It is not material to enquire when and where this gospel was written; we are sure that it was given by inspiration of God to John, the brother of James, one of the twelve apostles, distinguished by the honourable character of that disciple whom Jesus loved, one of the first three of the worthies of…

Augustine says (de Civitate Dei, lib. 10, cap. 29) that his friend Simplicius told him he had heard a Platonic philosopher say that these first verses of St. John’s gospel were worthy to be written in letters of gold.

The evangelist designs to bring in John Baptist bearing an honourable testimony to Jesus Christ, Now in these verses, before he does this, I. He gives us some account of the witness he is about to produce.

In these verses, I. The evangelist begins again to give us John Baptist’s testimony concerning Christ, John 1:15. He had said that he came for a witness; now here he tells us that he did accordingly bear witness. Here, Observe, 1.

We have here the testimony of John, which he delivered to the messengers who were sent from Jerusalem to examine him. Observe here, I. Who they were that sent to him, and who they were that were sent. 1.

We have in these verses an account of John’s testimony concerning Jesus Christ, which he witnessed to his own disciples that followed him. As soon as ever Christ was baptized he was immediately hurried into the wilderness, to be tempted; and there he was forty days.

We have here the turning over of two disciples from John to Jesus, and one of them fetching in a third, and these are the first-fruits of Christ’s disciples; see how small the church was in its beginnings, and what the dawning of the day of its great things was. I.

We have here the call of Philip and Nathanael. I. Philip was called immediately by Christ himself, not as Andrew, who was directed to Christ by John, or Peter, who was invited by his brother. God has various methods of bringing his chosen ones home to himself.