João 1
John Gill · Citado em PreceptAustin
João 1:2
Gill - This is a repetition of what is before said, and is made to show the importance of the truths before delivered; namely, the eternity of Christ, his distinct personality, and proper deity; and that the phrase, in the beginning, is to be joined to each of the above sentences; and so proves, not only his eternal existence, but his eternal existence with the Father, and also his eternal deity; and is also made to carry on the thread of the discourse, concerning the word, and not God the Father; and to express, not only his co-existence in nature, but his co-operation in the works of creation next mentioned. (John 1 Commentary) THE IMPORTANCE OF THE VERB "WAS" Was (1510) (ēn which is the imperfect form of eimi) means to be and is the usual verb for existence. In the metaphysical sense as in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word,” meaning it had been before there was any beginning or existed before the beginning of anything; John 8:50, estín, in the pres. tense indicating." (Zodhiates) Notice John does not say in the beginning CAME the Word or BEGAN the Word, but WAS the Word. This verb is in the imperfect tense which speak of continuous action. In a word, the Word was continually existing! John is a master at using the Greek verbs and tenses and four times in Jn 1:1-2 he uses the imperfect tense (ēn) of the verb eimi to say the Word was God (all of John's statements regarding His pre-existence are in this tense), but in Jn 1:14-note he uses the verb ginomai in the aorist tense (punctiliar, an instantaneous intervention, decisive, at a moment or point in time - the aorist usage here refers to some historical time in the past as the beginning of the new state) He became Man. So Jesus who always was God, became Man in a moment in time, doing so without ceasing to be God! Amazing truth! John never says Christ became God but only that He was (always) God! It is notable that the verb ēn (imperfect of eimi) is used by John in every instance where he is referring to the eternal state of Jesus (see Jn 1:1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 15). One exception might be John's use of ginomai in an allusion to Jesus' existence before [implying His eternal state] John (the Baptist) (Jn 1:15-note) As discussed above John uses ginomai in the aorist tense (egeneto) to refer to becoming something that one was not before in John 1:14-note where God became a Man. In addition to John 1:14, other uses of ginomai in the aorist tense (egeneto) in John's prologue are found in John 1:3-note (twice in the phrase "came into being"), John 1:6 ("There came a man, sent from God"), John 1:10-note ("the world was made through Him") and John 1:17-note ("grace and truth were realized [came] through Jesus Christ."). Note that ginomai is also used in the perfect tense in John 1:3 ("has come into being") and John 1:15-note ("He existed before me"), where the perfect tense implies a continuing existence of a new state. Beginning (746)(arche) refers to the commencement of something as an action, process, or state of being. Arché refers to first in relation to time (priority in time, the beginning of anything, the origin and by far the most common use in the NT. In context arche "means that He (the Word) was before all else." (Leon Morris) Arche can also convey the meaning of origin, such as "origin in the sense of basic cause." (Morris) William Barclay translates it in the beginning "the Word was already there." With God - The "Word of God" (Jesus Christ) was God yet also "with God." Thus, God is both personal and plural (in a uni-plural sense only, a mysterious category that makes sense only in terms of the doctrine of the Trinity). The actual Greek is en arche--that is, "in beginning." The "Word of God" thus was there before the creation of the space/mass/time universe, so that John's "beginning" even antecedes the Genesis "beginning," (Ge 1:1) extending without an initial beginning into eternity past, before even time was created. Note also Jn 17:24, where Jesus, in His humanity, acknowledged that He was with the Father and loved by the Father, "before the foundation of the world." With (4314)(pros) is a preposition which properly speaks of motion towards to "interface with" (literally, moving toward a goal or destination). In Jn 1:1 pros indicates place or accompaniment, but also disposition and orientation.
João 1:29
Gill - (Jesus came) Not to be baptized, for he had been baptized before by him. This seems to have been after Christ had been forty days in the wilderness, from whence he now returned, and came to attend on John's ministry; both to do honour to him, and that he might be made manifest by him; and this was the day after John had bore such a testimony concerning him, to the priests and Levites; and which Christ the omniscient God, knew full well, and therefore came at this season, when the minds of the people were prepared by John's testimony, to expect and receive him The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said - The next day after the visit of the Jews sent by the Pharisees. In this case, the next day introduces a series of events described in John 1:29 through John 2:1. We know from Jn 1:26 and Jn 1:32-33 that John recognized Jesus as the Messiah. Henry Morris on the next day - This may have been about six weeks after Jesus' baptism following the forty-day testing in the wilderness (Mark 1:11-12), and shortly before Passover (John 2:13), when the people would be thinking about the coming slaying of the Passover lambs.