JOHN 1:6-8 NKJV

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

JOHN 1:6-8 NKJV

John 1:6 John the Baptist is here contrasted with Jesus Christ. Jesus is God (v. 1); John was a man sent from God. Jesus was the Light (v. 4); John was the lamp that bore witness to the Light (vv. 7, 8). Our task, like John’s, is not to attract others to ourselves but to Christ. How great was the darkness so that God had to send a messenger to point out the light. Moral decay was not only in the world but in Israel and in the religious leadership of Israel. In the Gospel of John the name John never refers to John the apostle but always to John the Baptist. The writer of this gospel had previously been a disciple of “the Baptist.”

John 1:7, 8 To bear witness means “to testify” or “to declare.” John uses the word translated witness thirty-three times as a verb and fourteen times as a noun in his Gospel. The term is particularly important to his purpose, which is to record adequate witnesses to Jesus as the Messiah so that individuals might believe in Him (20:30, 31). Believe means “to trust.” John uses this verb almost one hundred times in his Gospel to express what must take place for a person to receive the gift of eternal life. The noun faith does not occur in the book nor does the word repent.