jesus in the judean country, and the spread of his baptism, with the faith of the people. last testimony of john the baptist concerning christ. christ the true baptist. the brideroom of the church, who comes from heaven. (The Real Song of Songs.)
Joh_3:22-36
22After these things came Jesus and his disciples [came] into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23And John also was [still] baptizing in Ænon near to [omit to] Salim, because there was much water there: and they 24came and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. 25Then there arose a question between some of [on the part of] John’s disciples and the Jews 26[a Jew] about purifying [religious washing]. And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond [the] Jordan, to whom thou barest [hast borne] witness [didst serve as a witness], behold the same baptizeth, and all men come [are going] to him.
27John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except [unless] it be given him from heaven. 28Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which [who] standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly [lit., rejoiceth with joy,
÷áñᾷ ÷áßñåé
] because of the bridegroom’s voice: [.] this my joy therefore is fulfilled [is made full, complete]. 30He must increase, but I must decrease. 31He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly [is of the earth], and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above 32 all. And [omit And] what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony [and his testimony no one receiveth]. 33He that hath received his [his emphatic,
áὐôïῦ ôὴí ì
.] testimony hath set to [omit to] his seal that God is true. 34For he whom God hath [omit hath] sent speaketh the words of God: for God [he] giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him [omit untohim].35The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36He that believeth on [in] the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not [disobeyeth,
ὁ äὲ ὰðåéèῶí
] the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Joh_3:22. After these things.—
Ìåôὰ ôáῦôá
. Probably not only after the interview with Nicodemus (Meyer), but after all that is related of His stay in Jerusalem.
Into the land of Judea.—Judea here, of course, not in the wider sense of Palestine, but in the narrower sense, as distinguished from Samaria, Galilee, and Perea; Southern Palestine, on this side the Jordan, having Samaria on the north, the Jordan and the Dead Sea on the east, Idumea on the south, Philistia and the Mediterranean on the west. And here, too, not the province of Judea itself is meant, to which in fact Jerusalem especially belonged, but the Judean country;
Ἰïõäáßá
being here used adjectively [
÷þñá Ἰïõäáßá
, Mar_1:5; Act_16:1]. From the baptizing Meyer infers a sojourn on the Jordan towards the north-east.
And there he tarried with them.—From the time of His return to Samaria (probably about seeding time, see Joh_4:35) we may infer that He continued in the Judean country from the month of March till perhaps November or December, at least half a year (see the place referred to).
And baptized.—According to Joh_4:2 Jesus Himself did not baptize; but as John remarks this only in a passing and supplemental way, he evidently intends to designate this baptism as a baptism of Jesus Himself. [Virtually (according to the maxim: quod quis per alium facit, id ipse fecisse dicitur), but not literally; for the testimony of Joh_4:2 is explicit, that Jesus Himself did not baptize. His work was to preach and to baptize with the Holy Spirit; water baptism was a subordinate ministerial office, and could as well be performed by others. For the same reason Paul did not baptize except in a few cases, 1Co_1:14-16. The baptism of the disciples of Jesus, which is only mentioned here and Joh_4:2, was still essentially the baptism of John, but it prepared the way for Christian baptism, which was instituted after the resurrection, Mat_18:19, and first performed on the birth-day of the Christian Church, Act_2:41. Before Christ had finished His work on earth, the Holy Spirit was not yet in full regenerative operation (Joh_7:39), nor could baptismal water signify the cleansing blood of atonement (Joh_19:34; 1Jn_1:7). This baptism then had a prophetic character, and was subsequently not repeated, but completed by the pentecostal baptism of the Spirit.—P. S.]
Joh_3:23. And John also was baptizing.—This statement serves to explain what follows.—In Aenon;
òֵéðåֹï
,
òֵéðָï
, adjective of
òַéִï
, “place abounding in springs.” Meyer makes out of it
éåֹï òַéִï
“dove-fountain,” without arguing the matter. According to Eusebius and Jerome: [Onomasticon under Aenon and Salem] Aenon lay in octavo lapide Scythopoleos ad meridiem juxta Salem et Jordanem; and Salem: in octavo lapide a Scythopoli in campo Vicus Salamias. From this it is inferred that both places were in Samaria; which Epiphanius (Hær. lvii. 2) confirms. This has been thought so inconsistent with our passage, that two places of similar names, Shilhim and Ain, which, according to Jos_15:32, lay on the southern border of Judea, have been substituted. According to others the places in question might have lain in Judea hard by the Samaritan border (see Meyer). Robinson (III., p. 322) found a Salem near Nablus, remote from the Jordan. According to this it has been held improbable that Aenon was on the Jordan, and Lücke thinks it was a place of springs. We suppose that John might very probably have been baptizing temporarily on Samaritan ground. Elijah, his prototype, dwelt long with a Phenician widow; Elisha healed the Syrian Naaman by directing him to wash in the Jordan. John, on his appearance, preached: God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. If John was to execute his office as fore-runner of Christ in His universal character, he must hare come to Samaria, and even to the Galilean court (see the direction of the angel, Luk_1:17; Luk_1:76). He might have had, moreover, special reasons for this. He could not give up his work, because he felt himself appointed to die in his official service; yet he wished also to give way to the Lord, and, not as compelled by events, but voluntarily, to decrease by the side of Him. This purpose would be exactly served by his retiring into a small place, and especially by his beginning to labor in Samaria. It is further noteworthy, that immediately after this Christ begins to teach in Samaria, though only in passing, and that the passage before us relates to the disciples of John who were involved in a controversy with a Jew concerning purification. If this Jew seems to have given the preference, as a Jew, to the baptism of Jesus. it is natural to suppose that he based his preference on the fact that Jesus was baptizing on Judean soil, John in Samaria. Enon at all events lay this side the Jordan. The objection that John was still baptizing in his old way, is solved by his calling. As to the objection that he was not baptizing “into Jesus,” he had only to baptize into Christ; to point out the Christ in Jesus was the business of his testimony. Meyer remarks, against Bretschneider and others, that he did not baptize into Jesus because Jesus had not yet appeared at all as the Messiah. Yet John had designated Him as the Messiah, and now did so again with the utmost clearness. But his office as fore-runner had not ceased with a public appearance of Jesus as the Messiah.
