The Heart of the Matter:

We have a clear and deep picture of who we are in relation to Jesus and what it means to follow Him by way of John the Baptist’s example in this passage of scripture.

• Jesus is above all.
• Only Jesus knows the heavenly things.
• Believing in Jesus is believing in the Father.
• God gave the Spirit to Jesus without limits.
• All authority has been given to Jesus.

Jesus truly is the superior in that He is the only one having come from heaven to bring the truth of God to the world. This truth no other person possesses. No one but Jesus has the full authority of heaven given to Him by God the Father.

Just as John the Baptist decreased so that Jesus might increase, so should we lower ourselves in humble submission to Jesus. Our response should be that of a true belief, trust, and reliance in Him as our Master, Lord, and Savior desiring to obey His will.

Digging Deeper: John 3:22-24:

22After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing.

23John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized—

24for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

John is again setting the scene for us. Jesus and His followers had stationed themselves in the rural area of Judea. John the Baptist (remember John the Apostle never mentions himself by name in his gospel) and his followers had stationed themselves in Aenon. Notice that both ministries were at separate locations; however, they were separated by only a few miles (at best guess possibly 6 miles, although the exact distance is somewhat disputed). Regardless, since they were so close it’s obvious that each of them knew what was going on in the other’s camp. This sets us up for the “Therefore” in verse 25, which I’ll get to in a second.

The curious thing is verse 24. It seems out-of-place here. Why would John (the Apostle) comment here on John the Baptist’s situation? Well, we first need to remember that John’s gospel was written roughly 50 years after these events and the gospels of Matthew and Mark were written before John. In Matthew and Mark, John the Baptist is placed in jail immediately after Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Nothing is mentioned of the time in between. However, John the Apostle is filling in that gap here. But again, why do we need this gap filled in? Part of the answer is that Jesus began His ministry alongside John the Baptist and not after he was placed in jail. Matthew and Mark seem to indicate that Jesus’ ministry began afterwards, Mark 1:14:

14Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,

We see here that Jesus’ ministry did indeed begin alongside John the Baptist.

So our next question is why does it matter when Jesus’ ministry began? Well, the next sections offer an answer as to how John the Baptist ministered in relation to Jesus. He decreased so that Jesus might increase. This is always a foundational part of all our ministries. We need to get out of the way so that the spotlight falls on Jesus, the only One who matters in our ministry. As we read through these next sections we will see how John the Baptist ministered in this way and what his reasons were.

John 3:24–36:

25Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification.

26And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.”

27John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.

28“You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’

29“He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.

30“He must increase, but I must decrease.

Isn’t it almost always the case that when two people that are held in very high regard come within one another’s orbits that envy, pride, and an unhealthy competition flare up. Here too we see that because (the “therefore” that begins verse 24) of the close proximity of the two ministries that we hear of a “discussion” brought up between John the Baptist’s disciples and a Jew. The Greek word for “discussion” (zetesis) gives us the sense that this was more than a simple friendly debate. Rather, this was an argument over a controversial matter.

Now I’m sure that both John and Jesus would have taught their disciples well concerning matters of purification. In fact, the text even states that Jesus was spending time with His disciples (verse 22). Surely this was not just idle time but intentional time spent building up His disciples. Plus there were the scriptures that taught of purification. So what was the heart of the matter here? Well, verse 26 betrays the minds of those disputing these matters and gives us some explanation.

In verse 26 we see envy, pride, and unhealthy competition. Basically, these disputers came to John asking, “Why did you build up this Jesus so much just to have Him take away all your disciples?” Didn’t these people recognize who Jesus was, especially after John’s emphatic witness? No! In fact, they seem to be rejecting John’s witness that the Lamb of God had appeared. If we recall John 3:11:

11“Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.

We see that indeed at least some were still not believing in the Lamb of God.

John the Baptist recognized what was happening here. Look closely at his response. This is the graceful response of a humble man. John knew that he had been given a duty to proclaim Jesus and to prepare those to follow Him. John was not preparing those to continue to stay with him and follow him. This responsibility had been given to him from heaven and was ordained by God. Likewise, we too only receive our Christian duties from heaven.

