John 3:27

Ver. 27. “ John answered and said: A man can receive nothing except that which hath been given him from heaven. ”

As far as John 3:30, which is the centre of this discourse, the dominant idea is that of the person and mission of the forerunner. Accordingly, it seems natural to apply the general sentence of John 3:27 specially to John the Baptist. He is urged to defend himself against Jesus who is despoiling him. “I cannot take,” he answers, “that which God has not given me” in other words, “I cannot assign to myself my part: make myself the bridegroom, when I am only the friend of the bridegroom.”

So Bengel, Lucke, Reuss, Hengstenberg, I myself (first ed.). I abandoned this application in the second edition, for that of Olshausen, de Wette, Meyer, Weiss, according to which this maxim refers to Jesus: “He would not be obtaining such success, if God Himself did not give it to Him.” With this meaning, this saying must be regarded as the summary of the two parts of the discourse (I and He), and not only of the first part. Yet I ask myself whether it is not proper, as I did originally, to refer this maxim to the mission conferred, rather than the success obtained; comp. Hebrews 5:4. Then the asyndeton between John 3:26-27 is more consonant with the application to John only, since he announces the following verse as an energetic reaffirmation of the thought of John 3:26.