Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 3:31

He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

31. that cometh from above ] i.e. Christ. Comp. Joh 3:13, Joh 8:23, He ‘is above all,’ John included. No one, however exalted a Prophet, can rival Him.

is earthly ] There is loss instead of gain in obliterating the emphatic repetition of the words ‘of the earth’ as they appear in the Greek. He that is of the earth, of the earth he is, and of the earth he speaketh. This was John’s case: he spoke of ‘earthly things’ (see on Joh 3:12), Divine Truth as manifested in the world, and as revealed to him. He could not, like Christ, speak from immediate knowledge of ‘heavenly things.’ Note that ‘speaking of the earth ’ is a very different thing from ‘speaking of the world ’ (1Jn 4:5). The one is to speak of God’s work on earth; the other of what opposes, or at least is other than, God’s work.

he that cometh from heaven ] A repetition with further development, very characteristic of S. John’s style.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31 36. A question is raised with regard to this section similar to that raised about Joh 3:16-21. Some regard what follows not as a continuation of the Baptist’s speech, but as the Evangelist’s comment upon it. But, as in the former case, seeing that the Evangelist gives us no intimation that he is taking the place of the speaker, and that there is nothing in what follows to compel us to suppose that there is such a transition, it is best to regard the Baptist as still speaking. It is, however, quite possible that this latter part of the discourse is more strongly coloured with the Evangelist’s own style and phraseology, while the substance still remains the Baptist’s. Indeed a change of style may be noticed. The sentences become less abrupt and more connected; the stream of thought is continuous.

“The Baptist, with the growing inspiration of the prophet, unveils before his narrowing circle of disciples the full majesty of Jesus; and then, as with a swan-like song, completes his testimony before vanishing from history.” Meyer, in loco.

There is no contradiction between this passage and Mat 11:2-6, whatever construction we put on the latter (see notes there). John was ‘of the earth,’ and therefore there is nothing improbable in his here impressing on his disciples the peril of not believing on the Messiah, and yet in prison feeling impatience, or despondency, or even doubt about the position and career of Jesus.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

He that cometh from above – The Messiah, represented as coming down from heaven. See Joh 3:13; Joh 6:33; Joh 8:23. It has been doubted whether the remainder of this chapter contains the words of John the Baptist or of the evangelist. The former is the more probable opinion, but it is difficult to decide it, and it is of very little consequence.

Is above all – In nature, rank, and authority. Is superior to all prophets Heb 1:1-2; to all angels Heb 1:4-14, and is over all the universe as its sovereign Lord, Rom 9:5; Eph 1:21-22; Col 1:15-19; 1Co 15:25.

He that is of the earth – He who has no higher nature than the human nature. The prophets, apostles, and John were men like others, born in the same way, and sinking, like others, to the dust. See Act 14:15. Jesus had a nature superior to man, and ought, therefore, to be exalted above all.

Is earthly – Is human. Is inferior to him who comes from heaven. Partakes of his origin, which is inferior and corrupt.

Speaketh of the earth – His teaching is inferior to that of him who comes from heaven. It is comparatively obscure and imperfect, not full and clear, like the teaching of him who is from above. This was the case with all the prophets; and even with John the Baptist, as compared with the teaching of Christ.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Joh 3:31-36

He that cometh from above is above all.

Christ above all as a Teacher

I. IN THE SUBLIMITY OF HIS ORIGIN (Joh 3:1). All others, from Enoch to Malachi were of the earth.

II. IN THE CHARACTER OF HIS DOCTRINES. What does He teach?

1. The realities of which He Himself was conscious (verse 2) and not speculations.

2. Realities which were moral in their influence upon His hearers. They were not compelled to receive them, so many rejected Him. But those who believed Him had an assured consciousness that God was true (verse 33).

3. Realities which were pre-eminently Divine (verse 34): not the sciences, but God Himself, the Root and Branch, Centre and Circumference of all truth.

III. IS THE AFFECTION OF HIS FATHER (verse 35).

1. No teacher shared so much of the Divine love as Christ. The Father loveth all. All true teachers may expect a special share of this affection. But He loves Christ pre-eminently, and as He presents His Well-beloved He says, Hear ye Him.

2. No teacher deserved so much of the Divine love as Christ did. He never offended the Father or misrepresented Him in doctrine or conduct.

3. No teacher ever had such demonstrations of Divine love as Christ. All things, the administration of all blessings and the authority over all souls.

IV. IN THE EXTENT OF HIS ENDOWMENTS (verse 34). Other teachers had the Spirit in a limited degree; Christ fully. This is clear from the fact that He knew what was in man, and from His miracles. But He had more of the Spirit than the old prophets, as is manifest by comparing

1. Their theology with His.

2. Their spirit with His.

3. Their lives with His.

V. IS THE NECESSITY OF HIS MISSION. Faith in Him is essential to mans eternal welfare (verse 36).

1. The faith He requires is faith in HIM: not merely in the facts of His history, or the truth of His prepositions, but in Himself as the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. No other teacher ever required this. To so trust the best of them would be ruin.

2. Faith in Him determines the destiny of the soul.

(1) Those who believe in Him have now everlasting life.

(2) Gods wrath abides on the unbeliever. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Christ is above all

Caesar is not Caesar still, nor Alexander Alexander still: but Jesus is Jesus still, and shall be for ever. (J. Donne.)

Christ is God as well as man

We have seen a copy of the Gospels and Epistles which was warranted free from all trace of the Trinity, but it was not the testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We beheld it and we received instruction. It did not want beauty, for the parables, and the Sermon on the Mount, and many a touching passage were still there. It looked like a coronation tapestry with all the golden threads torn out, or an exquisite mosaic from which some unscrupulous finger had abstracted the gems and left only the common stones. It was a casket without the pearl. It was a shrine without the Shekinah. And yet, after all, it was not sufficiently expurgated; for, after reading it, the thought would recur, How much easier to fabricate a Gnostic testament, exempt from all trace of our Lords humanity, than a Trinitarian testament ignoring His Divinity. (J. Hamilton, D. D.)

An earthly mind

As ducklings have always their bills in the mud, as swine are ever recking in the mire; like that fish in the gospel, either dumb or with nothing but money in their mouths. (J. Trapp.)

Earthly mindedness

It is storied of Henry the Fourth of France, asking the Duke of Alva if he had observed the eclipses happening in that year? He answered, that he had so much business on earth, that he had no leisure to look up to heaven. A sad thing it is for men to be so bent, and their hearts so set on the things of this world, as not to cast up a look to the things that are in heaven; nay, not to regard though God brings heaven down to them in His Word and Sacraments. Yet so it is, most men are of this Spanish generals mind; witness the oxen, the farms, the pleasures, the profits and preferments that men are so fast glued unto, that they have hardly leisure to entertain a thought of any goodness.

Christs testimony to be received

I. CHRISTS UNIVERSAL SUPREMACY, WHICH EXCLUDES ALL COMPARISON WITH WHAT IS EARTHLY (Joh 3:31).

1. Christ was from above. Thence He came to His own. Of Him alone can this be asserted: a glory belonging to Him and not to another.

(1) He is pre-eminent; with reference to the whole creation, among all that are illustrious in His Church, all His predecessors who are types of Him and all His followers who are sent by Him.

(2) He is invested with universal dominion.

(3) John speaks of what He is, not has been or will be, merely.

(4) It was true therefore that Christ must increase. There could be no result but progress.

2. John was of the earth

(1) In His origin and condition, as were all His predecessors and all His followers, partaking of weakness and imperfection.

(2) In His office and doctrine, receiving both as an earthly teacher, and inferior therefore to Christ as earth was to heaven.

3. Let us be impressed

(1) With Christs glory and yield the submission and obedience which are His due.

(2) With the subordinate place occupied by His ministers yet rejoicing that He employs them.

II. THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER OF HIS TEACHING AND ITS GENERAL RESULT (verse 32).

1. Christs testimony is of what He has seen and heard (verse 11). It was direct without the intervention of a third party, as in the case of Moses and the prophets.

2. The general result

(1) Not what might have been expected, but,

(2)–sadly true, then and now.

III. THE IMPORTANCE OF RECEIVING HIS TESTIMONY (verse 33).

1. God thus submits Himself to the judgments of men. They can have a full knowledge of His character in no other way. He demands, therefore, that they shall consider the testimony thus uttered.

2. Those who receive Christ and His doctrine find that they have to do with a true God. (A. Beith, D. D.)

What He hath seen and heard that He testifieth

Johns last testimony to Christ

I. THE DIVINENESS OF CHRISTS TESTIMONY (verse 32).

II. THE UNBELIEF WITH WHICH CHRISTS TESTIMONY WAS RECEIVED (verse, 82). All men come to Him! Why no man believes Him! The emotions aroused by Johns preaching of repentance and the Lamb of God had passed off; for were not His disciples setting Him up against His Lord? And it took Christs chosen ones three years to receive it. How differently a man counts who loves and adores Jesus from a mere hero worshipper. John would have not large crowds merely going after Jesus, but genuine believers.

III. THE APPRECIATION OF THOSE WHO DID BELIEVE IN ANY DEGREE (verse 33), like Andrew and John (Joh 1:40). This is a fine and simple account of faith in its nature. Some document is produced having legal authority behind it. Those who, believing in the King as true, will sign their names to it become entitled to certain privileges. Men go forward and append their signatures, realizing in so doing, The privilege is mine. But here is one who cannot write. He goes forward, seal in hand, and stamps it down, which is as good as signing. That is faith, stamping down one seal, with decisiveness, to that gospel text, saying as we do it, That is true.

