fashion and self-indulgence of to-day. It is our compromising consciences, it is our well-dressed sensuality, it is our commercial cunning, it is more literary conceit, it is our making merchandise of men and of mens virtue, our covering up cruelty, and calling it patriotism; dishonesty, and calling it regular trade; hollowness and mutual flattery, and calling it good society; prayerless self-idolatry, and calling it a rational religion–it is these things that prepare and build His cross, and crucify Him afresh. (Bp. Huntington, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. He was in the world] From its very commencement-he governed the universe-regulated his Church-spake by his prophets-and often, as the angel or messenger of Jehovah, appeared to them, and to the patriarchs.
The world knew him not.] – Did not acknowledge him; for the Jewish rulers knew well enough that he was a teacher come from God; but they did not choose to acknowledge him as such. Men love the world, and this love hinders them from knowing him who made it, though he made it only to make himself known. Christ, by whom all things were made, Joh 1:3, and by whom all things are continually supported, Col 1:16, Col 1:17; Heb 1:3, has way every where, is continually manifesting himself by his providence and by his grace, and yet the foolish heart of man regardeth it not! See the reason, Joh 3:19.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He was in the world; he was in the place called the world, and amongst the men of the world; for so the term world is often taken, Joh 16:28; 2Pe 3:6. Christ, before he came in the flesh, was in it; filling both the heavens and the earth, and sustaining it by the word of his power, and manifesting his will to it, more immediately to Moses and to the prophets, and more mediately by Moses and by the prophets.
And the world was made by him; and the heavens and the earth, all things visible and invisible, (as was said before), were made by him.
And the world knew him not; and the men of the world took no notice of him, did not acknowledge him, believe in him, nor were subject to him; so the word knew often signifies, (according to the Hebrew idiom), Joh 10:14,15,27; not a bare comprehension of an object in the understanding, but suitable affections: so Mat 7:23; 1Jo 3:1. This is not to be understood of all individual persons in the world; for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and David, and many particular persons, did in this sense know him; but the generality of the world did not. The heathens did not, (who are sometimes called the world, distinctively from the Jews, 1Jo 2:2; 1Co 1:21), and most of the Jews did not, though some did.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10-13. He was in the world,c.The language here is nearly as wonderful as the thought. Observeits compact simplicity, its sonorousness”the world”resounding in each of its three membersand the enigmatic form inwhich it is couched, startling the reader and setting his ingenuitya-working to solve the stupendous enigma of Christ ignored in Hisown world. “The world,” in the first two clauses,plainly means the created world, into which Hecame, says Joh 1:9 “init He was,” says this verse. By His Incarnation, He became aninhabitant of it, and bound up with it. Yet it “was made byHim” (Joh 1:3-5).Here, then, it is merely alluded to, in contrast partly with Hisbeing in it, but still more with the reception He met withfrom it. “The world that knew Him not” (1Jo3:1) is of course the intelligent world of mankind. (See on Joh1:11,12). Taking the first two clauses as one statement, we tryto apprehend it by thinking of the infant Christ conceived in thewomb and born in the arms of His own creature, and of the Man ChristJesus breathing His own air, treading His own ground, supported bysubstances to which He Himself gave being, and the Creator of thevery men whom He came to save. But the most vivid commentary on thisentire verse will be got by tracing (in His matchless history) Him ofwhom it speaks walking amidst all the elements of nature, thediseases of men and death itself, the secrets of the human heart, and”the rulers of the darkness of this world” in all theirnumber, subtlety, and malignity, not only with absolute ease, astheir conscious Lord, but, as we might say, with full consciousnesson their part of the presence of their Maker, whose will to one andall of them was law. And this is He of whom it is added, “theworld knew Him not!”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He was in the world,…. This is to be understood, not of his incarnation; for the word was denotes past existence in the world, even all the time past from the creation of the world; and the world intends the world in general, as opposed to Judea, and the people of the Jews in the next verse; besides, the incarnation of the word is spoken of in Joh 1:14 as a new and distinct thing from this: but of his being in the world, when first made, and since, by his essence, by which he fills the whole world; and by his power, upholding and preserving it; and by his providence, ordering and managing all the affairs of it, and influencing and governing all things in it: he was in it as the light and life of it, giving natural life and light to creatures in it, and filling it, and them, with various blessings of goodness; and he was in the promise and type before, as well as after the Jews were distinguished from other nations, as his peculiar people; and he was frequently visible in the world, in an human form, before his incarnation, as in Eden’s garden to our first parents, to Abraham, Jacob, Manoah, and his wife, and others.
And the world was made by him: so Philo the Jew often ascribes the making of the world to the Logos, or word, as before observed on Joh 1:3 and this regards the whole universe, and all created beings in it, and therefore cannot design the new creation: besides, if all men in the world were anew created by Christ, they would know him; for a considerable branch of the new creation lies in knowledge; whereas, in the very next clause, it is asserted, that the world knew him not; and they would also love him, and obey him, which the generality of the world do not; they would appear to be in him, and so not be condemned by him, as multitudes will. To understand this of the old creation, best suits the context, and proves the deity of Christ, and his pre-existence, as the word, and Son of God, to his incarnation.
