The Gospel According to John, chapters 1 - 5
1 WHEN ALL THINGS BEGAN, the Word already was.
The Word dwelt with God, and what God was, the Word was.
The Word, then, was with God at the beginning, and through
him all things came to be; no single thing was created without him. All
that came to be was alive with his life, and that life was the light of men.
The light shines on in the dark, and the darkness has never mastered it.
There appeared a man named John, sent from God; he came as a wit-
ness to testify to the light, that all might become believers through him.
He was not himself the light; he came to bear witness to the light. The real
light which enlightens every man was even then coming into the world.
He was in the world; but the world, though it owed its being to him,
did not recognize him. He entered his own realm, and his own would not
receive him. But to all who did receive him, to those who have yielded to him
their allegiance, he gave the right to become children of God, not born of
any human stock, or by the fleshly desire of a human father, but the off-
spring of God himself. So the Word became flesh; he came to dwell
among us, and we saw his glory, such glory as befits the Father's only Son,
full of grace and truth.
Here is John's testimony to him: he cried aloud, 'This is the man I
meant when I said, "He comes after me, but takes rank before me"; for
before I was born, he already was.'
Out of his full store we have all received grace upon grace; for while the
Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God; but God's only Son, he who is nearest to the
Father's heart, he has made him known.
THIS IS THE TESTIMONY which John gave when the Jews of Jerusalem
sent a deputation of priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He con-
fessed without reserve and avowed, 'I am not the Messiah.' 'What then?
Are you Elijah?' 'No", he replied. 'Are you the prophet we await?' He
answered, 'No.' 'Then who are you?' they asked. 'We must give an answer
to those who sent us. What account do you give of yourself?' He answered
in the words of the prophet Isaiah: 'I am a voice crying aloud in the wilder-
ness, "Make the Lord's highway straight." '
Some Pharisees who were in the deputation asked him, 'If you are not
the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet, why then are you baptizing?'
'I baptize in water,' John replied, 'but among you, though you do not know
him, stand the one who is to come after me. I am not good enough to un-
fasten his shoes.' This took place at Bethany beyond Jordan, where John
was baptizing.
The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him. 'Look,' he said, 'there
is the lamb of God; it is he who takes away the sin of the world. This is he
of whom I spoke when I said, "After me a man is coming who takes rank
before me"; for before I was born, he already was. I myself did not know
who he was; but the very reason why I came, baptizing in water, was that
he might be revealed to Israel.'
John testified further: 'I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like
a dove and resting upon him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to
baptize in water had told me, "When you see the Spirit coming down upon
someone and resting upon him, you will know that this is he who is to
baptize in Holy Spirit." I saw it myself, and I have borne witness. This is
God's Chosen One.'
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples when
Jesus passed by. John looked towards him and said, 'There is the Lamb
of God.' The two disciples heard him say this, and followed Jesus. When
he turned and saw them following him, he asked, 'What are you looking
for?' They said, 'Rabbi' (which means teacher), 'where are you staying?'
'Come and see', he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying,
and spent the rest of the day with him. It was then about four in the after-
noon.
One of the two who followed Jesus after hearing what John said was
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. The first thing he did was to find his
brother Simon. He said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' (which is the
Hebrew for 'Christ'). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and
said, 'You are Simon son of John. You shall be called Cephas' (that is,
Peter, the Rock).
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He met Philip, who,
like Andrew and Peter, came from Bethsaida, and said to him, 'Follow me.'
Philip went to find Nathanael, and told him, 'We have met the man spoken
of by Moses in the Law, and by the prophets: it is Jesus son of Joseph, from
Nazareth.' 'Nazareth!' Nathanael exclaimed; 'can anything good come
from Nazareth?' Philip said, 'Come and see.' When Jesus saw Nathanael
coming, he said, 'Here is an Israelite worthy of the name; there is nothing
false in him.' Nathanael asked him, 'How do you come to know me?' Jesus
replied, 'I saw you under the fig-tree before Philip spoke to you.' 'Rabbi,'
said Nathanael, 'you are the Son of God; you are king of Israel.' Jesus
answered, 'Is this the ground of your faith, that I told you I saw you under
the fig-tree? You shall see greater things than that.' Then he added, 'In
truth, in very truth I tell you all, you shall see heaven wide open, and God's
angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.'
