John 1:30

Joh_1:30-34

This is He.

The Redeemers identification

I. IN HIS WORK as the Lamb of God.

1. The object offered in sacrifice. The Lamb of God applies to Christ

(1) in His personal character.

(2) In His sacrificial character.

2. The object or effect of the sacrifice taketh away, etc.!

3. The burden removed by the sacrifice: the worlds sin.

II. IN HIS PERSON (Joh_1:30). These words meet us for the third time. The human and Divine natures are exhibited in one sentence. How profoundly the Baptist believed in the pre-existence of Christ.

III. THE MODE OF IDENTIFICATION.

1. I knew Him not. He did indeed know Him, and hence hesitated about baptizing Him (Mat_3:14). The son of Elizabeth must have known the Son of Mary. The Baptist means that he did not know Him as Messiah.

2. Jesus was revealed to John by the descent of the Holy Ghost.

(1) The sign. The Dove emblematized the consecration of the Redeemer to His Divine work.

(2) The two baptisms--the one in water, the other in the Holy Ghost--the one that Christ might be made manifest unto Israel, and unto repentance for the remission of sins; the other not a sacrament that Christ was to institute for the Church, nor which any priest or minister could give; it was a baptism of regenerating grace--such a baptism as Simon Magus never had although baptized with water; such a baptism as the dying thief enjoyed although not baptized with water. (Prof. Croskery.)

Notice

1. The evidences of Christs excellency and Godhead when He came into the world are not cunningly devised fables, but most certain and infallible truths, for John bare record, saying, I saw, etc.

2. Christ in His solemn entry to His offices was sealed from heaven, that so the Church may learn to embrace Him with all respect. Therefore doth the Spirit descend upon Him in this visible way, and the Father bear witness to Him (Mat_3:1-17), all the persons of the Trinity manifesting themselves on Jordans bank.

3. Christ is endowed with the Spirit from on high for executing of His offices, and it is made manifest that the Spirit is to be found on Him and sought from Him; for I saw the Spirit descending from heaven upon Him, where the Spirit, who filleth heaven and earth, is said to descend in respect of that visible manifestation and sign of His presence.

4. The Spirits descending like a dove, a meek, harmless and affectionate creature, pointed out what Christ is in His own nature to them that come to Him, even meek, harmless, loving, and not dreadful; what He is in the execution of His office, even He in whom the Father is well pleased and pacified, and He who bringeth the good news of assuaging the deluge of wrath, as Noahs dove of the drying up of the flood; and what He is in the operations of His Spirit upon His people, that they are made meek, harmless, and lowly as doves, not like birds of prey.

5. Albeit all Christs members do receive of the Spirit in their measure, yet it is Christs prerogative to have the Spirit resting on Him; not only as God is the Spirit of one essence with Him, proceeding from the Father and Him, and so is ever present with Him. But even as man by virtue of the personal union, the Spirit floweth and resteth on Christ, and efficaciously worketh in Him all Divine graces and virtues without measure, and immutably, so that none can come wrong to Him at any time for receiving of His Spirit: Therefore, it is said, it abode upon Him (Isa_11:2-3).

6. Christ, in taking on our nature, did so cover His glory with the veil of our flesh and common infirmities that He could not be known by bodily sight from another man without Divine revelation and evidences from God; for, without this, John saith, I knew Him not (Mat_16:17).

7. The Lord is very tender and careful of His servants, to encourage and confirm them in their calling and message; and will not fail to perform what He hath promised for that effect when He sendeth them out; for, John saith, he saw this sign in a peculiar way, as being to him an accomplishment of that promise given to him; for God had said to him, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, etc., and now it was accomplished.

8. The Spirit resteth upon Christ, and was manifested to be on Him by a visible sign, not only for Himself and to point out His excellency, but for the Churchs good, and to certify them that He received the Spirit to communicate unto His people. (G. Hutcheson.)

The Dove of God

We have here

I. THE CORONATION OF THE KING.

1. The actual descent of the Spirit. It is unnecessary to ask what was the objective material reality here. It is enough that this was no fancy, born in a mans brain, but an actual manifestation, whether through sense or apart from sense, to consciousness of a Divine outpouring and communication.

