John 1:25 Commentary and Bible Study

The tone of the Pharisees’ line of questioning is, ‘What are you doing baptising people? Who authorised you?’ The point is that in the Old Testament there were purification procedures which came to be called, ‘baptisms’. Baptism was a particular rite which was administered by the priests to proselytes and others under strictly controlled circumstances governed by the Old Testament. John the Baptist was the son of a priest, he was a Levite, but what right had he to be administering this rite of baptism on a mass scale? In the custom of the Jews they were used for various purposes but, the main purpose at the time of Christ was this: if a Gentile wished to become a Jew, they would administer a baptism, making him a proselyte – a kind of second class Jew. They also believed that when Messiah came he would perform baptisms, but what was this John the Baptist doing, said the temple authorities; he is neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor that prophet: what is he baptising for? It is even suggested that he was treating Jews as though they were Gentiles, who needed a new baptism.They had not been affected in the least by his answer. ‘I am the one prophesised by the prophet Isaiah, a voice crying in the wilderness, make ready the Saviour is coming.’ Should that not have interested them? ‘You have these great crowds. You are preaching in this prophetic manner. You are saying you are the forerunner of Christ.’ Do they engage in him on that subject? No, they are not interested; they are unmoved. They do not want to hear about Messiah literally coming. They had this idea that Messiah would be a political Messiah, would be a great conqueror, who would deliver them from the Roman authority. So they were unimpressed, unaffected and they simply continue to interrogate him.All this serves to show the desperate state of the nation at the time. A voice, a lone voice as prophesised by Isaiah and Malachi. Were there not others? Were there no prophets? No, there had not been a prophet for 400 years. God was not dealing with them. Were there no priests, no Levites, no clergy, who preached about Christ, the coming Christ, a Saviour from sin, who preached the meaning of the Old Testament sacrifices, the great hope of the Jews, salvation and resurrection to be spread to all the nations? No, they were asleep to all that. All they wanted was a better life, a political Messiah. What a shocking state of affairs.