1:10 by him. Here is yet another assertion that “the world was made by Him;” yet the men and women who were made by Him refused to recognize Him. “They did not like to retain God in their knowledge” (Romans 1:28). He was the true light physically as well as spiritually, for He is the very energizer of the world (“upholding all things by the word of His power”—Hebrews 1:3), but the world preferred an evolutionary explanation.

1:11 his own. “He came unto His own things”—that is, the earth and its fullness (Psalm 24:1)—which He had created. But then “His own people”—even His chosen people—rejected Him. The people He made knew Him not, and the people whom He chose rejected Him, when He came as one of them.

1:12 power. “Power” here is the word for “authority” or “right.”

1:12 sons of God. “Sons of God” is actually “children of God.” By regeneration, they become new creatures, “born…of God” (see John 1:13). Note the connection between creation (John 1:10—“made by Him”) and regeneration (John 1:13—“born of God”).

1:12 believe. Note also that “receiving Him” is here defined as “believing on His name,” with all that the latter implies (see the first note on John 1:1).