John 1:33Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

John bore witness concerning a matter so great and wondrous that it could amaze all his hearers. He testified that Jesus alone takes upon Himself the sins of the world, and that the greatness of His gift is sufficient for such redemption.

Therefore he prepares them for such a thought. The preparation is the teaching that He is the Son of God, that He has no need of baptism, and that the Spirit descended only to point Him out.

John himself did not have the power to impart the Spirit. Those baptized by him show this when they say: "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said to him: We have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit" (Acts 19:2).

Christ had no need of baptism, neither this baptism nor any other. Rather, baptism had need of the power of Christ. For the chief of all blessings still remained, that the one baptized should be counted worthy of the Spirit.

Therefore, when Christ came, He added this gift of the Spirit.

"And John bore witness, saying: I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him; but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me: Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God" (Jn 1:32-34).

John often uses the words, "I did not know Him," not without reason or purpose. It was because he was His kinsman according to the flesh. "Behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth has also conceived a son" (Lk 1:36).

Therefore, in order not to suggest that he was partial because of kinship, he often says, "I did not know Him." And so it truly was. He lived the whole time in the wilderness, away from his father's house.

But how did he restrain Christ from baptism, saying, "I need to be baptized by You" (Mt 3:14), if he did not know Him before the descent of the Spirit and only then knew Him for the first time?

This was a testimony that he knew Him well. Yet it is true that he did not know Him earlier, or long before that time.

The miracles that took place in Jesus' childhood, such as the events with the Magi and the rest, happened much earlier, when John himself was still an infant. During such a long period Jesus was certainly not known to all.

If He had been known, John would not have said: "For this reason I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel."

From this it is clear to us that the signs which some say were performed by Christ in His childhood are false and invented by lying people. If He had begun to work miracles from His earliest age, John could not have failed to know Him.

Nor would the people have needed a teacher to point Him out. Meanwhile John says of himself that he came "that He might be revealed to Israel." And on another occasion he said, "I need to be baptized by You."

Later, having come to know Him more closely, he preached about Him to the people, saying: "After me comes a Man who has come before me." He also said that "He who sent me to baptize with water" sent him so "that He might be revealed to Israel."

Thus He who sent him revealed Christ to John even before the descent of the Spirit. Therefore, even before His coming, John said: "After me comes a Man who has come before me."

Thus John did not know Jesus before His coming to the Jordan and before the baptism of all. But he knew Him when He willed to be baptized. He knew Him by revelation at the Baptism, and by the indication of the Father and the Spirit to the Jews, for whose sake the Spirit descended.

So that John's testimony would not be despised when he said that "He was before me," that He baptizes with the Spirit, and that He will judge the universe, the Father uttered a voice proclaiming the Son.

The Spirit descended, bringing that voice down upon the head of Christ. Since one was baptizing and the other was receiving baptism, someone present might have thought that the Father's words were spoken about John.

For this reason the Spirit descends, removing such a supposition. Therefore, when John says, "I did not know Him," he speaks of the past, not of the time close to the Baptism. Otherwise how did he restrain Jesus, saying, "I need to be baptized by You"?

Thus by the words "I did not know Him," John indicates that he did not know He would baptize with the Holy Spirit, though he knew that He was greater than many.

Therefore, knowing for certain that He was greater than all, John, according to the Evangelist Matthew, tried to prevent Him.

But when the Spirit descended, he recognized Him still more clearly and preached Him to others.

The Spirit appeared to all who were present, not only to John. Why then, someone will ask, did they not believe?

Because their senseless heart was so darkened that, even when they saw Him working miracles, they did not believe.

Some say that not all saw the Spirit, but only the most reverent. For although the Spirit descended in a sensible manner, it is fitting that He appear not to all, but to the worthy.

So also the prophets, for example Daniel and Ezekiel, saw many things in sensible form, yet no one else saw them.

"And I saw and bore witness that this is the Son of God."

Divine Scripture testifies that man was created according to the image and likeness of the God who is above all. The Spirit both placed life in the creation and, in a manner befitting God, imprinted His own features upon it.

