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Gospel of John Commentary: Session 2

Writer's picture: Old Things Pass AwayOld Things Pass Away

Hello everyone, and welcome to my series on the Gospel of John! This is the second session of my commentary on this Gospel.


John 1:19-23 "And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”"


John identifies himself as the one "Making straight the way of the Lord" from Isaiah 40:3. This verse makes Christ God because the word "Lord" means YHWH, and John is the testimony for Jesus bringing the Kingdom with Him. The Jews from Jerusalem were from the tribe of Levi. The Levites were the priests from the Old Covenant. They had an important job of making sacrifices for the Israeli people. The Pharisees ask John if he is Elijah because the Sadducees only recognized the five books of Moses. Isaiah wrote much of the coming Messiah when things were in turmoil with the exile to Babylon. The "Prophet" that they speak of comes from Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19, so that would have been someone the Sadducees were looking forward to coming to redeem Israel.


John 1:24-28 "(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing."


John was baptizing the people a baptism of repentance. It was not a baptism into the people of God under Yeshua. We see this clearly here:

Acts 19:1-7 "And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all."

John was baptizing the people in the Jordan River not for the forgiveness of sins, but a baptism of repentance. We can see that John gives ultimate authority to Jesus given his posture that he would not even feel worthy to untie the steps of Jesus's sandals, which was the job a slave would do for their master.


John 1:29-34

"The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”"


John identifies Jesus as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." This is very significant! The author John's use of the word "world" often signifies those who are unsaved. So, Christ effectively died for everyone. What's more, is John identifies Jesus as a "Lamb" which is significant since a lamb was used in sacrifice to take away sins. So it is possible John knew Jesus would die fo the sins of the whole world. John said that Jesus would be "revealed to Israel." That is in Jesus's Messiahship. Messiah means anointed in Hebrew. So Christ is the one with unmeasured anointing by the Holy Spirit. We see this when John says he saw the Holy Spirit rest on Jesus, signifying his anointing. The Israelites were looking forward to the coming Messiah. So John is signaling, "This is the Messiah." Also, it is key to point out that John says that Jesus would baptize us "with the Holy Spirit." This means something new was coming. The Holy Spirit did work in the Old Covenant, but only to select people at select times. John is proclaiming something new--that Jesus would take away their sins and fill all His followers with the Holy Spirit.


That's it for this one!


God bless you! Until next time!

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