IV. THE DIVINENESS OF CHRISTS TEACHING REAFFIRMED (verse 34). For is emphatic. The reception and attestation of what Jesus spake was the reception and attestation of what God spake.

V. ANTICIPATION OF THE WORDS OF CHRIST HIMSELF (verse 35; cf. Mat 11:27; Mat 28:18; Luk 10:22; Heb 2:8).

VI. WEAL OR WOE (verse 36).

1. True faith is faith in the true thing. On the Son–atonement, resurrection, and glory were yet to come Christ Himself the object of faith.

2. The wrath of God cannot abide in a being who has ceased to be. The Baptist warned men before to flee from the wrath to come.

3. Our relation or non-relation to Jesus Christ determines where we shall spend our eternity. (A. B. Grosart, D. D.)

Christ the Divine teacher

We notice the perfect originality and independence of His teaching. We have a great many men who are original, in the sense of being originators, within a certain boundary of educated thought. But the originality of Christ is uneducated. That He draws nothing from the stores of learning can be seen at a glance. The impression we have in reading His instructions justifies to the letter the language of His contemporaries, when they say, This man hath never learned. There is nothing in any of His allusions or forms of speech that indicates learning. Indeed, there is nothing in Him that belongs to His age or country–no one opinion, or task, or prejudice. The attempts that have been made, in a way of establishing His mere natural manhood, to show that He borrowed His sentiments from the Persians and the Eastern forms of religion, or that He had been intimate with the Essenes, and borrowed from them, or that He must have been acquainted with the schools and religions of Egypt, deriving His doctrine from them–all attempts of the kind having so palpably failed, as not even to require a deliberate answer. If He is simply a man, as we hear, then He is most certainly a new and singular kind of man, never before heard of; one who visibly is quite as great a miracle in the world as if He were not a man. We can see for ourselves, in the simple directness and freedom of His teachings, that whatever He advances is for Himself. Shakespeare, for instance, whom we name as being probably the most creative and original spirit the world has ever produced, one of the class, too, that are called self-made men, is yet tinged in all his works with human learning. His glory is, indeed, that so much of what is great in history and historic character lives and appears in his dramatic creations. He is the high-priest, we sometimes hear, of human nature. But Christ, understanding human nature so as to address it more skilfully than he, never draws from its historic treasures. He is the High Priest, rather, of the Divine nature, speaking as one that has come out from God, and has nothing to borrow from the world. It is not to be detected by any sign that the human sphere in which He moved imparted anything to Him. His teachings are just as full of Divine nature as Shakespeares of human. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)

Why men refuse Christ

Among those who stay away from Christ, who will not believe in Him, who will not come to Him, the motive of the chief part has ever been, that they are destitute of the consciousness of sin, and of all thoughts and wishes rising above the objects of the senses, or else that they love their sins, and are determined to cleave to them, in despite of all that God can do to draw them away. Others there are who will not believe in Christ through pride and self-righteousness. Others have involved themselves inextricably in the labyrinthine abstractions of a sceptical understanding. Some will say, in their high-swelling imaginations, that they need no Redeemer, no Ransom, no Reconciler, no Atonement, no Pardon–that they can find the way to God by themselves–that they can build up a tower of their own virtues, a grand and gorgeous tower, virtue above virtue, the top of which shall reach to heaven. Such men there have been more or less in all ages; and the way their devices have been baffled has ever been the same, by the confusion of tongues. They have been unable to understand one anothers language. When one of them has asked for bread, his neighbour has given him a stone; when asked for a fish, he has given a serpent; indifference and scorn, instead of sympathy and encouragement. The hand of each has been against his brother. There has been no unity of spirit amongst them, but variance and strife and railing: they have never entered into the bond of peace. This is the other form of sin by which men are kept away from Christ. The great mass stay away because their hearts are paralyzed and crumbled by carelessness and self-indulgence, or rotted by the cankering pleasures of sin; the few, because their hearts are hardened and stiffened by pride. (Archdeacon Hare.)

Many men are deaf to the charms of the gospel

A musical amateur of eminence, who had often observed Mr. Cadogans inattention to his performances, said to him one day, Come, I am determined to make you feel the power of music; pay particular attention to this piece. It was played. Well, what do you say now? Just what I said before. What I can you hear this and not be charmed? I am surprised at your insensibility I Where are your ears? Bear with me, my lord, replied Mr. Cadogan, since I too have had my surprise; I have from the pulpit set before you the most striking and affecting truths; I have found notes that might have awaked the dead; I have said, Surely he will feel now; but you never seemed charmed with my music, though infinitely more interesting than yours. I too might have said–Where are his ears?

Few hearers saved

Though a gun be discharged at a whole flight of birds, there are but a few killed. Though the net be spread over the whole pond, but a few fishes are taken: so most hearers do busy their heads with their own sensual or worldly thoughts, and so escape the pain of the truth. (Train.)

Christ often refused

It is said of Handel, the great musician, that while composing the well-known oratorio of The Messiah, he was frequently found in tears, and that one day, while sobbing bitterly, it was found that the words which had broken down his spirit were these three words of the prophet Isaiah, He was despised. And yet this short saying wag abundantly fulfilled when Jesus came to show us His great love. (R. Brewin.)

The sureness of Christs testimony and its rejection

1. It is Christs prerogative to have the knowledge of Divine truths of Himself from the Father, and to have all others who know anything beholden to His bounty and illumination; for, His doctrine is, what He hath seen and heard, in a way peculiar to Him.

2. It sets out the bounty of Christ, that He doth not keep this knowledge, but discovereth it, that so sinners may have a sure guide and teacher, and the solemn testimony of an eye and ear witness, on which they may lean; for, what He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth. It is called a testifying both in respect of the certainty of the matter, and in respect of Christs earnest persuading of men to embrace it (Act 18:5).

3. Christs gracious condescendence in revealing the counsel of God concerning mans salvation, gets but ill entertainment in the world; the most part of men either not hearkening to Him, or not embracing His offer with respect, affection or faith, for no man (that is, very few or none in comparison of them who do otherwise, though some there are, Joh 3:33) receiveth His testimony. Let them hear it as they will, yet they do not receive nor embrace it as becometh; and therefore also it is called a testimony, as witnessing against them, that they receive not so certain a truth.

4. It ought and will be matter of regret to all the friends and servants of Christ, that His doctrine is so ill received in the world; for, whereas Johns disciples complained (verse 26) that all men came to Christ, He seeth rather cause to complain that no man receiveth His testimony. (G. Hutcheson.)

To Jesus nothing seems more natural and familiar than the heavenly state, when He discourses of it. It is like a prince, who having been educated in a splendid court, could speak with ease of many magnificent things, at the sudden view of which a peasant would be swallowed up in astonishment, and would find himself greatly embarrassed in an attempt to explain them to his equals at home. (Doddridge.)

He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true

The sealed testimony

I. THE SAVIOURS TESTIMONY (Isa 55:4, cf. Joh 18:37; Rev 1:5). Christ came into the world when it was enveloped in ignorance and begirt with the miasma of heathen superstitions and unconsecrated philosophies. Even the Jewish Church had lost its glory and a wretched formalism taken the place of spiritual religion. Christ came to give us a testimony which should be all-sufficient in reference to the way of salvation.

1. Its nature. It included

(1) The revelation of God (Joh 1:18). The knowledge of God was fast perishing. The spirituality of His nature–the perfection of His attributes–the sovereignty of His government–the boundless depths of Hismercy, were rescued from oblivion by Christ and received clearer light and richer illustration. His own life was a revelation of God (Joh 14:9).

(2) The true character of man. Here all heathen sages had failed. They did not know man, his antecedents, requirements, capacities. Hence their specifics fell short of the occasion. Christ discovers the heart of man to Himself (Joh 2:25).

(3) The exposition of the ancient Scriptures. He constantly taught that His life and labours were the fulfilment of prophecy.

(4) Many sublime and precious subjects–the dispensation of the Spirit; the nature, worth, and reality of prayer; practical religion; future rewards and punishments; the resurrection of the body.

2. Its manner. Note

(1) The simplicity of His precepts.

(2) The familiarity of His examples.

(3) The expressiveness of His figures.

(4) The grace of His method.

(5) The gentleness of His language.

(6) The condescension of His temper.

(7) His patience with the ignorant.

(8) His encouragement of the inquiring.

(9) His comfort of the sorrowful.

II. THE RIGHT MODE OF ITS RECEPTION.

1. Divine truth demands admittance into the heart. It first accosts the intellectual faculties, then accosts the conscience, but completely triumphs only when it enters the holiest of all. Human learning appeals only to the intelligence. Christ claims the heart.

2. Its impartation proceeds directly from Christ (Gal 1:12; Joh 4:42; 2Co 10:5). The practical improvement of the process is that which make us solicitous for evidence of the work of God in the soul through the Spirits effectual conveyance of the Word.

3. We should rejoice in its reception, because the deliverance it works is so great, the blessings it imparts so vast, and the prospect it opens so excellent.

III. THE EFFECT ASCRIBED TO BELIEF IN IT. Just as unbelief is an imputation on the Divine veracity, so cordial, unprejudiced reception is a mark of adoption into His family. It liberates a man from harassments and doubts. The obedience of the heart leads after it conviction of mind Joh 7:17). The believer can set his seal over against the promise and affirm that not one thing hath failed. Many an ancient mark may be seen in the aged saints Bible showing that the promise has been fulfilled. (W. G. Lewis.)

