John 1:12

As many as received him (osoi elabon auton). Effective aorist active indicative of lambanw "as many as did receive him," in contrast with oi idioi just before, exceptional action on the part of the disciples and other believers. To them (autoi). Dative case explanatory of the relative clause preceding, an anacoluthon common in John 27 times as against 21 in the Synoptists. This is a common Aramaic idiom and is urged by Burney (Aramaic Origin, etc., p. 64) for his theory of an Aramaic original of the Fourth Gospel. The right (exousian). In Luke 5:27 edwken (first aorist active indicative of didwmi) exousian means authority but includes power (dunami). Here it is more the notion of privilege or right. To become (genesqai). Second aorist middle of ginomai, to become what they were not before. Children of God (tekna qeou). In the full spiritual sense, not as mere offspring of God true of all men ( Acts 17:28 ). Paul's phrase uioi qeou ( Galatians 3:26 ) for believers, used also by Jesus of the pure in heart ( Matthew 5:9 ), does not occur in John's Gospel (but in Revelation 21:7 ). It is possible that John prefers ta tekna tou qeou for the spiritual children of God whether Jew or Gentile ( John 11:52 ) because of the community of nature (teknon from root tek-, to beget). But one cannot follow Westcott in insisting on "adoption" as Paul's reason for the use of uioi since Jesus uses uioi qeou in Matthew 5:9 . Clearly the idea of regeneration is involved here as in John 3:3 . Even to them that believe (toi pisteuousin). No "even" in the Greek, merely explanatory apposition with autoi, dative case of the articular present active participle of pisteuw. On his name (ei to onoma). Bernard notes pisteuw ei 35 times in John, to put trust in or on. See also John 2:23 ; 3:38 for pisteuw ei to onoma autou. This common use of onoma for the person is an Aramaism, but it occurs also in the vernacular papyri and ei to onoma is particularly common in the payment of debts (Moulton and Milligan's Vocabulary). See Acts 1:15 for onomata for persons.