1:5 comprehended. The darkened minds of sin-blinded men could not (because they would not!) come to the light when it was offered to them. “Men loved darkness, rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Note II Corinthians 4:6; Genesis 1:3.

1:7 for a witness. The gospel of John is uniquely designed to bear “witness” to the deity and saving work of Christ. This verse has the first of forty-seven uses of this word or its derivatives (“record,” “testimony,” etc.) all from the Greek marturia in John’s gospel, as well as seventeen times in his three epistles and sixteen times in Revelation—far more than by any other Biblical writer.

1:8 not that Light. What a testimony to John the Baptist! He was so Christlike in his life and teachings that people kept mistaking him for the promised Messiah, requiring John in his gospel (inspired by the Holy Spirit) to assure people that, despite all appearances, John the Baptist was not Christ.

1:9 lighteth every man. Even though some people live and die without ever hearing of Jesus, the witness imprinted by Him on His creation is such conclusive evidence that there is a Creator who is omnipotent, omniscient, holy and loving, that those who reject or ignore it are “without excuse.” See notes on Romans 1:20; Psalm 19:1-6; etc. He has also placed the light of conscience in each person (Romans 2:14-15), but that too is rejected in most instances.

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.