It seems to me that any lover of the gospel can hardly have failed to feel dissatisfaction with the close of the third verse of John 1: “All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” That it is no worse than redundant can be no satisfaction to the man who would find perfection, if he may, in the words of him who was nearer the Lord than any other. My hope was therefore great when I saw, in reading the Greek, that the shifting of a period would rid me of the redundancy. And I found the change did unfold such a truth as showed the rhetoric itself in accordance with the highest thought of the apostle. Let us then look at the passage as I think it ought to be translated, and then seek the meaning for the sake of which it was written. It is a meaning indeed by no means dependent on this passage, belonging as it does to the very truth as it is in Jesus; but it is therein magnificently expressed by the apostle, and differently from anywhere else:

“All things were made through him, and without him was made not one thing. That which was made in him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

Note the antithesis of the through and the in. In this grand assertion seems to me to lie, more than shadowed, the germ of creation and redemption—of all the divine in its relation to all the human. 

Commentary

by Dale Darling

Perhaps this introduction expresses an Aha! moment for MacDonald, when the Light of the world illuminated a particular scripture passage and quickened according to His justice. This is one of the reasons we cannot live by bread alone, but by the Word of God, made flesh to dwell among us, sent to inhabit our very being.

For me, the key sentence today is this one, "It is a meaning indeed by no means dependent on this passage, belonging as it does to the very truth as it is in Jesus...", because I am no longer interested in arguments over jots or tittles. That all things were made by Him, and in Him, is Life is enough. As MacDonald says, The Word, the very Truth, is in Jesus.

Of course, I will read on for the instruction and encouragement MacDonald expresses, thankful for his obedience and walk in the Light, the diligence he displayed even in moving a period in order to find clarity.