Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 1:26
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;
26. ‘You ask for my credentials; and all the while He Who is far more than credentials to me is among you. I am not a prophet to foretell His coming, but a herald to proclaim that He has come.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I baptize – He did not deny it; nor did he condescend to state his authority. That he had given. He admitted that he had introduced an important change in the rites of religion, and he goes on to tell them that this was not all. Greater and more important changes would soon take place without their authority. The Messiah was about to come, and the power was about to depart from their hands.
There standeth one – There is one.
Among you – In the midst of you. He is undistinguished among the multitude. The Messiah had already come, and was about to be manifested to the people. It was not until the next day Joh 1:29 that Jesus was manifested or proclaimed as the Messiah; but it is not improbable that he was then among the people that were assembled near the Jordan, and mingled with them, though he was undistinguished. He had gone there, probably, with the multitudes that had been drawn thither by the fame of John, and had gone without attracting attention, though his real object was go receive baptism in this public manner, and to be exhibited and proclaimed as the Messiah.
Whom ye know not – Jesus was not yet declared publicly to be the Christ. Though it is probable that he was then among the multitude, yet he was not known as the Messiah. We may hence learn:
- That there is often great excellency in the world that is obscure, undistinguished, and unknown. Jesus was near to all that people, but they were not conscious of his presence, for he was retired and obscure. Though the greatest personage ever in the world, yet he was not externally distinguished from others.
- Jesus may be near to men of the world, and yet they know him not. He is everywhere by his Spirit, yet few know it, and few are desirous of knowing it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 1:26
I baptize with water
The baptism of John
If the rite, which the Forerunner of our Lord administered, is not to be considered as a Christian institute, to what dispensation are we to assign it, since it is manifestly no part of the economy of Moses?
The reply is that it was the symbol of a peculiar dispensation, which was neither entirely legal nor Evangelical, but occupied an intermediate station, possessing something of the character and attributes of both; a kind of twilight, equally removed from the obscurity of the first, and the splendour of the last and perfect economy of religion. The light which he emitted, though it greatly surpassed every preceding illumination, was of short duration, being soon eclipsed and extinguished by that ineffable effulgence, before which nothing can retain its splendour. (Robert Hall.)
.
One among you
Christ among us
1. As to His human nature, as one of yourselves, as He took upon Him the form of man and became the servant of men, and is among you as once He sat in the midst of the doctors in the Temple.
2. As to the Divine nature He is amongst you, for He filleth all in all, and is very nigh to every one.
3. He is among you as the Light which lighteth every man, and as the Word of Wisdom in the heart of all His people.
4. Among you as the Mediator between man and God, and seeking to draw all men to God.
5. Not as the Baptist in the desert, but in the midst of the cities of men.
6. Among you all, for the benefit of all, as the true tree of life in the midst of the garden of this world for the life and for the healing of all. (W. Denton, M. A.)
The unknown presence
We can imagine the Master visiting various spheres in the modern world with the same result.
I. BUSINESS.
II. PLEASURE.
III. THE CHURCH.
IV. AFFLICTION. (H. J. W. Buxton, M. A.)
Christ near yet unperceived
I. THE WORLDS CREATOR A STRANGER IN HIS OWN DOMINIONS.
1. In part arising from the intentional obscurity that veiled His appearance among man for purposes of their own earthly sovereigns often travel in disguise; but the world has never witnessed so strange an incognito as this. The King of Glory laid aside His robes of light, and in the simple garb of a suffering man, hid Himself from the wise and prudent that He might reveal Himself to the lowly and the meek. From His own disciples at times He purposely veiled His identity (Joh 20:14; Joh 21:4; Luk 24:16; Luk 24:31).
2. Too largely owing to the blinding effect of sin. The other and gentler John affirms the same mysterious but humbling fact, and enumerates the accumulating evidence of its truth. For ages the true Light shined in promise, prophecy, holy law and inward conscience, yet the darkness discovered it not (verse 5). In the fulness of time the Creator came to visit this province of His empire, and was unrecognized upon His own estate (verse 10). More humbling still, when He came to His own possessions His own people received Him not (verse 11). Even those to whom He made Himself known were but imperfectly acquainted with Him.
II. THE IGNORANCE OF MAN CONCERNING THAT WHICH THEY MOST NEED TO KNOW. Ignorance baneful, knowledge beneficial; yet vast numbers are strangers to the source, centre and sum of all wisdom.
1. With some the knowledge of Christ is only indirect; the evidence of vague rumours or the acceptance of testimony; a secondhand knowledge.
2. Personal knowledge exists in varying degrees. Some are only on terms of distant acquaintance; others have occasional communications; others have intimate friendship; with the most loyal and loving Christ sustains confidential relations.
