John Gill

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

“In him was life,.... The Persic version reads in the plural number, "lives". There was life in the word with respect to himself; a divine life, the same with the life of the Father and of the Spirit; and is in him, not by gift…”

children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.

“Which were born not of blood,.... Or bloods, in the plural number.”

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet: “I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

“And he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,.... These words are cited by the other evangelists, and applied to John the Baptist; but then they are only to be considered as their citation, and as an application of them to…”

“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands One you do not know.

“John answered them, saying, I baptize with water,.... Or in water, so the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions render it.”

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him,.... Not to be baptized, for he had been baptized before by him.”

This is He of whom I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’

“This is he, of whom it is said,.... Either the day before, as in Joh 1:27, or some time before that, Joh 1:15, when he first began to baptize, even before Christ came to be baptized by him, and before he personally knew him; see…”

Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and resting on Him.

“And John bare record,.... The same day that he said the above things, and at the same time: saying, I saw the Spirit; that is, of God, as is said in Mat 3:16 and which Nonnus here expresses; and the Ethiopic version reads, "the Holy…”

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.

“Again, the next day after,.... The third day from the priests and Levites having been with John, to know who he was.”

When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

“And looking upon Jesus as he walked,.... Either by them; or as he was going from them to his lodgings; it being toward the close of the day, when John had finished his work for that day, and the people were departing home: John fixed…”

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

“Philip findeth Nathanael,.... Who was of Cana of Galilee, Joh 21:2 and where, it is very likely, Philip found him; since we quickly read of Jesus, and his disciples being there.”

“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

“And Nathanael said unto him,.... Taking notice of, and laying hold on what Philip said, that he was of Nazareth, which at once stumbled, and prejudiced him against Jesus being the Messiah; knowing very well that Bethlehem was to be the place of his birth…”

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,

“And the third day there was a marriage,.... Either from the second testimony bore by John the Baptist concerning Christ, and from the call of Simon Peter, which seem to be of the same date; see Joh 1:35, or from Christ's coming into Galilee; or…”

and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

“And both Jesus was called,.... Or invited, as being a relation, according to the flesh: and his disciples, to the marriage; who were bidden, on his account; and they seem to be these, Andrew, and the other disciple, that followed Jesus, and Simon Peter, and…”

“Woman, why does this concern us?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

“Jesus saith unto her, woman,.... Calling her "woman", as it was no ways contrary to her being a virgin, Gal 4:4, so it was no mark of disrespect; it being an usual way of speaking with the Jews, when they showed the greatest respect to…”

Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim.

“Jesus saith unto them,.... To the servants that waited at the feast, fill the water pots with water. The Ethiopic version adds, "to their brims", as they did.”

When the Jewish Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

“And the Jews' passover was at hand,.... That feast which was kept on the fourteenth day of Nisan, in commemoration of the Lord's passing over, and by the houses of the Israelites, when he slew the firstborn in Egypt: and it is called the Jews'…”

In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their tables.

“And found in the temple,.... Not in the holy place itself, nor in the court of the priests, where the sacrifices were offered, nor in the court of the women, nor in the court of the Israelites, where the people worshipped; but in the court…”

So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle.

“And when he had made a scourge of small cords,.... That is, Jesus, as the Persic version expresses it.”

His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”

“And his disciples remembered that it was written,.... In Psa 69:9, which Psalm belongs to the Messiah, as is manifest from the citations out of it in the New Testament, and the application of them to Christ, as in Joh 15:25, compared with Psa 69:4.”

“This temple took forty-six years to build,” the Jews replied, “and You are going to raise it up in three days?”

“Then said the Jews,.... Unto him, as read the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions: forty and six years was this temple in building; which cannot be understood of the temple as built by Solomon, for that was but seven years in building, 1Ki 6:37.”

But Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body.

“But he spoke of the temple of his body. Which was the antitype of the material temple; and might well be called so, since the bodies of the saints are called temples, 1Co 3:16 2Co 6:16; and the human nature of Christ is called a…”

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.

“There was a man of the Pharisees,.... The Syriac version adds, "there"; that is, at Jerusalem; and who was among those that believed in the name of Christ, upon seeing the miracles he did at the feast of the passover, in that place.”

“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”

“Nicodemus saith unto him,.... Understanding him of a natural birth, to be repeated: how can a man be born when he is old? as it seems by this, he himself now was: can he enter the second time into his mothers womb, and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

“Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee,.... Explaining somewhat more clearly, what he before said: except a man be born of water and of the Spirit: these are, מלות שנות, "two words", which express the same thing, as Kimchi observes in many places in…”

Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’

“Marvel not that I said unto thee,...., For Nicodemus was quite astonished, at this doctrine of the new birth; it was altogether new to him, and unheard of by him; nor could he understand, nor conceive in what manner it could be: ye must be…”