John 1:9-11 (WEL) The true light enlightening all people was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world. The world was made by him, yet the world didn’t know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own didn’t receive him.
V9 The true light enlightening all people was coming into the world.
The Greek word for true is G0228. ἀληθινός alēthinos, which means (Olive Tree Enhanced Strong’s Dictionary) “that which has not only the name and resemblance, but the real nature corresponding to the name, in every respect corresponding to the idea signified by the name, real, true, genuine. [It is the] opposite to what is fictitious, counterfeit, imaginary, simulated, or pretended. It contrasts realities with their semblances [and] opposite to what is imperfect, defective, frail, uncertain.
Jesus is the standard for perfection. There is no other who is perfect. Everything about the Messiah is perfect—His work, His word, His actions, His thoughts, His motives, His attitudes, His responses to situations or questions, His ministry, His death, burial, and resurrection, His promises, His revelation of God’s ways, rules, etc. In everything, the Messiah, Jesus, is true, genuine, and the ultimate of reality (Luke 3:22). This perfection is the ultimate good according to God’s standards and is reminiscent of the verdict of God regarding creation (Genesis 1:31).
He is light to bring reality into a person’s life. Sin has distorted reality. We believe ourselves to be good, when in reality we are incredibly evil, deserving the fires of hell. We justify ourselves, when in reality we cannot justify ourselves before a holy God.
Jesus enlightened every individual human being, not just the elect. He reveals we are lawbreakers, sinful, and guilty (John 16:8 with Acts 16:14).
Was coming refers to the Apostle John looking back 60+ years ago. Coming into the world is a common phrase in John (See John 3:19, John 6:14, John 9:39, John 11:27, John 12:46, John 16:28, and John 18:37).
V10 He was in the world. The world was made by him, yet the world didn’t know him.
Jesus had a physical body like ours but had no effect of sin upon or in it. The world refers to the Earth. The Earth and everything about it was made by Him according to the blueprint of God’s will before the foundation of the world (Genesis chapter 1). Even though Jesus is the creator, no one recognized it. Jesus looked just like any human, though in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3, Philippians 2:7, Hebrews 2:14, 1 John 4:2, and 2 John 1:7).
The second use of the word world refers to humanity, not the Earth.
(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary) “The world,” in the first two clauses, plainly means the created world, into which He came, says John 1:9; “in it He was,” says this verse. By His Incarnation, He became an inhabitant of it, and bound up with it. Yet it “was made by Him” (John 1:3-5). Here, then, it is merely alluded to, in contrast partly with His being in it, but still more with the reception He met with from it. “The world that knew Him not” (1 John 3:1) is of course the intelligent world of mankind. (See on John 1:11,12).
The Greek word know is G1097 γινώσκω ginōskō and means (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (Louw & Nida)) “to possess information about – to know, to know about, to have knowledge of, to be acquainted with, acquaintance [and here] since, although they knew about God, they did not honor Him as God or … they did not give Him the honor that belongs to Him Romans 1:21.”
V11 He came to His own, and His own didn’t receive Him.
His own refers to ethnic Jews. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah, a tribe of the nation Israel (Matthew 1:1-17). The leadership and most of the people rejected Jesus as Messiah even though their prophets had spoken of Him repeatedly. They interpreted prophecy as a Messiah who was a mere man, a king, who would deliver them from the Romans.
We learn:
- The upmost importance of Jesus Christ, who He was and His complete ministry.
- He is creator, the revealer who enables people to understand (Acts 16:14), and an ethnic Jew.
Questions:
- What do you say Jesus is?
- Do you believe He is Messiah?