There was much water.—This can be mentioned to define only the spot, not the region.
Joh_3:24. John was not yet thrown into prison.—This, according to De Wette, Meyer, etc., is intended to be a correction of the Synoptical tradition. But it is only a completion of it; for the Synoptists open the ministry of Jesus with His labors in Galilee, not because these were the “very beginning” (Tholuck), but because this was the current tradition, and because their method of construing the history, particularly with regard to the contrast between John and Christ, required it. At the time of the return of Christ from the country of Judea to Galilee in the winter of 781 John had been cast into prison, according to Mar_1:14; during his first great tour in Galilee He received the embassy from the Baptist in the spring of 782; after His return from the feast of Purim in March of 782, however, He received the intelligence of the execution of the Baptist, according to Mat_14:12; comp. Joh_6:1.
Joh_3:25. A question.—
ÆÞôçóéò
, disputation. Not with the Jews, but with a Jew. [See Textual Notes.] The one Jew, who disputes with the disciples of John concerning purification (
ðåñὶêáèáñéóìïῦ
), that is, concerning the religious washing for purification, which must precede the kingdom of heaven [Eze_36:25; Zec_13:1], or concerning the baptisms of John and Jesus as to their purifying virtue and Messianic validity, gives exegetical trouble. According to Tholuck the controversy was begun by disciples of John, and yet the Jew on his part contentiously extolled the baptism of Jesus, to provoke the disciples of John; in other words, with not the best design. This evil design is more strongly represented by Luthardt: An intent to make the Baptist untrue to his office, in order to operate the more effectually against Jesus, Chrysostom and Semler, on the contrary, have supposed that the Jew had been baptized by Jesus, which seems also implied in the complaint of John’s disciples in the next verse. [The first sacramental controversy, and the forerunner of a good many.—P. S.]
Joh_3:26. He that was with thee, to whom thou hast borne witness.—Jealousy is at the out-set betrayed by the avoidance of the name of Jesus (comp. Luk_10:37; Luk_15:30); then it is implied that Jesus had been at first Himself dependent on him, that is, as one baptized by him; though it is not asserted, as by the modern criticism, that He had been a pupil of John. To whom thou barest witness, etc. A reproach against John and Jesus at once (“behold, the same”). Yet expressed only in the tone, in the choice of words, while nothing is literally ventured beyond historical statement. But that they, themselves irritated, wished to provoke the Baptist to see in Jesus an unauthorized rival in the matter of baptism, no matter how much He may be in other respects, is manifest. Every expression, in this view, is pregnant. Even the words: “beyond Jordan,” might imply that they had known better baptism-days on a better soil. Finally their displeasure expresses itself in the exaggeration: “all men come to Him.” Nevertheless they cannot be considered decidedly hostile; they show an uncertainty, a wavering, in the issue of which the mass of John’s disciples afterwards split into two branches, one friendly, the other hostile. The Baptist was to express himself on this distinction of two baptismal communions existing together.
Joh_3:27. A man can receive nothing (take nothing upon himself).—A general principle of religion, applied to the kingdom of God. Gifts and positions in the kingdom of God rest upon the free grace and investiture of God Himself. Here lies the obligation of humility before God, reverence for the gifted, freedom from envy, modesty, self-respect. The form of the expression silences by its universality, the spirit of the expression purifies by its repression of human nature, its emphasizing of the divine. The reference of the maxim: (1) To the Baptist, according to many ancients and moderns (Lücke). Wetstein: Non possum mihi arrogare et rapere, quæ deus non dedit. (2) To Jesus; De Wette, Meyer: The greater ministry is given by God to Him. (3) To John and Jesus (Kuinoel, Luthardt; Tholuck doubtful). The last view is no doubt the true; for the maxim is the general superscription of the following contrasts: Christ and John; (1) Christ and the forerunner; (2) the Bridegroom and the Bridegroom’s friend; (3) the increasing One, and the decreasing; (4) He who is from heaven, and he that is of the earth. God is above the distinction, and gives to each one his own.
Joh_3:28. Ye yourselves bear me witness.—Ye yourselves, so jealous, bear witness to my modesty, in that ye recall how I bore witness to Him. But that.—
Ἀëë
’
ὅôé
seem only a transition to the discourse dependent on it (Meyer, Winer). Yet the expression might also point back to the Baptist’s description of himself (Joh_1:23), with the sense;
ôïῦôï åἰìß
,
ὅôé ἀð
.—
Ἐêåῖíïò
refers to Jesus, of whom they had been speaking. De Wette.
