John 1:31Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What then, tell me? Could he not have preached and drawn the people without baptism? It would not have been so convenient.

If there had been preaching without baptism, all would not have gathered in this way. They would not have learned the superiority of one baptism over the other by comparing them.

The people did not go out to John merely to hear what he said. Why did they go? To be baptized with the confession of their sins.

Yet when they came to be baptized, they learned about Christ and about the difference between the baptisms.

Although John's baptism was greater than the Jewish one, and therefore all hastened to it, nevertheless it too was not perfect.

And lest anyone think that Christ, like us, had need of the Spirit, listen to how John destroys even this suspicion. He shows that the descent of the Spirit took place solely for the proclamation of Christ.

If people had not come for baptism, how would John have revealed the Lord to them?

He was not going to go from house to house, leading Christ by the hand and pointing Him out to each person.

Therefore he says: "For this reason I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed by me to the people who come for baptism."

From this we also learn that the miracles attributed to Christ in His childhood are false. They were composed by those who wished to mock the mystery.

For if they had been true, how would people not have known the Lord Who performed them? At least, it is unnatural that such a Wonderworker would not have been proclaimed everywhere.

But it was not so, no. Before His baptism the Lord neither performed miracles nor was He widely known. See verse 34.

Rather, he attributes all-knowledge to God alone, Who through the Holy Spirit guides man by light toward the reception of what is hidden.

It is also most beneficial that he indicates he did not know Christ of himself. Yet he came precisely in order to make Him manifest to Israel.

Thus he would not appear to have come of his own will to bear witness, nor be considered by anyone a servant of his own desires.

Rather, he would be seen as an agent of divine Providence and a servant of the Will on high, which reveals to him the Lamb Who takes away the sin of the world.

Therefore, so that the Jews might more easily come to faith in Christ the Savior and have a fitting understanding of Him, he says that he did not know Him.

In view of this, they ought finally to have understood that God Himself had revealed this. They should have received the word about Him in awe of the judgment from on high.

Seeing so great a servant, they should have measured accordingly the dignity of the Master. For if he says that he came in order to make Him manifest to Israel, does he not indicate the service proper to a slave?

Many were baptized with John’s baptism. The Lord also was baptized with John’s baptism, and John’s baptism ceased. Then John was cast into prison, and at last there was no one who was baptized with his baptism.

But if John had baptized the Lord alone, some would have thought that John’s baptism was holier than Christ’s. They would have said that the Lord alone deserved to be baptized with John’s baptism, while the whole human race was baptized with Christ’s baptism.

Thus the baptism from the servant would have appeared greater than the baptism from the Lord. Others also were baptized with John’s baptism, so that John’s baptism would not seem better than Christ’s baptism. The Lord also was baptized, so that, after the Lord received baptism from a servant, other servants would not refuse to receive the Lord’s baptism. For this John was sent.

On verses 31-33.

Be a little more attentive, beloved. When did he know Christ? He had been sent to baptize in water. For what purpose? He said, “That He might be manifested to Israel.” What did John’s baptism accomplish? My brothers, if it had accomplished something else, it would remain even now. People would be baptized in John’s baptism and would then come to Christ’s baptism.

But what does he say? “That He might be manifested to Israel.” That is, he came to baptize in water so that Christ might be manifested to Israel itself, to the people of Israel.

John received the duty of baptizing, so that in the water of repentance he might prepare the way of the Lord while the Lord was not yet known. But when the Lord became known, it became needless to prepare the Lord’s way, since He Himself became the Way for those who knew Him. For this reason John’s baptism did not last long.

But in what manner was the Lord manifested? He came in such humility that John received the duty of administering the baptism in which the Lord Himself was baptized.

Was it fitting for the Lord to be baptized? I answer quickly with my own question. Was it fitting for the Lord to be born? Was it fitting for the Lord to accept death? Was it fitting for the Lord to be buried? Therefore, if He accepted such humiliation, humilitatem, why should He not have accepted baptism? And what did His receiving baptism from a servant accomplish? It accomplished this: that you were counted worthy to receive Baptism from the Lord.