2. The purpose of this descent. The anointing of the Monarch. But a man is king before he is crowned. Coronation is the consequence and not the cause of royalty. And so the first purpose of this great fact is distinctly stated as having been the solemn pointing out of Messiah for the Baptist first, but in order that he might bear witness of Him to others. But this was not the beginning of His Messianic consciousness, nor of His Sonship. Before His baptism, and ere the heavens opened, or the dove fluttered down, He from everlasting was Son in the bosom of the Father. Christs baptism was an epoch in His human development inasmuch as it was His first public assumption of His Messianic office, and inasmuch as an advance was made in the communication to his manhood of the sustaining Spirit as fully equipped Him for new calls. His manhood needed the continual communication of the Spirit, and because it was sinless it was capable of a complete reception of that Spirit. So we see in Christ the realized ideal of manhood.

3. The meaning of this symbol. To John the coming of the King was first and chiefly a coming to judgment. John sees two wonders: the Messiah in his Carpenter Cousin and the Spirit, which he thought of as searching and consuming, like a dove. The same as in Gen_1:2, where the word employed describes accurately the action of the mother bird with her soft breast and outstretched wings quickening the life that lies beneath. What then does it proclaim as to the character of the King.

(1) Purity, as the very foundation of His royalty.

(2) Meekness and gentleness, as the weapons of His conquest and the sceptre of His rule. The dove will outfly all Romes eagles, and all rapacious unclean feeders with their strong wings, talons and beaks.

II. THE GIFTS OF THE KING TO HIS SUBJECTS.

1. Christ has nothing that He keeps to Himself. He received the Spirit that He might diffuse Him through the whole world. Salvation is more than escape from wrath, more than pardon. We must rise higher and feel if we would understand the unspeakable gift which is the totality of the gifts of His indwelling Spirit.

2. Therefore Christian met, are spoken of in the same language which is used in reference to their Master. Sons of God, Priests, Lights of the World, Anointed.

3. How full of rebuke and instruction is the symbol in reference to ourselves. The dove-like Spirit is offered to us.

(1) Our hearts are like the wild chaos; but He will come, if we will let Him, and brood over our nature and recreate the whole.

(2) The dove again was pure and fit for sacrifice: the heavenly dove comes as the Spirit of holiness, and then there is purity in the receiver and self-sacrifice.

(3) The Dove that crowned the King dwells in the subjects and makes them, too, meek and gentle, and imparts the true force of Christian character.

(4) Noahs dove came back with one leaf in his beak--the prophecy of a whole world of beauty and verdure. The Dove that comes to us, bearing some leaf plucked from the tree of life, is the earnest of our inheritance until the day of redemption. All the gifts of that Divine Spirit--gifts of holiness, gentleness, wisdom, truth--are forecasts of heavenly perfectness. To us sailing over a dismal sea, He comes bearing with Him a message that tells of the far-off land and the fair garden of God in which the blessed shall walk. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

As a dove did at that time bring tidings of the abating of the water, so doth it now of the abating of the wrath of God upon the preaching of the gospel. (Augustine.)

The Holy Spirit manifested Himself here as a Dove; and at the day of Pentecost in tongues of fire; in order that we may learn to unite fervour with simplicity, and to seek for them both from Him. (Augustine.)

The dove, the symbol of innocence and purity (Mat_10:16), the abiding and the tranquil hovering over Christ, expressed the tranquil and equable movement of the power of the Spirit in Him, in contrast with the detached impulses given to the prophets (Isa_11:2). (Tholuck.)

The Great A toner the Great Baptizer

The work of Christ, according to the Baptist,was to take away the sin of the world and to baptize with the Holy Ghost. It is not possible for believers to think too much of the first part; but it is quite possible for them to think too little of the second. These are the two pillars of our faith. The atoning sacrifice was offered and completed on Calvary once for all; but the baptism of the Holy Ghost is ever going on. Our Saviour died to be the Atoner; He lives to be the Baptizer. And our Saviour lives and reigns to baptize us not occasionally, but permanently; not fitfully and uncertainly, but surely. Were this baptism fully realized, there would be a vast increase of holiness, power, and success in ministers and churches: of Christian unity and charity. What encouragement have we for expecting this baptism? The announcement that Christ is as much Baptizer as Atoner, not the one without the other, or He would have laid the foundation and built nothing upon it. The atonement is the rock: the baptism builds the Church. So the gospels run up to the atonement, but the Acts start from the baptism. And so as the sinner seeks the one for salvation, so should the saint seek the other for service and testimony. (C. Clemance, D. D.)