And the world knew him not; that is, the inhabitants of the world knew him not as their Creator: nor did they acknowledge the mercies they received from him; nor did they worship, serve, and obey him, or love and fear him; nor did they, the greater part of them, know him as the Messiah, Mediator, Saviour, and Redeemer. There was, at first, a general knowledge of Christ throughout the world among all the sons of Adam, after the first promise of him, and which, for a while, continued; but this, in process of time, being neglected and slighted, it was forgot, and utterly lost, as to the greater part of mankind; for the Gentiles, for many hundreds of years, as they knew not the true God, so they were without Christ, without any notion of the Messiah; and this their ignorance, as it was first their sin, became their punishment.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He was in the world ( ). Imperfect tense of continuous existence in the universe before the Incarnation as in verses John 1:1; John 1:2.
Was made by him (‘ ). “Through him.” Same statement here of “the world” ( ) as that made in verse 3 of .
Knew him not ( ). Second aorist active indicative of common verb , what Gildersleeve called a negative aorist, refused or failed to recognize him, his world that he had created and that was held together by him (Col 1:16). Not only did the world fail to know the Pre-incarnate Logos, but it failed to recognize him when he became Incarnate (Joh 1:26). Two examples in this sentence of John’s fondness for as in verses John 1:1; John 1:4; John 1:5; John 1:14, the paratactic rather than the hypotactic construction, like the common Hebrew use of wav.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “He was in the world,” (en to kosmo en) “He was (existed) in the world,” in the universe, as the Son of God, as Creator, the creating Word, the Divine spokesman in and for all from creation, Heb 11:3; Gen 1:3; Gen 1:6; Gen 1:9; Gen 1:11; Isa 48:3; 1Co 8:6; Col 1:16-17.
2) “And the world was made by him,” (kai ho kosmos di autou egeneto) “And the world came to be (exist) through him,” Joh 1:1-3; Heb 1:2; Heb 1:10; Rev 3:14.
3) “And the world knew him not.” (kai ho kosmos auton ouk egno) “And the world order did not know or recognize him,” as the Son of God, the Savior, the Redeemer.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10. He was in the world. He accuses men of ingratitude, because of their own accord, as it were, they were so blinded, that the cause of the light which they enjoyed was unknown to them. This extends to every age of the world; for before Christ was manifested in the flesh, his power was everywhere displayed; and therefore those daily effects ought to correct the stupidity of men. What can be more unreasonable than to draw water from a running stream, and never to think of the fountain from which that stream flows? It follows that no proper excuse can be found for the ignorance of the world in not knowing Christ, before he was manifested in the flesh; for it arose from the indolence and wicked stupidity of those who had opportunities of seeing Him always present by his power. The whole may be summed up by saying, that never was Christ in such a manner absent from the world, but that men, aroused by his rays, ought to have raised their eyes towards him. Hence it follows, that the blame must be imputed to themselves.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) In the world.This manifestation in the flesh recalls the pre-incarnate existence during the whole history of the world, and the creative act itself. (Comp. Joh. 1:2-3, Note). The two facts are the constant presence of the true Light, and the creation of the world by Him. The world, then, in its highest creature man, with spiritual power for seeing the true Light, ought to have recognised Him. Spirit ought to have felt and known His presence. In this would have been the exercise of its true power and its highest good. But the world was sense-bound, and lost its spiritual perception, and knew Him not. This verse brings back again the thought of Joh. 1:3-5, to prepare for the deeper gloom which follows.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. He was in the world This clause confirms the interpretation just given of the previous verse, which refers the coming into the world to the Logos.
Made by him The Creator came into the world which he had created, but was unrecognized by the world; partly because he was disguised in the incarnation, and partly because the world, that is, the natural heart of man, refused to use the light mentioned in the ninth verse, and so became the darkness which comprehended not the light.
‘He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world did not know him.’
This verse reflects the different meanings of the word ‘world’ in the Gospel. In the Gospel ‘the world’ generally refers to the whole of mankind in contrast with God and His true people. God loved ‘the world’ and wanted to save them (Joh 3:16). The Pharisees were ‘of this world’ (Joh 8:23-24). Jesus’ disciples were ‘not of the world’ (Joh 17:14; Joh 17:16). The ‘world’ does not know God (Joh 17:25, and here). Christ’s kingdom is ‘not of this world’ (Joh 18:36). In general ‘the world’ is seen to be in darkness and separate from God.
But here the true light was ‘in the world’. The world was being given a unique opportunity. Yet John tells us that although He had in fact ‘made the world’, the world did not know Him. Thus we see different nuances to the term ‘world’, the one gliding into the other. In the first case ‘the world’ consists of all that is created, in the second it combines both meanings, for both the created world and the unbelieving world were made by Him, but in the third case ‘the world’ is the world of unbelieving men, the world of human affairs as opposed to God, the world in darkness, as is more normal in John. John thus moves smoothly from the idea of the created world as a whole to the world without God. That is why we are told later that we are to be in it (Joh 17:11), but not of it (Joh 15:19; Joh 17:14; Joh 17:16).
‘The world did not know him.’ ‘Know’ could mean ‘recognise’ or it could mean ‘personal response’. The word ginosko used here suggests something of the latter. But why did they not respond? Because they were blind? Because they were too busy and He got in the way? Because He did not fit in with their preconceived notions? All of these were true, and more. The Creator was rejected because they did not want His kind of world. In other words they were not just blind, they were guilty. They deliberately closed their eyes to the light.