Listen, beloved. At times catechumens of exceptional grace have appeared in the Church. Sometimes you see a catechumen abstaining from all cohabitation, renouncing the world, refusing all that he possessed, and distributing everything to the poor. Though he is a catechumen, he is perhaps instructed in saving doctrine better than many believers.

He must beware lest he say about the necessity of Holy Baptism, through which sins are forgiven: “What more shall I obtain? See, I am better than that believer and this believer.” He sees that believers either live in marriage, or perhaps are unlearned, idiotas, or possess and use the things that he has already given to the poor.

Thinking himself better than one who has already received Baptism, he may reject Baptism and say, “Shall I obtain what that one and this one has?” He may set himself against those whom he despises, as if scorning to receive what his inferiors have received, because he seems to himself to stand above them.

And yet all his sins still lie upon him. If he does not come to Baptism, in which sins are washed away, he will not be able, with all his excellence, excellentia, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

To call such a perfected man to Baptism, so that his sins might be forgiven, the Lord Himself came to the baptism of His servant. He Himself had nothing that needed to be forgiven or washed away. Yet He received baptism from a servant.

It was as though He said to the proud and self-exalting son, who refused to receive with the unlearned what could bring him salvation: “How swollen you are! How high you have lifted yourself! What is your excellence? What is your grace? How can it be greater than Mine, if I came to a servant and you do not think it worthy to come to the Lord? If I received baptism from a servant, do you consider it unworthy to be baptized by the Lord?”

Know then, my brothers, that the Lord came to John not from necessity, nor because of any bonds of sin. As the other Evangelists say, when the Lord came to him to receive baptism, John said, “Do You come to me? I need to be baptized by You” (Mt 3:14).

And what did He answer him? “Permit it now; let all righteousness be fulfilled” (Mt 3:15). What does “let all righteousness be fulfilled” mean? I came to die for men, and should I not be baptized for men? What does “let all righteousness be fulfilled” mean? It means: let all humility be attained. What then? Was it not fitting that He should receive baptism from a good servant, who accepted torments from evil servants?

Listen then. After the Lord was baptized, if John baptized Him so that the Lord might manifest humility in his baptism, should no one else have been baptized in John’s baptism? Many were baptized before Him in John’s baptism. The Lord was baptized in John’s baptism, and afterward John’s baptism ceased.

Then John was cast into prison. After this, no one can be found who was baptized in that baptism. Therefore, if John came and baptized so that the humility of the Lord might be manifested to us, and so that, since He received baptism from a servant, we would not refuse to receive it from the Lord, should John have baptized only the Lord?

But if John had baptized only the Lord, there would have been no lack of those who thought that John’s baptism was holier than Christ’s. They would have said that Christ alone deserved to be baptized in John’s baptism, while the whole human race deserved to be baptized in Christ’s Baptism.

Listen, beloved. We have been baptized in Christ’s Baptism, and not only we, but the whole circle of the earth. It will be baptized until the end of the world. Who among us can be compared in any respect with Christ, whose sandal strap John confessed himself unworthy to loose (cf. Jn 1:27)?

Therefore, if that Christ, a man of such perfection, and God, was the only one baptized in John’s baptism, what would men say? “See what John’s baptism was! An ineffable mystery! See, Christ alone deserved to be baptized in John’s baptism!” As a result, baptism from the servant would appear much greater than Baptism from the Lord.

But others also were baptized in John’s baptism, so that John’s baptism would not appear greater than Christ’s Baptism. Yet the Lord also received baptism from John, so that, after the Lord received baptism from a servant, other servants would not refuse to receive Baptism from the Lord. For this very purpose John was sent.

But did he know Christ or not? If he did not know Him, why did he say, when Christ approached the river, “I need to be baptized by You” (Mt 3:14)? That is, he said, “I know who You are.” If he already knew Him, perhaps he knew Him when he saw the dove descending upon Him.

Clearly the dove descended upon the Lord only after He came up from the water of baptism. Having received baptism, the Lord came up from the water, the heavens were opened, and John saw the dove descending upon Him (cf. Mt 3:16).