The four baptisms

There are four baptisms mentioned in the Bible. The baptism of water, of repentance, of the Holy Ghost, and of fire. The baptism of water is the emblem of all, but that would be nothing without the baptism of repentance which it was intended to express; and the baptism of repentance will be unavailing for peace, holiness, heaven, unless it is accompanied by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and that is never far separated from the baptism of fire. The four make one complete whole, and are the basis of the Christian life. (J. Vaughan.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 1:30-34. This is he, &c. — I now point out to you the very person of whom I formerly said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me — Being incomparably greater and more excellent than I; for he was — That is, he existed; before me — Dr. Hammond abundantly vindicates this interpretation. Had πρωτος, rendered before, signified chief here, as in some other places, εστι, is, not ην, was, would have been joined with it, and John would have said he is, and not he was, my chief, which would have been a very flat tautology instead of a reason; whereas Christ’s having existed before John, though he was born after him, was a most convincing proof that he was a very extraordinary person, and was the strongest reason that could well have been assigned, to show that he was worthy of their superior regard. And I knew him not — When I testified concerning the Messiah that he was soon to appear, and was a much greater person than I was, I did not know that this was he: I only knew in the general, that my mission and baptism were designed by God as the means of making the Messiah known to the Israelites. See the note on Mat 3:14. The Baptist made this declaration, lest the surrounding multitude should have imagined that Jesus assumed, and that he gave him, the title of Messiah, by private concert between themselves. But how surprising is this that John here asserts, considering how nearly they were related, and how remarkable the conception and birth of them both had been. But through the peculiar providence of God, it was ordered that our Saviour should live from his infancy to his baptism at Nazareth, while John lived all that time the life of a hermit, in the deserts of Judea, ninety or more miles from Nazareth. Hereby that acquaintance was prevented which might have made John’s testimony of Christ suspected. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit — From the time that the Baptist had the Messiah discovered to him by supernatural revelation, and the appearance of the sign which God had told him of, he openly pointed him out to the Jews, declaring, at the same time, the ground on which he proceeded in this matter, namely, the descent of the Spirit, which was the sign mentioned by God himself.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 1:30. Ἀνήρ, a man) Great, peerless.—πρῶτος, prior [to me]) Notes, Joh 1:15.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

does not refer to Joh_1:26-27, where John bears his witness before the deputies from the Sanhedrim, but to an earlier testimony borne by him before his disciples and hearers, and in this definite enigmatic form, to which Joh_1:15 likewise refers

Joh_1:30 does not refer to Joh_1:26-27, where John bears his witness before the deputies from the Sanhedrim, but to an earlier testimony borne by him before his disciples and hearers, and in this definite enigmatic form, to which Joh_1:15 likewise refers. So essential is this characteristic form, that of itself it excludes the reference to Joh_1:26-27 (De Wette, Hengstenberg, Ewald, Godet, and others). The general testimony which John had previously borne to the coming Messiah, here receives its definite application to the concrete personality there standing before him, i.e. to Jesus.

ἐστί] not ἦν again, as in Joh_1:15, for Jesus is now present.

ἐγώ] possesses the emphasis of a certain inward feeling of prophetic certitude.