3. To be ignorant of Him is the worst privation man can suffer (2Co 4:8; 2Co 4:4).
4. When He is known He is admired, loved, trusted and obeyed (chap. 4:10).
III. THE SAVIOURS KINDNESS AND COMPASSION IN REVEALING HIMSELF TO THEM THAT SEEK HIM.
1. He has no wish to be unrecognized. He stands, waits, knocks Rev 3:20).
2. He awaits our entreaty to remove His disguise (Jer 14:5).
3. Once admitted to His friendship we shall grow in intimacy with Him.
4. In His own home hereafter He will show us more and more of His hidden glory. (R. Lewis.)
Christ unrecognized
I. A STARTLING WONDER. Christ unknown.
1. Not from want of evidence then or previously.
(1) The world manifested its Maker;
(2) Conscience reflected His light;
(3) Prophecy and type shadowed His person and ministry. Abraham saw His day. Moses spoke of Him. To Him gave all the prophets witness.
(4) John proclaimed Him.
2. Not from want of evidence now. In addition to all the above,
(1) The Holy Spirit testifies of Him.
(2) The Christian consciousness of eighteen centuries fulfils the promise of His perpetual presence.
(3) His ambassadors declare Him.
(4) His sacraments embody Him. How strange that He should be amongst the children of His people, the hearers of His gospel, and yet not be known!
II. A STERN NECESSITY. In the knowledge of Him, and in that alone standeth our eternal life. That knowledge is the beginning, the middle and the end of Christianity.
1. The beginning. Christs first invitation echoed by His first convert was Come and see. Isaiah saw His glory, and was cleansed for service. When Paul saw Christ he became a new man.
2. The continuance. The development of Christian life depends on growing knowledge of Him (2Pe 3:18; Philip 3:10; Heb 12:2; cf. Heb 3:1).
3. Its consummation is in heaven, where we shall see His face, and be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
III. A BLESSED OPPORTUNITY. There standeth.
1. How?
(1) Stationary–not shifting, coming and going.
(2) Patient–not wearied by procrastination, but waiting to be gracious.
(3) Accessible. Lo, I am with you alway. Now is the accepted time.
2. What as?
(1) A sympathizer.
(2) A Saviour.
(3) A personal friend.
IV. A FEARFUL ALTERNATIVE.
1. To know Christ is to be known of Him. Christ knows His sheep. He recognizes us when our friends have ceased to do so; when it is difficult to do so; in poverty and obloquy; at the last day.
2. Not to know Christ is to be disowned by Him. I never knew you. (J. W. Burn.)
He it is, who, coming after me, is preferred before me
The magnanimity of the Baptist
The world recognizes jealousy as the chief weakness of popular leaders and preachers. Such men are spiritual athletes, who cannot bear a rival. The greatest of popular preachers, the darling of Antioch and Constantinople, admits that he who can overcome this is almost like the disembodied spirits, whose lives, pure as the crystal stream, can never be darkened by any shadow of envy or vainglory. But the leader of a great party in a nation; the founder of a sect, which has vitality enough to live on for years; who was regarded by some as probably the Messiah–that he should have bowed down in prostrate humiliation before a younger successor, this is original indeed. (Bp. Alexander.)
The best servant the most humble
As the lark that soars the highest, builds her nest the lowest; the nightingale that sings the sweetest, sings in the shade when all things rest; the branches that are most laden with ripe fruit, bend lowest; the valleys are fruitful in their lowliness; and the ship most laden sinks deepest in the water, so the holiest Christians are the humblest. (J. Mason.)
Humility not contemptible
Humility did not make John the Baptist contemptible; but when he refused the name of a prophet, Christ said that he was more than a prophet. Humility did not make Moses contemptible; but as he was the mildest man upon earth, so he was the greatest upon earth. Humility did not make David contemptible; but when he humbled himself, he said unto Michal, I will be more humble yet, and lowly in mine own sight, yet thou and thy maids shall honour me. As Christ ceased not to be a king because He was like a servant, nor to be a lion because He was a lamb, nor to be a judge because He was judged; so man doth not lose his honour by humility; but he shall be honoured for his humility, as the son was honoured when he was humbled (Luk 15:18-25). Thus humility hath found that which pride sought; like little David, which was least accounted of, and yet got the victory, yea, when no man durst encounter with the giant (1Sa 17:28). (Henry Smith.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 26. I baptize with water] See Clarke on Mr 1:8. I use the common form, though I direct the baptized to a different end, viz. that they shall repent of their sins, and believe in the Messiah.
There standeth one among you] That is, the person whose forerunner I am is now dwelling in the land of Judea, and will shortly make his appearance among you. Christ was not present when John spoke thus, as may be seen from Joh 1:29.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This was no strict answer to their question, which was not, how, but why he baptized? But proper replies are often called answers in Scripture, though not apposite to the question.