The relation of Jesus to the world:
v. 10. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.
v. 11. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
v. 12. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name;
v. 13. which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
v. 14. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
At the time when John was bearing witness of Jesus, He was already in the world, He had become a part of the physical world as true man, He was subject to the usual laws governing man and his relation to the universe. And all this was true, though He had been the Creator of the world; the whole world, without reservation, with everything it contains, is His work, He made it, Col 1:16; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2. But in spite of the fact that He was in the world and had created the world, the people of the world did not know Him, did not acknowledge Him. The people did not recognize their own Creator, so thoroughly is the world estranged from God. The entire world consists of people in need of redemption, and yet the majority insists upon being counted with those that are lost. The representative part of the world will not acknowledge and accept Him. See 1Co 1:18-25. This is defined and explained more exactly in the next sentence. Into His own He came, to His own property, to the vineyard which His Father had planted, to the chosen people of the Old Testament. But those that belonged to Him, the men and women of His own race, that had received so many evidences of His grace and goodness, did not receive Him, were far from welcoming Him. The great mass of them rejected Him and His salvation. “The rulers in the children of Israel and the great multitude, since He did not come as they had imagined He should (for He came, simple and without ostentation, had no honor), would not acknowledge Him as the Messiah, much less accept Him, though St. John went before Him and testified of Him, and though He Himself very soon came forward, preached with power, and did miracles, that He truly should have been recognized by His miracles, Word, and preaching. But all that did not avail much… For the world nevertheless affixed Him to the cross; which would not have been done if they had held Him for what He was.”
But some there were, some few true Israelites, that received Him as the promised Messiah, and that therefore believed on His name, put their full trust for their salvation in Him. To receive Christ, to believe on Him, and to trust in His name, are expressions covering the same process; they are synonymous. To such as accepted the Word of the Cross He gives the great privilege or right to become the sons of God by adoption, Gal 4:4-5. He works faith in their hearts. They enter into the right, the proper relation to Him, they accept Him as their Father. This process of becoming children of God is now contrasted with the corresponding process of physical birth; The children of God are produced in a wonderful way, unlike that of natural procreation and birth. In nature children are formed out of blood and body substances of human flesh and by an act of the will of man. But this birth does not make a person a child of God. The children of God are born out of God. He is their true Father; to Him alone and to no human, earthly agency, power, or will do they owe life and being, spiritual birth and existence. Regeneration is the work of God, and it is His work all alone. By their receiving this testimony concerning Christ, as it was proclaimed by John, into their heart, this marvelous change has been wrought in the Christians. God has thereby made them partakers of the divine nature. Faith, which receives the Word and Christ, is wrought by God through the Word. Thus the believers have the manner and nature of their heavenly Father: a new spiritual, divine life is found in them. And though they are not born out of the essence of the Father, like the only-begotten Son, yet by adoption they have all the rights of children. They are heirs, with Christ, of the bliss of eternal salvation, Rom 8:17.
Just how this was brought about, that God could gather children out of the midst of a world that did not accept His Son, is shown in that incomparably beautiful passage of the incarnation of the Word. The Word, the eternal Son of the eternal Father, became flesh, assumed the true human nature according to body and soul. And instead of appearing only at irregular intervals, He had His dwelling among us, He partook of all the joys and sorrows of a true human existence; there could be no doubt as to the reality of His humanity. While He is and remains the eternal Logos, He is yet true man, subject to time and space, in every way like unto us in all the natural needs of the flesh, only without sin. And while He did not make an open, triumphant show of the divine nature which was His even in the state of humiliation, yet, the evangelist writes, we viewed His glory. The disciples had a good and full opportunity to convince themselves by close and intimate scrutiny upon many occasions that He was truly the Son of God, the eternal Logos. He still possessed the glory, the supernatural glory, of the only-begotten Son of the Father, Psa 2:7. The Father had begotten Him from eternity; He became flesh in the fullness of time, retaining, however, the full control of His divinity, lower than the Father only according to His humanity. His glory and majesty, His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, which mark Him as true God, became evident time and again in His miracles; rays of His glory penetrated the veil of His humanity as easily as the rays of the sun penetrate glass. Christ is therefore not only almighty God, but also almighty man; not only omniscient God, but also omniscient man; not only omnipresent God, but also omnipresent man. And this only-begotten Son, in His work as Savior, is full of grace and truth; grace and truth are concentrated in Him, they are the sum of His essence. The free and unmerited love and mercy of God is found in the person of Jesus, in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. The manifestations of His glory are supplemented by that of His grace. There is nothing of the insincere human quality in this grace with which the Son of God accepts sinners, but He is full of truth; He is the truly good, the personification of all goodness. True grace, true mercy, the fullness of unmerited divine compassion is found in Christ, true God and man, Psa 89:2; Psa 98:2.
Joh 1:10. He was in the world, &c. The Word and Son of God came down to earth; and though the world was made by him, all the inhabitants thereof being the work of his hands, yet that very world, that is, those inhabitants of it, did not know and acknowledge him as their Creator, and as the Word sent to reveal the will of God to them. This is in opposition to the doctrine of Cerinthus, (article 5.) See the Inferences and Reflections on this chapter.
Joh 1:10 . What here follows is linked on to the preceding by , following upon . . This is a fuller definition of the emphatic of Joh 1:9 : “It was in the world” , viz. in the person of Jesus, when John was bearing witness. There is no mention here of its continual presence in humanity (B. Crusius, Lange), nor of the “lumire inne” (Godet) of every man; see on Joh 1:5 . The repetition of three times, where, on the last occasion, the word has the narrower sense of the world of mankind, gives prominence to the mournful antithesis; Buttm. neut. Gr . p. 341 [E. T. p. 398].
