THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS, THE CHRIST AND THE SON OF GOD, ACCORDING TO JOHN. Manfred Diefenbach

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      Verse 28 located the place of this event. For the sake of the Law and inner peace (cf. John 11:47–53; 18:1–19:16), they tested John the Baptist whether he was authorized to preach the baptism of the repentance (cf. vv. 23, 26, 28). The first part of the interview is that they asked⁶⁰ him who called to account like a policeman for his identity on behalf of the Jewish authority⁶¹ in Jerusalem (cf. vv. 21–22):

      “Who are you?” (cf. v. 22b and John 8:25; 12:34; 21:12 – cf. 19:9) – note the Greek interrogative pronouns “tís” (= who) in verses 19d, 22b and “tí” (= what) in verse 21b.

      v. 20: John the Baptist clearly gave them an account. So he did not deny his special prophetic ministry, in contrast to Peter (cf. 13:38; 18:25, 27: “arnéomaɩ”) and “confessed” – note the Greek verbum compositum “homo-logéo” in John 9:22; 12:42 and 1 John 1:9; 2:23; 4:2–3, 15; 2 John 7), in a negative way: “I am not⁶² Christ” (Greek)/the “Messiah” (Hebrew) – cf. vv. 17b, 20c, 25c, 41b and especially John 20:31⁶³.

      v. 21: Second, the delegation “from Jerusalem” (v. 19b) also asked him two questions which are like the first question of their interview in verse 19d:

      “What (are you) now?” and the second one is a specifically refers to the prophet Elijah –

      “Are you Elijah?” (in Greek “Elías” in vv. 21c, 25d and in Mark 6:15; 8:28; 9:4–5, 11–13; 15:35–36; Matthew 11:14; 16:14; 17:3–4, 10–12; 27:47, 49; Luke 1:17; 4:25–26; 9:8, 19, 30, 33).

      Again He said “NO” that he is not the “prophet”⁶⁴ (cf. vv. 21e, 23d, 25d; Deuteronomy 18:15, 18), the “new prophet Elijah”⁶⁵ (cf. v. 25 and Malachi 3:1, 23).

      v. 22: Thirdly, they asked him in the context of their interview again:

      “Who are you”? – note the question in verse 19d.

      Then the delegation “from Jerusalem” – probably including some Pharisees⁶⁶ – explained to him why they had to ask him. They requested him to answer them with his own statement of his identity.

      v. 23: He answered their question with the help of the quotation from Isaiah⁶⁷ 40:3⁶⁸. “Desert”⁶⁹ is the place of John the Baptist’s ministry – Bethany (cf. John 1:28) and/or “Aenon” near “Salim” (3:23) – from his youth (cf. Luke 1:80). He had his own disciples⁷⁰. He preached and called for the conversion or a renewal of life(-style) by a ritual washing in the Jordan as a visible sign of this, in combination with the public confession and the forgiveness of sins. His aim is to be the (eschatological) messianic “preacher of repentance”⁷¹. John the Baptist never tires of talking about [the Coming of] Christ and of preparing the Day of the Lord as well as the people to accept Jesus as the “Christ” and “God’s Son”. So his self-assessment is to be the “messenger” of [the Coming of] Christ as a precursor on earth. For this, the Evangelist John rereads and quotes the text of the Hebrew Bible – our so-called Old Testament – Isaiah 40:3⁷² as a fulfilled prophetic promise and prediction of the relationship between the “precursor”, John the Baptist and the “redeemer”, Jesus of Nazareth.

      John the Baptist is the one who preceded the Lord, prepared His way, and pointed to Jesus as the Messiah – note the right side of the pictures of the so-called “Isenheimer Altar” by the painter Matthias Grünewald between 1506 and 1515 B.C.: Jesus said about Himself: “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). His chief interest was the revelation of Jesus’ identity – “the Lamb of God” (v. 29). In this way, he is a model of total witness to Christ (cf. vv. 6–8). The sense of the quotation is also that people should give up their selfish way of living, renounce and repent their sins, seek God’s forgiveness, and establish a good relationship with God. They, then in John’s time, and we, today, have to be ready for the Second Coming of Christ.

      + The Authority of John the Baptist (vv. 24–27)

      v. 24: The job of the Pharisees was to test all people who were neither from the priestly class nor qualified in the Law, for all who preached and acted in the name of God YHWH in a public ministry. In this way the Evangelist suggests they straighten out the matter by order of Sanhedrim for the correct use of the Law, and also on behalf of the occupying power of the Roman Empire, for peace within Palestine. In Jesus’ time the Pharisees did not have this authority but in the Evangelist’s time they did. Especially the Pharisees are pictured in the Fourth Gospel as responsible controllers of the Law (cf. John 7:32, 45, 48; 8:3, 13; 9:13, 15-16, 40; 11:46–47, 57; 12:19, 42).

      v. 25: The Pharisees sum up the first part of their investigation by saying that John the Baptist is neither the Christ of Daniel 9:25 (cf. v. 20b) nor the expected Elijah of Malachi 3:23 (cf. v. 21c) nor the Mosaic prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15, 18 (v. 21e), and they introduce the second part of the judicial inquiry with the question of his authority – for example, Jesus in John 2:18 after His cleansing the Temple in Jerusalem –: “Why then does he baptize?”

      vv. 26–27⁷³: He answers them in a negative way (cf. vv. 26c, 27b) again – with the help of a self-confident “I” (vv. 20b, 23a, 26b) – and he testifies the Coming Christ (cf. v. 27a) – “unsaid” Jesus. The special actions of John the Baptist were: to preach and to “baptize”⁷⁴ (vv. 25b, 26b, 28b, 31c, 33b) (only) with “water”⁷⁵ (vv. 26b, 31c, 33b – cf. Acts 1:5) from the brook/river Jordan⁷⁶ in the desert. John’s baptism with water prepared the people to receive Jesus’ ministry in word and deed.

      v. 27: Afterwards he describes the role of Jesus with the help of an understatement of himself. He replies in his self-assessment that he is unworthy⁷⁷ to “untie … the ( ) sandal⁷⁸ (strap⁷⁹)” (cf. Mark 1:7; Luke 3:16; Acts 13:25) of the one coming after him – Jesus (cf. vv. 6–8). He wants to say that Jesus, the Christ, would be infinitely greater than he. This was the beginning of the spiritual process, and in this way, Jesus finished and fulfilled all that John had begun and prepared.

      v. 28: The Fourth Evangelist had the questioning of John the Baptist by the delegation “from Jerusalem” and his answering (cf. 1 Peter 3:15) in “Bethany”⁸⁰ – take place not near Jerusalem (cf. John 11:1, 18; 12:1) but – “on the other side of/across the Jordan”⁸¹ (v. 28 and 3:26; 10:40).

      2.1.2 “Second Day”⁸²: John the Baptist at Sight of Jesus (vv. 29–34⁸³)

      - The Setting (v. 29a)

      Who: John the Baptist, Jesus, the crowd of “Israel” (v. 31), a dove – symbol for the Holy Spirit (vv. 32–33), God who sent John the Baptist (v. 33)

      Where: “Bethany on the other side of the Jordan” (v. 28) near Jericho and Qumran

      When: during Jesus’ baptism – note Luke’s remark that Jesus of Nazareth “was about thirty years old when He began His” public “ministry” (3:23)

      v. 29: On a new (“next) day” (cf. vv. 29a, 35a, 43a and 6:22; 12:12), when Jesus came to “John the Baptist”⁸⁴ – a son of the priest СКАЧАТЬ