I baptize with water; I baptize you with mere water:
but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; but there hath stood one amongst you, , or (by a usual putting of one tense for another) there standeth one; Christ had been there with the crowd, Luk 3:15,21, and possibly was amongst them still when John spake these words; whom you know not, not so much as ore tenus, by face.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
26. there standethThis musthave been spoken after the baptism of Christ, and possibly just afterHis temptation (see on Joh 1:29).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water,…. Or in water, so the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions render it. The sense of the answer is, that he indeed baptized persons in water, which was all that he could do, or pretended to do; and he owned, that this was a new rite, and that he was the administrator of a new ordinance; but he suggests, as may be supplied from Mt 3:11 that there was one at hand, and even now among them, that should baptize, and so it is read in one of Stephens’s copies here, in the Holy Ghost, and in fire; and it was by his authority, by a commission he had received from him, that he baptized in water; and that his speedy manifestation and appearance as the Messiah, which would be confirmed by his power of baptizing in the Holy Ghost, and by his ministry and miracles, would be a sufficient vindication of his conduct, and support him in his administration of water baptism:
but there standeth one among you; or “hath stood”, as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; referring, not to his being among them at twelve years of age, but a few days ago when he came to John to be baptized, and was baptized by him; for from Joh 1:29 it is plain he was not now, or “today”, as Nounus expresses it, standing in the midst of them. The Ethiopic version renders it, there is one about to stand among you, as he did the next day: though the meaning of the phrase may only be, that he was then in being, and dwelt somewhere among them, and not that he was personally present at that time:
whom ye know not; neither from whence he is, nor who he is, or what is his work and office; neither the dignity of his person, nor the end of his coming into the world, nor the nature of his business in it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the midst of you standeth ( ). Adjective as in 19:18, not . Present active indicative of late verb from perfect stem . John had already baptized Jesus and recognized him as the Messiah.
Whom ye know not ( ). This was the tragedy of the situation (1:11). Apparently this startling declaration excited no further inquiry from the committee.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “John answered them, saying,” (apekrithe autois ho loannes legon) “Then John (the Baptist) explained to them,” in response to their pressing questions. These deputies questioned John’s authority to baptize if he were not the Christ. He replied that he had a Divine mandate to baptize in preparing a people for Jesus, Joh 1:31-33.
2) “I baptize with water:” (ego baptizo en hudati) “I do baptize or immerse in and with water,” not in oil or with oil, not in blood, or with blood, but in and with water, enough water to bury, immerse, or submerge candidates, in the river of Jordan, Joh 1:28; Joh 1:33; Mat 3:13-14; Mat 3:17; Mar 1:811; Luk 3:21; Joh 4:1-2.
3) “But there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;” (mesos humon stekei on humeis ouk oidate) “There stands among you all (however) one already existing, who you all do not know,” perceive, or recognize, though he had already fulfilled numerous prophetic signs in their midst, in His virgin birth in Bethlehem, of Judea, of the family of David, and the tribe of Judah, in His coming out of Egypt, and His residing in Nazareth, Mat 1:22-23; Mic 5:2; Mat 2:15; Mat 2:23; Gen 49:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
26. I baptize with water. This ought to have been abundantly sufficient for the correction of their mistake, but a reproof otherwise clear is of no advantage to the deaf; for, when he sends them to Christ, and declares that Christ is present, this is a clear proof not only that he was divinely appointed to be a minister of Christ, but that he is the true Elijah, who is sent to testify that the time is come (36) for the renovation of the Church. There is a contrast here which is not fully stated; for the spiritual baptism of Christ is not expressly contrasted with the external baptism of John, but that latter clause about the baptism of the Spirit might easily be supplied, and shortly afterwards both are set down by the Evangelist.
This answer may be reduced to two heads: first, that John claims nothing for himself but what he has a right to claim, because he has Christ for the Author of his baptism, in which consists the truth of the sign; and, secondly, that he has nothing but the administration of the outward sign, while the whole power and efficacy is in the hands of Christ alone. Thus he defends his baptism so far as its truth depends on anything else; but, at the same time, by declaring that he has not the power of the Spirit, he exalts the dignity of Christ, that the eyes of men may be fixed on him alone. This is the highest and best regulated moderation, when a minister borrows from Christ whatever authority he claims for himself, in such a manner as to trace it to him, ascribing to him alone all that he possesses.