] not pluperfect (“It had been already always in the world, but was not recognised by it”), as Herder, Tholuck, Olshausen, and Klee maintain, but like in Joh 1:9 .
.] Further preparation, by way of climax, for the antithesis with reference to Joh 1:3 . If the Light was in the world , and the world was made by it, the latter could and ought all the more to have recognised the former: it could , because it needed only not to close the inner eye against the Light, and to follow the impulse of its original necessary moral affinity with the creative Light; it ought, because the Light, shining within the world, and having even given existence to the world, could demand that recognition, the non-bestowal of which was ingratitude, originating in culpable delusion and moral obduracy. Comp. Rom 1:19 ff. We need not attach to the , which is simply conjunctive, either the signification although (Kuinoel, Schott), nor the force of the relative ( which was made by it, Bleek).
] the Logos , which is identified with the Light, which is being spoken of as its possessor, according to Joh 1:4 ff.; was still neuter , but the antithesis passes over into the masculine , because the object which was not recognised was this very personal manifestation of the Logos.
With regard to the last , observe: “cum vi pronuntiandum est, ut saepe in sententiis oppositionem continentibus, ubi frustra fuere qui requirerent,” Stallbaum, ad Plat. Apol . p. 29 B. Comp. Hartung, Partikell . p. 147. Very often in John.
DISCOURSE: 1596 Joh 1:10-12. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
THE blessings which administer to our worldly interest or bodily comfort, are equally welcomed by persons of all ranks and conditions: but those which have relation only to our spiritual good, are despised by many, and desired by very few. The light of the sun is not less prized by one than by another: all are sensible of its benefits, and value it accordingly. But the Sun of Righteousness has arisen upon us, and the benighted world regards him not: he shines in the darkness, and the darkness apprehends him not [Note: ver. 5.]. Some however there are, who rejoice in his advent: and as they only have learned to appreciate his worth, they only shall enjoy the full benefits he confers.
The words of the Evangelist will lead us to shew,
I.
The contempt poured on Christ by the unbelieving world
What was said of him in that day is equally true in this:
1.
His own creatures do not know him
[It was Christ who formed the universe: the world was made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made [Note: ver. 3. with the text.]. He has moreover been in the world from the very beginning, upholding it by his power [Note: Heb 1:3.], and ordering every thing in it by his superintending providence. Yet, before his incarnation, he was not known; neither yet now is he known as the Creator and Governor of the world. His name indeed is known: but he is considered only as a great prophet. The generality of those who doctrinally maintain his proper Deity, never practically realize the thought, that by him all things subsist [Note: Col 1:17.].]
2.
His own people do not receive him
[The Jews were called Christs own, because he had separated them from all other people, brought them out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and derived his human nature from the stock of Abraham, their father. Their very country was called Emmanuels land [Note: Isa 8:8.]. But we are his in a still more appropriate sense; because he has bought us with his blood; and we have been baptized into his name; and profess ourselves his followers. Yet we do not really receive him, any more than the Jews themselves did. We do not receive him in the character which he bears in the Holy Scriptures [Note: He is a Prophet to teach us, a Priest to atone for as, a King to rule over us and in us. Do we receive him under these characters?] We do not receive him for the ends and purposes for which he came [Note: He came to justify us by his blood, to sanctify us by his grace, and to save us with an everlasting salvation. Do we receive him for these ends?] ]
Alas! what contempt is this which we pour upon him! We can shudder at the indignities offered him by the Jews; but we ourselves are no less criminal than the people who crucified and slew him: they through ignorance apprehended and executed him as a malefactor: we, with our eyes open, cry, Hail, Master! and betray him [Note: Mat 26:49.].]
But that we may not continue to treat him thus, let us consider,
II.
The honour he confers on those who believe in him
A receiving of Christ, and a believing in him, are represented in the text as of precisely the same import. It is superfluous therefore to add any thing more in explanation of the terms. The benefits accruing from faith are the objects which next demand our attention. Unspeakable is the honour of becoming a child of God: yet to every one that believes in him, our blessed Lord gives,
1.
To bear this relation to God
[To the Jews belonged the adoption [Note: Rom 9:4.], as far as related to the external privileges of it. But we, on believing, are made partakers of the Divine nature [Note: 2Pe 1:4.]. We become the children of God as well by regeneration as adoption: yea, faith is at once the means [Note: Gal 3:26.], and the evidence [Note: 1Jn 5:1.], of our sonship with God. There is no interval of time left for us to give proofs of our sincerity, before God will acknowledge us as his: but the instant we believe in Christ, we are sons and danghters of the Lord Almighty [Note: 2Co 6:18.].]
2.
To enjoy the privileges of this relation
[The children of a stranger are not noticed by us, while our own children are admitted freely into our presence, and are the objects of our tenderest solicitude, our unremitted attention. We feed them, we clothe them, we protect them, we provide every thing for them that is suited to our circumstances, and that will contribute to their welfare. In all these respects believers find God a Father to them. They can go into his presence, crying, Abba, Father [Note: Gal 4:6.]! and obtain from him whatever is necessary either for their support or comfort.]
3.
