John 3:31

ὁ ἄνωθεν ἐρχ. Christ: John 3:13; John 8:23 : ἄνωθεν here must mean ‘from above’; see on John 3:3. He is above all, John included, little as John’s disciples may like the fact. Comp. Matthew 11:11.

ὁ ὢν ἐκ τ. γῆς. Εἶναι ἐκ, expressing a moral relation, is characteristic of S. John 7:17; John 8:23; John 8:44; John 8:47; John 15:19; John 17:14; John 17:16; John 18:36-37; 1 John 2:16; 1 John 2:19; 1 John 2:21; 1 John 3:8; 1 John 3:10; 1 John 3:12; 1 John 3:19; 1 John 4:1-7; 1 John 5:16; 3 John 1:11; elsewhere in N.T. not common. Comp. γεγενῆσθαι ἐκ, John 3:5-6; John 3:8; John 1:13; John 8:41; 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:9; 1 John 4:7; 1 John 5:1; 1 John 5:4; 1 John 5:18. Note the emphatic repetition of ἐκ τ. γῆς, as of κόσμος in John 3:17. Comp. John 12:36; John 15:19. He that is of the earthy of the earth he is, and of the earth he speaketh. This was John’s case: he spoke of ‘earthly things’ (John 3:12). Divine Truth as manifested in the world, and as revealed to him. He could not, like Christ, speak from immediate knowledge of ‘heavenly things.’ Ἐκτ. γῆς λαλεῖν is very different from ἐκ τ. κόσμου λαλεῖν (1 John 4:5); the one is to speak of God’s work on earth; the other of what is not God’s work but opposes it.

ὁ ἐκ τ. οὐρ. ἐρχ. Repeating and defining ὀ ἄνωθεν ἐρχ., thoroughly in S. John’s style. In what follows we have another (see John 3:13; John 3:15) interesting question of reading. T. R. has ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστί, καὶ. The καί must be omitted on overwhelming evidence (אBDL against A): asyndeton is the rule throughout this passage. The evidence as to ἐπάνω π. ἐστί is very divided, the balance being against the words. Omitting them, we translate: He that cometh from heaven beareth witness to that which He hath seen and heard.