The testimony and the seal

I. THE TRUE NOTION OF CHRISTS DOCTRINE–IT IS A TESTIMONY.

1. The nature of it. A testimony is a sort of proof necessary in matters that cannot otherwise be decided by rational discourse.

(1) In matters that depend upon the arbitrary will of another. The gospel cannot be found out by the light of nature, but Christ, who was in the bosom of the Father, knew His heart and hath given testimony how it stands affected to the salvation of men (Mat 11:27, cf. Joh 3:16). Salvation proceedeth from the free motion of Gods will.

(2) In matters of fact. Matters of law are argued by reason, but matters of fact is only proved by credible witnesses. In this sense the gospel is a testimony that Christ came into the world, taught the way of salvation, died for our sins, and rose again to confirm all. The apostles were witnesses of these things (Act 1:21-22; Act 2:32; Act 10:39).

2. The value of Christs testimony which will appear if we consider

(1) The person witnessing. He who was promised in paradise (Gen 3:15), shadowed in the sacrifices of the law, and foretold by the prophets Joh 5:39); He who was owned of God by a voice from heaven Mat 3:17; Mat 17:5; Joh 12:28); it is His testimony whom God the Father hath sealed (Joh 6:27), and to whom He has given the Spirit without measure (Joh 12:34).

(2) The testimony itself.

(a) It is such a testimony as men need. Men need a religion that will allay their fears and satisfy their desires. The gospel provides pardon for sin and eternal peace and happiness.

(b) It has a fair correspondency with the principles of reason. That there is a wise, good, and powerful God; that men have sinned and become liable to punishment; that there are not hopes of freedom from this punishment but by satisfaction; that the universal soul must have higher and more abiding satisfactions than those afforded by the world.

(c) It has a convincing evidence in itself (2Co 4:2-4).

3. The use of it as a testimony.

(1) To bless God that the way of enjoying Him is not left to our uncertain guesses, but is made known in an authentic way by Christ.

(2) To show us with what success we may build upon the hopes of the gospel; it is Gods testimony (1Jn 5:9).

(3) Our danger is great if we disbelieve and reject this testimony Mat 24:14; cf. Mar 13:9). First, to them, then against them.

II. THE RESPECT THAT IS DUE TO THIS TESTIMONY.

1. Hear it or regard it we must. For us to disregard it is the greatest affront that we can offer God (Mat 22:5).

2. Understand it we must, or we do not receive it. A man must have it (Joh 14:21) in his judgment before he can keep it in his memory, heart, and conscience.

3. We must firmly consent to and acquiesce in this testimony (1Ti 1:15; Joh 6:69; Joh 17:8).

4. To embrace it with all affection (Act 2:41).

5. To build our hope and confidence thereupon while we continue with patience in well-doing (Psa 119:166; Luk 18:15).

III. HE THAT THUS RECEIVETH DOTH RATIFY THE TRUTH OF GOD and solemnly bear witness to it.

1. The manner of confirming. Doubtful things we do not confirm, but those things of which we are assured (1Ki 21:8; Neh 9:38; Est 8:8; Jer 32:18). But how can we confirm the truth of God? Gods truth is the same, and needeth not our confirmation, but He will put this honour upon us that we should honour His truth by our subscription (Rom 3:4). Our sealing is of great use

(1) To ourselves. To bind us more firmly to believe that doctrine and life according to it which we have owned by our consent (Isa 44:5; Psa 87:6).

(2) To others (Isa 43:10). Gods people that have such proofs of His power and providence are able to give sufficient testimony for Him, and others are confirmed in the faith of that which we attest when we live in holiness, patient and joyful under the cross (1Th 1:5-7).

2. The matter confirmed–that God is true.

(1) Gods truth is a great prop of faith (Heb 11:11). God can do anything, but cannot lie.

(2) The honour of His veracity is most pleasing to God (Psa 138:2), just as men cannot endure the imputation of falsehood.

(3) The setting to ones seal that God is true supposeth some precedent obligation. God is engaged by promise to Christ that He will justify, sanctify, and glorify all those who believe in Him (Isa 53:10-11). The soul that receiveth this testimony giveth it under hand and seal that God is as good as His word.

3. The use is to persuade us to so receive Christs testimony that we put to our seal that God is true.

(1) From the honour done to God.

(2) The honour put upon us that we should confirm Gods promises.

(3) The dishonour to God done by discrediting His word (1Jn 5:10).

Conclusion: In this scaling there are many things implied that most people want.

1. Spiritual evidence (1Co 2:14; Eph 1:17-18).

2. Some experience of the truth in comforting and changing the heart 1Jn 1:1-2).

3. Confidence in temptations (Job 13:15).

4. Holiness (1Th 1:5-7). (T. Manton, D. D.)

Christs testimony receive

I. THE TESTIMONY THAT HAS BEEN BORNE.

1. The testimony borne to Christ antecedently to the completion of His work.

(1) That of prophecy.

(2) That of the angels and the magi at the incarnation.

(3) That of Anna and Simeon in the temple.

(4) That of the Father at the baptism.

2. The testimony which Christ bore Himself.

(1) As to the nature of His ministry. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, etc. I am come not to be ministered to, etc.

(2) To His Messiahship. I and My Father are One. God so loved, etc.

(3) To His own purpose and plans.

(4) To the everlasting awards.

(5) All the truth taught by Christ was on His part a witness.

3. The testimony which came afterwards.

(1) By angels again.

(2) By the apostles.

(3) By the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost.

(4) By Paul.

4. Remark

(1) That knowledge is for the most part derived from testimony. Everything in connection with ancient history, biography, foreign countries. It is easy to ridicule testimony, but without it a great tract of our life would be left in darkness.

(2) That the testimony borne to Christ and His salvation comes to us with the clearest signatures and the strongest authentications. It comes to us in a book which is unique in its condemnation of lying.

II. THE RECEPTION OF THE TESTIMONY.

1. It must be examined with precision, so that we may know what it is.

2. This reception embraces the admission of the things contained in it as true. As to the great matters in question, they are true or false; if false, let them be rejected; if true, let them be accepted as true.

3. There must be no hostility to it, because it is very possible that the testimony may be understood and accepted, and yet hated, as it is by the devils, as it was by the Jews. This is of the nature of the sin against the Holy Ghost.

4. There should be appreciation of the value, importance, and dignity of it.

5. It must be loved. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.

(1) Love of Christ Himself.

(2) Love of His truth.

6. There is a course of life and conduct to be adopted in accordance with the truth of the testimony.

III. Having received the testimony, we can SET TO OUR SEAL. A seal and signature are intended to authenticate a document and the thing which that document contains. We not calling God a liar, but, attesting the truth of the witness of the Lord Jesus, are said to set to our seal that God is true. But mark

1. The truth of God and the testimony of Christ are true irrespective of our seal. God cannot lie; and the matter for amazement is that God should condescend to receive our attestations.

2. Then let the signature be written. Bring in the document. What signatures are already there! Those of apostles, martyrs, etc.

3. If you put your signature to the truth of God, God will put His on thee.

(1) On thy forehead, the mark of His preservation.

(2) On thy heart, the mark of His grace. (James Stratten.)

Sealed unto Christ

I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SEAL. The seal is one of the old legal forms that still survives, and gives a peculiar character to documents on which it is stamped. Let us note some of its characteristics.

1. As a necessity. In many cases an instrument without a seal is of none effect. The lawyer may draw up a will with the utmost care, but until the seal is affixed to the will the lawyers skill and the legators resolve count for nothing. So one may hear the gospel preached, but that is not sufficient. He must set to his seal the testimony–receive it, believe it, live in accordance with it.

2. As a personal distinction. In the old times few men knew how to write even their own names. They could do no more than make their mark, which was easily counterfeited; therefore each man who had occasion to use it, if possible possessed his own seal. Joseph was placed in charge of the kings seal, and wherever he affixed it, it carried all the kings authority with it. So religion is an intensely personal matter. Each must settle the great question of salvation for himself. No one can accept Christ for me. I must set to my seal that God is true.

3. As a finality. The ancient seal was often used to denote the conclusion of a matter. Daniel was told to seal up the prophecies–implying that they were finished. He that accepts Christ, accepts Him for all time. We enter into Gods service, not for a few years, not merely for a lifetime, but for eternity. There is no discharge in that war. We have set to our seal that God is true, once for all.

II. THE NATURE OF THE TESTIMONY. It is

1. An indictment. God charges us with violation of His law, and we are to plead guilty or not guilty. If we deny our guilt we reject the very first proposition with which the Saviour comes to us. Shall any one dare to do this? Nicodemus thought he had kept the law, but the Saviour told him that he must be born again, and Paul felt this when he wrote (Rom 7:9), I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

2. Pardon. After the American civil war, when a general amnesty was offered, each man, to profit by the act, was required first to take the oath of allegiance. We are rebels against God; from Him alone can we look for pardon. Through Christ it is offered to every one, but it must be accepted before it becomes effective. We must set to our seal this testimony of pardon–take the oath of allegiance to Gods government.

3. A testament. If property comes into my possession by will, it is necessary that my name and a seal be affixed to the will before the properly is at my disposal. The testimony of the gospel is that God has made a testament for us. He not only grants us pardon, but peace and joy in this life, and in the world to come life eternal. These are offered to each of us freely; but we must set our seal to the testimony by accepting it in faith. (G. H. Smith.)

