Saint John’s Gospel (6): John 3: 22-36

A traditional icon showing scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist

Patrick Comerford

22 Μετὰ ταῦτα ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν γῆν, καὶ ἐκεῖ διέτριβεν μετ' αὐτῶν καὶ ἐβάπτιζεν. 23 ἦν δὲ καὶ Ἰωάννης βαπτίζων ἐν Αἰνὼν ἐγγὺς τοῦ Σαλείμ, ὅτι ὕδατα πολλὰ ἦν ἐκεῖ, καὶ παρεγίνοντο καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο· 24 οὔπω γὰρ ἦν βεβλημένος εἰς τὴν φυλακὴν ὁ Ἰωάννης.

25 Ἐγένετο οὖν ζήτησις ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν Ἰωάννου μετὰ Ἰουδαίου περὶ καθαρισμοῦ. 26 καὶ ἦλθον πρὸς τὸν Ἰωάννην καὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ· Ραββί, ὃς ἦν μετὰ σοῦ πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, ᾧ σὺ μεμαρτύρηκας, ἴδε οὗτος βαπτίζει καὶ πάντες ἔρχονται πρὸς αὐτόν. 27 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰωάννης καὶ εἶπεν· Οὐ δύναται ἄνθρωπος λαμβάνειν οὐδὲν ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ δεδομένον αὐτῷ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. 28 αὐτοὶ ὑμεῖς μοι μαρτυρεῖτε ὅτι εἶπον· οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐγὼ ὁ Χριστός, ἀλλ' ὅτι Ἀπεσταλμένος εἰμὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἐκείνου. 29 ὁ ἔχων τὴν νύμφην νυμφίος ἐστίν· ὁ δὲ φίλος τοῦ νυμφίου, ὁ ἑστηκὼς καὶ ἀκούων αὐτοῦ, χαρᾷ χαίρει διὰ τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ νυμφίου. αὕτη οὖν ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ πεπλήρωται. 30 ἐκεῖνον δεῖ αὐξάνειν, ἐμὲ δὲ ἐλαττοῦσθαι.

31 Ὁ ἄνωθεν ἐρχόμενος ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν. ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἐστιν καὶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαλεῖ· ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐρχόμενος ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστί, 32 καὶ ὃ ἑώρακεν καὶ ἤκουσεν, τοῦτο μαρτυρεῖ, καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ οὐδεὶς λαμβάνει. 33 ὁ λαβὼν αὐτοῦ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἐσφράγισεν ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἀληθής ἐστιν. 34 ὃν γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς, τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ Θεοῦ λαλεῖ· οὐ γὰρ ἐκ μέτρου δίδωσιν ὁ Θεὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα. 35 ὁ πατὴρ ἀγαπᾷ τὸν υἱόν, καὶ πάντα δέδωκεν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ. 36 ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τὸν υἱὸν ἔχει ζωὴν αἰώνιον· ὁ δὲ ἀπειθῶν τῷ υἱῷ οὐκ ὄψεται ζωήν, ἀλλ' ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ μένει ἐπ' αὐτόν.

22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized – 24 John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

25 Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. 28 You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. 34 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 placed all things in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.

Introduction

A Syrian Orthodox icon of Saint John the Baptist

Without any transition – for there is no sequence between verses 21 and 22 – the narrative of the Fourth Gospel returns once again to the story of Saint John the Baptist. Indeed, Jesus has already arrived in Jerusalem, so we might ask how he went into Judea.

Verse 23:

Aenon near Salim has not been identified with certainty or with confidence. It may have been in the Upper Jordan Valley or, perhaps, near Shechem in Samaria, which is the setting for the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in the next chapter.

Verse 24:

The timing built into this section is interesting, for this means the Fourth Gospel places all of the ministry of Jesus in chapters 1 to 3 before the arrest of John the Baptist, while the Synoptic Gospels know only of a ministry after John’s arrest.

Verse 25:

The NRSV says this discussion was between the disciples of John and “a Jew”; some versions read “the Jews.” The discussion about purification is about Jewish religious ceremonies. The water turned into wine at Cana was in six stone water jars used for the rites of purification (see John 2: 6), so the author is preparing his readers to expect a reference to a wedding or a bridegroom.

