---
title: John 1:15
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-1-15/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-1-15.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 1:15
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 1:15

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "(John bore witness about him, yes, he cried out: “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming behind me has advanced in front of me, for he existed before me.’”)"

## JW Usage

JWs read "he existed before me" as a reference to Jesus' prehuman life as a spirit creature in heaven, which fits their teaching that he was created before all other things and later born as a human.

## Protestant Usage

John the Baptist was born before Jesus, yet he says of the Word who became flesh, "he existed before me." The statement only works if the one born after John was already alive before John, which means the Word of verse 14 is a person with a past, not an attribute or a plan that took shape in the man Jesus. The Baptist repeats the same words about Jesus in verse 30, tying the Word of the prologue directly to the man standing in front of him. Compare John 1:14, John 1:30.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [An Attribute Can't Become Flesh](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/logos-attribute-vs-person.md) — John 1:14 — the Word who became flesh has a son's glory, a past and a place at the Father's side [Deity of Christ]