If the dove descended after the baptism, and if before the Lord was baptized John said to Him, “Do You come to me? I need to be baptized by You” (Mt 3:14), then he already knew Him to whom he said, “Do You come to me? I need to be baptized by You.”

Why then did he declare, “I did not know Him; but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’” (Jn 1:33)?

This is no small question, my brothers. If you have seen the problem, that is already no small thing. It remains for the Lord to give you His explanation. Yet I say this to you: if you have seen the problem, that is already no small thing.

See John the Baptist before your eyes, standing by the river. See, the Lord has come to be baptized and is not yet baptized. Hear John’s voice: “Do You come to me? I need to be baptized by You.” See, he already knew the Lord, from whom he wished to receive baptism.

After being baptized, the Lord comes up from the water, the heavens are opened, the Spirit descends, and now John knows Him. If he knows Him only now, why did he say before, “I need to be baptized by You”? But if he does not know Him only now, because he already knew Him, why did he say this: “I did not know Him; but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’”?

Brothers, if we examine this question today, it will be burdensome for you, I do not doubt, since much has already been said. Know that this question is such that it alone can crush the party of Donatus.

I have said this, beloved, to turn your attention, as I usually do, so that you may pray both for us and for yourselves. Pray that the Lord may grant us to say what is worthy, and that you may be found worthy to receive what is worthy. Meanwhile, allow me to postpone this question today.

But first I will speak of it briefly, without yet opening everything. Consider it calmly, without quarrel, without disputes, without arguments, without hatred. Ask yourselves, ask others, and say, “Our bishop set this question before us today, to open it later, if the Lord permits.”

Whether it is opened or not, know that I have proposed as an answer what seems important to me, for I consider it truly important. John declared, “I need to be baptized by You,” as though he knew Christ. If he did not know the One from whom he wished to be baptized, then his words, “I need to be baptized by You,” would be absurd. Therefore he knew Him.

But if he knew Him, what do these words mean: “I did not know Him; but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’”?

What shall we say? That we do not know when the dove appeared? So that they may find no escape for themselves in this proposition, let us read the other Evangelists, who speak of it quite plainly. It will be entirely clear to us that the dove descended when the Lord came up from the water (cf. Mt 3:16; Mk 1:10; Lk 3:21-22).

For the heavens were opened over Him who had been baptized, and John saw the dove descending upon Him (cf. Mt 3:16). If he knew Him when He had already been baptized, how could he say to Him as He came to be baptized, “I need to be baptized by You”?

Repeat this question often among yourselves. Put it to one another, and ponder it among yourselves. May the Lord our God grant that, before you hear the answer from me, it may be revealed to one of you.

Yet know this, brothers. When this question is resolved, the party of Donatus, if shame remains in its defenders, must cease altogether from speaking about the grace of Baptism. By this they wrap inexperienced hearers in mist and stretch nets for flying birds. Let their mouths be utterly stopped!

Then he knew Him in all three ways. Prophetically, all things concerning Jesus Christ were revealed to John; therefore he said, "He Who comes after me has come to be before me" (Jn 1:15).

He saw Jesus Christ, and therefore tried to prevent Him, saying: "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?" (Mt 3:14).

Finally, he also heard concerning Him: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased," as the other Evangelists testified (Mt 3:17; Mk 1:11; Lk 3:22).

"But that He might be revealed to Israel, for this reason I came baptizing with water."

Here he stated the reason why he came to baptize. It was one and the same for both things, namely, that Jesus Christ might be revealed to Israel.

John was sent by God to the Jordan to preach the baptism of repentance, so that many people might gather for baptism.

Jesus Christ, standing amid this multitude as one also wishing to be baptized, would then receive testimony on earth from John and from heaven from the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Thus, drawing them to Himself, He would begin to teach and perform miracles. If this had not happened, all would not have gathered in this way, nor would they have heard this testimony in this way.

If one supposes that his father and mother soon died, since they were already very old when John was born, then the mystery of the Messiah's birth could also have been hidden from John with them.

Afterward he himself led a solitary life and had no dealings with his distant relatives in Nazareth. He himself always showed that he truly was not the Messiah.

He preached repentance and promised the forgiveness of sins as soon as one believed in the Messiah whom he awaited.

