First Ministry in Judæa--John's Second Testimony.

  29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is made full.

  30 He must increase, but I must decrease. [Noble words! "He must increase"--because the divine law has ordered it, and prophecy has foretold it ( Isaiah 52:13 ), and because the very divinity of his nature absolutely requires it. "I must decrease"--in popularity, in power, in following. The Christian minister finds the increase of his work the same as the increase of Christ's kingdom; but with the Baptist the case was different. He was a Jewish prophet, and as the power of the New Dispensation, under Christ, gained headway, the Old Dispensation, of which he was a part, waxed old, and was ready to vanish away.]

  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. [Some think that the testimony of the Baptist closes with the thirtieth verse, and that the rest of the chapter is the comment of the apostle John, but there is certainly no sufficient ground for such a view.]

  32 What he hath seen and heard, of that he beareth witness; and no man receiveth his witness. [In verses 31 and 32 draws a contrast between his testimony and that of the Messiah. The Baptist's testimony was largely of a negative character. He testified that he was not the Christ ( and while he pointed Jesus out as the Christ, the worthy one, the spiritual baptizer, he nowhere undertook to elaborate as to the character or nature of Jesus. He looked upon Jesus as being so far above all earthly prophets that no prophet could reveal him. The task of such revelation devolved upon Jesus himself. God must be self-revealed. It was no heavy disappointment to John that his disciples had failed to grasp his testimony concerning himself, and yet so few were persuaded by the testimony of Jesus that John hyperbolically says "no man receiveth his witness."]

  33 He that hath received his witness hath set his seal to this, that God is true. [We have here a metaphor, taken from the sealing of a document, as an expression of trust in or adherence to it. Compare John 6:27 ; 1 Corinthians 9:2 . To receive Christ's witness was to publicly confess a conviction that God was true--true to his promise that he would send a Messiah, a Saviour ( Romans 3:4 ). To believe Christ is to believe God; to make Christ a liar is to make the Father one also, for he speaks concerning Christ ( 1 John 5:10 ) and through Christ-- John 7:16 ; 16:24 .]

  34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for he giveth not the Spirit by measure. [To give anything by measure indicates a partial, scanty bestowal ( 4:16 ). The Spirit of God, even in inspired prophets, was but a partial and intermittent gift ( 1 Corinthians 7:25 ; 13:9 ; 1 Peter 1:11 ; Hebrews 1:1 ), but in Jesus, the Son of God, the Spirit of God dwelt fully and uninterruptedly ( Colossians 1:19 ). The present tense, "giveth," points to a continuous communication of the Spirit. If Christ had received the Spirit "by measure," then his gift of the Spirit might be exhausted.]

  35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. [This fact was afterwards asserted by Jesus ( Matthew 28:18 ). Jesus is indeed King of kings-- Psalms 2:6-8 ; Matthew 11:27 ; Acts 2:33 ; 10:36 ; Ephesians 1:22 .]

  36 He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life [the New Testament represents everlasting life as a present possession obtained by belief]; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. [In the second clause of this verse "obeyeth" stands in contrast with "believeth" in the first clause. No mental assent, however strong, is reckoned by the Scriptures as faith unless it results in obedience ( James 2:20 ; Romans 1:5 ). "Wrath of God" is a strong phrase, and is not to be lightly explained away. The unconverted sinner rests under this wrath. His study should be not only to avert a sentence to be pronounced at some future day, but to be freed from one already resting upon him. This verse shows conclusively that Christ's atoning work had its divine as well as its human side; that God had to be propitiated as truly as man had to be reconciled. The Baptist had already repeatedly warned the Jewish people of wrath to come if they rejected the Messiah, and in this, his last recorded utterance, he boldly reiterates that warning.]