It is a foolish mistake, however, into which some people have been led, of supposing that John’s baptism was different from ours; for John does not argue here about the advantage and usefulness of his baptism, but merely compares his own person with the person of Christ. In like manner, if we were inquiring, at the present day, what part belongs to us, and what belongs to Christ, in baptism, we must acknowledge that Christ alone performs what baptism figuratively represents, and that we have nothing beyond the bare administration of the sign. There is a twofold way of speaking in Scripture about the sacraments; for sometimes it tells us that they are the laver of regeneration, ( Titus 3:5;) that by them our sins are washed away, (1Pe 3:21😉 that we
are in-grafted into the body of Christ, that our old man is crucified, and that we rise again to newness of life, (Rom 6:4😉
and, in those cases, Scripture joins the power of Christ with the ministry of man; as, indeed, man is nothing else than the hand of Christ. Such modes of expression show, not what man can of himself accomplish, but what Christ performs by man, and by the sign, as his instruments. But as there is a strong tendency to fall into superstition, and as men, through the pride which is natural to them, take from God the honor due to him, and basely appropriate it to themselves; so Scripture, in order to restrain this blasphemous arrogance, sometimes distinguishes ministers from Christ, as in this passage, that we may learn that ministers are nothing and can do nothing.
One standeth in the midst of you. He indirectly charges them with stupidity, in not knowing Christ, to whom their minds ought to have been earnestly directed; and he always insists earnestly on this point, that nothing can be known about his ministry, until men have come to him who is the Author of it. When he says that Christ standeth in the midst of, them, it is that he may excite their desire and their exertion to know him. The amount of what he says is, that he wishes to place himself as low as possible, lest any degree of honor improperly bestowed on him might obscure the excellence of Christ. It is probable that he had these sentences frequently in his mouth, when he saw himself immoderately extolled by the perverse opinions of men.
(36) “ Que le temps estoit venu.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(26) I baptize with water.The passage of Ezekiel is probably present to the mind, with its contrast between water and spirit.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. I baptize with water John’s answer is very pertinent. My baptism is the symbol and precursor of a real baptism by the great Baptizer.
Standeth one among you Not necessary that he was at that moment there standing; but that he was then living and being among the people, to them unknown.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘John answered them, saying, “I baptise with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, even He who comes after me, the clasp of whose sandal I am unworthy to unloose”.’
His reply was that he was baptising with water in preparation for the coming of Another, someone who was already standing among them, and was yet unknown to them, someone so great that he, John, was not worthy to untie His sandals.
The writer does not bring out the significance of John’s baptism here, for he says little about the teaching of John, (although he does bring out its significance later in, for example, the visit of Nicodemus – chapter 3). He is aware that it is well known from elsewhere, and he leaves that to others and does not consider it necessary. But it is so important for the meaning behind the Gospel that we must consider it briefly.
John proclaimed a ‘baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’ (Mar 1:4: Luk 3:3), and the connection between repentance from sin and his baptism is made clear by John himself. However, he also goes on to declare that his baptism is a precursor to the age of the Spirit (Mar 1:8; Mat 3:11; Luk 3:15-16; Joh 1:30-34), and he specifically parallels his baptism with water with Jesus’ coming ‘baptism (drenching) with the Holy Spirit’. It is this fact which makes clear the significance of John’s baptism.
He constantly used harvest imagery. The Pharisees and Sadducees were like snakes fleeing from the burning cornfields (Mat 3:7; Luk 3:7) and should rather ‘bear fruit’ (Mat 3:8). The judgment is like the axe laid to the root of the trees that do not bear fruit (v. 10). The One who is coming comes with a winnowing fork in His hands to gather the wheat into the granary and to cast the chaff into the fire (v. 12). So all the time John has in mind pictures of fruitfulness and harvest, of the threshing floor and overflowing barns, and of the clearing of chaff and of ‘dead’ trees. This powerfully suggests that when he speaks of his baptism in the light of the coming of the Spirit he has in mind the pictures common in the Old Testament prophets of fruitfulness and blessing caused by the coming of the rains, which are constantly connected with the coming of the Spirit (Isa 44:3-6; Isa 32:15-18; Joe 2:28-29 see also Isa 55:10-13; Isa 59:19-21).
At that time, says the prophet Isaiah, the Spirit will be ‘poured out from above’, the land will flourish and the desert will become fruitful, and justice and righteousness, peace and confidence will abound (Isa 32:15-18). It is clear here that the pouring out of the Spirit includes the thought of the pouring out of rain producing fruitful harvests, although there is no doubting that it also includes a life changing activity in the hearts of men.
This is especially confirmed by Isa 44:4-5. “I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit upon your children, and my blessing upon your offspring”. The people will flourish “like the grass at the coming of the rainy season, like willows planted by flowing rivers”. Once again we have the life-giving rain, but here the pouring out of the Spirit is on the people, who will thus each say ‘I am the Lord’s’ (v. 6). Compare Isa 35:6-7; Isa 41:17-20; Isa 55:10-13; Isa 59:19-21; Joe 2:23-29; Eze 34:26-27 which all see the future blessing in terms of rain pouring down, floods of water, abundant fruitfulness, and so on.