But who this Lamb was, Who was to take upon Himself the sins of the whole world, was not yet known.

For God Himself gave him this as a sign. When sending him to baptize with water, God told him that the One upon Whom he would see the Spirit descending and remaining is the One Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit (33).

"And I saw this," John concludes his speech, "and not only knew Him myself, but, according to my calling, also bore witness to others that this is the Son of God."

That John here names Jesus Christ the Son of God in the proper sense is shown by the fact that in verse 30 he confesses Him as existing from eternity.

Jesus lived in Nazareth, and John in the wilderness of the Jordan, a locality rather distant from Nazareth.

The Evangelist Luke relates that John was in the wilderness until the day of his manifestation to Israel (Lk 1:80). That is, he came directly from the wilderness to preach.

Therefore it is very plausible that Jesus and John did not know one another.

On the other hand, from the Evangelists' narratives that we have already read, we know that before Jesus appeared at the Jordan, no one except His Mother knew that He was the Messiah.

John, of course, did not know this either, even if he had had some dealings with Jesus.

Jesus came to receive baptism from John. But the stern prophet of the wilderness, for the first time since reverent crowds had begun gathering around him to receive baptism from him, was troubled and stepped back.

"I need to be baptized by You," he says reverently to Christ, "and are You coming to me?" (Mt 3:14).

With his God-enlightened soul he saw in Jesus the very object of his long hopes and expectations. "I did not know Him," he said somewhat later (Jn 1:30), as if wishing to say that he had begun his preaching not because he knew Him, nor by agreement with Him.

Rather, he baptized and spiritually awakened Israel so that the people, being spiritually enlightened, might receive Christ when He appeared in the proper disposition, as the true Messiah.

Even before Christ appeared, John had expressed the firm conviction that God had heard the cry of His people and had granted the Messiah, although He had not yet been revealed to him.

In his hope in God, he said to the people: "Among you stands One whom you do not know" (Jn 1:26), namely, the true Messiah. "He is the One who comes after me, who has come before me," the true Messiah, "whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."

This is not a man of ordinary origin, but One sent from God to dwell temporarily among men. John's long communion with God in the wilderness, his prayers and tears, raised him to the height of spiritual majesty.

This gave him wondrous insight to foresee what had not yet been revealed. For his God-enlightened spirit, the coming of the Messiah had already become a living truth, waiting only for its appointed time to be manifested.

And now at last it visibly stood before him in the person of Him who asked baptism from him.

It is not surprising that John was troubled by such a request from the God-man who had appeared to him. He knew that only One wholly free from sin could be the Messiah, and such was He who stood before him.

The humility, meekness, and purity that so struck him clearly testified to this for him. John's heart trembled at the thought that he saw before him precisely "the Lamb of God, who takes upon Himself the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29).

Isaiah's exalted depiction of Him upon whom Jehovah laid the iniquities of His people, and who was led like a lamb to the slaughter, had long been applied to the Messiah.

This thought instantly arose in John's soul when he saw before him the Messiah, who truly was taking upon Himself the sins of humanity.

Meanwhile Christ, having completed His preparatory work in the wilderness and gained victory over the prince of this world, again appeared in the place where John continued preaching and baptizing.

This appearance of Christ took place on the day after the delegation from the Sanhedrin had addressed John with a question about his person and his authority.

Now he received the opportunity to give definite testimony about the One whom he had baptized amid such extraordinary signs.

Feeling the greatest reverence toward Jesus, a reverence that seemed to pass into fear, John could not draw near to Him and enter into friendly conversation. Pointing from afar to the One who had appeared, he publicly and solemnly testified.

He declared that this was the Messiah, who had been revealed to him by a special sign, "the Lamb of God, who takes upon Himself the sins of the world."

At this, John already openly appeared as the herald of the Messiah's coming. He proclaimed to all the extraordinary signs that had taken place at the Baptism of Jesus, bearing witness to him that "this is the Son of God" (Jn 1:29-34).

This means the wilderness of the southern part of Palestine, on the western bank of the Dead Sea. The Lord Jesus, however, was brought up and lived in Nazareth of Galilee, in the northern part of Palestine.