To possess an inheritance worthy of that relation
[Parents account it a duty to provide for the future maintenance of their children, and not merely for their present subsistence. With this view they lay up fortunes for them, which they are to inherit after the decease of their parents. Similar to this is the provision made for those who believe in Christ. They are begotten again to an inheritance that is incorruptible, and undefiled, and never-fading [Note: 1Pe 1:3.]. Being sons, they are heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ [Note: Rom 8:17.]. Nor shall they merely divide their Fathers inheritance among them; but every one of them shall enjoy the whole, and have his happiness enlarged, rather than diminished, by the communication of it to others.]
Learn then from hence, The folly of unbelievers
[One would suppose, that, in calling them to believe in Jesus Christ, we urged them to make the greatest sacrifices, and to resign every thing that could conduce to their happiness. But, on the contrary, we only invite them to receive; to receive the greatest gift which God himself is able to bestow [Note: Joh 4:10.]: to receive Him, in whom they will find all that they can possibly desire. We require them to surrender nothing but what will make them miserable; and to receive nothing which will not make them happy. How unreasonable does their conduct appear when viewed in this light! If we were to offer them bags of gold, we should find them willing enough to accept as many as we could bestow. But when we exhort them to accept Him who is of more value than ten thousand worlds, they turn a deaf ear to our most importunate entreaties. See, ye unbelievers, see your extreme folly! and remember, that the day is coming, when that rejection of Christ, in which you now glory, will become the ground of your bitterest lamentation.]
2.
The unspeakable benefit of faith
[There are many things which put a considerable difference between one man and another. The influence of wealth and dignity exalts some far above the level of their fellow-creatures. The acquisition of knowledge and wisdom has no less effect in elevating the characters and conditions of men. But all the distinctions in the universe do not avail to dignify a man so much as faith. Faith brings Christ into the soul, and puts the poorest of men into the possession of unsearchable riches. Faith makes him, from a child of the devil, a child of God; from an heir of misery, an heir of glory. Faith elevates him from death to life, from infamy to honour, from hell to heaven. Faith, even though it be small as a grain of mustard-seed, produces all these wonderful effects. Cultivate then, my brethren, this divine principle. Labour to have it in more continued exercise. Let Christ, the greatest object of faith, be more and more precious to your soul. Thus shall you be really the most distinguished characters on earth, and ere long inherit the kingdom prepared for you by your heavenly Father.]
He was in the world, and the world was made by him; and the world knew him not. (11) He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (12) But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name : (13) Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God:
This is a most beautiful passage, and serves to illustrate and explain the many glorious truths which the Evangelist had before been advancing concerning Christ. He was in the world. When? Yea! from all eternity. Not in his human nature, for he had not as then, openly tabernacled in flesh. And it is not said of his divine nature only, for in that sense it would have been a needless observation. But He was in the world when in his covenant character he was set up from everlasting, and when Jehovah possessed him (as he himself expresses it) under another of his Mediator-names, Wisdom; see Pro 8:22 with 1Co 1:24 . And the world was made by him. This hath been before shewn, see Joh 1:2-3 . And the world knew him not. By the fall in the Adam-nature of sin, all men lost all apprehension of God, and became ignorant both of themselves and their Maker. Psa 10:4Psa 10:4 . He came unto his own. What own? The world and all that is therein was his own by right of creation. But this is not what is meant by the phrase his own. Neither is it meant his own by right of redemption, when it is added, that his own received him not. For they did, and will all of them receive him. For so the promise in the charter of grace runs, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Psa 110:3 . And the Lord Jesus himself confirms the same, when he saith, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Joh 6:37 . But the own of Christ here spoken of, means his own nation the Jews, to whom was committed the law, and the service of God and the promises; and they fulfilled their own scriptures in rejecting him. See Rom 9:4 with Act 13:27 . For a further account of Christ’s own, see Joh 13:1 . Now, Reader! having taken notice of those who, though Christ’s own, as a nation received him not; I pray you to mark the very different character of those his own in right that did. And observe well for you own sake how they are known; and then see whether in experience you bear a correspondence to them. They are described as not born of blood. Nothing of the hereditary blood of Adam gives birth to this chosen seed; neither the outward blood of circumcision by Moses; not the old birth of nature contributing to the new birth of grace. Nor of the will of the flesh. Nothing derived by human generation from father to son; nothing arising out of the corrupt stock of a fallen race, can lead to a spiritual regeneration by the Lord. Nor of the will of man, but of God. No ungodly man can will an ungodly man into these high privileges. No! Neither can a godly father will the son he loves into them. The great father of the faithful Abraham wished it for Ishmael, but could not will it. Gen 17:18 . It is not (saith One that could not be mistaken,) of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Rom 9:16 . Reader! what saith your own personal knowledge of these things? Oh! the preciousness of distinguishing mercy!
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
Ver. 10. He was in the world ] Here the evangelist goes on where he left: resumes, and proceeds in his former argument, Joh 1:5 .
And the world was made by him ] This is the second time here set forth, and reinforced, that we may the better observe and improve it. See the like, Rev 4:11 ; “For thou hast created all things, and by thee they are and were created,” without help, tool, or tiresomeness, Isa 60:18 . That one word of his, fiat , made all: shall we not admire his architecture?
And the world knew him not ] Man is here called “the world,” andMar 16:15Mar 16:15 , he is called “every creature.” This little world knew not Christ, for God had hid him under the carpenter’s son; his glory was inward, his kingdom came not by observation. And because the world knew not him, therefore it knoweth not us,1Jn 3:11Jn 3:1 . Princes the saints are in all lands, Psa 45:16 , but they he obscured, as did Melchizedek. The moon (say astronomers) hath at all times as much light as in the full; but often a great part of the bright side is turned to heaven, and a lesser part to the earth. So it is with the Church.