Then, through the sin that entered, the likeness to God was distorted. The features of the image of God were no longer bright in man, but had become as if dimmed and darkened because of the transgression.

Meanwhile sin ruled over all. Human nature was increasingly deprived of the original grace. The Spirit withdrew entirely, and rational man fell into extreme irrationality. He did not even know his own Creator.

But the Creator of all, having endured for a long time, at last had mercy on the perishing universe. Being good, He hastened to gather again the flock that wandered over the earth.

He was well pleased to transform mankind again into its former image through the Spirit. Otherwise it was impossible for the divine features to shine forth in it as they had before.

What, then, does God do for this? How did He grant us overflowing grace? How was the Spirit rooted again in men? How was human nature transformed back into its former state? All this must be explained.

When the first Adam did not preserve the grace given him by God, God and the Father appointed for us from heaven the Second Adam. He sends His Son, unchangeable and immutable by nature, in likeness to us, though He knew no sin at all.

He did this so that, as through the disobedience of the first we came under divine wrath, so through the obedience of the Second we might both escape the curse and have its grievous consequences abolished.

Since the Word of God became man, He receives the Spirit from the Father as one of us. He does not receive anything for Himself, for He Himself was the Giver of the Spirit.

Rather, He receives as man in order to preserve this for our nature. He who knew no sin thus implants in us again the grace that had departed.

For this reason, I think, the holy Baptist beneficially added the words: "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him" (Jn 1:32).

The Spirit had flown away from us because of sin. He who knew no sin became as one of us, so that the Spirit might remain in us without ceasing, having no occasion for departure or diminution in Him.

Thus He receives the Spirit for us through Himself, and renews in our nature the former good.

We will by no means descend with them into such irrationality as to assert that the Spirit is present by participation in Him who is Son by nature. On the contrary, the Spirit dwells essentially in Him, just as, without doubt, He dwells in the Father Himself.

The Holy Spirit belongs to the Father and likewise to the Son.

He descended in the form of a dove, perhaps, as some say, in correspondence to the pure and guileless dove that prefigured Him.

This dove was offered in sacrifice during prayers for newborn children and for the forgiveness of sins.

It had been enigmatically foretold that Christ would reveal Himself in precisely this visible manner.

For in the songs concerning the bridegroom it is proclaimed and said: "His eyes are like doves by streams of water" (Song 5:12).

According to some, the dove of Noah partly prefigured this dove.

For in Noah's time salvation was accomplished for those with him through wood and water. At the same time a new existence began, and the dove returned to him at evening with an olive leaf.

In a similar way, these interpreters say, the Holy Spirit descended upon the true Noah, the cause of another existence.

He unites into one the wills of all nations, which were prefigured by the different kinds of animals in the ark.

For after His coming, spiritual wolves graze together with lambs. His Church has calf and ox and lion grazing together.

Even now we see that the teachers of the Church instruct and teach earthly rulers.

Therefore this spiritual dove descended at the time of the Baptism, according to some, in order to show that this is the One Who through the wood of the Cross will save believers.

At evening, through His death, He will grant salvation.

Yet since this Evangelist begins his Gospel with the narrative of Jesus as the beginningless Word, the Son of God, he immediately cites John the Baptist's testimony before the priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem.

Therefore there can be no doubt that, although John's interrogation began with the question, "Who are you?", the Evangelist's words, "And this is the testimony of John" (Jn 1:19), mean the Forerunner's testimony not about himself, but about Jesus.

This testimony only began on the first day of the arrival of those sent from the Sanhedrin. It ended on the second day, when Christ Himself appeared at the Jordan.

Since it was intended not for the people, but exclusively for those sent from the Sanhedrin, there is no doubt that they had to hear not only the beginning, but also the end of the testimony.

Moreover, by its content, only persons knowledgeable in Scripture could have taken part in the conversation with him about Jesus. Such were the priests sent from among the Pharisees.

Having fulfilled their commission, the envoys returned to Jerusalem and, of course, reported to the Sanhedrin everything they had seen and heard.

Thus now the chief priests, priests, elders, scribes, Pharisees, in short, all the leaders of the Jewish people knew that Christ the Messiah had already come.

