1. Keener, John, 1:334.
2. See P. J. Williams, “Not the Prologue of John,” JSNT 33 (2011): 375–86.
3. See J. Ramsey Michaels, The Gospel of John, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 45–46.
4. See Vern S. Poythress, “Testing for Johannine Authorship by Examining the Use of Conjunctions,” WTJ 46 (1984): 350–69.
5. Morna D. Hooker, “Beginnings and Endings,” in The Written Gospel, ed. Markus Bockmuehl and Donald A. Hagner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 184.
6. Ibid., 186.
7. Ibid.
8. The following is adapted from Adele Reinhartz, The Word in the World: The Cosmological Tale in the Fourth Gospel, SBLMS 45 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992).
9. Reinhartz, Word in the World, 2.
10. Ibid.
11. F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John: Introduction, Exposition, and Notes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 29.
12. Leon Morris, The Gospel according to John, rev. ed., NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 65. Cf. Michaels, John, 49–50.
13. C. K. Barrett, The Gospel according to John: An Introduction with Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 152.
14. Stanley E. Porter, Idioms of the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed., BLG 2 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 21.
15. Carson, John, 114.
16. Hoskyns, Fourth Gospel, 137.
17. B. F. Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John: The Authorized Version with Introduction and Notes (London: John Murray, 1903), 2; Barrett, John, 152.
18. The following is adapted from John F. McHugh, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on John 1–4, ICC (London: T&T Clark, 2009), 7–9.
19. See Ben Witherington III, John’s Wisdom: A Commentary on the Fourth Gospel (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995), 19.
20. William Temple, Readings in St. John’s Gospel (London: Macmillan, 1947), 4.
21. Cf. Carson, John, 116; Barrett, John, 154.
22. Morris, John, 66.
23. Carson, John, 116.
24. Barth, Witness to the Word, 19–27.
25. Cf. Brown, John, 1:4.
26. Brodie, John, 137.
27. Brown, John, 1:4. Barrett, John, 155, describes this meaning as “unquestionable in New Testament Greek.”
28. BDF § 239.1.
29. Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 358–59.
30. N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, Christian Origins and the Question of God 1 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), xiv.
31. Marianne Meye Thompson, The God of the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 22.
32. Murray J. Harris, Jesus as God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992), 29.
33. Richard Bauckham, God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 8.
34. Ibid., 8–9.
35. Thompson, God of the Gospel of John, 47–48.
36. Ibid., 228.
37. Harris, Jesus as God, 53–55. 20:28 is an exception.
38. Ibid., 57.
39. Karl Barth, Witness to the Word: A Commentary on John 1, ed. Walter Fürst, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986; repr., Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2003), 20–21.
40. Wallace, Greek Grammar, 262.
41. Bultmann, John, 35.
42. BDAG 740.
43. It is interesting to note that while modern translations prefer to use “he,” older translations more commonly used “it” (e.g., the Geneva Bible).
44. Herman N. Ridderbos, The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary, trans. John Vriend (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 25.
45. Adolf Schlatter, Der Evangelist Johannes: Wie er spricht, denkt und glaubt: Ein Kommentar zum Vierten Evangelium, 4th ed. (Stuttgart: Calwer, 1975), 2–3.
46. Francis J. Moloney, The Gospel of John, SP 4 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998), 35–36.
47. Bultmann, John, 37–38.
48. Note the repetition of “and there was” (καὶ ἐγένετο) in Gen 1:3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 19, 20, 23, 24, 30.
49. Cf. Jan A. du Rand, “The Creation Motif in the Fourth Gospel: Perspectives on Its Narratological Function within a Judaistic Background,” in Theology and Christology in the Fourth Gospel: Essays by Members of the SNTS Johannine Writings Seminar, ed. G. van Belle, J. G. Van der Watt, and P. Maritz, BETL 184 (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2005), 21–46 (38–40).
