{As many as received him} (hosoi elabon auton). Effective
aorist active indicative of lamban(935c) "as many as did receive
him," in contrast with hoi idioi just before, exceptional
action on the part of the disciples and other believers. {To
them} (autois). 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  5:27  ed(936b)en (first aorist active indicative of did(936d)i)
exousian means authority but includes power (dunamis). Here
it is more the notion of privilege or right. {To become}
(genesthai). Second aorist middle of ginomai, to become what
they were not before. {Children of God} (	ekna theou). In the
full spiritual sense, not as mere offspring of God true of all
men ( Ac 17:28 ). Paul's phrase huioi theou ( Gal 3:26 ) for
believers, used also by Jesus of the pure in heart ( Mt 5:9 ),
does not occur in John's Gospel (but in  Re 21:7 ). It is
possible that John prefers 	a tekna tou theou for the spiritual
children of God whether Jew or Gentile ( Joh 11:52 ) because of
the community of nature (	eknon from root 	ek-, to beget).
But one cannot follow Westcott in insisting on "adoption" as
Paul's reason for the use of huioi since Jesus uses huioi
theou in  Mt 5:9 . Clearly the idea of regeneration is involved
here as in  Joh 3:3 . {Even to them that believe} (	ois
pisteuousin). No "even" in the Greek, merely explanatory
apposition with autois, dative case of the articular present
active participle of pisteu(935c). {On his name} (eis to onoma).
Bernard notes pisteu(9320)eis 35 times in John, to put trust in or
on. See also  2:23  3:38  for pisteu(9320)eis to onoma autou. This
common use of onoma for the person is an Aramaism, but it
occurs also in the vernacular papyri and eis to onoma is
particularly common in the payment of debts (Moulton and
Milligan's _Vocabulary_). See  Ac 1:15  for onomata for
persons.