They knew, and still they did not believe in Him. They zealously guarded their authority over the people and hated anyone who threatened them with the loss of this authority.

This is why they did not accept John's baptism and did not acknowledge him as a prophet. This is why they also rejected Jesus Christ.

The Evangelist John completes his narrative of the Forerunner's testimony by indicating that this took place in Bethabara, by the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Bethabara, as Origen affirms, was a village on the eastern bank of the Jordan, almost directly opposite Jericho.

He would be the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord (Is 11:2). This prophecy was now fulfilled.

This was the divine anointing of Christ to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, and to proclaim liberty to captives.

It was to proclaim the opening of the prison to those who are bound, the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God (Is 61:1).

It was His formal consecration from above to the office of Messiah. In this sense, it was the true hour of the birth of Christianity.

It was the solemn elevation of Him to the office of High Priest of the New Covenant.

The sons of Aaron were required by the ritual law to be consecrated to their high office through washing and anointing.

So also He Who was now being clothed in an infinitely higher priesthood had to enter His office through a corresponding, though more wondrous, rite of consecration.

Instead of a temple made by hands, He had around Him the great temple of nature.

Instead of the bronze laver, He had the flowing streams of the river, reflecting in themselves the majestic vault of heaven.

Even if He did not have gold-woven garments, He had the garment of sinless righteousness. Instead of consecrated oil, the grace of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon Him.

John, by inspiration from above, already knew that the Spirit was to descend in this way upon the One Who would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Jn 1:33).

Thus he saw in this the confirmation of his faith that Jesus truly was the Lamb of God and His Son (Jn 1:34).

At the same time, in the Baptism of Jesus the participation of the whole Holy Trinity was solemnly manifested. Christian baptism, as a Mystery, is performed in the name of the three Persons.

After baptizing Jesus and thereby fulfilling the chief purpose of his ministry, John continued to preach repentance even afterward.

Jesus, filled in His human spirit with thoughts and feelings concerning the ministry that lay before Him, sought solitude for a time.

He did this in order to be alone with God and to prepare Himself for the great work.

For this purpose He withdrew from the waters of the Jordan into the wilderness, where He remained for forty days. These days were marked by His triumph over the dark powers of this world.

Matthew says that even before the baptism, as soon as the Lord came to him, before the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, John recognized the Messiah in Him (Mt 3:13-14).

He recognized Him by the same mysterious presentiment by which he joyfully leaped in his mother's womb when the Virgin Mary, who had conceived, came to her (Lk 1:41, 44).

But complete certainty came to John when he was counted worthy to see the sign foretold to him, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Him like a dove.

The Forerunner did not know Jesus personally before His appearance at the Jordan. "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 inward illumination of the mind as soon as Jesus came to him. But this knowledge was not yet fully sufficient. Clearer and more convincing indications were required concerning who Christ Jesus was.

"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 imagination had been stirred by the Holy Spirit. The Evangelist Matthew relates that, when Jesus had been baptized, He immediately came up from the water, and the heavens were opened to Him. The clouds opened, as we see when lightning flashes.

St. Mark, Mk 1:10, and John say that the Forerunner saw the Spirit of God as a dove. Or, as St. Luke expresses it more precisely, He descended in bodily form, somatiko eidei. It is clear that the Spirit of God descended visibly, in a form perceptible to bodily senses, as He descended upon the Apostles.

Did others besides the Forerunner see all this? "Even if they saw it," says Chrysostom about the Jews, "for such things bodily eyes alone are not sufficient. The eyes of the mind are especially needed, so that a real object may not be taken for an empty sign."

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

Yet the Jews could still express doubts about the correctness of John's subjective vision. The Forerunner says that, just as the Lord appeared to the prophets and proclaimed one or another will of His, so the Lord Himself appeared to the son of Zacharias and declared 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 that Messiah who will perform upon men a grace-filled, inward baptism, one able to transform the very hearts of men. Otherwise, you must reject the whole history of the people of God.

This is why he 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 also said 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 that time, 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, even the Son of God, and it is a testimony confirmed by the witness of heaven.