10. ] The is the created world, into which He came ( Joh 1:9 ), which was made by Him ( Joh 1:3 ), which nevertheless (i.e. as here represented by man , the only creature who ) knew, recognized Him not.
is as in Joh 1:5 .
, not , because though has been the subject, yet the brings in again the creative , Who is the Light. The three members of the sentence form a climax; He was in the world (and therefore the world should have known Him), and the world was made by Him (much more then should it have known Him), and the world knew Him not.
Joh 1:10 . . Joh 1:10-11 briefly summarise what happened when the Logos, the Light, came into the world. John has said: “The Light was coming into the world”; take now a further step, , and let us see what happened. Primarily rejection. The simplicity of the statement, the thrice repeated , and the connecting of the clauses by a mere , deepens the pathos. The Logos is the subject, as is shown by both the second and the third clause.
Westcott thinks that the action of the Light which has been comprehensively viewed in Joh 1:9 is in Joh 1:10-11 divided into two parts. “The first part (Joh 1:10 ) gathers up the facts and issues of the manifestation of the Light as immanent. The second part (Joh 1:11 ) contains an account of the special personal manifestation of the Light to a chosen race.” That is possible; only the obvious advance from the of Joh 1:9 to the of Joh 1:10 is thus obscured. Certainly Westcott goes too far when he says: “It is impossible to refer these words simply to the historical presence of the Word in Jesus as witnessed to by the Baptist”.
was made = came into being.
knew. Greek. ginosko. App-132. One of the characteristic words of this Gospel. See p. 1511.
10.] The is the created world, into which He came (Joh 1:9), which was made by Him (Joh 1:3), which nevertheless (i.e. as here represented by man, the only creature who ) knew, recognized Him not.
is as in Joh 1:5.
, not , because though has been the subject, yet the brings in again the creative , Who is the Light. The three members of the sentence form a climax;-He was in the world (and therefore the world should have known Him), and the world was made by Him (much more then should it have known Him), and the world knew Him not.
Joh 1:10. , He was in the world) The evangelist adds this, lest any one should so understand the expression, coming into the world, as if the Light had not been previously in the world at all. Three times in this verse world is repeated; three times it is said of the human race, as in the previous verse, but not to the exclusion of the other creatures, at least in the first place.- , was made by Him) , masculine, as presently after . It is referred to the sense,[16] though is neuter. Artemonius, p. 439, 450, etc., maintains that there is meant here the dissolution of all things, which was now about to have taken place, at the time when Christ suffered, had it not been turned aside [removed] by His own sacrifice, and for that purpose he quotes the passage, Heb 9:26, Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. But in that passage does not mean the putting off of the end of the world on [subject to] a condition, but categorically denotes the last times of the world, as opposed to the many ages that have elapsed since the foundation of the world. If such an interpretation [as Artemonius] holds good, Israel too might be said to be made by Moses; inasmuch as he averted its dissolution. With the same purpose in view, Artemonius, p. 455, urges the order of time in the clauses of this verse, but without reason. There is rather in it a gradation, wherein the world is urged to the acknowledgment of the Light by that [first] reason He was in the world, but more so by this [second reason] and the world was made by Him; or in other words, began to be.-, and) and yet.- , the world) The name world in the sacred writings implies THE IMPIOUS SILLINESS [futilitatem, emptiness] OF THE HUMAN RACE. Camer. note in John 17.
[16] By the figure .-E. and T.
Joh 1:10
Joh 1:10
He was in the world,-[John now takes a step forward. He who was coming had come. The babe had been cradled at Bethlehem, carried to Nazareth, and grown to mans estate.]
and the world was made through him,-[He was no stranger and no intruder. All the fair scenes upon which he gazed were the product of his creative power as logos.]
and the world knew him not.-Jesus who created the worlds was in the world, but the world did not know him. [Of all this great world, and its sentient, teeming inhabitants, there was not one being who recognized him in his divine character as Creator of the universe and Redeemer of men.]
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”)
was in: Joh 1:18, Joh 5:17, Gen 11:6-9, Gen 16:13, Gen 17:1, Gen 18:33, Exo 3:4-6, Act 14:17, Act 17:24-27, Heb 1:3
and the world was: See note on Joh 1:3. Jer 10:11, Jer 10:12, Heb 1:2, Heb 11:3
knew: Joh 1:5, Joh 17:25, Mat 11:27, 1Co 1:21, 1Co 2:8, 1Jo 3:1
Reciprocal: Gen 4:16 – went Isa 53:2 – he hath no Isa 53:3 – we hid as it were our faces from him Joh 1:26 – whom Joh 8:19 – Ye neither 2Co 8:9 – though Gal 4:8 – when
BLINDNESS OF HEART
He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.
Joh 1:10
These are the words in which the last of the Apostles summed up the direct and visible results of the Incarnation. He is above all impressed with the awful paradox that, when God became man, men were so blind as not to perceive it.
A sad text, and yet it has its consolations.
I. It teaches us that the Presence of our Lord does not depend on our faith, or our love, or our keenness of spiritual vision. He is in the world, although the world knows Him not; and therein have we our best hope for its daily progress from strength to strength.
