The Word Made Flesh

11 From the first he was the Word, and the Word was in relation with God and was God. 2 This Word was from the first in relation with God. 3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was. 4 What came into existence in him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light goes on shining in the dark; it is not overcome by the dark. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came for witness, to give witness about the light, so that all men might have faith through him. 8 He himself was not the light: he was sent to give witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to every man, was then coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, the world which came into being through him, but the world had no knowledge of him. 11 He came to the things which were his and his people did not take him to their hearts. 12 To all those who did so take him, however, he gave the right of becoming children of God—that is, to those who had faith in his name: 13 Whose birth was from God and not from blood, or from an impulse of the flesh and man's desire. 14 And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory—such glory as is given to an only son by his father—saw it to be true and full of grace.

15 John gave witness about him, crying, This is he of whom I said, He who is coming after me is put over me because he was in existence before me. 16 From his full measure we have all been given grace on grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and the true way of life are ours through Jesus Christ. 18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.

The Testimony of John the Baptist

19 And this is the witness of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him with the question, Who are you? 20 He said quite openly and straightforwardly, I am not the Christ. 21 And they said to him, What then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And his answer was, I am not. 22 So they said to him, Who are you then? We have to give some answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the waste land, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. 24 Those who had been sent came from the Pharisees. 25 And they put this question to him, saying, Why then are you giving baptism if you are not the Christ, or Elijah, or the prophet? 26 John's answer was: I give baptism with water; but there is one among you of whom you have no knowledge; 27 It is he who is coming after me; I am not good enough to undo his shoes. 28 These things took place at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was giving baptism.

Behold the Lamb of God

29 The day after, John sees Jesus coming to him and says, See, here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, One is coming after me who is put over me because he was in existence before me. 31 I myself had no knowledge of him, but I came giving baptism with water so that he might be seen openly by Israel. 32 And John gave this witness, saying, I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and resting on him. 33 I had no knowledge who he was, but he who sent me to give baptism with water said to me, The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting, it is he who gives baptism with the Holy Spirit. 34 This I saw myself and my witness is that he is the Son of God.

The First Disciples

35 The day after, John was there again with two of his disciples; 36 And looking at Jesus while he was walking he said, See, there is the Lamb of God!

37 Hearing what he said, the two disciples went after Jesus. 38 And Jesus, turning round, saw them coming after him and said to them, What are you looking for? They said to him, Rabbi (which is to say, Master), where are you living? 39 He said to them, Come and see. They went with him then and saw where he was living; and they were with him all that day: it was then about the tenth hour of the day. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two men who, hearing what John said, went after Jesus. 41 Early in the morning he came across his brother and said to him, We have made discovery! It is the Messiah! (which is to say, the Christ). 42 And he took him to Jesus. Looking at him fixedly Jesus said, You are Simon, the son of John; your name will be Cephas (which is to say, Peter).

The Call of Philip and Nathanael

43 The day after this, Jesus had a desire to go into Galilee. He came across Philip and said to him, Come and be my disciple. 44 Now Philip's town was Beth-saida, where Andrew and Peter came from. 45 Philip came across Nathanael and said to him, We have made a discovery! It is he of whom Moses, in the law, and the prophets were writing, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 Nazareth! said Nathanael, Is it possible for any good to come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, See, here is a true son of Israel in whom there is nothing false. 48 Nathanael said to him, Where did you get knowledge of me? In answer Jesus said, Before Philip was talking with you, while you were still under the fig-tree, I saw you. 49 Nathanael said to him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are King of Israel! 50 In answer Jesus said to him, You have faith because I said to you, I saw you under the fig-tree. You will see greater things than these. 51 And he said to him, Truly I say to you all, You will see heaven opening and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of man.

Jesus and Nicodemus

31 Now there was among the Pharisees a man named Nicodemus, who was one of the rulers of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we are certain that you have come from God as a teacher, because no man would be able to do these signs which you do if God was not with him. 3 Jesus said to him, Truly, I say to you, Without a new birth no man is able to see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus said to him, How is it possible for a man to be given birth when he is old? Is he able to go into his mother's body a second time and come to birth again? 5 Jesus said in answer, Truly, I say to you, If a man's birth is not from water and from the Spirit, it is not possible for him to go into the kingdom of God. 6 That which has birth from the flesh is flesh, and that which has birth from the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be surprised that I say to you, It is necessary for you to have a second birth. 8 The wind goes where its pleasure takes it, and the sound of it comes to your ears, but you are unable to say where it comes from and where it goes: so it is with everyone whose birth is from the Spirit. 9 And Nicodemus said to him, How is it possible for these things to be? 10 And Jesus, answering, said, Are you the teacher of Israel and have no knowledge of these things? 11 Truly, I say to you, We say that of which we have knowledge; we give witness of what we have seen; and you do not take our witness to be true. 12 If you have no belief when my words are about the things of earth, how will you have belief if my words are about the things of heaven? 13 And no one has ever gone up to heaven but he who came down from heaven, the Son of man. 14 As the snake was lifted up by Moses in the waste land, even so it is necessary for the Son of man to be lifted up: 15 So that whoever has faith may have in him eternal life.

God So Loved the World

16 For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to be judge of the world; he sent him so that the world might have salvation through him. 18 The man who has faith in him does not come up to be judged; but he who has no faith in him has been judged even now, because he has no faith in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the test by which men are judged: the light has come into the world and men have more love for the dark than for the light, because their acts are evil. 20 The light is hated by everyone whose acts are evil and he does not come to the light for fear that his acts will be seen. 21 But he whose life is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his acts have been done by the help of God.

He Must Increase, but I Must Decrease

22 After these things Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judaea, and there he was with them for some time, giving baptism. 23 Now John was then giving baptism at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people came and were given baptism. 24 For at this time John had not been put into prison. 25 Then a question came up between John's disciples and a Jew about washing. 26 And they went to John and said to him, Rabbi, the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, the man to whom you gave witness, is now giving baptism, and everyone is going to him. 27 And this was John's answer: A man is unable to have anything if it is not given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves give witness that I said, I am not the Christ. What I said was, I am sent before the Christ. 29 He who has the bride is the husband: but the husband's friend, whose place is by his side and whose ears are open to him, is full of joy because of the husband's voice: such is my joy, and it is complete. 30 He has to become greater while I become less.

The Testimony from Heaven

31 He who comes from heaven is greater than all others: he who comes from earth is of the earth, and of the earth are his words: he who comes from heaven is over all. 32 He gives witness of what he has seen and of what has come to his ears; and no man takes his witness as true. 33 He who so takes his witness has made clear his faith that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent says God's words; and God does not give him the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father has love for the Son and has put all things into his hands. 36 He who has faith in the Son has eternal life; but he who has not faith in the Son will not see life; God's wrath is resting on him.