Joh_3:29. He that hath the bride.—The Old Testament theocratic figure of the marriage-union between Jehovah and His people, Isa_54:5; Hos_2:19; and the Song of Songs, according to Bengel and Luthardt; which Meyer doubts, because that book is not quoted in the New Testament; yet it is manifestly an example at least in favor of the view here mentioned.—This figure passed over to the relation between Christ and the renewed and adorned theocratic people, Eph_5:32; Rev_21:2; Rev_21:9. He that hath the bride, is therefore he to whom she is given from above, and who is thereby distinguished as the supremely Gifted. He is the bridegroom (De Wette: Comp. the proverb: Wer das Glück hat, führt die Braut heim).—From him is here distinguished the friend of the bridegroom, a distinct personage in the Jewish wedding usage. Lücke:
Ößëïò ôïῦ íõìößïõ
answers to the Hebrew
ùׁåֹùְׁáֵï
, in which, however, the ideas of
ößëïò ôïῦ íõìö
. and
ðáñáíýìöéïò
or
íõìöáãùãüò
are combined. According to the Hebrew custom, the Shoshben, a friend of the bridegroom, was a necessary mediator both in the formation and in the conclusion of the marriage. In behalf of his friend he made suit with the bride, and was the indispensable negotiator between the bride and bridegroom in relation to the wedding. At the wedding itself he was a chief manager of the feast, a necessary functionary at the inspection of the wedding-chamber, and even after the close of the marriage a mediator in misunderstandings and dissensions.—In a passage Keluvoth (fol. 12, 1) it is expressly said: Duos
ùåùáðéí
constituebant, unum sponso, alterum sponsæ (Schöttgen, Horæ. Hebr. et Talm.). Another name is
àֹäֵá
(tr. Sanhedrin f. 27, 2). Doubtless John has especially in his eye the business of the wooing, to which he was appointed. And then besides his subordination to the bridegroom, and his unenvious service in relation to the bride, he expresses also the honor and satisfaction he has in his position.
Standeth and heareth him.—(1) Interpretation according to rabbinic passages: customary listening of the shoshbenim at the door (
ἐðὶ ôῇè ýñᾳ
) of the bride-chamber. For the particulars see Lücke,
É
., p. 564. Probably only isolated apocryphal instances suggested by apocryphal
accounts (Tobias. Something like it here and there perhaps in the history of Jesuitism and Herrnhutism). Hard to imagine as general custom. (2) Baumgarten-Crusius, Luthardt: He waits for him that is to come, and hears his voice as he approaches, bringing his bride home. Against this Meyer: The
ðáñáíýìöéïò
does not stand waiting for the bridegroom, but accompanies him on the way to the house of the bride. Such waiting is the part of the bride’s-maid, Mat_25:1. (3) Eckermann, Meyer: He stands at his service, waiting his bidding, and meantime rejoices in his conversation and gladness in general. (4) Tholuck: The conversation of the bridegroom with the bride preceding the wedding. (5) Lücke: The voice of the bridegroom has in the Old Testament almost the tone of a proverb, Jer_7:34; Jer_16:9; Jer_25:10. The friend stands at his side and hears the happy voice of the bridegroom. More accurately Grotius:
òָîַã
, stare est ministrare, ut Gen_41:46; Deu_1:38; Zec_3:7 : audiens blandimenta ad sponsarn. Vide Cant. Cantic.: Hæc est vox
öùíὴíõìößïõ
. The reference is no doubt to affectionate and tender greetings to the bride, not commissions (Meyer: bidding) to the friend. The friend stands (back) and hears in silence how the bridegroom himself talks to the bride of his love, contrasted with his own business-like talking of it to her in urging the suit.
The voice of the bridegroom is therefore the New Testament words of love, the gospel of Christ, and that even in distinction from the now ceasing lispings of prophecy concerning the new covenant. De Wette also: Of the gladness of the bridegroom. When Tholuck observes that
öùíÞ
must not be referred to the rejoicings at the wedding, since the wedding begins later with the inauguration of the kingdom, and thus far only the conversation of the bridegroom is introduced, it must be remarked that the figure of the wedding is not intended to be pressed. According to the word of Christ, Mat_9:15, the wedding had already in one view begun with His appearance. In another view it began with His resurrection and the founding of the church, Mat_22:9. In still another view it is to come at the second appearing of Christ, and meantime the Apostles are the wooers of the bride, 2Co_11:2; Rev_21:19. These aspects might perhaps be distinguished by the three stages of going for and saluting the bride (the act primarily meant here), the wedding-feast, and the final nuptials; denoting the preaching of the gospel, the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and founding of the church, and the manifestation of the kingdom. Yet we cannot apply this distinction of periods to the words of the Baptist. To his prophetic view the wedding was begun.
Rejoiceth with joy.—
×áñᾷ ÷áßñåé
, see Luk_22:15, [and
ùåù àùéù
, Isa_61:10. A Hebraizing mode of intensification: pure joy, joy and joy only.—P. S.] The
äéÜ
, as in 1Th_3:9, which is unusual, in place of the classical
ἐðß
, etc., adds emphasis to the voice in itself. He finds that voice a compensation to his position. Contrast of this unenvious joy with the jealous tones of the disciples of John.