ἀνὴρ] as coming from the Baptist, more reverential and honourable than ἄνθρωπος. Act_17:31; Zec_6:12; Dem. 426. 6; Herod, vii. 210; Xen. Hier. vii. 3.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 1:30 . οὗτος … πρῶτός μου ἦν . Pointing to Jesus he identifies Him with the person of whom he had previously said ὀπίσω μοῦ , etc. Cf. Joh 1:15 . “After me comes a man who is before me because He was before me.” The A.V [30] “which is before me” is preferable though not so literal as the R.V [31] “which is become before me”. The words mean: “Subsequent to me in point of time comes a man who has gained a place in advance of me, because He was eternally prior to me”. ὀπίσω μου ἔρχεται refers rather to space than to time, “after me,” but with the notion of immediacy, close behind, following upon. As certainly, ἔμπροσθέν μου γέγονεν refers to position or dignity; He has come to be in front of me, or ahead of me. So used sometimes in classic writers; as ἔμπροσθ . τοῦ δικαίου , preferred before justice. Dem., 1297, 26. ὅτι πρῶτός μου ἦν , assigning the ground of this advanced position of Jesus: He was before me. For πρῶτός μου see chap. Joh 15:18 , “If the world hateth you, ye know ὅτι ἐμὲ πρῶτον ὑμῶν μεμίσηκεν ,” and Justin Martyr, 1 Apol. , 12. It is difficult to escape the impression that something more is meant than πρότερος would have conveyed, some more absolute priority. As οἱ πρῶτοι στρατοῦ are the chief men or leaders, it might be supposed that John meant to say that Christ was his supreme, in virtue of whom he himself lived and worked. But it is more probable he meant to affirm the pre-existence of the Messiah, a thought which may have been derived from the Apocalyptic books (see Deane’s Pseud. and Drummond’s Jewish Mess. ).

[30] Authorised Version.

[31] Revised Version.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 30. “This is he concerning whom I said: After me cometh a man who has preceded me, because he was before me.”

This saying, while applying to Jesus as present (this is he) the testimony uttered on the preceding day in His absence (Joh 1:26-27), is designed to solve the enigma which that declaration contained: “He who follows me was before me.” The last clause explains it; see on Joh 1:15. It is difficult to decide between the two readings περί, in respect to, and ὑπέρ, on behalf of, both of which are suitable. The word ἀνήρ (a man in the strength of his age) which is not found in the quotation of this saying in Joh 1:15, is suggested to the forerunner by the sight of Jesus present before his eyes. Lucke, Meyer, Keil think that in Joh 1:30 the Baptist refers, not to the testimony of the day before (Joh 1:26-27), but to some other previous saying which is not mentioned, either in our Gospel or in the Synoptics.

They are condemned to this absurd supposition by their servile dependence on the Alexandrian text, which in Joh 1:27 omitted the words: who has preceded me. Weiss attempts to escape this difficulty by making the formula of quotation: he of whom I said, Joh 1:30, relate simply to the words: cometh after me, and not to those which follow, who has preceded me, an unfortunate expedient which cannot satisfy any one. For the emphasis, as the end of the verse shows, is precisely on the words which Weiss thus treats as insignificant. The systematic partisans of the Alexandrian text must, therefore, bring themselves to acknowledge, in this case also, that that text is no more infallible than the Byzantine or the Greco-Latin.

But how can John the Baptist have the boldness to give such a testimony to this mere Jew, like all the rest whom he had before him there, and to proclaim Him as the Redeemer of men, the being whom God had drawn forth from the depth of eternal existence that He might give Him to the world? He explains this himself in Joh 1:31-33 :

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. This is he of whom I said. He comprehends every thing in a few words, when he declares that Christ is the person who, he said, was to be preferred to him; for hence it follows that John is nothing more than a herald sent on his account; and hence again it is evident that Christ is the Messiah. Three things are here stated; for when he says that a man cometh after him, he means that he himself was before him in the order of time, to prepare the way for Christ, according to the testimony of Malachi,

Behold, I send my messenger before my face, (Malachi 3:1.)

Again, when he says that he was preferred to himself, this relates to the glory with which God adorned his Son, when he came into the world to fulfill the office of a Redeemer. At last, the reason is added, which is, that Christ is far superior in dignity to John the Baptist. That honor, therefore, which the Father bestowed upon him was not accidental, but was due to his eternal majesty. But of this expression, he was preferred to me, because he was before me, I have already Spoken.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(30) This is he.—These words meet us here for the third time. They come in Joh_1:15, and in part in Joh_1:27. Here, as before, they are a quotation of an earlier and unrecorded statement of the Baptist, uttered in proverbial form, and to be understood in their fulfilment. (Comp. Joh_3:30.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. of whom] The best text gives, in behalf of whom.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This is he, of whom it is said,.... Either the day before, as in Joh 1:27, or some time before that, Joh 1:15, when he first began to baptize, even before Christ came to be baptized by him, and before he personally knew him; see Mat 3:11.

