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Joh_1:29. Τῇ ἐπαύριον ] on the following day, the next after the events narrated in Joh_1:19-28. Comp. Joh_1:35; Joh_1:44 (Joh_2:1), Joh_6:22, Joh_12:12.
ἐρχόμ . πρὸς αὐτ .] coming towards him, not coming to him, i.e. only so near that he could point to Him (Baur). He came, however, neither to take leave of the Baptist before His temptation (Kuinoel, against which is Joh_1:35), nor to be baptized of him (Evvald, Hengstenberg; see the foregoing note); but with a purpose not more fully known to us, which John has not stated, because he was not concerned about that, but about the testimony of the Baptist. If we were to take into account the narrative of the temptation,—which, however, is not the case,
Jesus might be regarded as here returning from the temptation (see Euthymius Zigabenus, Lücke, Luthardt, Riggenbach, Godet).
ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ , κ . τ . λ .] These words are not addressed to Jesus, but to those who are around the Baptist, and they are suggested by the sight of Jesus; comp. Joh_1:36. As to the use of the singular ἴδε , when nevertheless several are addressed, see on Mat_10:16. The article denotes the appointed Lamb of God, which, according to the prophetic utterance presupposed as well known, was expected in the person of the Messiah. This characteristic form of Messianic expectation is based upon Isa_53:7. Comp. Mat_8:17; Luk_22:37; Act_8:32; 1Pe_2:22 ff.; and the ἀρνίον in the Apocalypse. On the force of the article, see Joh_1:21, ὁ προφήτης ; also ἡ ῥίζα τοῦ Ἰεσσαί , Rom_15:12; ὁ λέων ὁ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα , Rev_5:5. The genitive is that of possession, that which belongs to God, i.e. the lamb appointed as a sacrifice by God Himself. This interpretation follows from the entire contents of Isaiah 53, and from the idea of sacrifice which is contained in ὁ αἴρων , κ . τ . λ . We must not therefore render: “the Lamb given by God” (Hofmann, Luthardt). But while, according to this view, the lamb, designated and appointed by God, is meant,—the lamb already spoken of in holy prophecies of old, whose fulfilment in Jesus was already recognised by the Baptist,—it is erroneous to assume any reference to the paschal lamb (Luther, Grotius, Bengel, Lampe, Olshausen, Maier, Reuss, Luthardt, Hofmann, Hengstenberg; comp. Godet). Such an assumption derives no support from the more precise definition in ὁ αἴρων , κ . τ . λ ., and would produce a ὕστερον πρότερον ; for the view which regarded Christ as the paschal lamb first arose ex eventu, because He was crucified upon the same day on which the paschal lamb was slain (see on Joh_18:28; 1Co_5:7). He certainly thus became the antitype of the paschal lamb, but, according to the whole tenor of the passage in Isaiah, He was not regarded by the Baptist in this special aspect, nor could He be so conceived of by his hearers. The conception of sacrifice which, according to the prophecy in Isaiah and the immediate connection in John, is contained in ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ , is that of the trespass-offering, àÈùÑÈí , Isa_53:10;[116] 1Jn_2:2; 1Jn_4:10; 1Jn_1:7. It by no means militates against this, that, according to the law, lambs were not as a rule employed for trespass-offerings (Lev_14:2, Num_6:12, relate to exceptional cases only; and the daily morning and evening sacrifices, Exo_29:38 ff., Numbers 28, which Wetstein here introduces, were prayer- and thank-offerings), but for sacrifices of purification (Lev_5:1-6; Lev_14:12; Num_6:12):[117] for in Isaiah the Servant of Jehovah, who makes atonement for the people by His vicarious sufferings, is represented as a lamb; and it is this prophetic view, not the legal prescription, which is the ruling thought here. Christ was, as the Baptist here prophetically recognises Him, the antitype of the O. T. sacrifices: He must therefore, as such, be represented in the form of some animal appointed for sacrifice; and the appropriate figure was given not in the law, but by the prophet, who, contemplating Him in His gentleness and meekness, represents Him as a sacrificial lamb, and from this was derived the form which came to be the normal one in the Christian manner of view. The apostolic church consequently could apprehend Him as the Christian Passover; though legally the passover lamb, as a trespass-offering, which it certainly was, differed from the ordinary trespass-offerings (Ewald, Alterth. p. 467 f.; Hengstenberg takes a different view, Opfer, d. h. Schr. p. 24 ff.). This Christian method of view accordingly had a prophetical, and not a legal foundation. To exclude the idea of sacrifice altogether, and to find in the expression Lamb of God the representation merely of a divinely consecrated, innocent, and gentle sufferer (Gabler, Melet. in Joh_1:29, Jen. 1808–1811, in his Opusc. p. 514 ff.; Paulus, Kuinoel), is opposed to the context both in Isaiah and in John, as well as to the view of the work of redemption which pervades the whole of the N. T. Weiss, Lehrbegr. p. 159 ff.
