John 1:30 Commentary and Bible Study

For the second time (see verse 15) John the Baptist refers back to his testimony given before Christ was baptized. This testimony is recorded in all three of the other gospels (but not in John), where he preaches to the crowds coming to be baptized and uses words similar to those in Matthew 3:11: ‘He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear’. John was a faithful servant of the Lord who was given a tremendous privilege in being the forerunner of Christ, but he would not go an inch beyond his commission. He rejoiced to point to Christ and then retire from the limelight as Christ’s ministry totally eclipsed his own. His repetition of this testimony is directed at his own disciples with the intention that they should no longer follow him but turn completely to Christ, and so it naturally follows that the rest of the chapter tells us of the first disciples engaged by the Lord.