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Joh_3:31-32, down to Joh_3:35, is not the comment of the evangelist (so Wetstein, Bengel, Kuinoel, Paulus, Olshausen, Tholuck, Klee, Maier, Bäumlein). Joh_3:32, comp. with Joh_3:29-30, seems to sanction the notion that it is; but as no intimation to this effect is given in the text, and as the thread of discourse proceeds uninterruptedly, and nothing in the subject-matter is opposed to it, we may regard it as the continued discourse of the Baptist, though elaborated in its whole style and colouring by John,—not, however, to such an extent that the evangelist’s record passes almost entirely into a comment of his own (Lücke, De Wette, comp. also Ewald). We perceive how the Baptist, as if with the mind of Jesus Himself, unveils before his disciples, in the narrower circle of whom he speaks, with the growing inspiration of the last prophet, the full majesty of Jesus; and therewith, as if with his swanlike song, completes his testimony before he vanishes from the history.[174] Even the subsequent momentary perplexity (Matthew 11) is psychologically not irreconcilable with this (see on Joh_1:29), simply because John was ἘΚ Τῆς Γῆς . But the Baptist, notwithstanding his witness concerning Jesus, has not gone over to Him, because the calling of forerunner had been once divinely committed to him, and he felt that he must continue to fulfil it so long as the Messianic kingdom was not yet established. These remarks tell, at the same time, against the use which is made of this passage to prove that the entire scene is unhistorical (Strauss, Weisse, Reuss, Scholten, following Bretschneider).
ὁ ἄνωθεν ἐρχόμ .] He who cometh from, above, i.e. Christ (comp. Joh_3:13; Joh_8:23), whose coming, i.e. whose coming forth from the divine glory in human form as Messiah, is here regarded as still in the course of its actual self-manifestation (cf. Joh_8:14), and consequently as a present phenomenon, and as not ended until it has been consummated in the establishment of the kingdom.
πάντων ] Masc. John means the category as a whole to which Jesus belonged—all interpreters of God, as is clear from what follows, Joh_3:31-32.
ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ] i.e. the Baptist, who, as an ordinary man, springs from earth, not heaven.
ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐστι ] as predicate denotes the nature conditioned by such an origin. He is of no other kind or nature than that of one who springs from earth; though withal his divine mission (Joh_1:6), in common with all prophets, and specially his divinely conferred baptismal vocation (Mat_21:25-26), remain intact.
καὶ ἐκ τ . γῆς λαλεῖ ] and he speaketh of the earth. His speech has not heaven as its point of departure, like that of the Messiah, who declares what He has seen in heaven (see Joh_3:32); but it proceeds from the earth, so that he utters what has come to his knowledge upon earth, and therefore under the limitation of earthly conditions,—a limitation, however, which as little excluded the reception of a revelation (Joh_1:33; Luk_3:2), as it did in the case of the saints of the O. T., who likewise were of earthly origin, nature, and speech, and afterwards e.g. in that of the Apostle Paul.[175] The contents of the discourse need not therefore relate merely to τὰ ἐπίγεια (Joh_3:12), as Weisse thinks, but may also have reference to ἐπουράνια , the knowledge and promulgation of which, however, do not get beyond the ἐκ μέρους (1Co_13:9 ff.). The expression ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαλ . must not be confounded with ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου λαλεῖν , 1Jn_4:5.
ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρ . ἐρχ ., κ . τ . λ .] A solemn repetition of the first clause, linking on what follows, viz. the antithesis still to be brought out, of the ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαλεῖ .
ὁ ἑώρακε , καὶ ἤκουσε ] i.e. during His pre-existence with God, Joh_1:15; Joh_1:18, Joh_3:11. From it He possesses immediate knowledge of divine truth,[176] whose witness ( μαρτυρεῖ ) He accordingly is. Note the interchange of tenses (Kühner, II. p. 75).
τοῦτο ] this and nothing else.
Κ . Τ . ΜΑΡΤ . ΑὐΤΟῦ ΟὐΔΕῚς ΛΑΜΒ .] tragically related to what preceded, and introduced all the more strikingly by the bare ΚΑΊ . Comp. Joh_1:10, Joh_3:11. The expression ΟὐΔΕῚς ΛΑΜΒ . is the hyperbole of deep sorrow on account of the small number of those—small in comparison of the vast multitude of unbelievers—who receive His witness, and whose fellowship accordingly constitutes the bride of the marriage. John himself limits the οὐδείς by the following Ὁ ΛΑΒῺΝ , Κ . Τ . Λ . Comp. Joh_1:10-12. The concourse of hearers who came to Jesus (Joh_3:26), and the Baptist’s joy on account of His progress (Joh_3:29-30), could not dim his deep insight into the world’s unbelief. Accordingly, his joy (Joh_3:29) and grief (Joh_3:32) both forming a noble contrast to the jealousy of his disciples (Joh_3:26).
[174] It is self-evident, that all that is said in ver. 31 f. was intended to incite the disciples of John to believe in Jesus, and to scare them from unbelief.
[175] The Fathers rightly perceived the relative character of this self-assertion. Euthymius Zigabenus: πρὸς σύγκρισιν τῶν ὑπερφυῶν λόγων τοῦ Χριστοῦ . Hofmarnn Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 14, misapprehends this, supposing that this ver. 31 has no reference to the Baptist.
[176] Decisive against Beyschlag, p. 96, who understands the words only of a prophetic sight and hearing through the Spirit, is the antithesis with the Baptist (who was yet himself a prophet), running through the whole context, as also the ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν , which ranks Jesus above the prophets. Comp. also Heb_12:25.