Set to his seal

The method of sealing seems to have been very ancient. Judah had a signet as well as a bracelet. The document sent to the elders respecting Naboth and his vineyard is said to have been sealed with the kings signature. So was that which commanded the extermination of the Jews in the time of Esther sealed. So in the days of Jeremiah, when his property was sold, the document which contained the account of the sale was sealed and signed. So have we the great seal of England, which affixed to a document authenticates the document. There are the seals and signatures in like manner of foreign potentates. And to make it still more dear and easy, and to bring it nearer home, in many matters of business, in the ordinary transactions between man and man, there is an agreement which is signed and sealed. Being signed, and sealed, and attested, the document stands; it is good and substantial, and has authority and weight in law. When in like manner, I suppose, we are represented as putting our seal and signature to Gods great document, authenticating it as far as our belief and our conviction goes as true, this is what is meant. Exactly as in the prophet Isaiah, when it is said by the Almighty, Ye are My witnesses. We set to our seal that God is true. (James Stratten.)

Sealing the truth

The firmness of the venerable Polycarp in persecution unto death is known to all. Urged by the chief officer to pay religious honours to the emperor, he mildly replied, I shall not do as you advise me. Swear, curse Christ, and I release you. Sixty-eight years have I served Him, and He has done ms nothing but good; how, then, can I curse Him, my Lord and my Saviour? At the stake, when they were about to bind him, he said, Leave me as I am. He who has strengthened me to encounter the flames, will enable me to stand firm at the stake.

The testimony of human experience to the Divinity of Christ

As there can be no argument in chemistry in proof of odours like a present perfume itself; as the shining of the stars is a better proof of their presence than the figures of an astronomer; as the restored health of his patients is a better argument of skill in a physician than laboured examinations and certificates; as the testimony of the almanac that summer comes with June is not so convincing as the coming of summer itself in the sky, in the air, in the fields, on hill and mountain, so the power of Christ upon the human soul is to the soul evidence of His Divinity based upon a living experience, and transcending in conclusiveness any convictions of the intellect alone, founded upon a contemplation of mere ideas, however just and sound. If Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God, in the experience of those who trust and love Him there needs no further argument of His Divinity. (H. W. Beecher.)

The best evidence of the truth of Christianity

As I looked upon the sun this November morning shining through some beautiful clouds, a man called upon me to prove that the sun was, in his judgment, as far as he could make out by the tables, about sufficient to light the world. He turned over long pages of logarithms, fractions, and decimals, and long precessions of figures. He asked me for a slate and pencil, and he was going to make it out to my satisfaction that the sun was just about sufficient to enlighten a hemisphere at a time. I ordered him off I Why? I saw it! I felt it! (J. Parker, D. D.)

Experience the teachers best helper

Oh I when a truth has broken your heart; when it has afterwards bound it up; when Christ has spoken it to you till you have felt it, then will you speak as men could speak who are ambassadors for God. George Fox was called a Quaker because, when he preached, he often trembled. Was that a folly? No. He had so felt the power of what he spoke that his very body trembled while he delivered that truth to others, and well may you and I tremble at His Word. Whenever that Word, however, comes home to the heart with sweetness, why, then, with what sweetness a man tells it again! There is nobody can speak it like the man who has experienced it. You know the tale of a tale, the report of a report is a very poor thing; but when a man says, I saw it, I was there, then you listen to him. So, if you can say of Christ, He is precious, for He is precious to me; He can save, for He has saved me; He can comfort and cheer and gladden, for He has done all that to me, then you speak with power because Christ has spoken with power to you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Seal

The supposed necessity of a seal to attest the signature is shown in the following: At Jezreel, the chief desired Captain Wilson to make a report to the governor at Jenin, and our dragoman was accordingly directed to write a letter in Arabic, and submit it for signature. This was duly signed by Captain Wilson; and as the chief insisted on a seal being appended to the signature, an old monogram was cut off a sheet of note paper and affixed to the letter. This was supposed to prove the genuineness of the document, as a mans seal cannot be forged. (Recovery of Jerusalem.)

The purpose of sealing

In courts of law, in olden times, a witness gave his statement of that which he professed was truth. Having done so, parties present who were cognisant of the veracity of the speaker, or who were in circumstances that they might be expected to be so, when called on to testify their knowledge, in confirmation of what had been asserted, by doing this set to their seal that what had been spoken was true, and that the witness who had spoken was faithful. But parties who, being thus appealed to, and being qualified to testify, declined to speak in corroboration of the testimony delivered, were held, by that declining, to make the witness a liar. To this practice allusion is made in the text. God hath spoken by His Son to the world; He has spoken that which all men may know, that which all men are bound to know to be true, that they may be able to confirm it as His word of truth. Being commanded to become acquainted with the things which are spoken, they are then, as a great duty, commanded to bear testimony to the truth, to the veracity of Him by whom it has been uttered. When they refuse to know what God speaks, they offend against His authority. When they refuse to testify to the truth–to set to their seal that He is true in the Word which has been given to them–they offend against His veracity; they make Him a liar. (A. Beith, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 31. Is above all] This blessed bridegroom, who has descended from heaven, Joh 3:13, is above all, superior to Moses, the prophets, and me.

He that is of the earth] John himself, who was born in the common way of man.

Speaketh of the earth] Cannot speak of heavenly things as Christ can do; and only represents Divine matters by these earthly ordinances; for the spirit and meaning of which, you must all go to the Messiah himself.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

He that cometh from heaven, (for it appeareth by the latter part of the verse, that is the sense of from above), as Christ did, not only in respect of his Divine nature, but being (as to his whole person) clothed with majesty and authority from above, infinitely excelleth any one who is a mere creature: he that is of an earthly original,

speaketh of the earth. Such as is a mans original, such is his nature, such is his discourse. Though I be sent of God, as Joh 16:27, and my baptism be from heaven, (so our Saviour himself testifieth, Mat 21:25), yet my original is of the earth, and my relations and expressions are suitable to a mere man: but he that is from heaven excels all, as in the dignity of his person, so in the sublimity of his knowledge.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

31-34. He that, c.Here is thereason why He must increase while all human teachers must decrease.The Master “cometh from above”descending from Hisproper element, the region of those “heavenly things”which He came to reveal, and so, although mingling with men andthings on the earth, is not “of the earth,” either inPerson or Word. The servants, on the contrary, springing of earth,are of the earth, and their testimony, even though divine inauthority, partakes necessarily of their own earthiness. (So stronglydid the Baptist feel this contrast that the last clause just repeatsthe first). It is impossible for a sharper line of distinction to bedrawn between Christ and all human teachers, even when divinelycommissioned and speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost. And whodoes not perceive it? The words of prophets and apostles areundeniable and most precious truth but in the words of Christ we heara voice as from the excellent Glory, the Eternal Word making Himselfheard in our own flesh.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

He that cometh from above,…. Meaning Christ; not that he brought his human nature with him from heaven, or that that is of a celestial nature; but he came from heaven in his divine person, not by change of place, he being God immense and infinite, but by assumption of human nature; which he took upon him, in order to do in it his Father’s will, and the work of our salvation.

Is above all; above John, before whom he was preferred, for he was before him; above the prophets of the Old Testament, and even above Moses, the chief of them; yea, above all the angels in heaven, being God over all, blessed for ever: wherefore all glory is to be given him; no honour is to be envied him, or detracted from him.

He that is of the earth; as John was, and all mankind are, being descended from Adam, who was, made of the dust of the earth; and who dwell in houses of clay, and in earthly tabernacles, which are at last resolved into their original dust:

is earthly; of an earthly nature, frame, temper, and disposition; see Joh 3:6. Men naturally mind earthly things; and it is owing to the Spirit and grace of God, if they mind and savour spiritual things, or have their affections set on things above, or their conversation in heaven; and even such, at times, find that their souls cleave unto the dust, and are hankering after the things of the earth:

and speaketh of the earth; of earthly things, as in Joh 3:12; and indeed of heavenly things, in an earthly manner, in a low way, and by similes and comparisons taken from the things of the earth; not being able to speak of celestial things, as in their own nature, and in that sublime way the subject requires: but

he that cometh from heaven is above all; men and angels, in the dignity of his person; and all prophets and teachers, in the excellency of his doctrine, and manner of delivering it: and therefore it is not to be wondered at, that he should be followed as he is; but rather it should seem marvellous, that he has no more followers than he has; in the Apocrypha:

“For like as the ground is given unto the wood, and the sea to his floods: even so they that dwell upon the earth may understand nothing but that which is upon the earth: and he that dwelleth above the heavens may only understand the things that are above the height of the heavens.” (2 Esdras 4:21)

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Is above all ( ). Ablative case with the compound preposition . See the same idea in Ro 9:5. Here we have the comments of Evangelist (John) concerning the last words of John in verse 30 which place Jesus above himself. He is above all men, not alone above the Baptist. Bernard follows those who treat verses 31-36 as dislocated and put them after verse 21 (the interview with Nicodemus), but they suit better here.

Of the earth ( ). John is fond of this use of for origin and source of character as in John 1:46; 1John 4:5. Jesus is the one that comes out of heaven ( ) as he has shown in 1:1-18. Hence he is “above all.”

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) “He that cometh from above is above all:– (ho anothen erchomenos epano panton estin) “The one coming of his own accord, from above, is over, superior to, all,” He is greater than Solomon, Jonah, the prophets (including John), and greater than Moses, so that the “house that He built,” is declared to be “better” or greater than that one Moses built, Heb 3:1-6; 1Ti 3:15; Mat 12:6; Mat 12:41-42.

