Bible Study Series: John 3:22-30. No competition. John had the right perspective and attitude.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together how to apply these truths to our lives.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
For the Greek text, click here:
At that link, I provide a lot more commentary.
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 3:22-30
22 Afterwards, Jesus, along with his disciples, went to the countryside of Judea and he remained there with them, and he was baptizing. 23 John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim because water was plentiful there. People came and were being baptized. 24 (For John had not yet thrown been thrown into prison.) 25 There was a discussion by the disciples of John with a Jew about purification. 26 They went to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, Look! He is baptizing and everyone is going to him!” 27 John replied and said, “A man is not able to receive one thing unless it had been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves testify about me that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29 The one who has bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom stands by and listens to him and rejoices greatly because of bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been accomplished. 30 He must increase, I decrease.” (John 3:22-30)
Comments
22:
John was a mature preacher about the Messiah. Now Jesus came into the region of Jordan and was baptizing people. John 4:2 says that it was Jesus’s disciple who actually did the baptizing. However, Jesus oversaw this ministry.
Klink: “For this reason it is best to view the forthcoming comment in 4:2 not as an attempt to separate Jesus from the act of baptism but as an attempt to show the similarity between those who are doing the baptizing and the disciples of Jesus, is founded upon Jesus, who is authorizing true baptism on both accounts (John’s baptism and Jesus’s baptism). This is why ‘he was baptizing’ … had to be third-person singular, and why baptism is the church is always done in the name of Jesus (Acts 10:48; cf. Matt. 28:19)” (comment on v. 22).
23:
Aenon’s and Salim’s locations are not clear. You can look them up in a google Bible map or another website. The point is that John moved away from Judea, and then Jesus took over the baptizing, through his disciples.
24:
John, the author of the Fourth Gospel, includes an aside that John had not been thrown into prison. For the details of his unjust imprisonment, please see Matthew 14:1-12.
As I noted there, Herodias had married yet another son of Herod the Great, Herod Philip I, whose mother was Mariamne), but he did not rule. Herod Antipas talked Herodias into leaving Herod Philip I, and she did, while Herod Philip I was still living. Both Herod Antipas and Herod Philip I were her uncles. The girl who danced was named Salome and was Herodias’s and Herod Philip I’s daughter. So she was Herod Antipas’s stepdaughter and grandniece. Since this dance was at his birthday party and wine flowed, we can be sure that he was drunk, and her dance, no doubt sexual, pleased him, so he made a rash vow. Her mother knew the dance would please her drunk husband.
25-26:
We don’t know what the discussion or dispute about purification was about, but it was probably about baptism, which soon came around to Jesus’s growing popularity, for they all agreed that more people are heading towards Jesus’s baptizing ministry.
“witness”: see 3:11 for more comments.
27-28:
John then talks about ministry which had been given to him from heaven. Bruce is on target:
Each man, says John, has his allotted gift or ministry from God; his responsibility is to fulfil that. John was appointed to be a herald and witness of the Messiah; he might well be content to have fulfilled that commission. All gifts come from God, including the gift of serving him in this or that capacity … John is not disquieted at his disciple’s news as they themselves are: he reminds them that he had already made it plain that he was not the Messiah (John 1:20 but had come baptizing to make ready the way of the Coming One. The forerunner’s gifts and tasks were different from those of the Coming One, but both alike were bestowed ‘from heaven.’ (comments on vv. 27-28)
The verse about gifts and calling coming from heaven are not about initial salvation, but everyone on either side of the Calvinist – Arminian debate agree that God woos and calls people to come to him. Yet, John is referring to his commission, not salvation and conversion.
“testify”: see 3:11 for more comments.
What does the term Christ or Messiah mean? The term means the Anointed One. In Hebrew it is Messiah, and in Greek it is Christ. It means that the Father through the Spirit equipped Jesus with his special calling and the fulness of power to preach and minister to people, healing their diseases and expelling demons (though demon expulsion is not mentioned in John’s Gospel). The Messiah / Christ ushered in the kingdom of God by kingdom preaching and kingdom works.
3. Titles of Jesus: The Son of David and the Messiah
John was proclaiming that he was not the Christ, but the forerunner of the Messiah.
29:
The bridegroom is the man who is about to be married, and the friend of the bridegroom is his best man. The mature best man does not get upset when he hears the bridegroom’s voice as he comes for his bride. John is the friend of the bridegroom, and Jesus is the bridegroom. Who is the bride? Let’s not over-interpret it, but it could refer to Israel first (Is. 62:4-5; Jer. 2:2; Hos. 2:16-20), because Jesus came to call his own nation to repentance.
The whole idea is found in another teaching:
19 Jesus said to them, “The friends of the bridegroom, while the bridegroom is with them, cannot fast, can they? For as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the days shall come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and at that time they shall fast on that day. (Mark 2:19-20)
But Jesus continues his ministry now with the church, which is the bride of Christ (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25-27; Rev. 21:2, 9, 22; 22:17). John the Baptist is the best man, and now that he sees the bridegroom coming, rather than getting sour or jealous, he celebrates it.
Klink:
The “friend” was a highly honored position who had numerous, important functions at the wedding, including serving as witness, contributing financially, having a prominent place in festivities, and providing general oversight and arrangement for the ceremony. He possibly even served as the agent of the bridegroom, the role that John the Baptist performed for Jesus. … Unlike the disciples [of John], the Baptist knew his purpose and the role he played in wedding between God and Christ and his people, the church, among whom he was a fortunate benefactor and for whom he was a servant (comment on v. 29)
30:
John’s willingness to decrease, while the Messiah decreases, reminds me of Simeon’s words:
28 He [Simeon] received him [baby Jesus] into his arms and blessed God and said,
29 “Now you may release your servant in peace, Master, according to your word,
30 because my eyes have seen your salvation.
31 which you have prepared front and center before all the people,
32 a light of revelation for the Gentiles,
And the glory for your people Israel.”
Both Simeon and John were satisfied with their mission, when they saw the Messiah, Simeon when Jesus was a baby, and John when the Messiah was grown and already embarked on his mission. Both men were mature and grateful for witnessing this momentous event, from the Messiah’s birth to his ministry launch.
“Rather, to increase for Jesus means he becomes the one who gives, and to decrease for the Baptist means he becomes the one who receives” (Klink, comment on v. 30).
Yes, John was a mighty and mature and humble man of God.
GrowApp for John 3:22-30
1. It takes maturity to decrease, while your friend increases. Have you had to play “second fiddle”? Do you have a story about this?
2. Do you support someone who has greater influence than you have?
RELATED
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel
4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel
3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
For the bibliography, click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 