2 ON THE THIRD DAY there was a wedding at Cana-in-Galilee. The
mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples were guests
also. The wine gave out, so Jesus' mother said to him, 'They have no wine
left.' He answered, 'Your concern, mother, is not mine. My hour has not
yet come.' His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.'
There were six stone water-jars standing near, of the kind used for Jewish
rites of purification; each held from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said
to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water', and they filled them to the brim.
'Now draw some off', he ordered, 'and take it to the steward of the feast';
and they did so. The steward tasted the water now turned into wine, not
knowing its source; though the servants who had drawn the water knew.
He hailed the bridegroom and said, 'Everyone serves the best wine first, shoe
and waits until the guests have drunk freely before serving the poorer sort;
but you have kept the best wine till now.'
This deed at Cana-in-Galilee is the first of the signs by which Jesus
revealed his glory and led his disciples to believe in him.
AFTER THIS he went down to Capernaum in company with his mother,
his brothers, and his disciples, but they did not stay there long. As it was
near the time of the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. There
he found in the temple the dealers in cattle, sheep, and pigeons, and the
money-changers seated at their tables. Jesus made a whip of cords and
drove them out of the temple, sheep, cattle, and all. He upset the tables of
the money-changers, scattering their coins. Then he turned on the dealers
in pigeons: 'Take them out,' he said; 'you must not turn my Father's house
into a market.' His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, 'Zeal for thy
house will destroy me.' The Jews challenged Jesus: 'What sign', they
asked, 'can you show as authority for your action?' 'Destroy this temple,'
Jesus replied, 'and in three days I will raise it again.' They said, 'It has
taken forty-six years to build this temple. Are you going to raise it again
in three days?' But the temple he was speaking of was his body. After his
resurrection his disciples recalled what he had said, and they believed the
Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
WHILE HE WAS in Jerusalem for Passover many gave their allegiance to
him when they saw the signs that he performed. But Jesus for his part
needed no evidence from others about a man, for he himself could tell what
was in a man.
3 THERE WAS ONE of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, and member of the
Jewish Council, who came to Jesus by night. 'Rabbi,' he said, 'we know
that you are a teacher sent by God; no one could perform these signs of
yours unless God were with him.' Jesus answered, 'In truth, in very truth
I tell you, unless a man has been born over again he cannot see the kingdom
of God.' 'But how is it possible', said Nicodemus, 'for a man to be born
when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be
born?' Jesus answered, 'In truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom
of God without being born from water and spirit. Flesh can gave birth only
to flesh; it is spirit that gives birth to spirit. You ought not to be astonished,
then, when I tell you that you must be born over again. The wind blows
where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it
comes from, or where it is going. So with everyone who is born from spirit.'
Nicodemus replied, 'How is this possible?' 'What!' said Jesus. 'Is this
famous teacher of Israel ignorant of such things? In very truth I tell you,
we speak of what we know, and testify to what we have seen, and yet you
all reject our testimony. If you disbelieve me when I talk to you about
things on earth, how are you to believe if I should talk about the things of
heaven?
No one ever went up to heaven except the one who came down from
heaven, the Son of Man whose home is in heaven. This Son of Man must
be lifted up as the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, so that
everyone who has faith in him may in him possess eternal life.
'God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, that everyone
who has faith in him may not die but have eternal life. It was not to judge
the world that God sent his Son into the world, but that through him the
world might be saved.
'The man who puts his faith in him does not come under judgement;
but the unbeliever has already been judged in that he has not given his
allegiance to God's only Son. Here lies the test: the light has come into the
world, but men preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil.
bad men all hate the light and avoid it, for fear their practices should be
shown up. The honest man comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen
that God is in all he does.
AFTER THIS, Jesus went into Judaea with his disciples, stayed there with
them, and baptized. John too was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim,
because water was plentiful in that region; and people were constantly
coming for baptism. This was before John's imprisonment.
Some of John's disciples had fallen into a dispute with Jews about puri-
fication; so they came to him and said, 'Rabbi, there was a man with you
on the other side of the Jordan, to whom you bore witness. Here he is,
baptizing, and crowds are flocking to him.' John's answer was: 'A man
can have only what God gives him. You yourselves can testify that I said,
I am not the Messiah; I have been sent as his forerunner." It is the bride-
groom to whom the bride belongs. The bridegroom's friend, who stands
by and listens to him, is overjoyed at hearing the bridegroom's voice. This
joy, this perfect joy, is now mine. As he grows greater, I must grow less.'