2) “He that is of the earth is earthly,” (ho on ek tes ges ek tes ges estin) “The one existing out of the earth, out of the earth he is, or exists,” according to the earthly order of nature. Depraved, natural born men, can not rise above the fountain nature of their origin. Their sinful deeds are fruits of their sinful nature, Psa 1:5; Psa 58:3; Jer 9:17; Rom 3:8-21; Jas 1:15.

3) “And speaketh of the earth:- (kai ek tes ges lalei) “And he speaks out of the earth,” or he speaks out of and from the earth order of the depraved heart, except he be born again, Eph 2:3; Mat 15:18-19; Mar 7:21; Eph 4:29.

4) “He that cometh from heaven is above all.” (ho ek tou ouranou erchomenos epano panton estin) “The one who is come to be out of and away from heaven he is over all,” and above all persons and things upon the earth or in the universe; He had a supernatural or miraculous birth, lived a supernatural life, performed supernatural or miraculous deeds, came forth in a supernatural resurrection, had a supernatural ascension into heaven, now makes a supernatural intercession (for His own) and will one day make a supernatural appearance for His own, Act 1:10-11; Joh 14:3; Heb 10:36-37; 1Th 4:16-18.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

31. He who cometh from above. By another comparison he shows how widely Christ differs from all the rest, and how far he is above them; for he compares him to a king or distinguished general, who, speaking from his lofty seat, ought to be heard with reverence for his authority, but shows that it is enough for himself to speak from the lowest footstool of Christ. (69) In the second clause the old Latin translation has only once the words, is of the earth; but the Greek manuscripts agree in repeating the words twice. I suspect that ignorant men considered the repetition to be superfluous, and therefore erased it; but the meaning is: he who is of earth gives evidence of his descent, and remains in an earthly rank according to the condition of his nature. He maintains that it is peculiar to Christ alone to speak from above, because he came from heaven

But it may be asked, Did not John also come from heaven, as to his calling and office, and was it not therefore the duty of men to hear the Lord speaking by his mouth? For he appears to do injustice to the heavenly doctrine which he delivers. I reply, this was not said absolutely, but by comparison. If ministers be separately considered, they speak as from heaven, with the highest authority, what God commanded them; but, as soon as they begin to be contrasted with Christ, they must no longer be anything. Thus the Apostle, comparing the Law with the Gospel, says,

Since they escaped not who despised him that spoke on earth, beware lest you despise him who is from heaven, (Heb 12:25.)

Christ, therefore, wishes to be acknowledged in his ministers, but in such a manner that he may remain the only Lord, and that they may be satisfied with the rank of servants; but especially when a comparison is made, he wishes to be so distinguished that he alone may be exalted.

(69) “ Au marchepied de Christ.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

JOHNS WITNESS CONCERNING CHRIST

Text 3:31-36

31

He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

32

What he hath seen and heard, of that he beareth witness; and no man receiveth his witness.

33

He that hath received his witness hath set his seal to this, that God is true.

34

For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for he giveth not the Spirit by measure.

35

The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

36

He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Queries

a.

Who is he that cometh from above and he that is of the earth?

b.

What is the meaning of He giveth not the Spirit by measure?

c.

What is the significance of the word obey?

Paraphrase

The One coming from above is far above all men: but he that comes from the earth remains on an earthly level and is above no one and he speaks from an earthly standpoint. The One coming from heaven is above all men: He is bearing witness to that which He has seen and heard in the very presence of God and no one is receiving His witness! The person who has received the Sons witness has acknowledged that God is true. For the One Whom God sent is speaking the words of God, for the Father does not give the Spirit to the Son in part. The Father loves the Son and the Father has given all things into His hand. The person continuing to believe in the Son with a trustful obedience is continually possessing eternal life, but, conversely, the one continuing to disobey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him in his disobedient state.

Summary

The Baptist points out that Jesus comes with the full revelation of Gods will. The person who accepts Jesus words acknowledges that Jesus is Gods true Representative.

Comment

Although it is not certain whether Joh. 3:31-36 are the words of John the Baptist or John the Apostle, contextually they seem to be the words of the Baptist. John the Baptist is certainly capable of uttering such high and lofty phrases when speaking of the Son of God (cf. Mat. 3:11-12; Mar. 3:7-8; Luk. 3:16-17; Joh. 1:26-27; Joh. 1:29-36; Joh. 3:27-30).

Assuming these to be the words of John the Baptist, they are his final testimony to the Sonship of Jesus. These words of witness to Jesus deity are but a continuation of the witness John is giving his disputing disciples. These disciples must recognize, as did Andrew, Peter, Philip and the other early disciples of John, that the Lamb of God has come and He is the pre-eminent One. Thus, the Baptist points out, since Jesus came from the bosom of the Father He is superior to every mortal. He is above even a great mortal like John the Baptist, for this prophet was earthly in origin like all other mortals (cf. Mat. 11:11). These loyal (but jealous) disciples of John must see that the one to whom all men are flocking is the One Who has come down out of heaven with the complete and final counsel of God (cf. Joh. 1:9-15; Joh. 3:11-13). The Baptist states an axiom which not only applies to ordinary fallible men, but also in some instances to Spirit-inspired mortals when he says, he that is of the earth . . . and of the earth he speaketh. John the Baptist and some of the apostles. when left to their own fallible reasoning, reverted occasionally to carnal thinking and speaking (cf. Mat. 11:2-3; Gal. 2:11-14).

The Baptist continues, in Joh. 3:32, to explain to his disciples that Jesus has come from the very presence of the supreme God and Father with the message of absolute truth. The message of Jesus does not vary; it contains no conjectures and is not frustrating. His message is the exact will of God for men which the Son heard directly from the Father (cf. Joh. 5:19; Joh. 7:16; Joh. 7:29; Joh. 8:26; Joh. 8:38; Joh. 8:40; Joh. 15:15). What a blessed knowledge! He Who speaks to us through the gospels speaks the words which He heard in the council-halls of heaven. He has interpreted for us (Joh. 1:18) the divine plan of redemption, and He became Gods oath, sworn in blood, to show that the promises of God are immutable (Heb. 6:17). Then the Baptist, in the last phrase of this verse, shows the superlative guilt of one who rejects Christs testimony. John does not mean every man, without exception, when he says no man receiveth his witness. This is plain from the following verse (Joh. 3:33). It is so monstrous to the Baptist that even one man should reject the message of Christ that he is moved to say, no man receiveth his witness.

John says there were some who did receive the witness of Jesus, and thereby acknowledged that God is faithful and will fulfill all that he has promised. Those few of Israel who did accept Jesus as the Son of God realized God was fulfilling His promises through Jesus and they set their seal that God was true to His word. Up to this time, John the Baptist, Peter, Andrew, Philip, Nathanael, and undoubtedly John and James had all received the witness concerning Jesus as the promised Messiah. Another principle is implied in this verse (Joh. 3:33). The person who will not receive the witness of Jesus is actually calling God a liar. Jesus told the Pharisees that although they claimed God as their Father, in reality Satan was their father because they rejected the Sons witness (cf. Joh. 8:38-47). To reject the witness of Jesus is to call God a liar (1Jn. 5:10). To dishonor the Son is to dishonor the Father (Joh. 5:23 b).

Joh. 3:34-35 are Johns climactic conclusions to convince his untaught disciples that Jesus is the One to be followed and adhered to. John is convinced that Jesus is the One whom God sent. Except for one or two instances, the phrase hon apesteilen ho theos (The one whom God sent) is always applied to Jesus (cf. Joh. 3:17; Joh. 5:36; Joh. 6:29; Joh. 7:29; Joh. 8:42; Joh. 9:7; Joh. 10:36; Joh. 11:42, etc.) Upon others who spoke on behalf of God the Spirit came only in measure. God spoke by others in divers portions and in divers manners, but the Son was the effulgence of his glory and the very image of his substance, and the Spirit was given to the Son without measure. The Baptist was an eyewitness to this and he saw the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him (Joh. 1:33-34). Not only does the Son receive the Spirit without measure, but the Father gave all things into His hand (cf. Joh. 5:19-20; Joh. 12:49; Joh. 13:3; Joh. 17:2; Mat. 11:27; Mat. 28:18).

Joh. 3:36 certainly fits the character of John the Baptists preaching as it is recorded in the Synoptic gospels. There his message was, the axe lieth at the root of the tree . . . hewn down and cast into the fire . . . shall baptize . . . in fire . . . flee from the wrath to come . . . whose fan is in his hand, etc. Here, in Joh. 3:36, he intends to warn these quibbling disciples in no uncertain terms that to reject Jesus inevitably brings down the wrath of God upon the disbeliever. The sharp contrasts of the Baptist here between the destinies of the believer and the unbeliever are very similar to the contrast Jesus presented to Nicodemus (Joh. 3:16-18). John uses the present tense to denote that the one receiving eternal life is one who continually trusts and obeys. One who has an abiding faith has also an ever-present assurance of eternal life.

The only other alternative to accepting Jesus is rejecting Him. With Christ there is no middle-of-the-road policymen either obey Him or disobey Him. Evidently, there is a plan or a norm which the Son came to manifest, which every man must act in accordance with, or rebelliously reject Him. Believing in Christ, then, entails more than admitting His historicity, and even more than giving intellectual assent to His message and claims. A faith that does not express itself in obedience is a dead and useless faith (cf. Joh. 14:21; Joh. 14:23; Joh. 15:10; Jas. 2:26). The gospel of Christ is a gospel demanding obedience, and its commandments are plain enough that they who run may read. The law of the kingdom of Christ is love. But it is a love which leads to trust, repentance, confession and baptism. These are but the entrance requirementsonce received as a citizen by the Lord, the new member must participate and share in the edifying of the whole society of believers to his fullest capacities.