This my joy.—This his share in the wedding. Hath been made full (
ðåðëÞñùôáé
, perfect tense).—In the happy meeting of the bridegroom and bride in the house of the bride the wedding itself is, to him, as good as come. He has happily completed his task as wooer of the bride. He has done the work of his life. See the analogous perfect:
ìåìáñôýñçêá
, and the exegesis, Joh_1:34. Is fulfilled, has become perfect. Yet only in its kind, as the joy of the friend of the bridegroom; therefore to be distinguished from the perfection of the New Testament joy of faith, Joh_15:11; Joh_16:24; Joh_17:13 (which places Meyer cites). He meant not by this the ceasing of his work, but the decreasing and diminishing of it before the increasing glory of the word and work of Christ.
Joh_3:30. He must increase.—The true description of the relation between John and Christ, and between the Old Covenant and the New, in the primitive church, in the mediæval church, in this modern age, in the life of every evangelical community, and of every individual Christian. Increase: In labors, in authority, in disciples. Decrease:
ἐëáôôïῦóèáé
, be diminished. Noble freedom from envy. An admonition to His disciples. St. John Baptist’s day in the calendar, the longest day [June 24th], after which the days decrease; the birth-day of Christ [Dec. 25], one of the shortest, from which the days grow longer.
Joh_3:31. He that cometh from above is above all.—The relation of the section now following to the preceding. Different views [of the authorship of Joh_3:31-36]: (1) A meditation of the Evangelist (Wetstein, Bengel, Kuinoel, Schott, Paulus, Olshausen, Tholuck, etc.), as supposed to be indicated by the John-like strain, an assumed contradiction between Joh_3:32; Joh_3:26, and the disappearance of all reference to the Baptist. Against this it is observed, that there is no break at any point, and the present in Joh_3:31-32 indicates the time of John the Baptist. (2) A middle view (Lücke, De Wette, Hofmann): The discourse of the Baptist is continued indeed, but the subjective reproduction of the Evangelist makes it almost a reflection of his own. (3) Continuation of the address of the Baptist, like Joh_3:16-18 in John 1, and as in Joh_3:16-21 continue the discourse of Christ; my Leben Jesu, II., 2, p. 521, Ebrard, Kritik, p. 294; also Meyer, [p. 180]; the Johannean character and coloring being also admitted even here. The stately conclusion of the prophetic testimony of the Baptist concerning Christ is not at all inconsistent with his subsequent expression of human feeling, Matthew 11. According to Strauss and Weisse this passage in particular is supposed to prove, that the discourses in John are not historical, but composed by himself. From this passage then, on the contrary, a clear light may be shed upon the exquisite, far-reaching, teeming historical truth of the whole gospel.
Ὁ ἅíùèåí ἐñ÷üìåíïò
. Present, referring to the, mission of Christ, which is just unfolding itself. See the testimonies of the Baptist concerning the divine dignity of Jesus, Joh_1:15-18; Joh_3:27; Joh_3:29; Joh_3:34.—Above all.—With respect to Christ all men are put in the category of the need of salvation.
He that is of the earth, etc.—Not a tautology, but signalizing the difference of origin and of consequent quality. From the origin of the person, his nature appears, and from this his mode of speaking. But how could John say this of his testimony (Hofmann)? Tholuck argues; Therefore the Evangelist says this, not the Baptist. But the thing said must nevertheless be true, and then it might even better be said by the Baptist in his humility, than by the Evangelist respecting his former teacher. The Baptist himself therefore must have said it. The question is in what sense? We have a parallel at Joh_1:18. In full comparison with the full glory of Christ no one, not even of the prophets, nor the Baptist, has ever seen God; in this comparison every man, even of the prophets, the Baptist not excepted, is of the earth. Then does this mean: of the earth, in the sense of Joh_1:13; Joh_3:6, belonging to the old, sinful world as to his origin, therefore in his kind, therefore also in his speech, since, even as prophet, he can speak the divine but rarely, in fragments, and under the veil of figures; or in the sense of the
ἐðßãåéá
as distinguished from the
ἐðïõñÜíéá
in Joh_3:12? Exegesis passes by this question, and treats the antithesis as if it had the sense of Joh_3:6; the
óÜñî
in distinction from the
ðíåῦìá
. We understand, however, by the earth (
ãῆ
) primarily the old economy and Theocracy in distinction from the heaven (
ïὐñáíüò
), whence the new revelation comes (see on Joh_3:12). With the idea of the old is then connected unquestionably the idea of the imperfect and defective. The antithesis of earthly and heavenly, or carnal and spiritual descent passes into the antithesis of the old and the new time, and this into the antithesis of mankind needing revelation and redemption, and the Redeemer. Moreover John speaks here of his human
ëáëåῖí
, not of his prophetic
åἰðåῖí
, or this latter is reduced in his view to a minimum in his human
ëáëåῖí
, in comparison with the divine
ìáñôõñåῖí
of Christ, and it should be observed that John says:
ëáëåῖ ἐê ôῆò ãῆò
, not
ôὰ ôῆò ãῆò
.
He that cometh from heaven.—A solemn repetition of the preceding, giving it the strong form of a dogmatical statement.