II. So it is in the discipline of common life; so it is, above all, in that most sacred and blessed ordinance in which He has pledged His Presence to every weary and penitent soul. For in the tenderness of His unfaltering compassion He is there for grace and blessing, although we do not see His Face, although faith is too weak to realise how great a Guest is in our midst.
III. The measure of our power of recognition is not yet the measure of his grace.That shall only be in that great Epiphany hereafter, when faith is lost in sight. But even here and now we may pray for a lesser yet a true Epiphany, an Epiphany which may enlighten our own poor lives; for we pray that we may have grace to count all that is good and bright and true as the blessing of that Son of God who became the Son of Man, that we, the sons of men, might claim the heritage of the sons of God.
Dean J. H. Bernard.
Illustration
We are ready enough to attribute our follies and failures and sins to some evil power external to ourselves which we say we cannot resist. But we are slow to recognise the working of Gods grace in anything that we may think or do which is honourable or patient or unselfish or brave. The temptation of the devil is an excuse which we seize upon with readiness; but the grace of God, which is so much greater a power in life, we pass by as if we at least were in no wise indebted to it in our own persons.
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He was in the world, means he was among mankind as a citizen. Knew is from GINOSKO, and Thayer’s first and “universal” definition is, “To learn to know, get a knowledge of; passive, to become known.” Robinson defines it in virtually the same words. We might recognize a certain man to be John Doe, and yet not know, or care to know much about him. In that way the people of the world did not care to know much about Christ. (See the definition of comprehended in verse 5.) The world (mankind) was made (caused to be) by him. The words in parentheses are according to lexicon definitions. Verse 3 declares that all things were made by Him; also the definition of “us” in that verse is important and should be consulted again by the reader.
Joh 1:10. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, and the world knew him not. The subject is still the Light, which (Joh 1:9) was existent, and was coming into the world. In the world, indeed, it was already (though the complete manifestation was yet to come), andhere the figure passes imperceptibly away, giving place to the thought of the Personthe world, though brought into being through Him, recognised not His presence. Note the simplicity of Johns style, in which the three thoughts of the verse, though very various in their mutual relations, are, so to speak, placed side by side. These words relate both to the Pre-incarnate and to the Incarnate Word. The development is rather of thought than of time. Alike before His manifestation in the flesh and after it, the Word was in the world. The statement must not be limited to the manifestation of Christ in Israel. This verse is a repetition, in a more concrete form, of Joh 1:3-5 (in part).
He was in the world, that is, he that was God from eternity, made himself visible to the world in the fulness of time. The evangelist repeats it again, that the world was made by him, to show his omnipotency and divinity; and then adds, that the world knew him not, as an evidence of the world’s blindness and ingratitude.
Learn hence, That notwithstanding the eternal Son of God appeared in the world, and the world was made and created by him, yet the generality of the world did not know him;. that is, did not own and acknowledge him, did not receive and obey him. They neither knew him as creator, nor accepted of him as mediator. Yea, he came to his own; that is, his own kindred and country, the church and people of the Jews; but the generality of them gave him cold entertainment. It was the sin of the Jewish nation, that though they were Christ’s own peculiar people, his own by choice, his own by purchase, his own by covenant, by kindred, yet the generality of them did reject him, and would not own him for the true and promised Messias.
Learn hence, That the Lord Jesus Christ met with manifest and shameful rejection even at the hands of those that were nearest to him by flesh and nature, Neither did his brethren believe on him. Joh 11:1-45.
Joh 1:10-11. He was in the world From the beginning, frequently appearing, and making known to his servants, the patriarchs and prophets, the divine will, in dreams and visions, and various other ways: and the world was made by him As has just been shown; and the world, nevertheless, knew him not Knew not its Maker and Preserver. He came As the true, the often-predicted, and long-expected Messiah; unto his own , to his own things, namely, his own land; termed, Immanuels land; his own city, called the holy city; his own temple, mentioned as such by Mal 3:1 : The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly, or unexpectedly, come to his temple: but, although he answered all the characters given of the Messiah in the Old Testament, , his own people, whom he had separated from all the people upon earth, watched over, protected, delivered, and singularly favoured, in a variety of most extraordinary ways, for many ages; received him not Because he did not countenance and gratify their carnal spirit and worldly views, by coming in that state of wealth, power, and grandeur in which they expected him to come. He came as the prophet like unto Moses, as Moses foretold he should come, (Deu 18:18, &c.,) and by his holy life, his mighty miracles, extreme sufferings, and glorious resurrection from the dead, proved to a demonstration his divine mission; yet they received him not, because his doctrine contradicted their prejudices, censured their vices, and laid a restraint upon their lusts. He came as the High-priest of their profession, and a Mediator between God and man; but, depending on their being Abrahams seed, on the ceremony of circumcision, on the Aaronical priesthood and the expiations of their law, and, in general, on their own righteousness, they received him not in these characters. He came as a Redeemer and Saviour; but not feeling, nor even seeing, their want of the redemption and salvation which are through him, and having no desire of any such spiritual blessings, they received him not, in any such relations. He came as the King set upon Gods holy hill of Zion, Psa 2:6; the righteous branch raised unto David, the king that was to reign and prosper, and to execute justice and judgment in the earth, Jer 23:5-6; Zions king, that was to come to her, just and having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass, Zec 9:9 : but, as his kingdom was not of this world, not earthly, but heavenly, not carnal, but spiritual, and they did not desire one of another world, they would not receive him; declaring openly, We will not have this man to reign over us.