The dreadful sentence upon the disobedient is that even now the wrath of God is potentially abiding upon him. The disobedient does not experience the wrath of God while he yet lives, but when Jesus comes again He will render vengeance unto all them that know not God and obey not the gospel (2Th. 1:8). Then those who have chosen to disobey Christs terms of entrance into the kingdom will go into eternity to reckon with an all-righteous and perfectly just God. There the unredeemed must bear the eternal and perfect wrath of God all alone. The one who chooses to disobey can blame only himself . . . he has been given the message and the opportunity to accept or reject . . . he brings the wrath of God upon himself.

Quiz

1.

What great difference between Jesus and himself does John the Baptist point out to his disputing disciples (Joh. 3:31)?

2.

What has Jesus seen and heard that He bears witness to?

3.

How does a person set his seal that God is true?

4.

Who received the Spirit without measure? Explain!

5.

What is the significance of the word obey in Joh. 3:36?

6.

Which is the best translation only-unique Son, or only begotten Son?

Conclusion

I.

NOW THE APPLICATION . . . NOW THE DECISION IN REGARD TO NEW BIRTH

A.

We know its necessity, what it is, how it shall be done. WE HAVE THE TRUTH, NOW WE MUST OBEY OR REJECT

II

Nicodemus stumbled at not being able to see this new birth.

A.

Jesus replied, If we could not see the wind blow the trees and could not hear it, we would never know it was blowing . . . in like manner, if the Spirit through the Word did not produce reborn men we would never know His presence or working . . .

1.

MY FRIEND, YOU CAN TELL A REBORN MAN!

2.

THE MIND OF CHRIST WILL MANIFEST ITSELF IN THE PERSON WHO HAS CRUCIFIED SELF AND SEEKS ONLY THE KINGDOM!

III

ONE WHO HAS ALLOWED THE WORD OF GOD FREE COURSE IN HIMSELF WILL:

A.

Repent like Zacchaeus (with restitution if necessary)

B.

Confess like Peter and John in Acts

C.

Go anywhere Jesus has commanded, even unto immersion in water . . . although not completely understood

D.

If you will allow him, Jesus will come into your heart and help you live as a Christian

BUT YOU MUST OBEY HIS WORD (Joh. 14:23).

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(31) He that cometh from above.Comp. Note on Joh. 3:13, and Joh. 8:23. It is expressed in another form in the last clause of the verse.

Is above alli.e., above all persons, and, as the context limits the sense, specially above all teachers.

He that is of the earth is earthly.This is the right sense, but the force of the words is lessened by not preserving the three-fold of the earth which is in the Greek. He who is of the earth, of the earth he is, and of the earth he speaketh. The first marks out the Baptists origin, as opposed to Him that cometh from above; the second asserts that the nature is, in accord with this origin, human and limited in faculty, as opposed to that of Him who is above all; the third declares that his teaching is from the standpoint of human nature and limited faculty, embracing indeed divine subjects and receiving divine revelation (Joh. 1:33), but having this treasure in earthen vessels, imperfectly realising it, and imperfectly teaching it (Joh. 3:33). Then the contrast carries him away from this thought of self, in all its weakness, to dwell on the fulness of the teaching of the perfect Teacher, and he emphatically repeats, with the change of words suggested by of the earth, what he has before said of it, He that cometh from heaven is above all.

This repetition is the answer to the jealousy of his disciples, who wished to place him in a position of rivalry with Jesus. It is the answer to all self-assertion on the part of human teachers.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

31. From above of the earth Between a messenger from heaven and a messenger from the earth there can be no comparison of authority. A messenger from heaven is a concluder of all questions.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘He who comes from above is above all. He that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaks. He who comes from Heaven is above all. What he has seen and heard, of that he bears witness, and no man receives his witness. He that has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives not the Spirit by measure.’

It is sometimes difficult in this Gospel to know when the speaker’s words cease and the comments of the writer begin, and many would see these words as the comment of the writer, in which case he now summarises what he has been writing.

‘He that is of the earth is earthy, and speaks of the earth, He Who comes from Heaven is above all’. He contrasts the One Who has come from above (compare v. 13) with the one who is but an earthling. The latter can only speak of earthly things, however exalted, for he is limited to earthly knowledge even if it is revealed knowledge. But the One Who comes from Heaven is above all. This is repeated twice for emphasis. He has knowledge both of earthly things and of things that none on earth can know, even by revelation, for He is over everything in Heaven and earth. This contrast is true not only of John in contrast with Jesus, but of all men in contrast with Jesus. Men who claim special heavenly knowledge deceive themselves. It is beyond their understanding.

‘What He has seen and heard, of that He bears witness.’ Only the One Who has come down from Heaven can understand such things. This is because He has actually  seen  and  heard  them. So He bears witness to what He has seen and heard above. Even John in Revelation only had a partial revelation of such things in dreams and visions which were largely symbolic, for they are beyond man’s vision even when in the Spirit. But Jesus, being Himself ‘Spirit’, and being above the spiritual and angelic world, has full knowledge of all things. This is the most emphatic statement possible of the uniqueness and unique knowledge of Jesus.

Yet still ‘no man receives His witness’. Men as a whole reject His testimony. It is only man as enlightened by the Spirit of God Who can even begin to receive it for such things are spiritually discerned (1Co 2:11-14). But it is not true of all that they fail to receive His witness. There are those who do hear Him (Joh 1:12), and by doing so they are in fact certifying that God Himself is true.

‘They set their seal to this, that God is true’. By believing His words and acting on them they put their stamp on them as being true and genuine. They recognise that the One Whom God has sent is uttering God’s words. And by believing those words they are believing God Himself. And in believing God they are testifying to the fact that God is true, for no one believes someone unless they accept him as true.

They accept Jesus Christ’s words because He has the Spirit in full, without measure. In contrast to this Midrash Rabbah on Lev 15:2 declares that the prophets received the Spirit by measure. (Midrash is the subjecting to writing by the Rabbis of oral testimony about the Torah in the long period since the time of Ezra. It is not possible to date its contents). Thus Christ’s experience exceeds that of the prophets. He is supremely blessed.

‘He gives not the Spirit by measure.’ The above interpretation sees this as referring to God’s giving of the Spirit to Jesus enabling Him to speak the words of God.. Others see it as referring to Jesus as the giver ‘without measure’ in speaking the words of God, a giving which is not restricted in any way. Still others see it as a general statement that God always gives the Spirit overflowingly, He does not give by measure, and that this is especially exemplified in the ministry of Jesus. However, experience suggests that God does give the Spirit to individuals ‘by measure’, therefore if either of the last two meanings is accepted they must indicate ‘to the whole church’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

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, Bumlein). 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 (Lcke, 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 (Mat 11 ) is psychologically not irreconcilable with this (see on Joh 1:29 ), simply because John was . 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).

.] 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.

] 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 .

] i.e . the Baptist, who, as an ordinary man, springs from earth, not heaven.

] 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.

. ] 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 (Joh 3:12 ), as Weisse thinks, but may also have reference to , the knowledge and promulgation of which, however, do not get beyond the (1Co 13:9 ff.). The expression . must not be confounded with , 1Jn 4:5 .

. ., . . .] A solemn repetition of the first clause, linking on what follows, viz. the antithesis still to be brought out, of the .

, ] 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 ( ) He accordingly is. Note the interchange of tenses (Khner, II. p. 75).

] this and nothing else.

. . . . ] tragically related to what preceded, and introduced all the more strikingly by the bare . Comp. Joh 1:10 , Joh 3:11 . The expression . 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 by the following , . . . 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: . 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 , which ranks Jesus above the prophets. Comp. also Heb 12:25 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

Ver. 31. He that cometh, &c. ] Hitherto Christ hath been compared with John. In the rest of the chapter he stands compared, first, with all men; secondly, with the faithful, and infinitely preferred before them all. “He is the chief of ten thousand,” Son 5:10 ; or the standard-bearer, which ever are the goodliest.

Is earthy ] Terra est, so Augustine renders it, in the same sense as “he is flesh,” Joh 3:6 . God will smite this “earth with the rod of his mouth,” Isa 11:4 .

Speaketh of the earth ] As ducklings have always their bills in the mud, as swine are ever rooting in the mire; like that fish in the Gospel, either dumb, or nothing but gold in their mouths.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

31. ] Many modern critics, beginning with Bengel and Wetstein, and including Lcke, Kuinoel, Olshausen, Tholuck, De Wette. and others, maintain that after Joh 3:30 we have the words, not of the Baptist, but of the Evangelist . Lcke and De Wette assume that the Evangelist has put his own thoughts into the Baptist’s mouth, or at least mixed them with his words. The reason of this arbitrary proceeding is, ( ) that the sentiments of the following verses seem to them not to be congruous with the time and position of the Baptist . But some of them confess (e.g. Lcke, De Wette) that this very position of the Baptist is to them yet unexplained, and are disposed to question the applicability to their idea of it of very much which is undoubtedly recorded to have been said by him. So that we cannot allow such a view much critical weight, unless it can be first clearly shewn, what were the Baptist’s convictions concerning the Person and Office of our Lord. ( ) That the diction and sentiments of the following verses are so entirely in the style of our Evangelist . But first, I by no means grant this, in the sense which is here meant. It will be seen by the reff. that the Evangelist does not so frequently repeat himself as in most other passages of equal length. And even were this so, the remark made above on Joh 3:16-21 , would apply here also; that the Evangelist’s peculiar style of theological expression was formed on some model; and on what more likely than in the first place the discourses of his Divine Master, and then such sententious and striking testimonies as the present? But there is a weightier reason than these for opposing the above view, and that arises from what modern criticism has been so much given to overlook, the inner coherence of the discourse itself; in which John explains to his disciples the reason why HE must increase; whereas his own dignity was to be eclipsed before Him. This will be seen below as we proceed.