Most of us vaguely recognise the importance of rain to our lives but it is not seen as hugely important to many of us. However, that is because we do not benefit from it directly and find it uncomfortable to go out in. But to people who lived in a land where their very lives depended on the sequence of the rains it was very different. No rain meant famine and hardship, even starvation and death. Rain was the source of life, the life-giver, the greatest of all boons to man. All their festivals concentrated on the need for rain. So the prophetic words touched a deep chord in all their hearts.
John clearly had these Scriptures in mind when he preached, and it is surely beyond all doubt that this is what his baptism signified, the drenching with life-giving rain that produces fruitfulness and blessing. We can compare how Jesus must also surely have had these Scriptures in mind when He speaks of being ‘born from above’ (Joh 3:6). Thus John’s baptism is a picture of the coming of the life giving Spirit in terms of rain, and he is seeking to prepare the way for this by bringing the people to repentance from sin and baptising them as a symbol of what God is about to do on those who respond to Him. The idea is not of washing from sin but of the giving of life and the transformation of the heart. That was why he baptised with water. And it pointed ahead to, and prepared the way for, the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Contrary to popular opinion there are no grounds for connecting John’s baptism with cleansing. The Old Testament washings never cleansed. They were only preparatory to cleansing, removing the earthiness prior to waiting before God ‘until the evening’. Furthermore the often cited full scale bath of the Gentile convert to Judaism was carried out by the person himself, not by someone who ministered to him. And it was simply part of the process by which he left the Gentile world behind. He was ridding himself of the stain of all his past offences against Jewish ritual cleanness. It could have no connection with what John was proclaiming. (Nor did the Pharisees see his baptism in that way. Had they thought that he was suggesting that ‘they’ needed to be purified from a past life of ‘uncleanness’ they would have protested vigorously, for they daily ‘cleansed’ themselves by various washings).
But the writer here is more concerned with the fact that John is a witness to Jesus, and his emphasis is more on ‘there stands One among you whom you do not know, even He who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie’. He wants it to be clear that John simply prepares the way for another, for ‘the Word of God’, Who is so far superior to him that he is not even fit to unfasten His sandals.
‘Whom you do not know.’ John could say elsewhere, ‘and I knew Him not’ (Joh 1:31), so that these are not words of blame. But they are a warning to them to keep their eyes open and recognise Him when He comes. Their guilt lay in the fact that when they did see Him they still refused to recognise Him.
‘Even He who comes after me.’ Again John stresses that he is only the pointer of the way, pointing to a Greater yet to come. Yet behind his words lie the thrilling promise that ‘He is coming’.
‘The clasp of whose sandal I am unworthy to unloose.’ When men visited a home someone would unfasten their sandals, a job done by the meanest servants. John is here saying that Jesus will be so superior to him that he is not even worthy to be the meanest of servants to Jesus.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 1:26-28. John answered them, saying, &c. “I baptize, to shew you the nature and necessity of repentance; but it is with water only, which cannot cleanse you from your sins, as the washing predicted by Zechariah will do” (see the preceding note). “That more efficacious baptism will be dispensed unto you by the Messiah, who is at present among you, though you do not know him, because he hath not manifested himself. Besides, in dignity, he is infinitely my superior; for I am not worthy to be his servant, or to do him the meanest offices.” These things were done in Bethabara, or the house of passage; it lay near that part of the river which was miraculously dried up for the Israelites, under the command of Joshua. See Jos 3:16 and Jdg 12:6.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;
Ver. 26. I baptize with water ] The Baptist here meaneth the same that St Paul doth, 1Co 3:6-7 . See Trapp on “ Mat 3:11 “ Christ rains down righteousness upon all his baptized; to whom it is not only a sign, but also a seal, as circumcision is called, not only by St Paul, Rom 4:11 , but also by a Jewish doctor, more ancient than their Talmud. Of Wilfride, first Bishop of Chichester, A.D. 700, it is reported that he converted to the faith many pagans in those parts. And a day being appointed for their baptism, they had no sooner received the same, but immediately it rained plentifully, the want whereof had caused a dearth for three years before; so that many died daily for hunger, and serveral joining hand-in-hand (forty or fifty in a company) threw themselves headlong into the sea.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
26, 27. ] [ ] . is the subject of the sentence; He that cometh after me, &c., stands among you.
The insertions (see var. readd.) have been made by some one not aware of this, and wishing to square the verse with Joh 1:15 ; Joh 1:30 .
