Bishop's Epistle: The Baptist Witnesses of Himself

The witness of John the Baptist to himself, vv19-28.

¶1:19-28 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? (Matt 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8; Luke 3:1-18; ch 5:33). 20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ (Luke 3:15; ch 3:28; Acts 13:25). 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. (Deut 18:15; 2 Kgs 2:11; Mal 3:1-3; Matt 11:14; 17;11-13 Mark 9:13; Acts 3:32). 22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias (Isa 40:3;Matt 3:3; Mark 1:2; Luke 3:4). 24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? (Ezek 36:25; Zech 13:1; Matt 16:14). 26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; (Matt 3:11; Mark 1:7-8; Luke 3;16; Acts 13:25). 27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose (Acts 19:4). 28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing (Judg 7:24; ch 10:40).

v19 The Jews. John employs the term “Jews” to indicate the rulers, not the common people. Levites. Descendants of the tribe of Levi who were assigned to specific duties in connection with the Tabernacle and Temple (Num 3:17-37). They had teaching responsibilities (2 Chr 35:3; Neh 8:7-9). Both the Levites and the priest came to investigate John the Baptist concerning unauthorized teaching. (John was of the family of Aaron [Luke 1:5] whose ministry should have been conducted in the temple. He had deserted the temple system and ministered in the wilderness: this presaged the coming Messianic Kingdom.) v20 The Christ. Grk Christos (St’s #G5547), the Grk word for Messiah. Both words mean: “the anointed one.” v21 No. John had come to give testimony of Christ. The committee kept asking the Baptist questions about himself — his answers became more terse. E.g. “I am not the Christ” (v20), “I am not” (here, when asked if he was Elijah), and “No,” (here, when asked if he was “that prophet”). The Jews were expecting the appearance of various persons to signal the coming of the Messiah. John denied that he was the Messiah or Elijah who was to come before the Day of the LORD (Mal 4:5). Jesus is to correct John’s opinion of himself by stating clearly that he indeed was Elijah who was to come (Matt 11:14-17; 17:10-13). John was aware (conscious) of his mission to introduce the Messiah (ch1:29-34), but was obviously unconscious that he was the reincarnation of Elijah: cf Matt 11:14. v23 I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord. John applies the prophecy of Isaiah 40:3 to himself. The “way” was to be made “straight” for Yahweh (see Isa 40:3 the word “LORD” in this passage is YHWH, Yahweh). It is clear that John the Baptist recognized the Messiah as Yahweh (see Micah 5:2). The Essenes of Qumran, who produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, applied the same prophecy to themselves, which has prompted many to assume the Baptist to have been connected to this group. v24 Pharisees. A conservative religious party who probed deeper than most into religious re- quirements of the Law. They were the doctors and scribes of the Law. (v19). Jesus had little good to say concerning this group. They were pronged to self-righteousness and hypocrisy. In the end many Pharisees became disciples of Christ (Acts 15:5). v25 Why baptizest thou then. Baptism, while not unfamiliar, was not common and marked a national renewal to faith. Clearly in the mind of John’s questioners the act of water baptism was signaling a change in national direction which they associated with the Messiah. That prophet. This is a reference to the promised coming prophet like unto Moses (Deut 18:15,18). v26 I baptize with water. The synoptics add the Baptist’s words concerning Spirit baptism. The emphasis here, however, is water because John’s emphases is purification. There is a symbolic river of the Water of Life running through this Gospel, beginning at this verse (see ch 2:1-12; 3:3-5; 4:4-26; 5:1-19; 6:16-26: 7:37-39; 9:1-7: 13:4-17:19:31-37: ch 21). v27 Whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. Cf Matt 11:11. This task is fit only for a slave. The disciple may perform many tasks for his Rabbi, but this one was expressly excluded. On an entirely different level there may be a veiled hint to the law of inheritance: where if the one to inherit rejected the inheritance he was to remove his shoe and give it to the next person in the line of inheritance. In this sense the Baptist would be saying that Jesus was the true Son to inherit the Messianic Kingdom and he was not worthy to take His shoe, i.e. receive the inheritance himself. It is very likely that the Evangelist takes pain to record this saying of the Baptist because of the disciples of John who were going about proclaiming him to have been the Messiah. (See Ruth 4:7 cf Amos 2:6; 8:6.) v28 Bethabara beyond Jordan. The exact site is unknown, but it is east of the Jordan River. Grk Bēthabara (St’s 962) means: “Ferry house.” We may assume from the name that it was an established place for crossing the Jordan River and was, therefore, very public; thus, it was an apt place for John to baptize.

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