Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 1:15

μαρτυρεῖ. Present tense; beareth witness. At the end of a long life this testimony of the Baptist still abides fresh in the heart of the aged Apostle. He records three times in twenty verses (15, 27, 30) the cry that was such an epoch in his own life. The testimony abides as a memory for him, as a truth for all.

κέκραγεν. Perfect with present meaning; cries. See on John 5:42. The word indicates strong emotion, as of a prophet. Cf. John 7:28; John 7:37; John 12:44; Isaiah 40:3.

ὃν εἶπον. As if his first utterance under the influence of the Spirit had been hardly intelligible to himself. For ὅν = ‘of whom’ cf. John 6:71; John 8:27.

ὁ ὀπίσω κ.τ.λ. The first and last of these three clauses must refer to time; ὀπίσω = ‘later in time,’ πρῶτος = ‘first in time.’ The middle clause is ambiguous: ἔμπροσθεν = ‘before’ either (1) in time, or (2) in dignity. Γέγονεν seems to be decisive against (1). Christ as God was before John in time, as the third clause states; but John could not say, ‘He has come to be before me,’ or ‘has become before me,’ in time. Moreover, to make the second clause refer to time involves tautology with the third. It is better to follow the A.V. ‘is preferred before me,’ i.e. ‘has become before me’ in dignity: and the meaning will be, ‘He who is coming after me (in His ministry as in His birth) has become superior to me, for He was in existence from all eternity before me.’ Christ’s pre-existence in eternity a great deal more than cancelled John’s pre-existence in the world: and as soon as He appeared as a teacher He at once eclipsed His forerunner.

πρῶτός μου ἦν. Cf. John 1:30 and John 15:18, where we again have a genitive after a superlative as if it were a comparative. It is not strange that ‘first of two,’ or ‘former,’ should be sometimes confused with ‘first of many,’ or ‘first,’ and the construction proper to the one be given to the other. Explained thus the words would mean ‘first in reference to me,’ or ‘my first.’ But perhaps there is more than this; viz., ‘He was before me, as no other can be,’ i.e. ‘He was before me and first of all,’ πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 1:15

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