At the same time, He shows man that all who believe in Him and love Him must also receive the Holy Spirit. Without His gifts and help, man is powerless in his striving toward God and the good.

“Jesus comes up from the water,” says Gregory the Theologian, “and raises the world with Himself. He sees the heavens opened, which Adam had shut against himself and those after him. The Spirit bears witness to the Godhead, and a voice is heard from heaven, for from there comes the One who is witnessed.” And further: “He is seen bodily as a dove, for He honors the body of Christ, since by deification this too is God.”

“The Spirit,” says Basil the Great, “was co-present with the very flesh of the Lord, becoming its anointing and abiding inseparably with it. According to what is written.” Compare Jn 1:33 and Acts 10: “Jesus, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit.” Compare Lk 4 and Is 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,” the Lord said of Himself.

John very solemnly repeats the statement that he did not know the Lord until he saw Him at the Jordan (cf. verse 31). Still more solemnly and mysteriously, he speaks of Him who sent him to baptize and who revealed to him the sign by which John knew that before him stood “He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” and “the Son of God.”

How this revelation occurred, and how John received the commands given to him, we do not know. Only those specially chosen by God can know the mystery of God’s direct communication with mortal man, or understand and comprehend the voice of God.

Only a few understood the testimony from heaven mentioned by John (Jn 12:29). For the people, it was only thunder. John saw “the Spirit descending and abiding upon the Lord,” and, behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17).

This great moment of the Theophany of the Holy Trinity signified that the time was coming when mankind would be allowed to draw near to the Godhead. Great mysteries were being opened to it, and it was to be sanctified and baptized with the Holy Spirit.

John’s baptism with water only prepared for the reception of the great Baptism with the Spirit. The Lord spoke to Nicodemus about this baptism, or rebirth of the inner and eternal man: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5).

“Holy Scripture,” says Basil the Great, “ascribes to the action of the Spirit the ordering of our whole nature, and calls the Spirit the renewer of creation unto incorruption.” Psalm 103:29-30 says, “You send forth Your Spirit, and they are created.”

In the Evangelists Matthew (Mt 3:11) and Luke (Lk 3:16), it is highly significant that they add that the One coming after John “will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Fire is kindled by the presence of God. It gives light and warmth when the lamp of the human soul is lit from it. But it burns the disobedient and the proud, for the presence of God is terrible for sinners. It is the more terrible the more they have enjoyed His mercies.

But fire also has a third meaning: it is a means of purification. “The Creator is called Spirit and fire,” says Gregory the Theologian, “the one because He is an intellectual, that is, spiritual nature, the other because He is purifying.”

From now on, the whole thought of mankind, as it listens to the words of John the prophet and Baptist, must be concentrated upon Him “who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” and who is “the Son of God.”

This One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit is He who said to His disciples: “I will send you the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father.” This Comforter, the Spirit of truth, “when He comes, will guide you into all truth” (Jn 15:26; 16:13).

After His Resurrection, He also said to His disciples, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:22), and “He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures” (Lk 24:45).

Before the Ascension, He promised them the complete renewal of nature, or, in Basil the Great’s expression, “creation unto incorruption,” saying to them: “You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5).

Therefore the revelation in the Gospels of the mysterious descent of the Holy Spirit in visible form upon the God-man, as He receives John’s baptism, is a great and merciful disclosure to us of the mysterious ways of God.

The Lord, in the second Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, assumes human flesh and becomes perfect man. As such, He receives baptism by water and by the Spirit, signifying that man too must receive the same baptism.

Without this baptism, man is powerless to rise to Christ, who draws him to Himself by His love.

At the beginning of His human ministry, the Lord receives the Holy Spirit as man. In this He signifies in Himself all mankind, whose sins He takes away.

So man, in his weak and insignificant form, can do good and draw near to God according to the measure of his weak powers only when he is sanctified and his nature is renewed by the Holy Spirit.

This Spirit is sent from the Father by the Lord Jesus, man’s brother according to the flesh.

Man receives the right to obtain the priceless and renewing gifts of the Holy Spirit, and to be “recreated unto incorruption,” only when he has been washed by the divine Blood.

