John 4:1

The first verse gives the cause of His leaving Judaea, to wit, a threatened or possible collision with the Pharisees, who resented His baptising. Ὡς οὖν ἔγνω … ἢ Ἰωάννης. οὖν continues the narrative with logical sequence, connecting what follows with what goes before; here it connects what is now related with the popularity of Jesus' baptism, John 3:22; John 3:26. ὁ κύριος, so unusual in this Gospel that some editors read Ἰησοῦς, for which there is scant authority. But where the evangelist is not reporting contemporary speech but speaking for his own person κύριος is natural. ἔγνω rightly rendered in the modern Greek translation by ἔμαθεν; the knowledge that comes by information is meant. ὅτι ἤκουσαν, that the Pharisees had heard, the aorist here, as frequently elsewhere, representing the English pluperfect. What they had heard is given in direct narration under an introductory ὅτι, and hence not the pronoun but Ἰησοῦς appears as subject: “Jesus is making and baptising more disciples than John”. μαθητὰς ποιεῖ (cf. μαθητεύσατε βαπτίζοντες, Matthew 28:19), “disciples” being here used in the wider sense and not involving permanent separation from their employments. The Pharisees had resented John's baptising, much more that of Jesus, because more popular.