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A person can be in the light, and yet be unenlightened. There are some who refuse to
come to the light (3: 19). They choose to be in darkness and ignore the Light of the
world; and yet this light is provided for all mankind and is for all without distinction.
We now come to the centre of the Prologue which makes known the great dividing of
the ways, reception or rejection of the Saviour of the world:
"He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not
recognize Him" (1: 10).
Someone has said "the most stupendous fact of human history is the fact that the
Creator of the world paid it a visit": and yet it appears that comparatively few recognized
this and gave Him a receptive ear. Man, capable of higher heights than the animals, is
also capable of descending to deeper depths of atrocity and blasphemy and unbelief.
When men had the opportunity to accept the Creator of the universe, they spat upon Him
instead, and laughed at Him while He died.
"He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all
who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become
children of God" (1: 11, 12, N.I.V.).
The first "His own" is linked with the neuter plural ta idia; the second "His own" is
attached to the masculine plural hoi idioi, hence a difference must be made in translation.
When Christ was born at Bethlehem "he came to His own", for the land was peculiarly
His, "the land shall not be sold for ever, for the land is Mine" (Lev. 25: 23). At the
same time He came to His own people, for we read, "the Lord thy God hath chosen thee
to be a special people unto Himself" (Deut. 7: 6); and as the special people they had
special revelation in law, prophecy and promise such as no other nation experienced
(Psalm 147: 20). Yet in spite of this great privilege, God's message was ignored again
and again by them. He could say with truth:
"From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again, I
sent you My servants the prophets. But they did not listen to Me or pay attention. They
were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers" (Jer. 7: 25, 26, N.I.V.).
In spite of this there were some, a faithful remnant, who did receive and trust Him
when He came to this earth, otherwise the great plan of redemption would have failed:
"Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right
to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision
or a husband's will, but born of God" (1: 12, 13, N.I.V.).
Professor F. F. Bruce's words here are apt to the point:
"These blessings and privileges which His coming was designed to impart . . . . . are
summed up in this, that they were admitted to membership in the family of God. To
enter God's family one must receive His Word--in other terms, one must believe in His
Name. The name is much more than the designation by which a person is known; it
means the real character, or sometimes, as here, the Person Himself. To receive Him
Who is the Word of God, then, means to place one's faith in Him, to yield one's
allegiance to Him and thus, in the most practical manner, to acknowledge His claims."