Matthew Henry

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

“Yet some think that Christ is meant by the Word in Acts xx. The Chaldee paraphrase very frequently calls the Messiah Memra--the Word of Jehovah, and speaks of many things in the Old Testament, said to be done by the Lord, as done by that…”

He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe.

“(2.) The design of his testimony: That all men through him might believe; not in him, but in Christ, whose way he was sent to prepare.”

He himself was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

“Had John pretended to be that light he had not been so much as a faithful witness of that light.”

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

“The Jews were at this time a mean despicable people; the crown was fallen from their head; yet, in remembrance of the ancient covenant, bad as they were, and poor as they were, Christ was not ashamed to look upon them as his own.”

But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—

“Observe here, [1.] The true Christian's description and property; and that is, that he receives Christ, and believes on his name; the latter explains the former.”

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

“It is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of corruptible seed, 1 Pet. i. Man is called flesh and blood, because thence he has his original: but we do not become the children of God as we become the children…”

From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

“He has a fountain of fulness overflowing: We all have received. All we apostles; so some. We have received the favour of this apostleship, that is grace; and a fitness for it, that is truth.”

From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

“Let us see what it is that we have received. We have received grace for grace. Our receivings by Christ are all summed up in this one word, grace; we have received kai charin -- even grace, so great a gift, so rich, so invaluable…”

When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.”

“Note, They who, being married, are come to care for the things of the world must expect trouble in the flesh, and count upon disappointment. (3.)”

When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.”

“Then his hour is come when we are reduced to the utmost strait, and know not what to do. This encouraged those that waited for him to believe that though his hour was not yet come it would come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

“The beginning of Moses's miracles was turning water into blood ( Exod. iv. 20 ), the beginning of Christ's miracles was turning water into wine; which intimates the difference between the law of Moses and the gospel of Christ.”

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

“As Moses, the servant of the Lord, when God bade him, went to the rock, to draw water; so these servants, when Christ bade them, went to the water, to fetch wine.”

and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.

“When Christ provided so much good wine for them that had well drunk, he intended to try their sobriety, and to teach them how to abound, as well as how to want.”

After this, He went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers and His disciples, and they stayed there a few days.

“It is called the Jews' passover, because it was peculiar to them (Christ is our Passover); now shortly God will no longer own it for his.”

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

“All the graces that were to be found among the Old-Testament saints were eminently in Christ, and particularly this of zeal for the house of God, and in them, as they were patterns to us, so they were types of him. Observe, (1.)”

Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”

“Secondly, Because the death of Christ was indeed the destruction of the Jewish temple, the procuring cause of it; and his resurrection was the raising up of another temple, the gospel church, Zech. vi.”

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

“Secondly, Of the almighty power of Christ, as if he could do no more than another man. Had they known that this was he who built all things in six days they would not have made it such an absurdity that he should build a…”

But Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body.

“Though Christ had discovered a great respect for the temple, in purging it, yet he will have us know that the holiness of it, which he was so jealous for, was but typical, and leads us to the consideration of another temple of which that…”

He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God.

“The grace which is at first but a grain of mustard-seed may grow to be a great tree. He did not come to talk with Christ about politics and state-affairs (though he was a ruler), but about the concerns of his own soul and its…”

Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

“This answer was wither, [1.] A rebuke of what he saw defective in the address of Nicodemus. It was not enough for him to admire Christ's miracles, and acknowledge his mission, but he must be born again.”

Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.

“Corruption and sin are woven into our nature; we are shapen in iniquity, which makes it necessary that the nature be changed.”

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

“He who is the great Lawgiver, whose will is a law,--he who is the great Mediator of the new covenant, and has full power to settle the terms of our reconciliation to God and happiness in him,--he who is the great Physician of souls, knows…”

The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going.

“That he works powerfully, and with evident effects: Thou hearest the sound thereof; though its causes are hidden, its effects are manifest.”

Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, and yet you people do not accept our testimony.

“Observe, First, That the truths of Christ are of undoubted certainty. We have all the reason in the world to be assured that the sayings of Christ are faithful sayings, and such as we may venture our souls upon; for he is not only a…”

If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

“The things of the gospel are heavenly things, out of the road of the enquiries of human reason, and much more out of the reach of its discoveries.”