He who comes from above is above all others; he who is from the earth
belongs to the earth and uses only earthly speech. He who comes from heaven
bears witness to what he h as sen and heard, yet no one accepts his witness.
To accept his witness is to attest that God speaks the truth; for he whom
God sent utters the words of God, so measureless is God's gift of the Spirit.
The father loves the Son and has entrusted him with all authority. He who
puts his faith in the Son has hold of eternal life, but he who disobeys the
Son shall not see that life; God's wrath rests upon him.
4 A REPORT NOW REACHED the Pharisees: 'Jesus is wining and baptizing
more disciples than John'; although, in fact, it was only the disciples who
were baptizing and not Jesus himself. When Jesus learned this, he left
Judaea and set out once more for Galilee. He had to pass through Samaria,
and on his way came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of
ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph and the spring called Jacob's
well. It was about noon, and Jesus, tired after his journey, sat down by
the well.
The disciples had gone away to the town to buy food. Meanwhile a
Samaritan woman said, 'What! You, a Jew, as drink of me, a
Samaritan woman?' (Jews and Samaritans, it should be noted, do not use
vessels in common.) Jesus answered her, 'If only you knew what God
gives, and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked
him and he would have given you living water.' 'Sir,' the woman said,
'you have no bucket and this well is deep. How can you give me "living
water"? Are you a greater man than Jacob our ancestor, who gave us the
well, and drank from it himself, he and his sons, and his cattle too?' Jesus
said, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever
drinks the water that I shall give him will never suffer thirst any more.
The water that I shall give him will be an inner spring always welling up
for eternal life.' 'Sir,' said the woman, 'give me that water, and then I shall
not be thirsty, nor have to come all this way to draw.'
Jesus replied, 'Go home, call your husband and come back.' She
answered, 'I have no husband.' 'You are right', said Jesus, 'the time
is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain, nor
in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship without knowing what you worship,
while we worship what we know. It is from the Jews that salvation comes.
But the time approaches, indeed it is already here, when those who are
real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Such are the
worshippers whom the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship
him must worship in spirit and in truth.' The woman answered, 'I know
that Messiah' (that is Christ) 'is coming. When he comes he will tell us
everything.' Jesus said, 'I am he, I who am speaking to you now.'
At that moment his disciples returned, and were astonished to find him
talking with a woman; but none of them said 'What do you want?' or,
'Why are you talking with her?' The woman put down her water-jar and
went away to the town, where she said to the people, 'Come and see a man
who has told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?' They
came out of the town and made their way towards him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, 'Rabbi, have something to
eat.' But he said, 'I have foo to eat of which you know nothing.' At this
the disciples said to one another, 'Can someone have brought him food?'
But Jesus said, 'It is meat and drink for me to do the will of him who sent
me until I have finished his work.
'Do you not say, "Four months more and then comes the harvest"? But
look, I tell you, look round on the fields; they are already white, ripe for
harvest. The reaper is drawing his pay and gathering a crop of eternal life,
so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. That is how the saying comes
true: "One sows, and another reaps." I sent you to reap a crop for which
you have not toiled. Others toiled and you have come in for the harvest of
their toil.'
Many Samaritans of that town came to believe in him because of the
woman's testimony: 'He told me everything I ever did.' So when these
Samaritans had come to him they pressed him to stay with them; and he
stayed there two days. Many more became believers because of what they
heard from his own lips. They told the woman, 'It is no longer because of
what you said that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves; and we
know that this is in truth the Saviour of the world.'
WHEN THE TWO DAYS were over he set out for Galilee; for Jesus himself
declared that a prophet is without honour in his own country. On his
arrival in Galilee the Galileans gave him a welcome, because they had seen
all that he did at the festival in Jerusalem; they had been at the festival
themselves.