Verse 26:

The success of Jesus and his disciples puzzles the followers of the Forerunner. When they learn that the disciples of Jesus are baptising people, they mentioned it to John and express what appears to be a competitive or even begrudging attitude.

Verse 27:

John the Baptist is provided with a final opportunity to bear witness. He responds: “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.”

John made it clear that no work – ministry, project, task, etc.—will please God or bear fruit unless it has been assigned by God. If it is the work of people rather than of God, it will not bear fruit. Therefore, in order to do fruitful work that is pleasing to God, we must pray and follow God’s leading, rather than deciding what we want to do, and concocting our own plans and strategies.

What is more, we need to trust God, not only in deciding what to do, but also in the doing of it. The work must be performed by the Spirit of Christ, working through us, rather than in our own strength.

Verse 28:

John makes it clear to his disciples that he is not the Messiah, the Christ. “I am not the Messiah,” he tells them. John has accepted who he is – and who he is not.

Verse 29:

Christ the Bridegroom ... a traditional image in Greek Orthodox iconography

But, while he is not the Christ, John is one who rejoices greatly to hear the bridegroom’s voice.

The image of Israel as the bride of God is an image found throughout the Old Testament (Isaiah 54: 6; Hosea 2: 19). The true Israel has been solemnly betrothed to God, and now Christ is coming to claim his bride. Have we been prepared for this concept with the story of the Wedding Feast of Cana (see )?

In traditional Jewish weddings at the time, the bridegroom came with his friends to his bride’s house to take her to his home. The bridegroom’s best friend would stand at the bride’s house to make sure that no-one entered the house before the bridegroom arrived.

Casting himself in the role of the bridegroom’s best friend who stands and listens out for his arrival, John the Baptist now hears the bridegroom (Christ) coming to claim his bride (the true Israel). As the best man should, he now rejoices that he can fade into the background.

How could John express any bitterness or resentment about having a lower rank than Christ? In fact, he says, his joy has “been fulfilled.”

Verse 30:

John’s statement is consistent with what Jesus teaches in 15:4-11: the person who abides in him (seeking, listening, submitting, obeying) will have his joy in him, and his joy will be full.

He must increase, but I must decrease. John accepted that he was not to be praised by people – Jesus was. John did not seek his identity, personal value, or contentment based on how his circumstances compared with those of other people. He focused on God, not on himself. He wanted to live out God’s plan for his life. And his identity was tied up in his relationship with God. Likewise, Christians should be content with God's will for them – nothing more, nothing less.

We should view our circumstances, not through the eyes of the world, but from God’s perspective. Each Christian is given different gifts, talents, and opportunities; but one thing applies to all of us: Christ must increase, and we must decrease.

In the NRSV, the quotation marks close at the end of this verse, but some interpreters hold that the quotation should continue through to the end of verse 36.

Verses 31-36

The speech in this smaller section at the end of Chapter 3 appears to be a repetition of Christ’s address to Nicodemus earlier in the chapter, according to Raymond Brown, who points out that almost every one of these six verses here have a counterpart there.

I suppose, therefore, we should understand these verses in the light of the problem of Nicodemus. They represent the revelation of Jesus even if they appear, because of the context, to be the words of John the Baptist.

But some commentators see this passage as an explanation by John the Baptist for the reasons he must decrease while Christ must increase, and of the ways in which he is different from Jesus.

Verse 32:

No one here is a generalisation, a reference to those Jews who do not accept the message of Jesus.

Verse 33:

The word for testimony is the same as witness and also gives us the word martyr. The word for has certified in the Greek means to set a seal.

Verse 34:

The author and others do believe and attest that Jesus speaks the words of God authentically.

Note the Trinitarian interpretation that we may read into this verse and verse 35.

Next: John 4: 1-42, The Samaritan woman at the well.

Canon Patrick Comerford is Director of Spiritual Formation, the Church of Ireland Theological Institute. This essay is based on notes prepared for a Bible study in a tutorial with B.Th. and M.Th. students on Wednesday 2 December 2009.