NKJV John 1:7
This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
MEV John 1:7
This man came as a witness in order to testify concerning the Light, that all men through Him might believe.
I don't understand why MEV capitalized Him?
Now I'm confused whether John 1:7 is talking about John or Jesus?
I've always believed it's John.
The question essentially reduces to finding the antecedent of "him" (αὐτοῦ) the last word in John 1:7.
The answer to this question becomes clearer when the overall outline of the section is observed:
Now let us examine a literal translation (BLB) of John 1:6-8
Thus, the antecedents of all the pronouns here is John the Baptist as confirmed by V8; ie, it cannot be Jesus because Jesus, the Word, is the Light and V8 says that "he" was not the light. That "he" and "him" must be John the Baptist.
The "believing through him" is direct reference the explicitly stated purpose of the ministry of John the Baptist as "preparing the way for the Lord", Matt 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4. That is, without John the Baptist's preparatory work, Jesus ministry would have been much less effective.
Compare this with Ellicott's remarks:
(John 1:7) For a Witness.—Stress is laid upon the work of John as “witness.” This was generally the object of his coming. It was specially to “bear witness of the Light.” The purpose of testimony is conviction “that all men through him might believe,” i.e., through John, through his witness.
Meyer is similar:
διʼ αὐτοῦ by means of John, so far as he by his witness-bearing was the medium of producing faith: “and thus John is a servant and guide to the Light, which is Christ” (Luther); not by means of the light (Grotius, Lampe, Semler), for here it is not faith in God (1 Peter 1:21) that is spoken of.
The Cambridge commentary is similar:
through him] i.e. through the Baptist, the Herald of the Truth. Comp. John 5:33; Acts 10:37; Acts 13:24.
I am at a loss to understand why the MEV, almost alone (I could find no others) capitalizes "Him" in John 1:7.
The Greek text (PT punctuation) is:
οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς μαρτυρίαν,
ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός,
ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσι διʼ αὐτοῦ.
The him in διʼ αὐτοῦ (di autou) is genetive masculine. The Light (φωτός - phōtos) is neuter, so διʼ αὐτοῦ cannot refer to it.
The phrase pretty clearly refers to John, not Jesus. This is the way the Greeks read it, in any case. See, for example, John Chrysostom's commentary.
Let's follow the context and derive the meaning from that.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men... v4
We know that this is not yet speaking of Jesus, but the logos from preceding verses.
6There came a man having been sent from God. His name was John. 7He came as a witness, that he might testify concerning the Light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the Light, but came that he might witness concerning the Light.
9The true Light who enlightens every man was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11He came to the own, and the own did not receive Him. 12But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to be children of God—to those believing in His name, 13who were born not of blood, nor of will of flesh, nor of will of man, but of God.
John's role was to point toward Jesus, not so that ALL might believe because of him, but because of the one he witnessed of - that ALL might believe in Jesus, and the One who sent him, and finally be born of God. (John 3:2, 5:19, 10:38, 14:11)
