John Chapter 1, Verse 10
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10: εν τω κοσμω ην και ο κοσμος δι αυτου εγενετο και ο κοσμος αυτον ουκ εγνω
10: He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the
world knew him not.
10: He was in the world: and the world was made by him: and the world
knew him not.
Contents |
εν τω κοσμω ην
en, as in vv. 1-4, stands for continuous exigence. The Logos was immanent in the world before the Incarnation, which has not yet been mentioned in the hymn, although suggested in the evangelist's comment in v.9.
και ο κοσμος δι αυτου εγενετο
Repeated from v. 3, "the world came into being through Him," the creative Logos being personal all through the hymn.
και ...
The paratactical construct kai ... kai' is continued, as in vv. 1, 4, 5. At this point kai is used adversatively, "and yet," the world not recognising the Word although the Word was immanent in it.
This use of kai for kaitoi (which Jn. never employs) is characteristic of the Fourth Gospel, e.g. Jn 3:11 Jn 5:43 Jn 6:70 Jn 7:28ff Jn 8:20 Jn 9:30 Jn 10:25 Jn 16:32. Burney (Aramaic Origin, p66) claims this as a Semitic usage, but it occurs in classical Greek; e.g. Thucyd. v. 6. i, and Eurip. Herakl. 508.
ο κοσμος αυτον ουκ εγνω
Primarily, the reference is to the world's ignorance of the Pre-Incarnate Logos, immanent continuously in nature and in man.
Pfleiderer points out the similarity of this language to what Heraclitus says about the eternal Reason: tou de logu toud' esutos aiei axunetoi ginontai anthropoi ... ginomenon gar panton kata ton logon tonde apeiroisin eoikasi, i.e. "men are without understanding of this Logos, although it is eternal, . . . although everything happens in accordance with this Logos, men seem to be ignorant (of it)."
Heraclitus was one of those whom Justin accounted a Christian before his time, having lived meta logon (Apol. 1.46) and his writings were probably current in the circles where the Fourth Gospel was written. But although Jn. used similar language to Heraclitus when writing of the Word, his thought goes far beyond the impersonal Reason of the Greek sage.
Even here, the meaning of "the world knew Him not" cannot be confined to the Immanent Logos. Jn. several times comes back to the phrase, applying it to the world's failure to recognise the Incarnate Christ; e.g. ho kosmos ... ouk egno auton (1Jn 3:1); ouk egnosan ... eme Jn 16:3 Cf. Jn 14:7 Jn 17:25, 1Cor 1:21. And in the next verse (v. 11) the Incarnate Word is clearly in view, for the aorist elthen expresses a definite point of time, although the Incarnation of the Word is not explicitly asserted until v. 14.
A saying about Wisdom very similar to the thought of this verse is in Enoch 42i: "Wisdom found no place where she might dwell ; then a dwelling-place was assigned to her in the heavens. Wisdom came to make her dwelling among the children of men and found no dwelling-place; then Wisdom returned to her place and took her seat among the angels." What the Jewish apocalyptist says of Wisdom, the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel repeats of the Logos.
He was in the world. This refers, probably, not to his pre-existence, but to the fact that he became incarnate; that he dwelt among men.
And the world was made by him. This is a repetition of what is said in Jn 1:3. Not only men, but all material things, were made by him. These facts are mentioned here to make what is said immediately after more striking, to wit, that men did not receive him. The proofs which he furnished that they ought to receive him were,
1st. Those given while he was in the world -- the miracles that he wrought and his instructions; and,
2nd. The fact that the world was made by him, It was remarkable that the world did not know or approve its own maker.
The world knew him not. The word knew is sometimes used in the sense of approving or loving, Ps 16 Mt 7:23. In this sense it may be used here. The world did not love or approve him, but rejected him and put him to death. Or it may mean that they did not understand or know that he was the Messiah; for had the Jews known and believed that he was the Messiah, they would not have put him to death, 1Cor 2:8: "Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." Yet they might have known it, and therefore they were not the less to blame.