[See also the “General Considerations on the Prologue” in the comments of Joh 1:18.]
Ver. 10. He was in the world and the world had been made by Him, and the world knew Him not.
A contrast is evidently intended between the first words of this verse and the last words of Joh 1:9. This contrast is the occasion of the asyndeton. The Logos came into the world (Joh 1:9); and yet he had long been there (Joh 1:10 a); and also the world was His work (Joh 1:10 b). The first two propositions set forth that which is incredible, apparently impossible, in the result which is stated in the third (Joh 1:10 c): and the world did not know him. Weiss regards thebeing in the world (Joh 1:10 a) as the consequence of coming into the world indicated in Joh 1:9. But the asyndetonbetween the two Joh 1:9-10 does not suit this logical relation (see Keil); and, in this case, to what fact does the expression: He was in the world refer? It must necessarily be to a fact posterior to the birth of Jesus. This is held, indeed, by de Wette, Meyer, Astie, Weiss, and others; they apply the first proposition (Joh 1:10 a) to the presence of Jesus in Israel at the moment when John the Baptist was carrying on his ministry, and the third (Joh 1:10 c) to the ignorance in which the Jews still were at that moment of the factso importantof the presence of the Messiah; so, in the same sense, where John himself says to them (Joh 1:26): There is present in the midst of you one whom you do not know.
I do not believe it possible to suggest a more inadmissible interpretation. In the first place, that ignorance in which the people then were with regard to the presence of the Messiah had nothing reprehensible in it, since this presence had not yet been disclosed to them by the forerunner; it could not therefore be the ground of the tone of reproach which attaches to this solemn phrase: And the world knew him not! Then, the imperfect would have been necessary: And the world was not knowing him, and not the aorist, which denotes an accomplished and definite fact. Moreover, it would be necessary to give to the word world an infinitely narrower meaning than in the preceding clause, where it was said: and the world (the universe) had been made by him. Finally, how are we to justify the juxtaposition of two facts so heterogeneous as that of the creation of the world by the Word (Joh 1:10 b) and that of His presence, then momentarily unknown, in Israel! There is no harmony between the three clauses of this verse except by referring the first and the third to facts which are no less cosmic and universal than that of the creation of the world, mentioned in the second. This is the reason why we do not hesitate to refer the first to the presence and action of the Logos in humanity before His coming in the flesh, and the third to the criminal want of understanding in humanity, which, in its entirety, failed to recognize in Christ the Logos, its creator and illuminator, who had appeared in its midst. This return backward to that which the Logos is for the universe (comp. Joh 1:3), and especially for man (comp. Joh 1:4), is intended to make conspicuous the unnatural character of the rejection of which He was the object here on earth. The world was His work, bearing the stamp of His intelligence, as the master-piece bears the stamp of the genius of the artist who has conceived and executed it; He was filling it with His invisible presence, and especially with the moral light with which He was enlightening the human soul…and behold, when He appears, this world created and enlightened by Him did not recognize Him! One might be tempted to apply the words: did not know him, to the fact indicated in Rom 1:21-23; Act 14:16; Act 17:30; 1Co 1:21, the voluntary ignorance of the heathen world with respect to God as revealed in nature and conscience. In that case we should be obliged to translate: had not known him, and to see in this sin of the heathen world the prelude to that of the Jewish world, indicated in the following verse. But the non-recognition and rejection of the Logos as such cannot be made a reproach to the world before His personal incarnation in Jesus Christ. The matter in question, then, is the rejection of the Logos in His earthly appearance. This general and cosmic rejection was already regarded by Jesus as a consummated fact in the time of His ministry (Joh 3:19; Joh 15:18); how much more must it have seemed so at the moment when John was writing! The Church formed among mankind only an imperceptible minority, and this proportion between the true believers and the unbelievers has remained the same in all times and in all places.
The masculine pronoun , him, refers to the neuter term , the light, which proves that also must be taken as masculine. This grammatical anomaly arises from the fact that the apostle has now in view the light in so far as it had personally appeared in Jesus. This is, likewise, the reason why he substitutes the word knew, for laid hold of (Joh 1:5), although the idea is fundamentally the same. One lays hold of a principle, one recognizes a person.
The failure to recognize the Logos as He appeared in Jesus is stated at first, in the third proposition of Joh 1:10, in an abstract and summary way as a general fact. Then, the fact is described in Joh 1:11 under the form of its most striking historical and concrete realization.
1:10 {q} He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
(q) The person of the Word was made manifest even at that time when the world was made.
Jesus entered the world that He had created in the Incarnation. Yet the world did not recognize Him for who He was because people’s minds had become darkened by the Fall and sin (Joh 12:37). Even the Light of the World was incomprehensible to them (cf. Mat 13:55). The Light shines on everyone even though most people do not see it because they are spiritually blind. He shines even on those who have never heard of Him in that when He came He brought revelation of God that is now available to everyone.
John drew attention to the world by repeating this word three times. However the meaning shifts a bit from the world and all that is in it, in the first two occurrences of the word, to the people in the world who came in contact with Jesus, in the third occurrence.
"The world’s characteristic reaction to the Word is one of indifference." [Note: Ibid., p. 85. See his additional note on "the world," pp. 111-13.]
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
BENEFIT OF RECEIVING CHRIST
1.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)