John 1:5-13

5The light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it.

6God sent a man named John to be his messenger.

7John came to declare the truth about the light so that everyone would become believers through his message.

8John was not the light, but he came to declare the truth about the light.

9The real light, which shines on everyone, was coming into the world.

10He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him. Yet, the world didn’t recognize him.

11He went to his own people, and his own people didn’t accept him.

12However, he gave the right to become God’s children to everyone who believed in him.

13These people didn’t become God’s children in a physical way—from a human impulse or from a husband’s desire ⌞to have a child⌟. They were born from God.