John 1:34

John 1:34. And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. ‘ I have seen,' for the result of the seeing abides unchanged and ever present: ‘I have borne witness, for the Baptist has entered on that one witness-bearing for which he was sent (John 1:7), and which it will henceforth be his office simply to repeat. It is particularly to be noticed that the ‘witness' referred to is not that Jesus baptizes with the Spirit, but that He is ‘the Son of God,' a designation which expresses the divine nature and character of Jesus, and with this the relation in which He stands to the Father. In one aspect He is God; in another He is the Son of God, the Son distinct from the Father. The link of connection between the transcendent conclusion of the Baptist and the fact upon which it rests is probably to be found in the thought that He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, who therefore has the power to impart the gifts and influence of the Spirit of God, must be Divine. The special form which this confession of our Lord's divinity takes was, we cannot doubt, determined by the words spoken from heaven: ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' (Matthew 3:17).

It has been sometimes maintained that ‘Son of God' must be understood as a mere designation of ‘the Messiah.' For this opinion we believe that no evidence can be found, either in Scripture or in early Jewish writings. There are, indeed, passages in the Old Testament, acknowledged to be prophecies of the Messiah, in which a Divine Sonship is attributed to Him (see especially Psalms 2:7); but the name seems to be always indicative of nature, and not merely of office. How the name was understood by the Jews of our Lord's day may be seen from chap. John 5:18-19; John 10:29-30; John 10:33.

It is important to compare this section with the corresponding portions of the other Gospels. The omissions are very remarkable. We say nothing of the Evangelist's silence as to the circumstances of our Lord's birth and early years; this belongs to the general plan of the Gospel, which here agrees with that of Mark. But it is noteworthy that nothing is said of the baptism of Jesus, or of the temptation which followed. To the baptism, however, there is a clear allusion in John 1:33-34; hence its place in the order of events is fore John 1:19. The temptation also was at an end before John ‘saw Jesus coming unto him' (John 1:29). On the other hand, these verses contain many coincidences in language with the Synoptic Gospels. John's application of Isaiah 40:3, and the contrast which he draws between himself, baptizing in water, and Him who shall baptize with the Holy Ghost, are related by every Evangelist. In all the Gospels, also, we find words similar to those of John 1:27.