This book is about Jesus, who was eternally with God but also became a human being to reveal God to mankind.

1 The one who expresses [MET] ◄God’s character/what God is like► has always existed ◄from the beginning [MTY] of everything/before everything began►. He has always existed with God, and he has God’s nature. 2 He always existed with God before he began [MTY] to create anything. 3 He is the one by whom God caused everything to exist. He is the one who created absolutely everything [LIT]. 4 He is the one who caused everything to live. He, who caused us people to live, revealed to us the truth about God as a light [MET] reveals what is in the darkness. 5 People do not want him to reveal that what they do is evil [MET], just like darkness is evil. But just like darkness cannot put out light [MET], evil people have never prevented the one who was like a light from revealing God’s truth (OR, evil people have never understood the one who was like a light.)

6 A man whose name was John was sent by God {God sent a man whose name was John}. 7 He came to tell people about the one who was like [MET] a light. He came to show that everything that the one who was like a light [MET] said was true, in order that he could enable all people to believe in the one who was like a light. 8 John himself was not the one who was like a light [MET]. Instead, he came to tell others about that one who was like a light. 9 While John was doing that, the one who was truly like a light was about to show himself to the world. He was the one who enables all people to know about God, as a light [MET] enables people to know what is in the darkness.

10 Although the one who was like a light was here on the earth, and although he was the one whom God caused to create everything, most people [MTY, HYP] did not realize who he was. (OR, although he was the one whom God caused to create everything, most people did not accept him.) 11 Although he came to the land that belonged to him because he created it, most of his own people, the Jews, rejected him (OR, did not accept him). 12 But those of us who welcomed him, God authorized that we would have a relationship with him [MET] like children have a relationship with their father. We were people who believed that what he said about himself [MTY] was true. 13 We became like God’s children, not because our ancestors belonged to God, or because of someone’s sexual desires, nor because some man desired to have children like himself. Instead, we were caused by God {God caused us} to become like his children.

14 The one who expresses [MET] ◄God’s character/what God is like► became a human being, and he lived among us for a while. As a result, we saw how wonderful he is. He came from God his father, and there was no other person as wonderful as he. He was wonderful because he always acted ◄kindly toward us/in ways we did not deserve►, and he always spoke truthfully to us about God.

15 One day when John was telling people about him, he saw Jesus. Then he shouted to them, “I told you previously that someone will come later who is more important than I am, since he existed long before me. This is the man I was talking about!” 16 We have all benefited very much from what he has done. Again and again, he has acted in kind way toward us in ways we did not deserve. 17 Moses proclaimed God’s laws to our ancestors. But what Jesus Christ did for us was much better. He acted in kindness toward us in ways we did not deserve and told us the truth about God. 18 No one has ever seen God. But God’s only Son, Jesus, who has always had a very close relationship with God, has told us about God.