The answer of the Baptist seems not to correspond to the question in Joh 1:25 . This was noticed as early as Heracleon (Origen in Joan. tom. vi. 15, vol. iv. p. 131), who said, , , . This however is impugned at some length by Origen, but not on very convincing grounds. The truth seems to have been apprehended by Olshausen, that the declaration of John that the Messiah was standing among them at that moment unknown to them, was an answer to their question demanding a legitimation of his prophetic claims; a that he was sent from God: see ch. Joh 2:18 . Olsh. also suggests that this may clear up the saying of the Jews in ch. Joh 10:41 (see note there). In repeating this saying at other times (see Mat 3:11 and [27] ), the Baptist plainly states of the Messiah, that he should baptize them with the Holy Ghost (and fire), as here in Joh 1:33 . Here, in speaking to those learned in the offices of the Messiah, he leaves that to be supplied.
[27] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25 , the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified , thus, ‘ Mk.,’ or ‘ Mt. Mk.,’ &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others .
. . ] See note on Mat 3:11 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
baptize with. App-115.
know. Greek. oida. App-132. A characteristic
word of this Gospel. See p. 1511.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
26, 27.] [] . is the subject of the sentence; He that cometh after me, &c., stands among you.
The insertions (see var. readd.) have been made by some one not aware of this, and wishing to square the verse with Joh 1:15; Joh 1:30.
The answer of the Baptist seems not to correspond to the question in Joh 1:25. This was noticed as early as Heracleon (Origen in Joan. tom. vi. 15, vol. iv. p. 131), who said, , , . This however is impugned at some length by Origen, but not on very convincing grounds. The truth seems to have been apprehended by Olshausen,-that the declaration of John that the Messiah was standing among them at that moment unknown to them, was an answer to their question demanding a legitimation of his prophetic claims;-a that he was sent from God:-see ch. Joh 2:18. Olsh. also suggests that this may clear up the saying of the Jews in ch. Joh 10:41 (see note there). In repeating this saying at other times (see Mat 3:11 and [27]), the Baptist plainly states of the Messiah, that he should baptize them with the Holy Ghost (and fire), as here in Joh 1:33. Here, in speaking to those learned in the offices of the Messiah, he leaves that to be supplied.
[27] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25, the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified, thus, Mk., or Mt. Mk., &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others.
. .] See note on Mat 3:11.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 1:26. [30]) , in the midst of you) especially at the time of His baptism.-) Hath taken His stand [statuit sese].- , ye know not) He addresses the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who had not been present at the baptism of Jesus: and he whets their desires, that they may be anxious to become acquainted with Him.
[30] , but) The Antithesis is to be taken from the pre-eminence of Him who followed after John: He truly baptizes with the Holy Ghost, ver. 33.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 1:26-27
Joh 1:26-27
John answered them, saying, I baptize in water: in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not, even he that cometh after me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose.-The preposition in is used here instead of with. This is right, yet to say with does not militate against the idea of a burial. We use with to indicate the element used even when the thing washed is wholly submerged. We say a cloth is dyed with indigo and leather is tanned with ooze when the thing is wholly submerged. In is better here as placing the point contrasted beyond doubt. John told them that the one for whom he came to prepare the way was in their midst and unknown to them and probably to John at this time who was so much his superior that he was not worthy to unlatch his shoes. The servant unlatched and bound the shoes of his master.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I: Mat 3:11, Mar 1:8, Luk 3:16, Act 1:5, Act 11:16
whom: Joh 1:10, Joh 1:11, Joh 8:19, Joh 16:3, Joh 17:3, Joh 17:25, Mal 3:1, Mal 3:2, 1Jo 3:1
Reciprocal: Luk 3:4 – Prepare Luk 17:21 – within you Joh 1:7 – a witness Joh 3:26 – to whom Act 13:25 – whom
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE UNKNOWN CHRIST
There standeth One among you, Whom ye know not. The same is He that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
Joh 1:26; Joh 1:33
Is the charge still true. Is Christ still unknown in His special prerogative as He that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost?
I. Christ is not an absent force.He is unseen. His bodily presence is removed from us for a time, but He is still in our midst the Captain of our Salvation, the Leader and Commander of His people. But just as among the crowd that gathered on the banks of Jordan the Carpenter of Nazareth was unrecognised, and few realised the new and immense spiritual leverage that was for them in Jesus Christ, so it is still very often in the present day. Historically He is better known, we worship Him as the Christ, the Messiah of God. Theologically we know Him and acknowledge His Godhead, His mediatorial work, His sacrificial death, His glorious Resurrection and Ascension. But practically He stands is the midst unrecognised, unknown, unsought.
II. With the outside world we are not surprised to find it so.They have left no room for Christ in their counsels. It would interfere with their gambling and money-making. It suits them better to pretend that Christianity is a spent force, that the teaching of Christ is old-fashioned, a beautiful ideal, but quite impossible under present circumstances.