And there is nothing inconsistent with what the Lord himself says of the Baptist in these verses. He (the Baptist) ever speaks not as a disciple of Jesus, not as within the Kingdom, but as knowing the blessedness of those who should be within it; as standing by , and hearing the Bridegroom’s voice.

Nor again is there any thing inconsistent with the frame of mind which prompted the question sent by John to our Lord afterwards in the onward waning of his days in prison: see note on Mat 11:2 .

. . ] This gives us the reason why HE must increase: His power and His words are not from below, temporary, limited; but are divine and inexhaustible; and, Joh 3:32 , His witness is not, like John’s, only of what he has been forewarned to expect, but of that which he has seen and heard. But , i.e. in reference to the into which He is come, the in which His light shines, no one comparatively , receives His testimony. The state of men’s minds at Jerusalem with regard to Jesus must ere this have been well known to the Baptist. Notice in Joh 3:31 the collocation of the words as regards emphasis: , . .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 3:31-36

31″He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32″What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. 33″He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. 34″For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. 35″The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. 36He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Joh 3:31-36 There has been much discussion among commentators over whether these verses are

1. John the Baptist’s continuing verbal affirmations

2. the words of Jesus (cf. Joh 3:11-12)

3. of John the Apostle

These verses return to the themes of Joh 3:16-21.

Joh 3:31 “He who comes from above” It is significant that the two titles used for the Messiah emphasize His pre-existence and full deity (implied in Joh 3:31), and His incarnation and God-given mission (implied in Joh 3:34). The term “from above” is the same term used in the phrase “born again” or “born from above” in Joh 3:3.

This dualism of above and below, of God’s realm and mankind’s earthly realm, is characteristic of John. It is different from the eschatological dualism of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is also different from the Gnostic dualism of spirit and matter. In John creation itself and the human body are not in and of themselves evil or sinful.

“above all. . .above all” The first part of this verse alludes to Jesus’ deity and pre-existence, coming from heaven (cf. Joh 1:1-18; Joh 3:11-12). The second part of the verse affirms that He is over God’s creation. It is uncertain from the Greek text whether “all” is masculine or neuter, referring to all mankind or all things. The second “above all” is missing in some Greek texts. The UBS4 cannot decide on its inclusion, but textual criticisms presuppositions (see Appendix Two) would prefer its inclusion.

NASB”he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth”

NKJV”he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth”

NRSV”The one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things”

TEV”he who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things”

NJB”he who is of the earth is earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way”

This is not a negative statement about John. The term for earth here (g, Joh 12:32; Joh 17:4; 1Jn 5:8, but 76 times in Revelation) is not the same as the term “world” (kosmos), which is often used negatively by John. This is simply an affirmation that Jesus spoke out of that which He knows, heaven, while all human beings speak out of that which they know, earth. Therefore, the testimony of Jesus is far greater than that of any earthly prophet or preacher (cf. Heb 1:1-4).

Joh 3:32 “What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies” There is a play on the verb tenses in this verse: (1) “seen” is perfect tense; (2) “heard” is aorist tense; and (3) “testifies” is present tense. Jesus is God’s ultimate revelation (cf. 1Co 8:6; Col 1:13-20; Heb 1:2-3). He speaks out of (1) His personal experience with God the Father and (2) His own Deity.

“and no one receives His testimony” This is an Oriental overstatement because Joh 3:23-26 indicate that many were coming to Him. This phrase refers to Judaism as a whole (cf. Joh 3:11), not just the immediate context.

Joh 3:33 “He who” This shows God’s universal, unlimited love for all human beings. There are no barriers connected to God’s gospel; one must repent and believe (cf. Mar 1:15; Act 20:21), but the offer is open to all (cf. Joh 1:12; Joh 3:16-18; Joh 4:42; 1Ti 2:4; Tit 2:11; 2Pe 3:9; 1Jn 2:1; 1Jn 4:14).

“has received His testimony” Joh 3:33 is an aorist participle, while Joh 3:36 is a present participle. This shows that trusting in God for salvation is not only an initial decision, but it is also a life of discipleship. This same affirmation of the need for acceptance has been previously stated both in Joh 1:12; Joh 3:16-18. Notice the dichotomy between accepting the testimony (Joh 3:33) and continuing to walk in it (Joh 3:36). The term “accepting,” like the term “faith,” has two connotations in the NT.

1. personally receiving Christ and walking in Him

2. accepting the truths and doctrines involved in the Gospel (cf. Jud 1:3; Jud 1:20)

NASB”has set his seal to this, that God is true”

NKJV, NRSV”has certified that God is true”

TEV”confirms by this that God is truthful”

NJB”is attesting that God is true”

When believers put their personal trust in Christ, they affirm that God’s message about Himself, the world, mankind, and His Son, is true (cf. Rom 3:4). This is a recurrent theme in John (cf. Joh 3:33; Joh 7:28; Joh 8:26; Joh 17:3; 1Jn 5:20). Jesus is true because He ultimately reveals the one true God (cf. Joh 3:7; Joh 3:14; Joh 19:11).

For the verb “seal” (aorist active indicative) see Special Topic following.

SPECIAL TOPIC: SEAL

Joh 3:34 “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God” There are two parallel statements in Joh 3:34 which show that Jesus’ authority comes from God

1. God has sent Him

2. He has the fulness of the Spirit

“for He gives the Spirit without measure” This statement is literally in a negated form, but for English readers the positive form captures the meaning. There are two different ways of understanding this fulness of the Spirit: some believe that

1. Jesus gives the fulness of the Spirit to believers (cf. Joh 4:10-14; Joh 7:37-39)

2. that the fulness of the Spirit refers to God’s gift of the Messiah (cf. Joh 3:35)

The rabbis used the term “measure” to describe God’s inspiring the prophets. The rabbis also added that no prophet had a full measure of the Spirit. Therefore, Jesus is superior to the prophets (cf. Heb 1:1-2) and is, thereby, God’s full revelation.

Joh 3:35 “The Father loves the Son” This affirmation is repeated in Joh 5:20; Joh 17:23-26. Believers’ relationship to God is founded on His love for the Messiah (the unique Son, cf. Heb 1:2; Heb 3:5-6; Heb 5:8; Heb 7:28). Note the number of reasons stated in this context why humans should trust Jesus as the Messiah.

1. because He is from above and above all others (Joh 3:31)

2. because He was sent from God on a mission of redemptions (Joh 3:34)

3. because God continues to give Him the fulness of the Spirit (Joh 3:34)

4. because God loves Him (Joh 3:35)

5. because God has put everything in His hands (Joh 3:35)

There are several Greek words for “love” which denote different human relationships. Agapa and phile have a semantic overlap. Both are used to describe the Father’s love for the Son.

1. Joh 3:35; Joh 17:23-24; Joh 17:26 – agapa

2. Joh 5:20 – phile

There does seems to be a contextual distinction in Jesus’ dialog with Peter in Joh 21:15-17. Remember, “context, context, context,” not lexicons/dictionaries, determines word meanings!

“has given all things into His hand” This is a perfect active indicative. This is a Hebrew idiom for power or authority over another (i.e., Joh 10:28; Joh 13:3; Act 4:28; Act 13:11). This is an extremely interesting phrase and has numerous parallels (cf. Joh 17:2; Mat 11:27; Mat 28:18; Eph 1:20-22; Col 2:10; 1Pe 3:22).

Joh 3:36

NASB”He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life”

NKJV”He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life”

NRSV”Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life”

TEV”Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not have life”

NJB”Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life, but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life”

These verbals are all present active which speak of ongoing action. Belief is more than a one time decision no matter how sincere or emotional it may have been (cf. Mat 13:20). This affirms that without knowing Jesus, one cannot know the Father (cf. Joh 12:44-50 and 1Jn 5:10). Salvation only comes through a continuing relationship with Jesus, the Son (cf. Joh 10:1-18; Joh 14:6).

The present tense not only speaks of ongoing action, but the present reality of salvation. It is something believers have now, but it is not fully consummated. It is the dualism of the “already” vs. “not yet” of the two ages (see Special Topic: This Age and the Age to come at 1Jn 2:17). See Special Topic: Verb Tenses Used for Salvation at Joh 9:7.

It is also interesting to note the contrast of “believe” and “obey” in this verse. The Gospel is not only a person whom we receive and a truth that we accept, but it is also a life that we live (cf. Luk 6:46; Eph 2:8-10).