After me cometh a man; not a mere man, but the man God's fellow: and this is said, not because he was now a grown man, or to show the truth of his human nature; but seems to be a common Hebraism, and is all one as if it had been said, "after me cometh one", or a certain person: for the sense of this phrase, and what follows; see Gill on Joh 1:15.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.

Ver. 30. Preferred before me, for he was before me] Much ado the Baptist had to persuade this, the common did so admire him for his strict and holy life; for John did no miracle, Joh 10:41. Holiness hath reverence. Of God himself it is said, "Holy and" therefore "reverend is his name."

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And (saith he) this is he of whom I said, (as Joh 1:15), He cometh after me in order of time and ministry, but is more excellent than I am.

See Poole on "Joh 1:15".

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. This is he—See note on Joh_1:15.

I knew him not—See note on Mat_3:14. But how was it possible that John should be the cousin of Jesus and he personally unacquainted with him. Must they not have met at some of the Passovers in Jerusalem? We might reply that John, according to Luk_1:80, was required by a special dispensation to dwell in the wilderness. He may, by a divine speciality, never have attended any Passover; or at least any at which Jesus was present. But if even he had seen Jesus, and had known from human information his whole history, he yet had no right according to the divine order to him given, officially to know and proclaim him as Messiah. As it was the Apostles’ office to be eye-witnesses and not reporters from hearsay, so it was John’s office to be not a second-hand, but an immediate witness from the Holy Spirit himself. He could therefore know the Messiah only as God revealed him.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This is he on behalf of whom I said, After me cometh a man (anhr is used as a term of higher dignity than anyrwpov , and is made more explicit by the positive appearance of the Holy One whom he had just recognized and pointed out to his disciples) who became before me in human and other activities under the Old Testament covenant because he was before me; in the deepest sense, having an eternal self-consciousness, a Divine pre-existence, apart from all his dealings and doings with man (see notes on vers. 15, 26, 27). If the shorter reading of vers. 26, 27 be correct, then the occasion on which this great utterance was first made is not described. If it be not expunged from vers. 26, 27, we may imagine that John is now referring to what he said on the previous day to the Sanhedrim. If internal reasons may help to decide a reading, I should be inclined, with Godet as against Meyer, to say that this is the obvious reference. Here, too, the oti prwtov mou hn is added as explanation of what was enigmatical in ver. 26. The whole saying has already found place in the prologue. The threefold citation reveals the profound impression which the words of the Baptist had made upon his most susceptible disciple.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. This is he of whom I said. See verse 27. Was before. Existed before I was born.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

30.] See on ver. 15.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. This verse is almost verbally identical with v. 15, and illustrates well Jn.’s habit of repeating a phrase which he regards as specially significant after a short interval, in a slightly different form (see on 3:16).

οὗτός ἐστιν κτλ. “This One,” pointing to Jesus, is He of whom I spake. The reference is not merely to vv. 26, 27, but to Jn.’s proclamation of the Coming of Jesus, before He began His ministry, which is common to the Synoptists and Jn. (see on v. 15, and Introd., p. c).

The rec. text has οὗτός ἐστι περὶ οὗ ἐγὼ εἶπον, with אcAC3LNΔΘ; but א*BC*W give ὑπὲρ οὗ, “in whose behalf,” the Baptist always regarding himself as the herald of Jesus. Blass points out that λέγειν ὑπέρ = λέγειν περί, “to speak about,” is common in classical Greek, and that ὑπέρ for περί is found in Paul (e.g. 2Co 8:23). But in Jn. (with whom it is a favourite preposition) ὑπέρ always means “in behalf of.” Cf. 6:51, 10:11, 15, 11:4, 50, 51, 52, 13:37, 38, 15:13, 17:19, 18:14, 1Jn 3:16. See on 1:15 for ὃν εἶπον, which seems to be the true text in that place.

ἀνήρ is applied, as here, to Jesus, Act 2:22, Act 2:17:31; see on 1:13 above for its Johannine usage.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.