John 1

Supplementary Note: John 1:9–13 — Receiving Christ, Believing, and Being Born of God

John describes differing responses to Christ: many did not receive Him, while those receiving Him—those believing in His name—were given the right to become children of God. John then says they were born of God. The passage excludes ancestry, physical descent, and autonomous human achievement as the source of the new birth. It does not explicitly say regeneration occurred before faith or that selected unbelievers were first regenerated so that they would irresistibly believe. Preserve both truths: the new birth originates with God, and John identifies those receiving Christ as those believing in His name.