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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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John 3:25
Comments
We must note the exemplary spirit of John the Baptist, his model modesty. We know that he was a fiery man and a wild man in appearance. We know that he reminded the people of what they imagined Elijah must have been like, and yet this is combined with an extraordinary humility and modesty when it comes to his attitude to Christ, and his readiness to be surpassed by Christ, and for his ministry to be eclipsed by that of Christ.Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples’ and those Jewish leaders or their emissaries, their representatives about purifying. In the Gospel of John, it is nearly always the case that when the John refers to the Jews, he is referring to the hostile Jewish leaders. He tends to use the term ‘the Jews’ to refer specifically to the chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees and their officers who were hostile to Christ. We have already read in chapter 1 that the Sanhedrin had sent Pharisees to question John. ‘What is this baptism all about? You are a son of a priest, but you have never taken up that commission – what do you mean by this? Is this baptism you are administering a legitimate, Jewish rite? Are you the Christ?’ – ‘No’ – ‘Well, what are you then?’ And John explains to them that he was the forerunner of Christ. And now, they are at it again, and this time they try a new tack – they want to drive a wedge between Christ and John the Baptist.
Application
Questions
Most of the modern versions translate ‘the Jews’ in the singular as ‘a Jew’. ‘Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and a Jew,’ in the singular, about purifying. That comes from a quite unacceptable manuscript source, not in line with the Reformed manuscript tradition, and it skews all the subsequent interpretation. It is of course highly uncharacteristic of John, who Jews nearly always uses this term in the plural to describe the leading Jews, the scribes and the Pharisees. [It also offers little explanation of why the disciples of John were so disturbed if this was the opinion of just one man.]
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Introduction