John 1:15

John 1:15. John beareth witness concerning him, and hath cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me has become before me, because he was before me. We have seen that John 1:14 is parallel to John 1:1-5. In like manner this verse is parallel to John 1:6-8; but it is also an advance upon those verses, containing the Baptist's witness to the Personal Word become flesh, not to the Word as the general Light of men. ‘Beareth witness,' not ‘bare witness' (John 1:32). It is as if the Evangelist would say, Of this John is the witness; his testimony abides, unchanging, always present. The same thought comes out more distinctly still in the verb which follows, ‘hath cried.' (The usual translation ‘crieth' seems on various grounds less probable.) The loud cry of the faithful witness has come down through all the years; we seem to hear its echoes still. The Baptist clearly refers to witness which he had borne after Jesus appeared; hence the words, ‘This was he.' It is unusually difficult to find a rendering that will fully convey the meaning of this verse. As the word ‘before' occurs in two members of the verse, the English reader inevitably considers the contrast to be between ‘is preferred' (or ‘is become') and ‘he was.' In reality, ‘before' here answers to two different words. A literal translation will show at once the meaning and the difficulty of finding an easy expression of the meaning: ‘He that cometh behind me has become in front of me, because He was before me.' Jesus came ‘after' or ‘behind' John, as coming later in His manifestation to the world. As the later in time, it might have been expected that He would take rank alter him who was His predecessor; but He has been advanced before John; the reason of this is given in John's declaration, ‘He was before me.' That which these words directly affirm is priority of time; but, as in respect of human birth this could not be affirmed of Jesus, the words bring into view a preexistence so transcendent as of itself to assert an infinite superiority to every other man. This anterior dignity explains why He that followed John has come to be before him. The herald came first, to prepare the way for the King; when the King arrives, the herald retires from view. The last words of the verse require further notice. They are not fully represented by ‘before me,' as if they contained nothing beyond a comparison of Jesus with the Baptist. The former word is absolute, ‘He was first;' the other word is added because a comparison is needed, ‘first in regard of me.' We might almost paraphrase the very remarkable combination thus: First, and (by consequence) before me.