John 1:12

John 1:12 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
• New International Version (NIV)Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
• English Standard Version (ESV)But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
• New King James Version (NKJV)But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

Context of John 1:12

10The Word was now in the world. God had made the world through him. But the people in the world did not know who he was. 11He came to his own place, but his own people did not accept him. Some people did accept him and they believed in him. He gave authority to those people to become God's children. 13They did not become God's children in the usual human way. They were not born because some people wanted to have children. They were not born because of what any man decided. No! They were born from God. 14The Word became a man. He lived among us. We saw his great glory. He has the glory of the Father's one true Son. He is full of God's grace and truth.

John 1:12 word by word

ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτόν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα θεοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ,Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Butδέde · thenG1161
• as many asὅσοςhosos · just as/how muchG3745
• receivedλαμβάνωlambanō · to takeG2983
• himαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• gave heδίδωμιdidōmi · to giveG1325
• powerἐξουσίαexousia · authorityG1849
• to becomeγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
• the sonsτέκνονteknon · childG5043
• of Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• to themὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• that believeπιστεύωpisteuō · to trust (in)G4100
• onεἰςeis · towardG1519
• nameὄνομαonoma · nameG3686

Cross-references for John 1:12

• Matthew 10:40Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone accepts you in his home, then he is also accepting me. And anyone who accepts me, also accepts my Father God, who sent me.
• Matthew 18:5If anyone accepts a child like this because of me, that person also accepts me.’
• Colossians 2:6You have accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord. So remember that you belong to him as you live your lives.
• Isaiah 56:5If they do that, I will give them a special place in my temple. It will cause people to remember them. Their name will continue in a better way than through sons and daughters. People will always honour their name. Nobody will cut it off.
• Jeremiah 3:19I thought this: “I want you people of Israel to be my children. That would make me very happy. I want to give you a good land as your home. It is a more beautiful land than any other nation enjoys.” I thought that you would call me “Father”. I thought that you would always be faithful to me.
• Hosea 1:10In the future, nobody will be able to count the number of Israel's people. They will be as much as the sand on the shore of the sea. God has said to them, ‘You are not my people.’ But at that time, he will say to them, ‘You are children of the God who lives!’
• Romans 8:14All those people who live with God's Spirit as their guide are God's children.
• 2 Corinthians 6:17And so, the Lord says: ‘Come out from among them and be separate. Do not touch anything that is disgusting. Then I will accept you.’
• Galatians 3:26All of you are God's children because you believe in Christ Jesus.
• Galatians 4:6Because we are his children, God has sent his Son's Spirit to live inside us. His Spirit causes us to call God, ‘Father, my Father’.
• 2 Peter 1:4Because of this, God has promised that he will do very great and valuable things for us. As a result, you can do what is right, like God does. The people who belong to this world want to do bad things. Those bad things make them become worse and worse. But God gives you the power to be free from all that.
• 1 John 3:1Think about how much God the Father loves us. He calls us his children! God loves us so much that we really have become his children. The people who belong to this world do not understand who God is. Because of that, they do not understand who we are.
• John 2:23While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover festival, he did many miracles. Many people saw these miracles that showed he was from God. As a result, they believed in Jesus.
• John 3:18God will not punish anyone who believes in his Son. But if people refuse to believe in the Son, God has already decided that he must punish them. They have not believed in God's one and only Son.
• John 20:31But I have written about these things, so that you will be able to believe the truth. You will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Because you believe in him, you will have life with God.
• Matthew 12:21All the nations will trust him to save them.’

Commentaries on John 1:12

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12Gave he power - , Privilege, honor, dignity, or right. He who is made a child of God enjoys the greatest privilege which the Divine Being can confer on this side eternity. Those who accept Jesus Christ, as he is offered to them in the Gospel, have, through his blood, a right to this sonship; for by that sacrifice this blessing was purchased; and the fullest promises of God confirm it to all who believe. And those who are engrafted in the heavenly family…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12To as many as received him - The great mass; the people; the scribes and Pharisees rejected him. A few in his lifetime received him, and many more after his death. “To receive him,” here, means to “believe” on him. This is expressed at the end of the verse. Gave he power - This is more appropriately rendered in the margin by the word “right” or “privilege.” Compare Acts 1:7; Acts 5:4; Romans 9:21; 1 Corinthians 7:37; 1 Corinthians 8:9; 1 Corinthians…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 6-14Verses 6-14 John the Baptist came to bear witness concerning Jesus. Nothing more fully shows the darkness of men's minds, than that when the Light had appeared, there needed a witness to call attention to it. Christ was the true Light; that great Light which deserves to be called so. By his Spirit and grace he enlightens all that are enlightened to salvation; and those that are not enlightened by him, perish in darkness. Christ was in the world when he…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12People can follow the light and join God's family only when God spiritually renews them (3:1–17). People must believe in Christ to become children of God (12:35–36).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 10-1310-13. He was in the world, &c.--The language here is nearly as wonderful as the thought. Observe its compact simplicity, its sonorousness--"the world" resounding in each of its three members--and the enigmatic form in which it is couched, startling the reader and setting his ingenuity a-working to solve the stupendous enigma of Christ ignored in His own world. "The world," in the first two clauses, plainly means the created world, into which He came…Read the comment

Topics related to John 1:12

• Adoption
• Faith
• Jesus Continued
• Jesus, the Christ

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Sons of God
• Behold
• Believe
• Blood
• Covenant
• Dwell
• Father
• Flesh

Commentaries on John 1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Catena Aurea
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• John Lightfoot Commentary
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings