9Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, (Ēn to phōs to alēthinon)
ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, (ho phōtizei panta anthrōpon)
ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. (erchomenon eis ton kosmon)
10ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν, (en tō kosmō ēn)
καὶ ὁ κόσμος δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, (kai ho kosmos di' autou egeneto)
καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνω. (kai ho kosmos auton ouk egnō)
11εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἦλθεν, (eis ta idia ēlthen)
καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον. (kai oi idioi auton ou parelabon)
12ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτόν, (hosoi de elabon auton)
ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν (edōken autois exousian)
τέκνα θεοῦ γενέσθαι, (tekna theou genesthai)
τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, (tois pisteuousin eis to onoma autou)
13οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων (hoi ouk ex haimatōn)
οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς (oude ek thelēmatos sarkos)
οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς (oude ek thelēmatos andros)
ἀλλ' ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν. (all' ek theou egennēthēsan)
9The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn't recognize him.
11He came to his own, and those who were his own didn't receive him.
12But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name:
13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν (v. 9) — "the true light," but ἀληθινός carries the sense not merely of "true" but of "genuine" or "real." The Baptist was a lamp, but Christ is the light itself — not a reflection, but the source.
The structure of rejection. Verse 10 moves outward to the whole cosmos: the world (ὁ κόσμος) did not know him. Verse 11 narrows to Israel: his own people (οἱ ἴδιοι) did not receive him. The tragedy telescopes from universal to particular.
ἐξουσίαν (v. 12). The word means both "power" and "right" or "authority." John says Christ gave those who received him the authority to become children of God — not by natural birth, not by human decision, but by divine generation. The new birth is not something we achieve. It is something God does.
Luther: "It was necessary to abolish all the glory of man and to attribute everything to the grace of God. Therefore John says that they are born of God, not of human will — so that you would not think that it depends on free choice."
WEB translation note. The WEB is particularly clear in this passage. 'The true light that enlightens everyone' (v. 9) captures ἀληθινόν well. 'The right to become God's children' (v. 12) renders ἐξουσίαν (v. 12) as a legal standing rather than an abstract 'power.' The three negations in verse 13 are cleanly preserved. The only notable difference: 'didn't recognize' and 'didn't receive' are slightly more colloquial than 'did not know' and 'did not receive,' but the meaning is identical.
Greek text: NA28 · English: World English Bible (Public Domain)
"But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God."
The light comes into the world. The world does not know him. He comes to his own. His own do not receive him.
Here is the first tragedy of the Gospel, spelled out in two parallel statements that telescope from the cosmic to the particular. The creator came to his creation, and the creation did not know him. The Messiah came to his people, and his people turned him away. John does not soften this.
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But John does not linger on the rejection. He pivots. "But to all who received him..." The Greek is emphatic: ὅσοι δέ — "as many as" — a contrast that rings like a door opening after a series of slammed ones. There were some who received him. There always are.
And to those who received him, he gave something that no human power can confer: the authority to become children of God. Not through ancestry (not of blood), not through effort (not of the will of the flesh), not through human decision (not of the will of man), but of God. John stacks three negations like a lawyer building a case. He wants you to understand that the new birth does not come from anything you can produce.
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This is the structure of grace. You are not adopted because you believed. You believed because you were adopted. The receiving is the sign that the birth has already taken place.
Primary Sources
Augustine, Tractate 2: "If God could be born of a woman, why be surprised that men are born of God? To be born of God is not a matter of nature but of grace."
Calvin, Institutes 3.1.4: "We must hold, therefore, that the Spirit is given only to those who are sons of God; and this is for the putting to silence of our native arrogance, which imagines that we are something of ourselves."
Written for the Grace Memorial devotional series · July 2026