From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. Some would argue, and with good reason, that the climax of John’s Prologue is verse fourteen, what we read two verses ago. It is, after all, an incredibly succinct summary of the whole point of Jesus’ mission and ministry and an...

(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) Again with John. 🙂 John the Baptist looms large in all the gospels, particularly in the early part of the story. We know him best as the...

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. Here is John’s confession in its entirety. Not just that the Word became flesh in general, as if to demonstrate solidarity with us in principle. But...

And the Word became flesh… This phrase, at the heart of not just John’s Prologue but his whole Gospel, is likely quite familiar to us. We’ve heard it before, perhaps many times, probably as one of the readings on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. But while we may be very familiar with it,...

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. My initial inclination at this point in John’s Gospel is to move immediately to the next verse, John...

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. John qualifies here briefly and importantly what it means to be a child of God by means of contrast. It...