John 1 - NIV LifeConnect Study Bible

1:1 Tradition holds that the apostle John was the author of this Gospel, as well as that the date and place of authorship were sometime toward the close of the first century AD in Asia Minor.

1:15 In ancient times the older person was given respect and regarded as greater than the younger. People would ordinarily have ranked Jesus lower in terms of respect than John, who was older. John the Baptist explained that this age relationship was in appearance only, since Jesus, as the Word (see vv. 1–2), had existed before he was born on earth.

1:19 Here “Jewish leaders” refers to the delegation commissioned by the Sanhedrin. “Levites” refers to the descendants of the tribe of Levi, who were assigned to specific duties in connection with the tabernacle (see Nu 3:17–37) and later the temple. They also had teaching responsibilities (see 2Ch 35:3; Ne 8:7–9), and it was probably in this role that they were sent with the priests to John the Baptist.

1:21 The Jews remembered that Elijah had not died (see 2Ki 2:11) and believed that he would come back to earth to announce the end time.

1:23 The Baptist applied the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3 to his own ministry of calling people to repent in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.

1:24 The Pharisees (see the notes on Mt 3:7; Lk 5:17) were the conservative religious party.

1:25 “The Messiah” means “the Anointed One.” In Old Testament times, anointing signified being set apart for service, particularly as king (cf. 1Sa 16:1,13) or priest (see Ex 28:41; 29:7; 30:30; 40:13,15). But people were looking not just for an anointed one but for the Anointed One, the Messiah.

1:27 Disciples would perform all sorts of service for their rabbis (teachers), but loosening sandal thongs was expressly excluded, as this was considered a menial task, fit only for a slave.

1:28 The Bethany mentioned elsewhere in the Gospels was only about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Jerusalem (see the note on Mt 21:17). The site of this other Bethany is uncertain, except that it was located on the eastern side of the Jordan.

1:35–37 John the Baptist encouraged two of his own disciples to follow Jesus. One was Andrew (v. 40), and the other is not named. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the earliest converts to Jesus are identified as Andrew, Peter, James and John (see Mk 1:16–20). The unnamed disciple may be a concealed reference to the apostle John, the author of this Gospel and likely the mystery person behind the title “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn 13:23; 21:7,20).

1:40 Andrew, one of the 12 apostles (see Mt 10:2), was from Bethsaida (see v. 44) but later lived with Peter at Capernaum (see Mk 1:21; see also the note on Mt 4:13), where they fished for a living (see Mt 4:18).

1:45 Joseph was Jesus’ legal, though not his natural, father.

1:48 The shade of a fig tree was a favorite place for study and prayer in hot weather.