Joh_3:32. What he hath seen and heard.—See Joh_3:13; also Joh_1:18. Meyer: In His præ-existence. Rather, in His whole living divine nature, in virtue of which His testifying is at every moment preceded by a having seen or a having heard. The seeing and hearing denotes not only the directness of His knowledge, but also the full reality, the total scope of it, identifying it with His bodily vision [Leben Jesu II., p. 518).
And no man receiveth his testimony.—According to the critics, in contradiction with Joh_3:26. Unquestionably a contradiction of the noble-minded master to his small-minded disciples. For them it was quite too much to see all running to Jesus; but to him it was quite too little; to him it was as nothing. A hyperbole, therefore, of grief and indignation. A rebuke to the disposition of his disciples; moreover, an admonition to them to go to Jesus, as in Joh_1:29. He could not send them away by force, because his school was a school of preparation, in which those only had become perfect, who went of their own will to Jesus. The Baptist qualifies his hyperbole (see similar expressions of the Evangelist, Joh_1:11; Joh_12:37) by what follows. Tholuck: “John reviews the history as a whole, in the course of which the believers are a vanishing minority.” John no doubt speaks here with the conduct of the Jews chiefly in view. See Romans 9.
Joh_3:33-34. He that hath received his testimony.…for God giveth not the Spirit by measure.—Aorist:
ὁ ëáâþí
. And this doubtless with special reference to such disciples of John as had gone to Christ; commending them, and recommending imitation. Hath set his seal, hath sealed. A tropical term, denoting generally in the Old Testament fastening up, in the New rather complete authentication; affixing the signature of execution, Joh_6:27; Rom_4:11, etc. In Christ the truth of God as revelation is completed, 2Co_1:20; by the believing confession of Him this fact, that the truth of God has proved itself perfect, is attested, sealed. How far? The answer to this question depends on the right interpretation of the two following verses. (a) If v. 34 refer to Christ, the syllogism is this; Christ as the messenger of God speaks the words of God, because God has given to Him the Spirit not by measure, but in immeasurable fulness (Lücke, De Wette);
he, therefore, who acknowledges the word of Christ to be true, acknowledges the word of God himself; he who believes not Christ, makes God a liar. (b) But the 34th verse may refer, to the prophets, summed up and represented in John: The messenger of God speaks the words of God, for God gives his Spirit copiously enough for this; he, therefore, who accepts not Christ, denies, in the Fulfiller of the testimony of the prophets, the word of God also in that testimony itself, or rather he necessitates the inference, that God promised that the Messiah should come, and has not kept His word, or that in His different revelations He has contradicted Himself. (c) Then again these opposite interpretations may be modified. The first interpretation thus, according to Meyer: ‘Whom God hath sent,’ fits not every prophet, but Christ alone, according to Joh_3:31, in view of His mission from heaven. On the other hand, the
ïὐ ãὰñ ἐê ìÝôñïõ
, expressing a general truth, should not be referred primarily to Christ; else
áὐôῷ
must have been added. The statement is, that God gives the Spirit in general, not
ἐê ìÝôñïõ
, but regardless of
ìÝôñïí
, to one more, to another less, yet to every one enough for inspiration; whence it follows that Christ is the most richly endowed (
ἐê
denoting the norm). Yet the more to one and less to another may be given in limited measure, and it is a preliminary question whether the
ìÝôñïí
should mean a general proportion for all, or a limited measure for each individual. The passage in Vajikra rabba Sectio 15 (cited by Lücke and others): “Eliam spiritus sanctus non habitavit super prophetas, nisi mensura quadam (
áîù÷ì
); quidam enim librum unum, quidam duos vaticiniorum ediderunt”—speaks not of a proportion, but of limited portions for different individuals. If now the expression be referred to the prophets, it cannot mean; God gives the Spirit immeasurably. If we would refer it directly to Christ,
áὐôῷ
is wanting. But we may take the expression as a motto of the New Testament age which has now opened. God, now gives the Spirit, and gives it not according to a limited measure (Joel 2; Acts 2).—Not by measure. Gerlach: “Perhaps this is an allusion to the fact that the priests were only sprinkled with the anointing oil, while upon the head of the high-priest the whole of the oil was poured, Exo_29:7; Psa_133:2.” From this it is clear that He whom now pre-eminently God hath sent, Christ, speaketh
ôὰ ῥÞìáôá
(not only
ῥÞìáôá
),
ôïῦ èåïῦ
i. e., all the words of God, the entire revelation, which has hitherto been spoken only piecemeal (see Joh_1:17-18; Heb_1:1). This the believer seals. He attests it with the confidence of the confessor and martyr, as it is attested to him in his heart. The second interpretation is modified by referring the messenger of God [Joh_3:34] to the prophetic office, as represented by John, and then taking the sentence about the Spirit thus: In this day, wherein God gives the Messiah the fulness of the Spirit, the Baptist also has his share in the abundance (see the history of the Baptism of Jesus). Then with this John Christ is compared, as described in Joh_3:35. In favor of this antithesis are the facts, (1) that John here still appears as pre-eminently the
ἀðåóôáëìÝíïò
; [ch. Joh_1:6], Christ as the
ἐñ÷üìåíïò
; (2) that it is said in Joh_3:34 :
ὁ èåὸò ἀðÝóôåéëåí
, in Joh_3:35;
ὁ ðáôὴñ ἀãáðᾷ
; (3) that here the
ëáëåῖí
(not
åἰðåῖí
) of the
ῥÞìáôá èåïῦ
is set against the fact that all things are given into the hands of Christ.
