John 1:26

John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; JOHN ANSWERED THEM, SAYING, I BAPTIZE WITH WATER - with water only; the higher, internal, baptism with the Holy Spirit being the exclusive prerogative of his Master. (See the note at .) BUT THERE STANDETH ONE AMONG YOU, WHOM YE KNOW NOT. This must have been spoken after Christ's Baptism, and probably almost immediately after it....

26._I baptize with water_. This ought to have been abundantly sufficient for the correction of their mistake, but a reproof otherwise clear is of no advantage to the deaf; for, when he sends them to Christ, and declares that Christ is present, this is a clear proof not only that he was divinely appointed to be a minister of Christ, but that he is the true _Elijah_, who is sent to testify that the time is come (36) for the renovation of the Church. There is a contrast here which is not fully stated; for the spiritual _baptism _of Christ is not expressly contrasted with the external _baptism _of John, but that latter clause about the _baptism _of the Spirit might easily be supplied, and shortly afterwards both are set down by the Evangelist. This answer may be reduced to two heads: first, that John claims nothing for himself but what he has a right to claim, because he has Christ for t

19-28 John disowns himself to be the Christ, who was now expected and waited for. He came in the spirit and power of Elias, but he was not the person of Elias. John was not that Prophet whom Moses said the Lord would raise up to them of their brethren, like unto him. He was not such a prophet as they expected, who would rescue them from the Romans. He gave such an account of himself, as might excite and awaken them to hearken to him. He baptized the people with water as a profession of repentance, and as an outward sign of the spiritual blessings to be conferred on them by the Messiah, who was in the midst of them, though they knew him not, and to whom he was unworthy to render the meanest service....

Verse 26. _I BAPTIZE WITH WATER_] Mark 1:8, Mark 1:8. I use the common form, though I direct the baptized to a different end, viz. that they shall repent of their sins, and believe in the Messiah. _THERE STANDETH ONE AMONG YOU_] That is, the person whose forerunner I am is now _dwelling in the land of Judea_, and will shortly make his appearance among you. Christ was not _present_ when John spoke thus, as may be seen from John 1:29....

I BAPTIZE - He did not deny it; nor did he condescend to state his authority. That he had given. He “admitted” that he had introduced an important “change” in the rites of religion, and he goes on to tell them that this was not all. Greater and more important changes would soon take place without their authority. The Messiah was about to come, and the “power” was about to depart from “their” hands. THERE STANDETH ONE - There is one. AMONG YOU - In the midst of you. He is undistinguished among the multitude. The Messiah had already come, and was about to be manifested to the people. It was not until the next day John 1:29 that Jesus was manifested or proclaimed as the Messiah; but it is not improbable that he was then among the people that were assembled near the Jordan, and mingled

EXPOSITION THE title of the book is differently given in the manuscripts and ancient versions, and the differences are so considerable that they cannot be referred to the original text. The simplest form of the title is found in א, B, D, and is nothing more than "_according to_ John," ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ (B gives only one N in John's name, but א two); and this is followed by the vulgate and Syriac as a running title. The immense proportion of the uncials—A, C, E, F, G, L, and eight or nine others—read "Gospel according to John" (Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ιωάννην). This is followed by Tregelles, Lachmann, Alford. The T.R., with a large number of manuscripts, reads, "The Gospel according to John;" and in Stephen's third edition the word "holy" occurs before "Gospel." The cursives 69, 178, 259, read Εὐαγγέλιον ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Ἰωὰνην. Some cursives read, "Of the (holy) Gospel according to John." The p...

JOHN ANSWERED THEM, SAYING, I BAPTIZE WITH WATER,.... Or in water, so the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions render it. The sense of the answer is, that he indeed baptized persons in water, which was all that he could do, or pretended to do; and he owned, that this was a new rite, and that he was the administrator of a new ordinance; but he suggests, as may be supplied from Matthew 3:11 that there was one at hand, and even now among them, that should baptize, and so it is read in one of Stephens's copies here, in the Holy Ghost, and in fire; and it was by his authority, by a commission he had received from him, that he baptized in water; and that his speedy manifestation and appearance as the Messiah, which would be confirmed by his power of baptizing in the Holy Ghost, and by his ministry and miracles, would be a sufficient vindication of his conduct, and support him in his ad...

John 1:1. _In the beginning was the Word,_ Christ the Word has existed from all eternity. He is the eternal Son of the eternal Father; he is really what Melchisedec was metaphorically, «having neither beginning of days, nor end of life.» «In the beginning was the Word,» John 1:1. _And the Word was with God, and the Word was God._ The Word was as truly God as the Father was God, and as the Spirit was God:» these three are one,» and ever have been one. «Very God of very God» is that Jesus whom we trust, and love, and adore. John 1:2. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the li

JOHN 1:26 e[sthken {B} The perfect tense, so frequently employed with theological overtones by the Fourth Evangelist, conveys a special force here (something like, “there is One who has taken his stand in your midst”), a force that was unappreciated by several Greek witnesses (B L ¦1 Origen Cyril) as well as by a variety of Latin, Syriac, and Coptic witnesses (ita, b, c, e. ff2, l, q syrc, s, p, h, pal copsa, bo), all of which preferred the more syntactically appropriate present tense. Other readings (the imperfect e`sth,kei and the pluperfect ei`sth,kei), besides being inappropriate in the context, are insufficiently supported. (On the forms of sth,kw see Bl...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. The Only-begotten, the Eternal Word; His Glory and His Manifestation -- Chapter 1:1-2:22 CHAPTER 1 __ 1. The Word: the Creator, the Life and the Light. (John 1:1 .) 2. The Light and the Darkness. The Light not Known. (John 1:5 .) 3. The Word Made Flesh and Its Gracious Results. (John 1:12 .) 4. The Witness of John. (John 1:19 .) 5. Following Him and Dwelling With Him. (John 1:35 .) 6. The Next Day. Nathanael's Unbelief and Confession. ...