“but the wrath of God abides on him” This is the only place in John’s writings (except 5 times in Revelation) where the term “wrath” (org) appears. The concept is common and is usually related to the term “judgment.” This is a present active indicative. “Belief,” “obedience,” and “wrath” are ongoing present realities that will be consummated in the future. This is the same tension that exists between the “already” and the “not yet” of the Kingdom of God. For a full biblical discussion on the wrath of God read Rom 1:18 to Rom 3:20.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

from above. Greek anothen, same as “again” in Joh 3:3. earth. Greek. ge. App-129.

earthly = of the earth.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

31.] Many modern critics, beginning with Bengel and Wetstein, and including Lcke, Kuinoel, Olshausen, Tholuck, De Wette. and others, maintain that after Joh 3:30 we have the words, not of the Baptist, but of the Evangelist. Lcke and De Wette assume that the Evangelist has put his own thoughts into the Baptists mouth, or at least mixed them with his words. The reason of this arbitrary proceeding is, () that the sentiments of the following verses seem to them not to be congruous with the time and position of the Baptist. But some of them confess (e.g. Lcke, De Wette) that this very position of the Baptist is to them yet unexplained, and are disposed to question the applicability to their idea of it of very much which is undoubtedly recorded to have been said by him. So that we cannot allow such a view much critical weight, unless it can be first clearly shewn, what were the Baptists convictions concerning the Person and Office of our Lord. () That the diction and sentiments of the following verses are so entirely in the style of our Evangelist. But first, I by no means grant this, in the sense which is here meant. It will be seen by the reff. that the Evangelist does not so frequently repeat himself as in most other passages of equal length. And even were this so, the remark made above on Joh 3:16-21, would apply here also; that the Evangelists peculiar style of theological expression was formed on some model; and on what more likely than in the first place the discourses of his Divine Master, and then such sententious and striking testimonies as the present? But there is a weightier reason than these for opposing the above view, and that arises from what modern criticism has been so much given to overlook,-the inner coherence of the discourse itself; in which John explains to his disciples the reason why HE must increase; whereas his own dignity was to be eclipsed before Him. This will be seen below as we proceed.

And there is nothing inconsistent with what the Lord himself says of the Baptist in these verses. He (the Baptist) ever speaks not as a disciple of Jesus, not as within the Kingdom,-but as knowing the blessedness of those who should be within it; as standing by, and hearing the Bridegrooms voice.

Nor again is there any thing inconsistent with the frame of mind which prompted the question sent by John to our Lord afterwards in the onward waning of his days in prison: see note on Mat 11:2.

. .] This gives us the reason why HE must increase: His power and His words are not from below, temporary, limited; but are divine and inexhaustible; and, Joh 3:32, His witness is not, like Johns, only of what he has been forewarned to expect, but of that which he has seen and heard. But ,-i.e. in reference to the into which He is come, the in which His light shines,-no one comparatively,-receives His testimony. The state of mens minds at Jerusalem with regard to Jesus must ere this have been well known to the Baptist. Notice in Joh 3:31 the collocation of the words as regards emphasis: , . .

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Joh 3:31. , He who is from above) These words, and on to the end of the chapter, the Evangelist seems to have appended, as in congruity with the feeling of the Baptist: comp. notes, ch. Joh 1:7. Moreover this proposition, He who comes from above is above all, [already] evident by means of those conjugate terms, , , from above, above, is presently made [still more] clear by means of the opposite, he who is of the earth.- , above all) in dignity, excellence, and speech. Therefore [He is] also above John. John answers to that expression, all [men come to Him], Joh 3:26.- , , who is of the earth is earthly) There is a Ploce [a word used first literally, then to express an attribute of it]: the former being understood according to natural birth, the latter according to disposition and state; which latter is followed by a corresponding style of speech. The antithetic proposition forthwith corresponds, consisting also of three members. It is not said, He that cometh from the earth: because He was also on the earth; but it is said, He who cometh from above, who cometh from heaven, to wit, to the earth: for previously He was in heaven.- , is of the earth) The antithesis to this is, is above all.- , speaketh of the earth) for which reason the inhabitants of the earth the more readily hear him. The spiritual excellence of a teacher is not to be measured by the pleasure of the audience.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Joh 3:31

Joh 3:31

He that cometh from above is above all:-The supremacy of Jesus over John is shown by their origin. Jesus came from heaven and was with the Father before the world was.

he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh:-John was from the earth and speaks as of the earth.

he that cometh from heaven is above all.-He who came from heaven is above all, the leader sent from God.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

a Witness to Be Trusted

Joh 3:31-36

Let us all seek to live more habitually in heaven, that is, in contact with the spiritual world. To do our best work in the world it is not necessary to be great in argument or rhetoric, but simply to bear witness of what we have seen and heard. It is true that the natural man will not receive our testimony. Paul found that out in after years, 1Co 2:14. But where our witness is accepted by the spiritually-minded, another seal is placed upon it as being the truth of God. Notice also that when a man is sent on Gods errand and speaks Gods word, he can count on the supply of Gods spirit without stint. There is no careful measurement of how much or how little. For long years and to any extent, he may count upon God.

Note the present tenses of the last two verses. They are as true today as when first uttered. Our eternity dates not from our dying moment, but from that in which we first trust in Jesus Christ. If you can do nothing else, be willing to trust Him as soon as He is revealed to you, and in the meanwhile obey Him; that path will bring you into the open.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

that cometh: Joh 3:13, Joh 6:33, Joh 8:23, Eph 1:20, Eph 1:21, Eph 4:8-10

is above: Joh 1:15, Joh 1:27, Joh 1:30, Joh 5:21-25, Mat 28:18, Act 10:36, Rom 9:5, Eph 1:21, Phi 2:9-11, 1Pe 3:22, Rev 19:16

he that is: Joh 3:12, 1Co 15:47, 1Co 15:48, Heb 9:1, Heb 9:9, Heb 9:10

he that cometh: Joh 6:33, Joh 6:51, Joh 16:27, Joh 16:28

Reciprocal: Isa 52:13 – he shall Mat 12:41 – behold Joh 6:38 – I came Joh 7:16 – My 1Jo 4:5 – are

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1

John was an inspired man, and his teaching was directed by the Holy Spirit. But he was a man only, and his origin was wholly through the natural laws of reproduction. Jesus was both human and divine, and hence John said he was from above. That is why John was to decrease while Jesus was to increase.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

[He that is of the earth is earthly.] Mark but the antithesis, and you will not suspect any tautology:

1. He that is of the earth; and He that cometh from heaven. Where the antithesis is not so much between Christ and John, as betwixt Christ and all mankind.

2. He is of the earth; and He is above all. He that is of the earth is only of earthly degree, or rank: and he that is from heaven is above all degree.

3. He speaks of the earth; and what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth. He that is of the earth speaketh earthly things, and what he hath learned upon the earth; but he that is from heaven speaketh those things which he learned in heaven, viz., those things which he hath seen and heard from God. The Baptist seems to allude to the manner of bearing witness, and teaching. In matter of fact there was need of an eyewitness; in matter of doctrine, they delivered what they had heard from their Master.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Joh 3:31. He that cometh from above is above all: he that is out of the earth is out of the earth, and out of the earth he speaketh. The claim of the Baptists disciples that to their master should be accorded a higher place than to Jesus, and Johns emphatic testimony to his own lower station, lead the Evangelist to reflect upon the words of Jesus to Nicodemus as decisive of all such questions. He that cometh from above and He that cometh out of heaven are clearly the same as He that came down out of heaven (Joh 3:13), and all three expressions are designations of Jesus. There is but One who thus cometh from above (though many others have received their mission from above), and He therefore is above all. In comparison with Him, every other prophet or teacher has his origin out of the earth; and as is his origin, so is his nature, so is his utterance.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Vv. 31-36. He.

The bridegroom, He must increase, while the friend decreases, for He is superior to him, first, through His origin (Joh 3:31), then, through the perfection of His teaching (Joh 3:32-34), finally, through His dignity as Son, and the absolute sovereignty which belongs to Him as such (Joh 3:35). The discourse closes with a practical conclusion (Joh 3:36).

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

Verse 31

It has been considered uncertain whether the words which follow, John 3:31-36, are a continuation of the conversation of John the Baptist, or the remarks of St. John, the author of this Gospel. On the one hand, there is nothing to mark a transition; but, then, on the other hand, the John 3:31-36 exhibit strikingly the style and mode of expression characteristic of the evangelist. It is, perhaps, most probable that they are intended to represent the general sentiments of the speaker, but clothed in language by the writer,–and thus exhibiting the peculiarities of his diction.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is {x} earthly, and {y} speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

(x) Is nothing else but man, a piece of work made of the slime of the earth.

(y) Is characterized by nothing but corruption, ignorance, dulness, etc.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

5. The explanation of Jesus’ preeminence 3:31-36

This pericope explains why Jesus must become greater. It also unites several themes that appear through chapter 3. John the Apostle or John the Baptist may be the speaker. This is not entirely clear.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The incarnate Son of God has come to earth from above (cf. Joh 3:13). John sought to fulfill his purpose of proving that Jesus is the Christ (Joh 20:31) partially by stressing that Jesus’ origin was "from above." Birth from above (Joh 3:3), the new birth, can only come by faith in Him who is from above. His place of origin illustrates His superiority over all earthly people that humanity binds to the "earth" (Gr. ge, this planet) including John the Baptist. Finite humans can only reveal things that they experience on the earth, but Jesus could reveal things about heaven. John could call people to repentance, but he could not reveal divine counsels, as Jesus could, nor could he provide new life from above. Jesus had previously said that people do not typically receive His witness (Joh 3:11), and the writer repeated that fact here. The Greek word martyria, "witness" or "testimony," appears some 47 times in this Gospel.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)