The result is, we find ourselves compelled to decide for the second explanation of the difficult passage: The last messenger, in virtue of his participation in the New Testament advent of the Spirit, speaks the prophetic words of God as such (in distinction from fact); the Son presents Himself as the fulfilment of these words in fact. He, therefore, who receives Him, seals that God in His prophetic words (spoken by the Baptist) is true. He who disavows Christ, disavows, therefore, His fore-runner also. A good disciple of John must become a disciple of Christ.
Joh_3:35. Loveth the Son.—Emphatic: in singular manner. This love is the cause of the glorifying of the Son. All things: not to be qualified (Grotius: Omnia mysteria regni; Kuinoel: Doctrinæ partes). Mat_11:27; Mat_28:18; Joh_13:3.—Into his hand.—Strictly: in his hand [
ἐí ôῇ ÷åéñὶ áὐôïῦ
] Pregnant diction: so into His hand, that they are in His hand (Winer, p. 385).
Joh_3:36. He that believeth in the Son.—The Baptist concludes his prophetic preaching with the great alternative, which Christ also pronounces in Joh_3:18, and at His departure from the earth.—Everlasting life, see Joh_3:15. Hath.—It is noteworthy that this inwardness of the eternal life was already recognized by the Baptist.—He who is not obedient in faith to the Son,
Üðåéèῶí
; not: believeth not (Luther [and the E. V.]), but is disobedient; meaning, however, as standing opposed to faith, the refusal of the obedience of faith. In faith lies the moral kernel of obedience veiled in love, peace, joy; hence
ὁ ðéóôåýùí
. Out of unbelief disobedience, or even
ἀíïìßá
, as a moral worm comes forth openly; hence
ἀðåéèῶí
. Meyer: “Disobedient to the Son, inasmuch as He requires faith.” Right, but not enough. Tholuck:
Ἀðåéèåῖí
alternates with
ἀðéóôåῖí
, Rom_11:30.—Shall not see life.—With the everlasting life he fails of life in general; he shall not even see it, to say nothing of having it. But the wrath of God.—Neither punishment on the one hand, nor a holy passion on the other, but the righteousness of God combined with His veiled jealousy in its visitation of judgment, Rom_1:18; Eph_2:3; Mat_3:7. Abideth on him; in proportion as his unbelief is incorrigible (strictly: abideth towards him; pressing more and more strongly upon him). The effect of the
ὁñãÞ
is
èÜíáôïò
. [The
ìÝíåé
implies, that we are by nature in a state of condemnation; comp.
ôÝêíá öýóåé ὀñãῆò
, Eph_2:3; Joh_3:6.—P. S.]
A worthy closing word of the Old Testament; the last peal of the thunder of the law; the farewell of the Baptist. For what he afterwards says to Herod, he says as teacher, not as prophet; and the question with which he sends his disciples to Christ, is the question of a tempted, believing man.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The first ministry of the Lord in the Judean country, a counterpart of His last public ministry in. the temple on Zion from the triumphal entry to the Tuesday evening (see Com. on Matt. on Joh_21:12-14, p. 379); in that in the first cases the hostility of the rulers of the Jews had not yet broken out, in the last case it seemed vanquished by the hosanna of a believing people. Hence here a preliminary baptizing finds place, there a teaching and healing in the temple. And the cessation of baptism in the Jewish country is a prelude of the final departure of Jesus from the temple (Matthew 23)
2. The baptizing of Jesus through His disciples a connecting link between the New Testament baptism of the Spirit and the baptism of John, as John’s baptism was a connecting link between the Old Testament washing and circumcision, and the baptism of Christ.
3. The last prophetic testimony to Christ given by the Baptist in his glory and in elevation above his last struggle [Matthew 11]; the last flash, so to speak, of the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament itself, and a testimony to the higher glory of the New.
4. The symbol of the intimate relation, the betrothal between Jehovah and His people (Psalms 45; Song of Solomon; Isaiah 54; Isaiah 62; Eze_16:8; Ezekiel 23; Hos_2:19) finds its fulfilment in the bridal relations between Christ and the church coming forth to meet Him. It belonged to the office of the Baptist to complete this prophecy in the most concrete vivid form. Christ on His part has taken up the word in the most varied applications, first to the disciples of John himself (Mat_9:15), and afterwards throughout the whole New Testament, 1Co_11:3; Eph_5:23; Rev_21:9, The love of the bride is the symbol of the life of the Spirit. Plato’s Symposion is a heathen parallel to the Song of Solomon.
5. The perpetual force of the maxim: He must increase, but I must decrease.
6. So far as in him lay, John sent all his disciples forward to Christ, and pointed all the Jews to Him. Not only most of the Jews, however, but even many of John’s disciples failed to come up to the word of the prophet, and fell under the condemnation pronounced by him. On the disciples of John see Gieseler, Kirchengeschichte, I., p. 69 [Edinb. ed. I., 58].