50. BDAG 196.
51. Barth, Witness to the Word, 34; cf. Cyril of Alexandria, John 1.5; Chrysostom, John 5.2.22.
52. Hoskyns, Fourth Gospel, 142.
53. See Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994), 168.
54. Ridderbos, John, 38.
55. See Keener, John, 1:381–87.
56. Carson, John, 119.
57. Wallace, Greek Grammar, 217–20.
58. Ridderbos, John, 38.
59. Cf. Martin Luther, Sermons on the Gospel of St. John, LW 22–24, 69 (St. Louis: Concordia, 1957–2009), 22:10.
60. Edward W. Klink III, “Light of the World: Cosmology and the Johannine Literature,” in Cosmology and New Testament Theology, ed. Jonathan T. Pennington and Sean M. McDonough, LNTS 355 (London: T&T Clark, 2009), 81–82.
61. Morris, John, 76.
62. The remainder of the prologue will confirm the importance of this verb.
63. McHugh, John, 21.
64. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of John, 3 vols., trans. Fabian Larcher and James A. Weisheipl (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2010), 1:47, suggests the term is connected to the office (not nature) of an angel, a messenger of God.
65. Karl H. Rengstorf, “ἀποστέλλω,” TDNT 1:399.
66. Barth, Witness to the Word, 48.
67. This does not include the four occurrences of “Simon, son of John” (1:42; 21:15, 16, 17).
68. John Calvin, The Gospel according to St. John 1–10, ed. David W. Torrance and Thomas F. Torrance, trans. T. H. L. Parker, CNTC 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 13–14.
69. BDAG 290.
70. See, for example, Andrew T. Lincoln, Truth on Trial: The Lawsuit Motif in the Fourth Gospel (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2000).
71. Cf. Bultmann, John, 50–51; McHugh, John, 24–25.
72. Contra Andrew T. Lincoln, “The Beloved Disciple as Eyewitness and the Fourth Gospel as Witness,” JSNT 85 (2002): 3–26.
73. Morris, John, 80, summaries well the seven witnesses to Jesus in the Gospel: each of the three persons of the Trinity, the works of Jesus, Scripture, John the Baptist, and a collection of human witnesses.
74. Westcott, John, 5.
75. McHugh, John, 28–32.
76. Ibid., 32.
77. Cf. Carson, John, 123–24.
78. Porter, Idioms, 45. See also BDF § 412.4; McHugh, John, 34. Contra Carson, John, 121–22.
79. Schnackenburg, John, 1:255.
80. For a fuller discussion, see Klink, “Light of the World,” 74–76.
81. Due in no small part to the influence of Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, trans. Kendrick Grobel, 2 vols. (London: SCM Press, 1951, 1955), 2:21.
82. Cf. Ashton, Understanding the Fourth Gospel, 206–8.
83. Margaret Davies, Rhetoric and Reference in the Fourth Gospel, JSNTSup 69 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992), 155.
84. David Rensberger, Johannine Faith and Liberating Community (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1988), 137.
85. Keener, John, 1:329.
86. See Stanley B. Marrow, “Kόσμος in John,” CBQ 64 (2002): 90–102.
87. Barth, Witness to the Word, 63.
88. Although the implied subject of the first clause could be logically neuter (“it was in the world”), the direct object of the third clause, though antecedentally referring to “it,” must grammatically be translated as a masculine pronoun, “him” (αὐτὸν). It seems as if John is allowing what should be referring back to be pointing forward (to v. 14). The incarnational context is being described by John, not here with large theological concepts but with a mere personal pronoun.
89. McHugh, John, 41.
90. Ibid., 40.
91. Barrett, John, 162.
92. BDAG 467.
93. Contra John W. Pryor, “Jesus and Israel in the Fourth Gospel: John 1:11,” NovT 32 (1990): 201–18.
94. See Schnackenburg, John, 1:258–61.
95. Pryor, “Jesus and Israel in the Fourth Gospel,” 214.
96. Neyrey, John, 44.
97. Wallace, Greek Grammar, 51–52.
98. McHugh, John, 44.
99. See BDAG 352.
100. Morris, John, 87; Cf. Dodd, Interpretation, 270.
101. Barrett, John, 163.
102. McHugh, John, 46.
103. Hoskyns, Fourth Gospel, 146.
104. Theodor Zahn, Das Evangelium des Johannes, 6th ed., KNT 4 (Leipzig: Deichert, 1921), 73.
105. Morris, John, 88.
106. Ibid.
107. See Bultmann, John, 59.
108. Ridderbos, John, 47.
109. Morris, John, 89.
110. Hoskyns, Fourth Gospel, 147.
111. Barth, Witness to the Word, 84; Cf. Luther, John, 22:101.
112. See John D. Denniston, The Greek Particles (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1934), 317; Cf. BDAG 495.
