Notes On John 1:9-11

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1:9  That was the true light, which enlightenes every man that cometh into this world.
Erat lux vera, quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum.

“That was the true light” (or, there was the true light), “whhich enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.”  The Greek of this verse may be construed and translated in three different ways:-1. By connecting εἰμί (ἦν = was) with ἔρχομαι (erchomai =coming): “The true light, which enlighteneth every man, was coming into the world.  2. By taking ἔρχομαι (erchomai =coming) as a nominative agreeing with φῶς  (phos=light): There was the true light which at its coming into the world enlighteneth every man (see 3:19).  3. By connecting ἔρχομαι (erchomai =coming), as in the Vulgate and our English version.  This is far the most probable view.  In favor of it we have all the Latin Fathers, all the Greek Fathers except one, and all ancient versions.  Besides erchomai is thus connected with the nearest substantive with which it agrees in form.  Add to this that the second opinion, the more probable of the other two, would seem to signify that the Word was not a light to all men before His coming, but only at His coming; and this, as we have explained above on verse 5, is false.  The meaning then is that the Word was the true, i.e., the perfect light, and as far as in Him lies, enlighteneth at all times every man that cometh into this world, be he Jew or Gentile.  That cometh into this world, is in our view a Hebrew form of expression equivalent to: that is born.  It is used only here in the New Testament, but “to be born” was commonly expressed by the Jewis Rabbins ****(to come into the world).  Note: I am unable to reproduce the Hebrew letters, hence the ****.

1:10  he was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
In mundo erat et mundus per ipsum factus est, et mundus eum non cognovit.

The Word, not the light, is the subject here, as is proved by the masculine pronoun autos towards the end of the verse.  It is disputed to what presence of the Word in the world there is reference here.  Almost all the Fathers understood the reference to be to the presence of the Word in the world before the incarnation.  According to this view, which is held also by Lapide, the Word was in the world, in the universe, conserving what He had created, “sustaining all things by the word of His power” (Heb 1:3).  God is everywhere present by His essence, by His knowledge, and by His power; but it is of the latter presence, which could be known, that the view we are considering understands the clause.

Maldonatus, though he admits the Fathers are against him, holds that the reference is to the mortal life of the Word Incarnate.  He argues from the fact that the world is blamed, in the next clause, for not having known the Word; bu knowledge of the Word was impossible before the Incarnation.  It was possible indeed to know there was a God, but impossible to know the Second Divine Person, the Word.  Whatever may be thought of the probability of this second view, the arguments ordinarily adduced against it, from the use of the imperfect erat (Latin, en in Greek), and from the alleged fact that all the preceding verses refer to the Word before His Incarnation, have no weight.  For the imperfect may be used not in reference to Christ’s existence before His incarnation, but to show that He not merely appeared among men, but continued to dwell for a time among them; and the statement that everything before this verse refers to the Word before His incarnation, cannot be sustained.  For the “Light” to which the Baptist came to bear witness (vs 7) was not the Word before His incarnation, but the Word Incarnate, as is evident.  According to this second opinion, verse 11 “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not,” merely emphasizes the ingratitude of the world towards the incarnate Word by declaring that He was rejected even by His own chosen people.

And the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  Those who interpret the first clause of this verse of the existence of the Word in the world before the incarnation, understand the world to be blamed, in the remainder of the verse, for its ignorance of its Creator.  The world is not blamed, they say, for not knowing the Word as the Second Divine Person, for such knowledge it could not have gathered from the works of creation, but for not knowing God (Rom 1:20), who is one in nature with the Word.

Those who interpret the first part of the verse of the presence of Christ on earth during His mortal life, hold that in the remainder the world is blamed for not recognizing the Word Incarnate as the Son of God, and the Second Divine Person.  The meaning of the whole verse then, in this view, is: That though the Son of God, who created the world, deigned to live among men, yet they refused to recognize Him as God.

1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
In propria venit, et sui eum non receperunt.

It is clear from what we have said on the preceding verse, that some take this to be the first reference to the presence on earth of the Word Incarnate; while others regard it as merely repeating the idea of the preceding verse, with the additional circumstance that even His own refused to recognize Christ.  Some few have held that the reference here is to the transient coming of the Word in the apparitions of the Old Testament.  But all the Fathers understood the verse of the coming of the Word as man, and the verses that follow prove their view to be correct.  His own is understood by many of His own world, which He had created; but we prefer to take it as referring to His own chosen people, the Jews.

And his own received him not.  That is to say, believed not in Him, but rejected Him.  This was the general rule, to which, of course, there were exceptions, as the following verse shows.  These words together with the two following verses, we take to be a parenthetic reflexion on the reception of Christ met with, and the happy consequences to some.~Nolan and Brown.