7. Both of the glory of Christ, and of the condemnation, John speaks in a more Old Testament way than Christ Himself (comp. Joh_3:35; Joh_3:13; Joh_3:36; Joh_3:18); quite in keeping with his mission. His last word is a last thunder-clap from Sinai and a last lightning-flash of Elijah, prophesying of the baptism of fire (Matthew 3) and the flames of the judgment of the world (2Pe_3:10).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
A series of separate themes in the sentences of the Baptist, Joh_3:27; Joh_3:29-31 sqq.—The baptism of Jesus by the side of the baptism of John, the gradual transfer of the Old Testament order of things into the church of Christ.—Relation of the baptism of Jesus to the baptism of John: (1) Points in common; (2) points of difference.—.The harmony between John and Christ, and the dissension between their disciples, the living type of a primeval and a constantly repeated history (see Gen_13:7).—Two divided purification or reformation churches, to be united by being pointed from men to the Lord.—The jealousy of the disciples and the purity of the Master.—The last testimony of the Baptist concerning Christ, an expression at once of the highest, gentlest love and the mightiest wrath.—Christ the Bridegroom of the bride: (1) Adorned to be such by the election of God; (2) recognized as such by the greeting of the bride; (3) honored as such by the wooer and friend; (4) proved such by His fidelity and glory.—The word of the Baptist: He must increase, but I must decrease, in its application to the natural life (1) of the world, (2) of the church, (3) of the Christian.—Christ the Witness from heaven.—Faith in Christ, a sealing of all the words of God in the Old Testament. Truth is the unity of correlative opposites.—Without faith in the truth of God, we cannot perceive the unity in the great distinction between the Old Testament and the New.—With the New Testament the Jews lost also the truth of the Old.—With their acknowledgment of the Old Testament, Christians may also obscure the truth of the New.—The life of faith a moral life on a heavenly scale: (1) Faith, an obedience rising into free, blissful confidence, and veiled in it; (2) Unbelief, a moral disobedience (immorality) in naked, open deformity.—The wrath of God, the jealousy of rejected love, i. e., a full tide of gracious operation, changed by the unbelief of the man himself into judgment. See Rom_2:5.—Jesus in the Judean country, or an effort in hope to lead the people of Israel over by gentle ways into the new covenant (comp. Gen_5:5).—The two baptizers together.—Religious controversy in its bad and its good operation (the words of the disciples of John, and the words of their master).—The word of the disciples: All men come to Him, and the word of the master; No man receiveth His testimony.—Only what is given him from heaven can a man truly take to himself: (1) What he usurps is given him in wrath, and received to condemnation; (2) what is given to him is forever his own.—He that hath the bride is the bridegroom; or, the life of Christendom a testimony to Christ.—The wedding of the Son.—The friend of the bridegroom, in His behaviour, an example for guidance and warning, to bishops, ministers, divines.—The decreasing of the Baptist, his increase.—The man of the earth, and the Man from heaven above all.—The believer, a witness of God attested by God.—Christ the seal of the word of God, manifest in the burning seal of living Christian hearts, 2Co_1:20; Rev_3:14.—The outpouring of the Spirit without measure.—The Father, the Son, the Spirit.—The last word of the Baptist concerning the Son: (1) What the Son is; (2) what He has; (3) what He gives; (4) what He is worth [Joh_3:34-36].
Starke: Nova Bibl. Tub.: Premature zeal, envy, dependence on human authority, and self-interest: O how much harm they do!—Canstein: Satan and his tools know too well how much depends on the unity of Christians; hence they take special pains to make schism of every kind among them, Gal_5:20.—Majus: It is dangerous for hearers to flatter their teachers.—People must not hang with sinful passion upon a teacher who is renowned.—As the peace-makers are called the children of God, so the instigators of division are justly called children of the devil.—Hedinger: The office of the preacher and its profitable success come from God.—We men have nothing from ourselves, but everything from heaven; therefore should we ascribe nothing to ourselves, but everything to God alone, and thank Him for it, 1Co_4:7.—Osiander: He who attempts high things, to which he is not called of God, spends all his care and labor in vain, and comes to shame at last, as the examples of Absalom, Theudas, Judas of Galilee, and others, prove, Sir_3:23.—Hedinger: Let no man thrust himself into an office, without the will of God.—Quesnel: Every calling, every grace (gift) has certain limits above which no man may elevate himself.—He who purely and steadfastly preaches Christ, may appeal to the testimony of his hearers.—A servant of the church, though in high office, has yet more cause to be humble than to be exalted.—Servants of God justly rejoice, when they can lead many souls to the Lord.—Moon and stars, are lost when the sun rises; so with me, when the Sun of Righteousness appears.—Hedinger: Christ, the Alpha and Omega, should be all; we instruments are nothing.—Canstein: Because all ministers are men, their word must be tested by the doctrine of Christ.—Christ’s testimony is the whole counsel of God for our salvation.—Christ spoke the word, or proclaimed the counsel of God, as the personal and independent Word of God.—Majus: The believer may verily be sure of his salvation, because he already has eternal life, though in the world he still is subject to much suffering.—Canstein: Unbelief, the cause of condemnation, because it rejects the means by which the wrath of God might be averted.