Nowhere is it evident that, though relatives, they visited one another or knew one another.

Such was the will of God, that they should have no human agreement between them until the time of their manifestation for their great work (Jn 1:33).

It is probable that, from his parents while they were still alive and before he withdrew to the wilderness, John had heard of the birth of the Messiah from the Virgin Mary.

It is also probable that the Lord Jesus heard from His most pure Mother about the circumstances of the birth of the wondrous child from her kinswoman Elizabeth.

But the will of God was, without doubt, higher for them than the natural desire to see one another. This will was that John should recognize the Messiah only at His baptism (Jn 1:33).

"That He might be revealed" means that Jesus of Nazareth might be solemnly proclaimed as the Messiah, long expected and now come.

Not earlier, but precisely at this time, the Messiah was to be revealed to Israel. Such was the will of God, incomprehensible to the human mind.

Until this time, until the age of thirty, He lived as a private man.

"He lived the whole time in the wilderness, not in his father's house" (Chrysostom). How then did he say to Jesus, "I need to be baptized by You" (Mt 3:14)? These words show that John knew the exalted person of Jesus.

Yes, he knew Him by an inner illumination of the mind as soon as Jesus appeared to him. But this knowledge was not yet wholly sufficient. Clearer and more convincing indications were required concerning who Christ Jesus is.

"I saw," says the Forerunner, "the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and remaining upon Him." Even this was not enough. "He who sent Me to baptize with water said to me: Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit."

The vision of the dove descending upon Jesus was certainly not an act of imagination, even if the imagination had been stirred by the Holy Spirit. The Evangelist Matthew relates that when Jesus was baptized, He immediately came up from the water, and the heavens were opened to Him.

The clouds were parted, as we see when lightning flashes. Saint Mark (Mk 1:10) and John say that the Forerunner saw the Spirit of God as a dove. Saint Luke expresses it more definitely: descending in bodily form, σωματικω ειδει.

It is clear that the Spirit of God descended visibly, in a form perceptible to the bodily senses, as He descended upon the apostles.

Did others besides the Forerunner see all this? "If they did see it," says Chrysostom of the Jews, "for such things bodily eyes alone are not needed, but especially the eyes of the mind, so that one does not take an actual thing for an empty sign."

This means that capable people, people with a right direction of mind and heart, saw it. But there was no need for everyone to see it. In itself, this was quite enough to recognize the Messiah in Jesus.

Yet the Jews could still express doubts against the correctness of John's objective vision. The Forerunner says that just as the Lord appeared to the prophets and announced this or that will of His, so the Lord Himself appeared to the son of Zachariah and announced His thought.

"Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." Do you believe the appearances of the Godhead to the prophets? Then you must also trust me in my preaching that Jesus is the Messiah.

He will accomplish among men the grace-filled, inward baptism that is to transform the very hearts of men. Otherwise you must renounce the whole history of the people of God.

For this reason John says, "I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." When did the Forerunner testify that Jesus is the Son of God?

"He called Him the Lamb and said also that He would baptize with the Holy Spirit. But that He is the Son of God he did not say" in John's Gospel.

"The other Evangelists do not write that after the Baptism he said anything. Passing over the events of this time in silence, they speak of Christ's miracles, which occurred after John's imprisonment.

From this we may conclude that they passed over this and much else in silence. This very Evangelist, John, showed the same at the end of his Gospel" (Chrysostom, Zigabenus).

Here then is another testimony of the Forerunner concerning Jesus, the Son of Mary. It is a testimony showing in Jesus an extraordinary messenger of God, indeed the Son of God, and a testimony strengthened by the witness of heaven.

In the Gospel according to John especially, the expression "Israel" means not nationality, but the people of promise. Compare Jn 1:49-50; 3:10; 12 and elsewhere.

The spirit of prophecy and insight given to him revealed to him the approach of Him Who was God in the flesh, Who took upon Himself the sin of the world, and in Whom "the nations shall hope" (Is 11:10).

But he did not yet know the Lord in the flesh until a special revelation showed him that the One baptized by him was He Whom he awaited.