In verse 28 John the Baptist says that he has already witnessed that he is not the Christ. Rather, John the Baptist witnessed that he was sent ahead to prepare the way (this was his holy responsibility given to him from heaven). He gently reminded these followers of his that what was happening was not a competition for followers but a plan laid out in heaven from all eternity.

In verse 29 John the Baptist explains this from his own point-of-view as the friend of the bridegroom (this might be best understood in our contemporary world as the “best man”). He is rejoicing but not simply rejoicing, greatly rejoicing. His joy is so great that he states at the end of verse 29 that his joy has been made full. Some translations say that his joy was complete. Either way, John the Baptist’s joy was filled up to the brim. You couldn’t have put an ounce more of joy into him. That is how joyful he was.

Now as the metaphorical best man for Jesus, he would have naturally been overjoyed at being near the bridegroom. Not only did he know the bridegroom personally and deeply, but his duties were coming to an end. The best man prepares for the bridegroom. The best man rejoices when the bridegroom arrives and he hears his voice. Now that the bridegroom is on the scene and calling His church to Him, the best man can step aside and allow the full spotlight to be placed on the bridegroom. You see, the best man isn’t the reason for this celebration, it’s the bridegroom and as such when the bridegroom arrives, the best man steps aside.

Verse 30 succinctly sums up what John the Baptist has been revealing to his followers. They were not to continue to follow him, but they were to follow Jesus. Why else was he witnessing to all to “behold” this Lamb of God? He wanted his followers to stop looking at him and instead look deeply at Jesus, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

Verse 30 is a verse we must all meditate on deeply. Let’s look at this phrase from other perspectives based on the biblical definitions of these two words “increase” and “decrease”:

He must become superior and I must become inferior

He must be made greater and I must be made lower

He must be glorified and I must be humble

Do not overlook the use of the word “must” in this verse. This word “must” gives us a sense not only of duty for John the Baptist but also one of necessity. John must fade away so that the superior will (must) take over. Just as the superior has arrived (i.e., the bridegroom) so must the inferior or lower (i.e., the best man) step aside so that the superior is magnified and glorified in all.

Through this logical flow of thought John the Baptist has ended this argument amongst his followers with a fullness of grace. He didn’t chastise or berate his followers; conversely, he lowered himself in humble submission to his master and Lord. But John the Baptist has not finished his explanation. Read on…

John 3:31–36:

31“He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

32“What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.

33“He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true.

34“For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure.

35“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

36“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Remember back when we studied Colossians? The overarching theme in that letter was the full supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. Here John the Baptist is reiterating the supremacy or superiority of Jesus over himself (or anyone, for that matter). John the Baptist gives 5 distinct reasons for Jesus’ superiority in verses 31-35 and ends with an interesting repeat of John 3:16 in verse 36.

He Who is Above All

In verse 31 notice the chiastic structure (ABA) where the author speaks of Jesus as above all (i.e., the first and last “A”s in this structure) and the phrase about John the Baptist (the “B”) sandwiched in between. Essentially, you can read this as:

Jesus is above all.

John the Baptist is from the earth.

Jesus is above all.

This pattern emphasizes Jesus’ status as superior, but the point here is that John the Baptist is showing himself as lower in status to Jesus. John the Baptist is speaking of himself as from the earth, which implies that he is not from heaven as Jesus clearly is (the second “A” in this structure explicitly states that Jesus “comes from heaven”). Also, John the Baptist is stating that Jesus speaks of not earthly things, as he does, but of the greater heavenly things. Remember what Jesus said to Nicodemus that we studied last week in John 3:11–12:

11Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

12If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

The “we” in verse 11 above references both Jesus and John the Baptist, but John still was only a man who only did and spoke of what he was told by God. John did not speak on his own accord. Jesus, on the other hand, had descended from heaven and His ministry was superior to John’s. And, of course, we see this again from last weeks study in John 3:5:

5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Jesus brought the superior ministry with Him from heaven. Jesus was beginning His ministry in order to open up a way to God, through His sacrifice for sin.

