John 1 Verses 6-10 

John 1:6 “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” 

John, or John the Baptist as he is called elsewhere, was sent from God.  John’s authority derived from God as he was sent from God.  This included his authority to baptize.  John was a forerunner of Christ and as we will see was to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.  God sent him to be a witness, to bear witness of Christ, the Light.  John preached that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand and that the King of the kingdom was come.  While John is elsewhere called by the Lord to be a burning and shining light, yet, he was not “the Light.”  That title and work belonged to Jesus Christ.  Yet, John was bearing witness with the desired result that “all men through him might believe.”  The “all men" was of necessity limited to those who had been born of the Spirit of God.   

Christ was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.  Now, to maintain the consistency of the passage, the light by which every man was lit was a spiritual light and the world by necessity had to be a spiritual world.  If the light was a natural light and the world a natural world, then every man in that world would be lit with a natural light and we would have no need for lights at night as we would be our own natural light.  Since, that is not the case, then the light by which every man is lit is a spiritual light and by consistency the world has to be a spiritual world.  Notice, that we are not self-lit creatures.  Christ is the one who lit us.  Since light was previously equated with eternal life, then Christ is the cause of the eternal life of every man who comes into this spiritual world. 

“He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”  Christ, we have been previously told made all things.  He made man and man transgressed the law of sin and death and plunged all mankind into this state of being dead in trespasses and sins.  In this state of being spiritually dead, no one can know him.  It is important that we understand that in the scriptures there are more than one world under consideration.  In this passage the world is the natural world.  Later we will have times when the scriptures speak of a spiritual world.

John 1 Verses 11-13

John 1:11 “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.” 

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”  We notice here that Christ did not come unto those that were not his.  He came unto his own.  This begs the question as to who “were his own” and how did they become his own?  The following scriptures answer these questions for us:  

1.  John 6:37 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” 

2.  John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.” 

3.  John 6:39 “And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” 

4.  John 17:2 “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” 

5.  Heb. 2:13 “And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.”   

Clearly, the Father gave unto the Son a people to be his.  They were His own.  The next question is when were they given to the Son?  The answer is found in Eph. 1:4: “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” The ones whom the Father gave to the Son were given to him before the foundation of the world. 

“And his own received him not.”  Those who did not receive him were his own, however, as the next verse shows, it was not all of his own that did not receive him.  This verse tells us that many of his own did not receive him.   

“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:” Those of his own that received him, received him by believing on his name.  Moreover, they were given power to become sons of God.  We will address what it means here to become sons of God after we notice the next verse. 

“Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”  The verb tense “were born” teaches us that prior to his own believing on his name there was a birth that took place.  This verse teaches us three things that did not cause this birth to take place which are as follows: 

1.  “Not of blood…”  This birth did not take place because they were blood descendents of Abraham or one of the Old Testament fathers.  Nor did it take place because of a blood sacrifice.   

2.  “Nor of the will of the flesh…”  This birth was not brought about because of some desire of the flesh for it to take place.   

3.  “Nor of the will of man…”  This birth was not brought about by man’s choice.   

Finally, we note that this birth was the work of God.  It was he who caused us to be born of the Spirit.   

What then does it mean that they were given power to become sons of God if it does not mean being born of God?  The answer is found in Matt. 5:43 “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”  Notice v. 45 says, “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:” Obviously the ones spoken to are already children of God as he is their Father in heaven.  The teaching is that by loving ones enemies, etc. you are emulating the Father and thus becoming the manifest children of the Father.  Likewise, by believing on his name, we are given power to manifest that we are sons of God.