ὁ αἴρων τ . ἁμαρτ . τ . κόσμου ] may either signify, “who takes away the sin of the world,” or, “who takes upon himself,” etc., i.e. in order to bear it. Both renderings (which Flacius, Melancthon, and most others, even Bäumlein, combine) must, according to Isaiah 53., express the idea of atonement; so that in the first the cancelling of the guilt is conceived of as a removing, a doing away with sin (an abolition of it); in the second, as a bearing (an expiation) of it. The latter interpretation is usually preferred (so Lücke, B. Crusius, De Wette, Hengstenberg, Brückner, Ewald, Weber, v. Zorne Gottes, p. 250), because in Isaiah 53 the idea is certainly that of bearing by way of expiation ( ðùà : LXX. ΦΈΡΕΙ , ἈΝΈΝΕΓΚΕ , ἈΝΟΊΣΕΙ ). But since the LXX. never use ΑἼΡΕΙΝ to express the bearing of sin, but always φέρειν , etc., while on the other hand they express the taking away of sin by ΑἼΡΕΙΝ (1Sa_15:25; 1Sa_25:28; Aq. Psa_31:5, where Symm. has ἈΦΈΛῌς and the LXX. ἈΦῆΚΑς ); and as the context of 1Jn_3:5, in like manner, requires us to take ΤᾺς ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς ἩΜῶΝ ἌΡῌ , there used to denote the act of expiation (comp. Joh_2:2), as signifying the taking away of sins; so ὁ αἴρων , etc., here is to be explained in this sense,—not, indeed, that the Baptist expresses an idea different from Isaiah 53, but the expiation there described as a bearing of sins is represented, according to its necessary and immediate result, as the abolition of sins by virtue of the vicarious sacrificial suffering and death of the victim, as the ἀθέτησις ἁμαρτίας , Heb_9:26. Comp. already Cyril: ἵνα τοῦ κόσμου τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνέλῃ ; Vulgate: qui tollit; Goth.: afnimith. John himself expresses this idea in 1Jn_1:7, when referring to the sin-cleansing power of Christ’s blood, which operates also on those who are already regenerate (see Düsterdieck in loc., p. 99 ff.), by ΚΑΘΑΡΊΖΕΙ ἩΜᾶς ἈΠῸ ΠΆΣΗς ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑς . The taking away of sins by the Lamb presupposes His taking them upon Himself. The interpretation “to take away,” in itself correct, is (after Grotius) misused by Kuinoel: “removebit peccata hominum, i.e. pravitatem e terra;”[118] and Gabler has misinterpreted the rendering “to bear;” “qui pravitatem hominum … i.e. mala sibi inflicta, patienti et mansueto animo sustinebit.” Both are opposed to the necessary relation of the word to ὁ ἀμνὸς τ . θεοῦ , as well as to the real meaning of Isaiah 53; although even Gabler’s explanation would not in itself be linguistically erroneous, but would have to be referred back to the signification, to take upon oneself, to take over (Æsch. Pers. 544; Soph. Tr. 70; Xen. Mem. iv. 4. 14; 1Ma_13:17; Mat_11:29, al.).