Only Jesus Knows the Heavenly Things

In verse 32 we see that Jesus only speaks of what He has seen and heard. Since He was always in heaven with the Father, we know this testimony is directly from heaven and is true and pure. Again we can go back to last weeks study of John 3:13 :

13No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

Jesus testifies that only He has descended from heaven and only He brings the truth of heavenly things to us.

Believing in Jesus is Believing in the Father

In verse 33 anyone (including John the Baptist) who receives the testimony of Jesus and confirms (“sets his seal”) Jesus’ testimony also receives and confirms God Himself. We know that Jesus’ testimony came from God, so If we receive and confirm Jesus’ testimony we receive and affirm this is God’s truth. We cannot receive one and not the other, nor can we believe in one and not the other.

God Gave the Spirit to Jesus Without Limits

In verse 34 God sent Jesus to speak the full gospel (the good news) to the world. But God gave Jesus, who set aside His deity temporarily, the full measure of the Spirit. That is, the full and complete Spirit dwelt within Jesus. There was nothing lacking in this. Therefore, we can trust the testimony of Jesus as from God for we know that the Spirit speaks only what He hears from the Father. Not only this, but the full measure of the Spirit infers the full authority of God.

All Authority Has Been Given To Jesus

In verse 35 we see the glue that holds this all together. That is, “the Father loves the Son”. Love (the agape love) is what drives this action through Jesus the Son. This holy, perfect, and complete love spurs the second part of this verse, “God has given all things into His hand”. This verb “has given” is in the perfect tense, which means that the action has already occured in the past; however, the focus of this verb tense is not that the action has been completed but the resulting state of affairs. That is, God already gave all authority to Jesus and this results in the present state, which is Jesus the superior who is to bring the heavenly things to the world.

These five verses progress the deeper meaning behind John the Baptist’s statement, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Jesus truly is the superior in that He is the only one having come from heaven to bring the truth of God to the world. This truth no other person possesses. The Spirit confirms and authenticates Jesus as speaking the truth of God. And no one but Jesus has the full authority of heaven given to Him by God the Father. In this simple statement, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” We have a clear and deep picture of who we are in relation to Jesus and what it means to follow Jesus. I thank God that Jesus is my superior as I am nothing in comparison. May no one see me; rather may they see Jesus instead of me.

Finally, the author closes this section with a verse reminiscent of John 3:16 in verse 36:

36“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

This is a fitting closing statement to verses 22-35. This is our response to the superior One, to the One from heaven, to the One with all authority and all knowledge. Our response is belief. But not just a theoretical or superficial knowledge, for even the demons believe that Jesus is who He says He is…but they do not believe in Jesus.

A good biblical definition of the Greek work for believe is:

πιστεύω (pisteuō). vb. to believe, trust; entrust. Describes the act of believing or trusting something on the basis of its truthfulness and reliability1

1 Aaron C. Fenlason, “Belief,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

So belief carries with it the idea of trust. Trust is key to this definition. We trust Jesus is who He says He is and on this we rely.

There is another small word interjected here that is critical to our belief…the word “in”. This word “in” defines the target or focus of our belief. However, this is too simplistic of a definition. True, the focus of our faith is Jesus but what does that imply? Well, this implies that this is a heart issue. This implies that we must be fully and totally committed to Jesus within a trusting relationship. If we don’t trust in Jesus, we cannot rely on Him. If we cannot rely on Him, we cannot obey Him. This is not commitment. [As an aside, doubts will creep in every once in a while and we may have an earthly fear of obeying something the Spirit is commanding us to do. I am not saying that these situations mean you do not trust in Jesus or that you are not saved. Typically, these situations are due either to an unrepentant sin or God purifying your faith. Both of which are different scenarios in which God works.]

Now this trust, or trusting in Jesus, allows us to obey Him. Who can obey someone who is untrustworthy? If we trust Jesus is who He says he is then our obedience is from joy and not from duty or simply adherence to laws.

(re-read verses 22-35 with this key idea of a true belief in Jesus in mind and see what the Spirit teaches you anew).