113. McHugh, John, 51–52.
114. Ibid., 53.
115. Barth, Witness to the Word, 86.
116. Willem Nicol, The Sēmeia in the Fourth Gospel: Tradition and Redaction, NovTSup 32 (Leiden: Brill, 1972), 87.
117. See Ridderbos, John, 50.
118. Schlatter, Der Evangelist Johannes, 22.
119. Barth, Witness to the Word, 91.
120. Ibid., 88.
121. Augustine, John 2.16.18.
122. Contra Frederic L. Godet, Commentary on John’s Gospel, 3rd ed., trans. Timothy Dwight (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1886; repr., Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1978), 268–71 and 291–98.
123. Craig R. Koester, Dwelling of God: The Tabernacle in the Old Testament, Intertestamental Jewish Literature, and the New Testament, CBQMS 22 (Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1989), 6.
124. See Mary L. Coloe, God Dwells with Us: Temple Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001), 31–63 (61).
125. Cf. Hoskyns, Fourth Gospel, 148.
126. See Paul M. Hoskins, Jesus as the Fulfillment of the Temple in the Gospel of John, PBM (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2006), 124.
127. Cf. Borchert, John, 1:120.
128. McHugh, John, 57.
129. Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 370–83 (73).
130. Dodd, Interpretation, 206.
131. Calvin, John 1–10, 21.
132. BDAG 1104; Cf. McHugh, John, 58.
133. F. Büchsel, “μονογενής,” TDNT 4:737–41.
134. Harris, Jesus as God, 86.
135. This is made evident by the fact that in the Gospel of John, “son” (υἱός) is used solely for Jesus.
136. See Schlatter, Der Evangelist Johannes, 26.
137. LSJ 349.
138. Cf. Barnabas Lindars, The Gospel of John, NCB (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 96.
139. Westcott, John, 12.
140. Carson, John, 129.
141. Andreas J. Köstenberger, “John,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 422.
142. Bultmann, John, 75.
143. Schlatter, Der Evangelist Johannes, 28–29.
144. Barth, Witness to the Word, 111–12.
145. Carson, John, 130–31.
146. As suggested by Brown, John, 1:15.
147. Barth, Witness to the Word, 113.
148. The following relies on Ruth B. Edwards, “ΧAPIN AΝTI ΧAPITOΣ (John 1:16): Grace and the Law in the Johannine Prologue,” JSNT 32 (1988): 3–15.
149. BDAG 196.
150. Cf. J. Jeremias, “Μωϋσῆς,” TDNT 4:873.
151. Barrett, John, 168.
152. Ridderbos, John, 58.
153. Edwards, “ΧAPIN AΝTI ΧAPITOΣ,” 9.
154. McHugh, John, 69.
155. Hoskyns, Fourth Gospel, 152.
156. See Keener, John, 1:423–24.
157. Barrett, John, 169.
158. See Harris, Jesus as God, 74–83.
159. Cf. Benjamin J. Burkholder, “Considering the Possibility of a Theological Corruption in Joh 1,18 in Light of Its Early Reception,” ZNW 103 (2012): 64–83.
160. Wallace, Greek Grammar, 48.
161. Harris, Jesus as God, 92.
162. Wallace, Greek Grammar, 360. Cf. McHugh, John, 70.
163. See McHugh, John, 73–77.
164. Cf. R. Roberts, “La Double Intention du Mot Final du Prologue Johannique,” RThom 87 (1987): 435–41.
165. Helpful here is Keith E. Johnson, “Augustine, Eternal Generation, and Evangelical Trinitarianism,” TrinJ 32 (2011): 141–63.
166. See John V. Dahms, “The Generation of the Son,” JETS 32 (1989): 493–501.
167. Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 133.
168. Ibid., 151.