The Present ὁ αἴρων arises from the fact that the Baptist prophetically views the act of atonement accomplished by the Lamb of God as present. This act is ever-enduring, not in itself, but in its effects (against Hengstenberg). Luthardt holds that the words are not to be understood of the future, and that the Baptist had not Christ’s death in view, but only regarded and designated Him in a general way, as one who was manifested in a body of weakness, and with liability to suffering, in order to the salvation of men. But this is far too general for the concrete representation of Christ as the Lamb of God, and for the express reference herein made to sin, especially from the lips of a man belonging to the old theocracy, who was himself the son of a sacrificing priest, a Nazarite and a prophet.
τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ] the sins of the world conceived of as a collective unity; “una pestis, quse omnes corripuit,” Bengel. Comp. Rom_5:20.
τοῦ κόσμου ] an extension of the earlier prophetic representation of atonement for the people, Isaiah 53. to all mankind, the reconciliation of whom has been objectively accomplished by the ἱλαστήριον of the Lamb of God, but is accomplished subjectively in all who believe (Joh_3:15-16). Comp. Rom_5:18.
[116] As to the distinction between trespass or guilt and sin offerings, äÇèÌÈàú , see Ewald, Alterth. p. 76 ff.; and for the various opinions on this distinction, especially Keil, Arch. I. § 46; Oehler in Herzog’s Encykl. X. p. 462 ff.; Saalschütz, M. R. p. 321 ff.
[117] Concerning àùÑí , Lev_5:6, see Knobel in loc.
[118] Comp. Baur, N. T. Theol. p. 396: “In a general sense, He bears away and removes sin by His personal manifestation and ministry throughout.” This is connected with the error that we do not find in John the same significance attached to Christ’s death which we find in Paul.
Note.
That the Baptist describes Jesus as the Messiah, who by His sufferings maizes expiation for the world’s sin, is to be explained by considering his apocalyptic position, by which his prophecies, which had immediate reference to the person and work of Jesus, were conditioned; comp. Joh_1:31 ff. It was not that he had obtained a sudden glimpse of light in a natural manner (Hofmann, Schweizer, Lange), or a growing presentiment (De Wette), or a certitude arrived at by reason and deep reflection (Ewald); but a revelation had been made to him (comp. Joh_1:33). This was necessary in order to announce the idea of a suffering Messiah with such decision and distinctness, even according to its historical realization in Jesus;—an idea which, though it had been discovered by a few deep-seeing minds through prophetic hints or divine enlightenment (Luk_2:25; Luk_2:34-35), nevertheless undoubtedly encountered in general expectations of a kind diametrically opposite (Joh_12:34; Luk_24:26),—and in order likewise to give to that idea the impress of world-embracing universality, although the way was already prepared for this by the promise made to Abraham. The more foreign the idea of a suffering Messiah was to the people in general, the more disinclined the disciples of Jesus showed themselves to accept such a view (Mat_16:21; Luk_24:25); the more certain that its dissemination was effected by the development of the history, while even thus remaining a constant σκάνδαλον to the Jews, the more necessary and justifiable does it appear to suppose a special divine revelation, with which the expression borrowed from Isaiah 53 may very well be consistent. And the more certain it is that the Baptist really was the subject of divine revelations as the forerunner of the Messiah (comp. Mat_3:14), all the more unhistorical is the assumption that the evangelist divests the idea of the Messiah of its historical form (Keim) by putting his own knowledge into the Baptist’s mouth (Strauss, Weisse, Baur, Hilgenfeld, Scholten; comp. De Wette’s doubt, but against this latter, Brückner). This view receives no support from the subsequent vacillation of the Baptist (Mat_11:3), because the revelation which he had received, as well as that made to him at the baptism (Joh_1:32), would not exclude a subsequent and temporary falling into error, and because this was not caused by any sufferings which Jesus underwent, but by his own sufferings in face of the Messianic works of Jesus, whereby the divine light previously received was dimmed through human weakness and impatience. It is only by surrendering the true interpretation (see ὁ αἴρων above) that Luthardt avoids such a supposition as this. The notion of a spiritualizing legend (Schenkel) is of itself excluded by the genuineness of the Gospel, whose author had been a disciple of the Baptist. Moreover, Jesus Himself, according even to the testimony of the Synoptics (Mar_2:20; Mat_12:39, etc.), was sufficiently acquainted from the very first with the certainty of His final sufferings.