(Read John 1:6-8, 19-28)
Note: This blog post is split up into sections for ease of reading.
John 1:6-8
The apostle John has not yet identified exactly who the Word with the light is. Instead, he introduces a man whom God sent to be a witness to the light. The man’s name, like the gospel writer’s, was John, the one we know as John the Baptist (1:19-28). John the Baptist was different from the Word. The Word was in the beginning; John came into being in time. The Word was God; John was only “a man,” that is, a human being. The Word was the light of the world; John “was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.”
It was important for the apostle John to identify the role of the Baptist because apparently some people followed the Baptist instead of Christ or otherwise confused the missions of the two (Acts 19:3,4; Matthew 21:25; Luke 9:18,19). It was more important, however, for John to establish that reliable witnesses, beginning with the Baptist, have testified to the light. After four centuries of silence from God’s prophets, the Baptist heralded the coming of the light into the world. This gospel reveals his testimony and others for one purpose, as said here of the Baptist, “so that through him all men might believe.”
John the Baptist, indeed, was not himself the light, but through his testimony “the true light,” that is, the “real” or “genuine” light, shone. Because of that light, the Word Jesus Christ, John the Baptist could realistically hope “that through him [John] all men might believe.” That’s the hope of every witness for Christ to this day and the purpose for evangelism outreach and mission work, namely, to be agents, light-reflectors, through whom “all men might believe” and might come to the light of their Savior.
We need to show people everywhere the light of Jesus Christ. Only then can they believe. John wrote his gospel to build faith in Jesus. He makes that clear in this keynote of his discourse, and he sums it up again near the end: “These [miraculous signs] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31). Believe in Christ and live.
This gospel repeats the verb believe some one hundred times, more than any other book of the Bible. Believe, believe, believe in the Word, the life, the light. No other means of coming to God exists. With the signs and testimonies still to come in this gospel, people will be led to believe, for they will come face-to-face with the Word, and they will know God and trust in him with full confidence. Knowing God, accepting him, and trusting him are all part of believing in him who is the light.
John 1:19-23
The apostle continues his narrative with more about John the Baptist’s testimony. John had been carrying on his ministry in the wilderness for a while already, and he was attracting the attention of significant religious leaders. The Jewish authorities, representing the Jews as a group, invariably lined up in opposition to the testimony about Jesus. This time they sent priests and Levites, who also carried out priestly duties in the temple, to ask their questions. John’s own father was a priest and so, by descent, was John. Perhaps they wanted to find out why John wasn’t doing the work of a priest the way they were. “Who are you?” they asked. It was a loaded question. Certainly they knew he was John, the son of Zechariah, but they wanted to know why he was preaching and baptizing in the wilderness. What claims did he make for himself? What was he seeking to gain?
John understood their intent. He did not shrink from answering. He did not seek personal glory. He confessed boldly: “I am not the Christ.” He knew that many of the Jews hoped for the Messiah (“Christ”) to lead them out from under the oppression of the Romans. He knew they were wondering whether he claimed to be that Messiah. “I am not the Christ,” he confessed, emphasizing the word “I.” Perhaps he was thinking to himself, “I am not, but one is coming soon who is.”
“Are you Elijah?” “Are you the Prophet?” The Jews wanted to know if John claimed to be any of the great leaders they expected from Old Testament prophecies. God had promised, “I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes” (Malachi 4:5). They expected Elijah to be reincarnated, but John didn’t claim to be that Elijah. In truth, Jesus later would identify John as “Elijah” (Matthew 11:14; 17:9-13), but not the reincarnated Old Testament prophet. Rather, as the angel Gabriel said when he promised John’s birth to Zechariah, “He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17).
Similarly, John denied being “the Prophet.” Moses had prophesied: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18:15). Some thought of that prophet as a forerunner of the Messiah, others as the Messiah himself. “The Prophet” would be the Messiah, but he was not John the Baptist. The line of questioning was going nowhere as far as the priests and Levites were concerned. They needed some answer to take back to the Jewish authorities who had sent them, so they asked simply: “Who are you? . . . What do you say about yourself?”
John answered directly, claiming his office on the basis of Isaiah’s prophecy: “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord’ ” (40:3). John had no purpose beyond bringing a message, being a voice. He was carrying on a ministry for another, for the Lord, gathering audiences in the wilderness near the Jordan River. More than that, he was crying out his message to a world that spiritually had become a wilderness made barren by sin and unbelief.
“Get ready!” John cried. “Clear the way! A king is coming who is the Lord.”
In the absence of paved roads such as we enjoy today, the roads then (often only paths) were rough, sometimes blocked with rocks or debris, and dangerous. Whenever a king would come to visit, the roads needed to be prepared and made ready for his safe travel. That image fit perfectly the purpose of John’s ministry. Christ the King was coming. John needed to tell the people to prepare the way.
John’s exhortation was not literally to prepare a road. He was speaking spiritually. This preparing begins with recognizing and confessing one’s deep and damnable sinfulness. It includes sorrow over sin and a turning in faith for forgiveness to the Lord whom John proclaimed. The Christ is coming. Repent; be baptized; believe!
John 1:24-28
Some Pharisees who were also sent, apparently apart from the priests and Levites, now took up the questioning. The Pharisees might be expected to ask more probing questions than the others because of their position as the religious elite among the Jews. No one knew more about God’s law and religious traditions than a Pharisee. No one seemed to put more effort into keeping God’s law than a Pharisee. If any person could be called holy, surely it must be a Pharisee. The Pharisees were the most outwardly religious people among the Jews and were the religious experts.
They now asked, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” They didn’t seem opposed to baptizing, but wondered if John had the authority to do it. Perhaps they thought back to such a prophecy as “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean” (Ezekiel 36:25). Maybe this baptizing was the promised cleansing. If so, John must produce his credentials for doing it.
In reply, John again turned the spotlight away from himself and onto Christ. Yes, he, John, baptized with water, and it was a valid baptism that made the people clean just as Ezekiel had prophesied. But the question of his authority was misplaced, for they needed to see someone far more important than he: “Among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” Slaves of the day had the duty of loosening their masters’ sandals. John felt unworthy even to be a slave to the Christ. John had no personal credentials to present. He had a Savior to proclaim. To this day, preachers, teachers, and other witnesses of Jesus need to emulate such selfless humility as we see in John.
The Christ was even then standing among the people. At an earlier date, John had baptized him. Yet Christ is the one who brings the power to Holy Baptism and makes us forever clean from sin. He is the one who made John’s baptism more than just a symbol and has made the Sacrament of Baptism a means for our salvation to the end of time. The time had come to stop trying to pick apart John the Baptist and to look for Jesus the Christ.
The apostle John now identifies where this all took place, namely, at Bethany east of the Jordan (not to be confused with Bethany near Jerusalem). From that location John easily managed his baptizing in the Jordan River. Just because he baptized in the river, however, in no way proves that the baptisms were necessarily by immersion, as some insist. It is just as likely that he poured or even sprinkled water on the people as they stood in the river. The term baptize, which means “apply water for washing,” includes immersion along with pouring and sprinkling. God did not dictate how the water needs to be applied.
This blog post is an excerpt from The People’s Bible: John. You can check out the book here. The People’s Bible series is a Bible commentary for everyone. The authors of the series have served as pastors, college teachers, or seminary professors. Each author began with the original Hebrew or Greek text and then worked to bring the message of God’s Word to Christians who are looking to dive deeper into their study of the Bible. Two important truths guide all the commentaries: First, the Bible is God’s inspired Word and is therefore true and reliable. Second, the central message of the entire Bible is Jesus Christ.