This occurs only when the Lord in the flesh has completed His ministry, offered Himself as a sacrifice, redeemed man, and been glorified forever.

The Evangelist John says of the disciples’ reception of the Holy Spirit: “This He said concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in His name were about to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (Jn 7:39).

On the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and upon disciples from all nations, see Acts 1:8; 2:1-4 and following; 4:31; 8:17; 10:44-47, and many other passages. “That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise, of the Holy Spirit, in Christ Jesus through the Gospel” (Eph 3:6).

Considering the testimonies of all four Evangelists, namely Jn 1:33-35 with Mt 3 and 4:1, Mk 1:11-12, Lk 3:21-23, and Lk 4:1, we understand that our Lord Jesus Christ spent His childhood and youth in complete quiet and obscurity.

The only exception is His appearance in the temple as a child (Lk 2:40-52). As for all traditions about miracles performed by the Lord in childhood, they are wholly rejected by the Church.

He entered upon His ministry “at about thirty years of age” (Lk 3:23). At that time He received in the flesh the baptism by water from John and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

“After the baptism, every action is performed in the presence of the Spirit,” Basil the Great observes. “The Spirit was co-present even with Him when He was tempted by the devil, for it is said, ‘Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness’” (Mt 4:1).

The temptation of the Lord in human flesh by the devil for forty days occurred after the baptism and the overshadowing of the God-man by the Holy Spirit.

We venture to indicate that the last three temptations mentioned by the Evangelists are these. First is the temptation of the flesh by hunger. Second is the temptation of human vainglory by royal, worldwide glory. Third is the most dangerous temptation for man under the appearance of humility: the temptation of secret pride, by which man thinks himself perfect and therefore tempts God.

But from Mt 4 it is clear that the devil did not know for certain whether this was the Son of God or not.

Thus the temptation concerned, and could concern, only the man. Yet, let us note, it concerned the perfect man, strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

In this case, the Godhead, by His Most High will, permitted the temptation of the man. He likewise permitted the suffering and death of the perfect human being in whom the will of God, having assumed human flesh, was accomplishing our salvation.

He gave this flesh over to temptation and suffering for the salvation of all mankind.

John, who baptized the Lord and saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Him and abiding upon Him, begins by God’s command to preach about the Coming One, who is to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

But when John receives this command, he does not yet know where the One about whom he preaches is. Yet now the Lord, having completed the struggle of temptation, is already approaching.

As we dare to infer, the Lord is coming from the wilderness to John (verse 29). John is baptizing beyond the Jordan, πὲραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, in the words of John the Theologian (Jn 1:28).

For the writer, this always means the left bank of the Jordan, the Transjordan side, the bank of the wilderness. Therefore, when John “the next day saw Jesus coming toward him,” we should think that the Lord was coming from the Transjordan wilderness toward the left bank.

At this time, those sent by the Pharisees question John, and he bears witness to the Lord. First, he says that this is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (verse 29).

Second, he reveals to the people the mysterious signs by which it was granted him from God to know Him. Third, he points out that the Coming One is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

Finally, he completes his testimony with the solemn proclamation that the Coming One is the Son of God, “for thus the voice from heaven had informed John” (Mt 3:17).

This most sacred name was first spoken of the Lord Jesus by the angel of annunciation, sent to the Most Holy Virgin Mary. The angel said to her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the holy one who is born will be called the Son of God” (Lk 1:35).

John proclaims this sacred title before the people and before those sent by the Pharisees, the chief priest, and the scribes. “And John confessed and did not deny” (verse 20).

Directly and openly, moved by the Spirit of God, he calls Him the Son of God upon whom the Holy Spirit descended during His baptism.

Before this testimony, could the Pharisees, priests, and Levites, who knew the Scriptures, remain in doubt or be perplexed that the Coming One is the Messiah?

If, because of the malice of their heart and their human calculations, they wished to deny the Messiah, they had to do so with full consciousness of what they were doing.

Such is the meaning of all the actions of those whom John the Theologian includes under the common name of the Jews.