Gossner: Eternal life is given to the believer from the hour he believes. He need not wait for it; he has it already here.—Braune: As a man stands towards the Saviour, so stands he towards God and the gift of God, eternal life.—Schleifrmacher: It is an old fault, which reappears continually in a multitude of forms, and even in the Christian church,—the strong disposition of men to believe in a man.—And how does God give from heaven, what He gives to a man? Surely not otherwise than through the man’s own conduct and that of other men. So long then as our own conduct is in contradiction with the divine working, we should not console ourselves with the knowledge that a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven, but do our utmost to find out what and how much is given us from heaven.—That John must decrease, and the Lord increase,—this is the true relation between the old covenant and the new, between every imperfect worship of God, every other less firmly closed relation of men to Him, and that which is offered in Christ.—Schenkel: Our future welfare rests not on man, but on Christ: (1) Not on the word of man, but on the Gospel of Christ; (2) not on the work of man, but on the atoning work of Christ; (3) not on the name of man, but on the glorious name of Christ.
Heubner: True calling comes only from God, from Him alone success; the rise and fall of human names, success and failure, are matters of divine control.—(From Zinzendorf): When souls depend on men, etc., they are in most cases betrayed. Then when one such poor man comes to confusion, they are all confounded; when he is taken suddenly from them, they are all lost.—How rarely are men like John! Often the later exalt themselves over the earlier, pupils above masters; and how men envy, attack, belittle the greater merit! Men will not see others, especially their followers, outstrip them (true, alas, peculiarly of Germany, and to not the least extent of Evangelical theologians and clergy men).—Hath set his seal: Every believer is a living attestation of the true God himself. What honor, to confirm the truth of God to others!—God gives not the Spirit by measure. All, even the most gifted, are capable of growing in the Spirit in infinitum.—The guilt of rejecting divine grace leaves in the heart of the unbeliever nothing but the sense of an angry God. Conscience is the preacher of this wrath (yet the wrath manifests itself especially in swelling judgments against the unbeliever).
Footnotes:
Joh_3:23. [The art.
ὁ
before
ἸùÜííçò
is wanting in
à
. B. and omitted by Tischend., bracketed by Alf.—P. S.]
Joh_3:25. [
ἐãÝíåôï ïὖí æÞôçóéò ἐê ôῶí ìáèçôῶí ἸùÜííðõ ìåôὰ Ἰïõäááßïõ
. The singular is strongly sustained by
à
. c A. B. L., etc., and adopted by Tischend., Treg., Alf,, W. and H., against the text. rec.
Ἰïõäáßùí
which is supported by
à
.* G., etc. Meyer: Der Plural bot sich mechanisch dar, viz., to conform to
ìáèçôῶí
.—P. S.]
Joh_3:31 [
ὁ ὤí ἐê ôῆò ãῆò ἐê ôῆò ãῆò ἐóôßí
, is apparently tautological, but the difference lies in the emphasis: to the origin of a man corresponds his character.—P. S.]
Joh_3:31. [The second
ἐðÜíù ðÜíôùí ἐóôßí
is omitted by
à
.* D. and Tischend. (ed. VIII), supported by
à
.c A. B.L. and retained by Treg., Alf., Westc. and H. (in brackets), Meyer, Lange.—P. S.]
Joh_3:32. [The
êáὶ
is wanting in several codd., also in B. L. al. which retain the second
ἐðÜíù ðÜíôùí ἐóôßí
, and is omitted by Tischend., Alf., Treg., W. and H.—P. S.]
Joh_3:34. O̓
èåüò
is wanting in B. and in other considerable codd. [
à
. C.1 L., omitted by Tischend, Alf., etc.—P. S.]
Joh_3:34. [The A. V., with many commentators, refers the passage to Christ, and hence supplies
áὐôῷ
. But the sentence is general in its character, hence the present
äßäùóé
. Christ had already received the fulness of the Spirit in baptism.—P. S.]
[This view is held by Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, II., 176). He visited Beisân (Scythopolis) and the neighborhood, and represents the valley there as abounding in fountains and brooks and as one of the most fertile in Palestine; yet he found no traces of the name. “The lovely valley of Jezreel,” he says, “irrigated by the Jalûd, and the Ghor Beisan below, watered in every part by many fertilizing streams, are capable of sustaining a little nation in and of themselves. Besides, Beisan is the natural highway from Bashan and the east to the sea-board at Haifa and Acre, and also to southern Palestine and Egypt. The Ghor once teemed with inhabitants, as is evident from ruined sites, and from tells too old for ruins, which are scattered over the plain. I took down their names as now known to the Arabs, but none of them have any historic significance. Of Salim and Enon, which must have been in the ghor at no great distance, I could hear nothing.”—P. S.]
[So also Hengstenberg, I., 221. The Alex Codex of the Sept. renders the three names of places in Joshua 15,
Óåëååὶì êáὶ Ἀὶí êáὶ Ñåììþí
. In Neh_11:29 the last two names are combined in En-rimmon. The southern country was very dry, a continuation of the Arabian desert. Hence the remark, “there was much water there,” which would be rather superfluous if applied to a place in Galilee or on the banks of the Jordan, receives its full meaning. Yet this holds good also of Dr. Lange’s view, who, with Robinson, locates Salem near Nablus.—P. S.]
[Hengstenberg also (I. 232 f.) sees in the whole passage, and especially in the voice of the beloved, and the friend of the bridegroom, clear allusions to Son_2:8; Son_5:2.—P. S.]
[Alford likwise ascribes the last verses to the Baptist, and urges the inner coherence of the discourse itself, in which John explains to his disciples the reason why Christ must increase and throw his own dignity into the shade.—P. S.]
[Alford defends the E. V.: “
ἀðåéèῶí
may mean disbelieving. Unbelief implies disobedience.”—P. E.]
