Verse 1... And the Word was to God... 3 He did not say that He was in a certain place, because the Immensity is not limited to any place; nor did he say that He was in God, because on the basis of the previous one there could be a confusion of persons, but he said to God (ηρος τονΘεον), i.e. to God, that both the particularity of the Hypostases and the indivisibility of the Father and the Son, as well as of the Holy Spirit, would be clear, as is self-evident, because in the beginning there was a Trinity and this Trinity was together.

Verse 1... And God is the Word.4 Using the name of the Word to show that His supernatural birth was pre-eternal and passionless, He further prevents the harm that may arise from such a name, i.e. lest anyone utter blasphemy, thinking that this Word is the same as our thought or uttered; but He is not such, but hypostatic, of the same nature and dignity as the Father.

Verse 2. Having said that the Word has always existed, that He was inseparable from the Father, and that He was God, he briefly and wonderfully completes all that has been said about Him, presenting us with an outline of the theological teaching about the Son of God. To those who say that every son comes after the father, we answer: By saying every son, you have already solved your perplexity, therefore the Son of God is not like every son, but supernatural. And against those who persistently prove that everything that comes from something must necessarily be after that from which it came, so it is necessary to defend oneself: the radiance of the sun, which proceeds from it, does not come after it, and the sun never appears without radiance. But if this is the case with sensible objects, what can anyone say about that which is above every word? Having called the Word God, he also ascribes to Him a Divine attribute, namely creativity, since God, who did not create the heavens and the earth, let them perish (Jeremiah 10:11)1; and this is done so that they do not think that He is inferior to the Father.

Verse 3. All things were there, and without Him there was nothing.2 Having said all this, so that they would not think that this was said only about the material world, he added: "And without Him there would be nothing, if there was," that is, nothing that happened both in the material world and in the spiritual world. From this, of course, the Holy Spirit is excluded, because He did not come into being, so that He could be understood together with all the others, but was neither begotten nor created, like the Son and the Father: only the Trinity is neither begotten nor created. By calling the Son the Creator of all visible and invisible creatures, He did not thereby deprive the Father of the creative power, but only showed that the Son, like the Father, is the Creator; this is common to all three Persons, because it is an attribute of the Godhead, as was said above. Therefore, in the Holy Scriptures, creativity is sometimes attributed to the Father, sometimes to the Son, and sometimes to the Holy Spirit, since the Father is pleased, the Son acts, and the Holy Spirit cooperates. In the fifth chapter (v. 17) Jesus Christ says: "My Father has worked hitherto, and I have worked." Some detractors have said that the expression "theme" (δι αυτου) degrades the Son, indicating not creation but service. But they did not know that the same thing was equally applied to the Father; the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 1:9) said: "God is faithful, in Whom (δι ου) you were called into the communion of His Son... 3 And so that no one may be left perplexed as to how so many such creatures were created by the Word, the Evangelist says:

Verse 4. In That life there is... 4 By this life the Word not only produced all things, but also preserves them in being, since of Him we can say the same thing as it is said of the Father: "For in Him we live, and move, and are" (Acts 17:28).5 When you hear that in Him there was life, do not think of the Word as consisting of parts, but as the very source of life, because immediately the Evangelist calls the whole Word life, Speaking; and the life is the light of man. And in another place Jesus Christ Himself says: I am... life (John 14:6).6 The Doukhobors, after the words: "Without it, nothing will be there"; then all the following are read together: "If it became, there was life in it, in order to show that the Holy Spirit was created," since, they say, this saying refers to the Holy Spirit. But they are easy to refute. First of all, the words "zhe byt" indicate everything that has happened; then, life itself is here called light, since it is immediately added: life is the light of man; A little later, speaking of John, the Evangelist said: "This one has come for a witness, that he may bear witness to the Light," and yet it is known that John bore witness not to the Holy Spirit, but to the Son, as we shall learn later.

Verse 4... And life is the light of man.7 And the Son Himself was a light to men, enlightening their minds and guiding them from error to truth. As for the very name of the Son as light, the Son Himself says in another place: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). Thus He is called both life and light, life as quickening and preserving all things, and light as enlightening and purifying the minds of those who have received Him. By light and life, however, some understand the preaching of the Gospel, which He brought to people as the foundation of spiritual life and the light of reason.

Verse 5. And the light shines in darkness, and darkness does not encompass it.8 The preaching of the Gospel is here called light for the reason indicated and because of the truth, and darkness is error because of its falsehood. And so, he says: The preaching of the Gospel shines in the midst of error, but error has not overcome it. St. Gregory the Theologian, in his Sermon on the Holy Lights, understood this saying differently; but it is possible to accept both interpretations. Hitherto the Evangelist has spoken of the Divinity of the Son of God, and from here he begins the Gospel.

Verse 6. And there was a man sent from God, his name was John.1 Luke (3:2) wrote: "The word of God came to John Zechariah the son in the wilderness."

Verse 7. This one has come as a witness, that he may bear witness to the Light... 2 In this passage, the Light refers to Jesus Christ for the reason given above. John bore witness to His Divinity, as we see later; but since Jesus Christ did not need his testimony, the reason for this testimony is added. The Evangelist added:

Verse 7... That all may have faith in him.3 Just as Jesus Christ took on flesh in order that by appearing in the Godhead alone he might not lose all, so he used his testimony so that John's contemporaries, hearing a kindred voice, might more easily believe in Him of whom they testified: all this was arranged for the salvation of men. So John bore witness that all should believe; And not all believed, because faith does not come by force, but by free will.

Verse 8. Not that light, but let it bear witness to the Light.4 He also explains the reason for the embassy: he did not come to shine, for he was not the light, but to bear witness to the Light. The Evangelist also says this so that no one should think that the one who bears witness is greater and more reliable than the One of Whom he testifies, as is often the case. And since John's testimony was recent, so that a similar assumption may not arise regarding Him of Whom he testified, the Evangelist says:

Verse 9. Be the true Light, Who enlightens every man who comes into the world.5 He has always been, according to the theological teaching about Him set forth above. As God, He has always existed, and as a man, He began His being. If He enlightens every person who comes into the world, how is it that so many unenlightened people remain? As much as depends on Himself, He enlightens everyone, but some remain unenlightened of their own will. The grace of light, like the sun, has been poured out on everyone, but those who do not want to use this grace are themselves guilty of not being enlightened. He called this light true, as incomparable with no other, and surpassing any other, as light par excellence. True light... It is called the true image, and the true wisdom, and the true life, etc., not to blame other holy images, or the wisdom of the Divine Scriptures, or the present life, let alone the life to come, but thus the expression always indicates something incomparable to anything else in its superiority. Into the world, or in other words: coming into the true world of virtues.

Verse 10. In the world of be...,6 not as limited to a certain place, but as filling everything. Having said, "In the world," so that no one would suppose that He is contemporary with the world, as happened with Paul of Samosad, the Evangelist added:

Verse 10... And the world was there... 7 It is self-evident that the Creator was before creation.