Passage

John 1.15

Book: John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

13. who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.

15. John beareth witness of him, and crieth, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that cometh after me is become before me: for he was before me.

For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace. 17. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:13-17, ASV)

WEB

13. who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14. The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

15. John testified about him. He cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’”

From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. 17. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. (John 1:13-17, WEB)

KJV

13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

15. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:13-17, KJV)

YLT

13. who, not of blood nor of a will of flesh, nor of a will of man but, of God were begotten. 14. And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth.

15. John doth testify concerning him, and hath cried, saying, 'This was he of whom I said, He who after me is coming, hath come before me, for he was before me;'

and out of his fulness did we all receive, and grace over-against grace; 17. for the law through Moses was given, the grace and the truth through Jesus Christ did come; (John 1:13-17, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the narrator, citing the testimony of John the Baptist
Audience: the Gospel's readers
Location: no narrative location; the prologue, anticipating the Baptist's words at Bethany beyond the Jordan (1:28-30)
Time period: the coming of the Word into the world; the Gospel written c. AD 90

Theological reading

The prologue breaks off to call its witness. John the Baptist "bare witness" and "cried," and the Greek tenses (present and perfect) present his testimony as still standing. His words are a riddle: "He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me." Jesus came after John in birth (Luke 1:36) and in the start of his ministry, yet he ranks ahead of him, and the reason is that he existed before him.

Some read "he was before me" as a statement of rank only. But the clause is given as the ground of the rank, and in a prologue that began "In the beginning was the Word" (1:1), the natural sense is prior existence. The Baptist repeats the saying in the narrative (1:30). John 1 thus sets the human forerunner, the greatest prophet of his time, beside the eternal Word, and the forerunner himself states the difference.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

G1096 - ginomai, ginomai, Strong's G1096
G3004 - lego, lego, Strong's G3004

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Christianity, via John 1.1-18
Christology, via John 1.1-18
Doctrine, via John 1.1-18
Incarnation, via John 1.1-18
Islamic Dilemma, via John 1.1-18
Kalimatullah, via John 1.1-18
Lesson 2.4, Christology in One Lesson, via John 1.1-18
Logos Christology, via John 1.1-18
Mathematical Intelligibility of Nature, via John 1.1-18
Muslim Objections to the Divinity of Christ, via John 1.1-18
Old Testament Christology, via John 1.1-18
Old Testament Witness to the Deity of Christ, via John 1.1-18
Tahrif, via John 1.1-18
Two Powers in Heaven, via John 1.1-18

People:

Lexicon:

G1096 - ginomai, via John 1.1-18
H0001 - ab, via John 1.1-18

Guides:

Ris3n Arguments, via John 1.1-18

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.