III. But what about the Christian Churches?Surely they know that the living Christ is among them waiting to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire? The Apostles, in the Holy War they waged against sin and heathenism and corrupt Judaism, only knew two remedies for human depravity, the Blood of the Lamb and the Fire of the Holy Ghost. But the Church of the twentieth century is getting ashamed of the blood and fire of the Gospel of Christ; her confidence is being placed in intellectual attainments, and so, though there never was so much Christian enterprise as in the present day, it is too much on the human level; there is so little of the supernatural, so little of the power of the Holy Ghost, in it, and even our Christian workers seem to forget the Christ Who stands among us waiting to baptize with the Holy Ghost.
IV. There is often the same lack in the daily life and experience of Gods children.Their present life is full of weakness and failure, of sadness and complaint. And yet Christ is among them, able to save to the uttermost, waiting to baptize with the Holy Ghost. But, alas! they see Him not.
Rev. F. S. Webster.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
6
John did not say anything to lessen the importance of his work, neither did he wish them to think he regarded It as the most important. Hence he stated that his ceremony consisted of water baptism only. He further told them that an unknown (to them) person was standing among them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 1:26-27. John answered them, saying, I baptize in water. The meaning of the Baptists answer has been greatly obscured by the insertion of but after these words. It has thus been supposed that the object of the Baptist is to depredate his baptism by bringing it into comparison with the baptism in the Spirit administered by Jesus. The two baptisms, however, are not as yet compared with one another. What John depreciated was himself, not the rite which he administered; and at Joh 1:31 he expressly magnifies his baptism, and points out its high prophetic significance. From this last-mentioned verse the import of the present clause must be determined. Even now John means, I baptize in water that I may call attention to Him whose way I am commissioned to prepare. For this purpose I am a voice of one that crieth; for this purpose also I baptize in water.In the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not, coming after me, the latchet of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose. Now follows the great fact explanatory of all this divine work of preparation, that the One waited for is come. Three stages of His manifestation, however, are to be marked; and as yet we have only readied the first, He standeth in the midst of you. So standing, He is distinguished by three characteristics: (1) Ye know Him not,the ye being emphatic, ye to whom He would gladly reveal Himself: (2) He cometh after me (see Joh 1:15): (3) His glory is so great that the Baptist is not worthy to unloose the latchet of His sandal. On the last words see note on Mar 1:7.
Such is the first testimony of the Baptist to Jesus. The fuller testimonies have yet to come. At this point, therefore, the narrative pauses to tell us that this testimony was given at the very place where the Baptist was at the moment making so profound an impression upon the people.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 26, 27. John answered them saying, Yea, I baptize with water;in the midst of you there standeth one whom you know not; 27. He who comes after mebut who was before me the latchet of whose sandal I am not worthy to loose.
This reply has been regarded as not very clear and as embarrassed. De Wette even thinks that it does not correspond altogether with the question proposed. The generally adopted explanation is the following: My baptism with water does not, in any case, encroach upon that of the Messiah, which is of an altogether superior nature; it is only preparatory for it. John would in some sort excuse his baptism by trying to diminish it, and by reminding them that beyond this ceremony the Messianic baptism maintains the place which belongs to it. But, first of all, this would be to evade the question which was put; and the criticism of de Wette would remain a well- founded one. For the baptism of John was attacked in itself and not as being derogatory to that of the Messiah. Then, the words , with water, should be placed at the beginning: It is only with water that I baptize, and the baptism of the Spirit would necessarily be mentioned in the following clause, as an antithesis. Finally, it would scarcely be in harmony with the character of the Baptist to shelter himself under the insignificance of his office and to present his baptism as an inoffensive novelty. This reply, properly understood, is, on the contrary, full of solemnity, dignity, even threatening; it makes apparent the importance of the present situation, into the mystery of which John alone, until now, is initiated. The Messiah is present: this is the reason why I baptize! If the Messianic time has really come, and he is himself charged with inaugurating it, his baptism is thereby justified (see Joh 1:23).
This feeling of the gravity of the situation and of the importance of his part is expressed in the , I, placed at the beginning of the answer, the meaning of which, as the sequel proves, is this: I baptize with water, and in acting thus I know what I do: for He is present who… We have given the force of this pronoun by the affirmation Yea! The , I, is ordinarily contrasted with the Messiah, by making an antithesis between the baptism of water and the baptism of the Spirit. But this latter is not even mentioned, and this interpretation results from a recollection of the words of the Baptist in the Synoptics. Hence also probably came the introduction of the particle , but (in what follows after the word ), which is rightly omitted by the Alexandrian authorities. It is precisely because he knows that the Messiah is present among them, that he baptizes with water and that he has the right to do so. This reply, accompanied as it undoubtedly was, with a significant look cast upon the crowd, in which the mysterious personage of whom he was thinking could be found, must have produced a profound sensation among his hearers. The two readings and , although one is in the perfect and the other in the present, have the same sense: He stands there. The important words are these:Whom you know not. The word you contrasts John’s hearers, who are still ignorant, with John himself, who already knows. This expression necessarily assumes that, at the time when the forerunner was speaking, the baptism of Jesus was already an accomplished fact. For it was by means of that ceremony that, in conformity with the divine promise (Joh 1:33), the person of the Messiah was to have been pointed out to him.
