John, a man sent from God to bear witness (John 1:6–8)

Says The verb changes. Of the Word John wrote ἦν ("was"); of the Baptist he writes Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος (egeneto anthrōpos, "there came a man"; note.language.John.1.1.en-vs-egeneto). This man was "sent from God" (ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ, apestalmenos para theou). The Greek Scholar covers the threefold purpose of 1:7 and the elliptical ἀλλ᾽ ἵνα of 1:8 (note.language.John.1.6-John.1.8.john-the-witness). He came "for witness" (εἰς μαρτυρίαν, eis martyrian), "to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe" (1:7, BSB). The evangelist adds: "He himself was not the Light" (οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖνος τὸ φῶς, ouk ēn ekeinos to phōs, 1:8).

Implies John's whole role points away from himself. He is a creature sent by God, and his witness exists so that others will believe in the light. The prologue's denial matches the Baptist's own denials later in the Gospel (1:20; 3:28–30). Josephus independently attests John's preaching, baptism, and execution (Ant. 18.116–119), and Acts shows disciples who knew only John's baptism at Ephesus some two decades later (Acts 18:24–19:7). The prologue's insistence would correct anyone who overrated him (note.historical.John.1.1-John.1.18.baptist-witness).

Uncertain Whether the prologue was written specifically against a sect that exalted the Baptist, as Baldensperger argued in 1898 (Der Prolog des vierten Evangeliums). The supporting evidence (the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions and the Mandaean texts) is late and weak for the first century, so the commentary does not build on it (note.historical.John.1.1-John.1.18.baptist-witness; on the dating of the Mandaean texts, Yamauchi, Gnostic Ethics and Mandaean Origins, cited by reference only).