They became God's children, but not in the way babies are usually born. It was not because of any human desire or plan. They were born from God himself.
The Word became a man and lived among us. We saw his divine greatness — the greatness that belongs to the only Son of the Father. The Word was full of grace and truth.
John told people about him. He said loudly, "This is the one I was talking about when I said, 'The one who is coming after me is greater than I am, because he was living before I was even born.'"
They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" He answered, "No, I am not Elijah." They asked, "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No, I am not the Prophet."
This is the one I was talking about when I said, 'There is a man coming after me who is greater than I am, because he was living even before I was born.'
Then John said, "I also did not know who the Christ was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'You will see the Spirit come down and rest on a man. He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen this happen. I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and rest on this man.
He answered, "Come with me and you will see." So the two men went with him. They saw the place where he was staying, and they stayed there with him that day. It was about four o'clock.
Then Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas." ("Cephas" means "Peter. ")
Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the man that Moses wrote about in the law. The prophets wrote about him too. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph. He is from Nazareth."