In Joh 1:31; Joh 1:33, He Himself affirms that, up to the moment of the baptism, he did not know Him. It is impossible, then, to place the baptism of Jesus, with Olshausen and Hengstenberg, on this same day or the next, with Baumlein, between Joh 1:28 and Joh 1:29, or, with Ewald, between Joh 1:31 and Joh 1:32. Moreover, this testimony, whateverWeiss may say of it, is wholly different from the preachings of John which are reported in the Synoptics, and which had preceded the baptism of Jesus. The very terms which the forerunner here employs contain a very clear allusion to previous declarations in which he had announced a personage who was to follow him; this is especially evident if we read before , the one coming after me whom I have announced to you. This testimony has an altogether new character: The Messiah is present, and I know him. This is the first declaration which refers personally to Jesus; it is for his hearers the true starting-point of faith in Him. The words it is he ( ), omitted by the Alexandrian authorities, sometimes omitted and sometimes read by Origen, are not indispensable, and may have been added either by copyists who wrongly identified this testimony with that of Joh 1:15 ( ), or by others who wished to bring out better the allusion to the previous testimonies related by the Synoptics.
It is otherwise with the words, who was before me, which the Alexandrian authorities, Origen and the Curetonian Syriac omit, but which 15 Mjj. and the two ancient versions, Itala and Peschito, read. The relation between this testimony and that of Joh 1:30, which will follow, renders these words indispensable in Joh 1:27. For in Joh 1:30, John reproduces expressly (he it is of whom I said [yesterday]), the testimony of Joh 1:27, and not, as is imagined, that of Joh 1:15, which is itself only a quotation of our Joh 1:30 (see on Joh 1:15). The first day, John uttered, without yet designating Jesus, the declaration of Joh 1:26-27; the second day, he repeated it, as it is related in Joh 1:30, this time applying it to Jesus as present. Gess rightly says, If the shorter reading of Joh 1:27 were the true one, the evangelist would refer in Joh 1:30 to a fact which had not been related by him (i. p. 345). These words: who was before me, are, in Joh 1:27, a sort of parenthesis inserted by the forerunner: Come after me? Yes, and yet in reality, my predecessor! (See on Joh 1:15).
By the expression to loose the latchet of the sandals, John means to designate the humble office of a slave. On the pleonasm of and Baumlein rightly says: imitation of the Hebrew construction. Philologues discuss the question whether the form implies a weakening of the sense of the conjunction , which becomes here, according to some, a simple paraphrase of the infinitive (worthy to loose), so Baumlein, or whether this conjunction always retains the idea of purpose (Meyer). Baumlein rests upon the later Greek usage and on the of the modern Greek, which, with the verb in the subjunctive mood, supplies the place of the infinitive. Nevertheless, we hold, with Meyer, that the idea of purpose is never altogether lost in the of the New Testament; he who is worthy of doing a thing, is, as it were, intended to do it.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Verse 26
There standeth one among you; that is, there is one now living among you.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1:26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one {m} among you, whom ye know not;
(m) Whom all the world sees, and sees even amongst you.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
John replied by implying that his authority to baptize as he did came from an authoritative figure who was present but yet unknown. John did not identify Him then. This would have exposed Jesus to the scrutiny of Israel’s leadership prematurely. John only realized that Jesus was the Messiah after he said these words (cf. Joh 1:31). John simply referred to this One and implied that he baptized in water under divine authority. He stressed the great authority of Jesus by saying he was unworthy to do even menial service for Him. Thus John bore witness to Jesus even before he identified Him as the Messiah.
"To get the full impact of this we must bear in mind that disciples did do many services for their teachers. Teachers in ancient Palestine were not paid (it would be a terrible thing to ask for money for teaching Scripture!). But in partial compensation disciples were in the habit of performing small services for their rabbis instead. But they had to draw the line somewhere, and menial tasks like loosing the sandal thong came under this heading. There is a rabbinic saying (in its present form dating from c. A.D. 250, but probably much older): ’Every service which a slave performs for his master shall a disciple do for his teacher except the loosing of his sandal-thong.’ John selects the very task that the rabbinic saying stresses as too menial for any disciple, and declares himself unworthy to perform it." [Note: Ibid., p. 124.]