Once again he visited Cana-in-Galilee, where he had turned the water
into wine. An officer in the royal service was there, whose son was lying ill
at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judaea into
Galilee, he came to him and begged him to go down and cure his son, who
was at the point of death. Jesus said to him, 'Will none of you ever believe
without seeing signs and portents?' The officer pleaded with him, 'Sir,
come down before my boy dies.' Then Jesus said, 'Return home; your son
will live.' The man believed what Jesus said and started for home. When
he was on his way down his servants met him with the news, 'Your boy is
going to live.' So he asked them what time it was when he began to recover.
They said, 'Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.' The
son will live', and he and all his household became believers.
This was now the second sign which Jesus performed after coming down
from Judaea into Galilee.
5 LATER ON Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.
Now at the Sheep-Pool in Jerusalem there is a place with five colonnades.
Its name in the language of the Jews is Bethesda. In these colonnades there
lay a crowd of sick people, blind, lame, and paralysed. Among them was
a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him
lying there and was aware that he had been ill a long time, he asked him,
'Do you want to recover?' 'Sir,' he replied, 'I have no one to put me in the
pool when the water is disturbed, but while I am moving, someone else
is in the pool before me.' Jesus answered, 'Rise to your feet, take up your
bed and walk.' The man recovered instantly, took up his stretcher, and
began to walk.
That day was a Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been
cured, 'It is the Sabbath. You are not allowed to carry your bed on the
Sabbath.' He answered, 'The man who cured me said, "Take up your bed
and walk." ' They asked him, 'Who is the man who told you to take up
your bed and walk?' But the cripple who had been cured did not know; for
the place was crowded and Jesus had slipped away. A little later Jesus found
him in the temple and said to him, 'Now that you are well again, leave your
sinful ways, or you may suffer something worse.' The man went away and
told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him.
It was works of this kind done on the Sabbath that stirred the Jews to
persecute Jesus. He defended himself by saying, 'My Father has never
yet ceased his work, an I am working too.' This made the Jews still more
determined to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath, but,
by calling God his own Father, he claimed equality with God.
To this charge Jesus replied, 'In truth, in very truth I tell you, the Son
can do nothing by himself; he does only what he sees his Father doing:
what the Father does, the Son does. For the Father loves the Son and shows
him all his works, and will grow greater yet, to fill you with wonder. As
the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to men,
as he determined. And again, the Father does not judge anyone, but has
given full jurisdiction to the Son; it is his will that all should pay the same
honour to the Son as to the Father. To deny honour to the Son is to deny
it to the Father who sent him.
'In very truth, anyone who gives heed to what I say and puts his trust in
him who sent me has hold of eternal life, and does not come up for judge-
ment, but has already passed from death to life. In truth, in very truth I
tell you, a time is coming, indeed it is already here, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear shall come to life. For
as the Father has life-giving power in himself, so has the Son, by the
Father's gift.
'As Son of Man, he has also been given the right to pass judgement. Do
not wonder at this, because the time is coming when all who are in the
grave shall hear his voice and come out: those who have done right will rise
to life; those who have done wrong will rise to hear their doom. I cannot
act by myself; I judge as I am bidden, and my sentence is just, because my
aim is not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
'If I testify on my own behalf, that testimony does not hold good. There
is another who bears witness for me, and I know that his testimony holds.
Your messengers have been to John; you have his testimony to the truth.
Not that I rely on human testimony, but I remind you of it for your own
salvation. John was a lamp, burning brightly, and for a time you were
ready to exult in his light. But I rely on a testimony higher than John's.
There is enough to testify that the Father has sent me, in the works my
Father gave me to do and to finish — the very works I have in hand. This
testimony to me was given by the Father who sent me, although you never
heard his voice, or saw his form. But his word has found no home in you,
for you do not believe the one whom he sent. You study the scriptures
diligently, supposing that in having them you have eternal life; yet, al-
though their testimony points to me, you refuse to come to me for that life.
'I do not look to men for honour. But with you it is different, as I know
well, for you have no love for God in you. I have come accredited by my
Father, and you have no welcome for me; if another comes self-accredited
you will welcome him. How can you have faith so long as you receive
honour from another, and care nothing for the honour that comes from
him who alone is God? Do not imagine that I shall be your accuser at the
Father's tribunal. Your accuser is Moses, the very Moses on whom you
have set your hope. If you believed Moses you would believe what I tell
you, for it was about me that he wrote. But if you do not believe whsat he
wrote, how are you to believe what I say?'
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Dec 18, 2018, 10:54 PM UTC
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