Episode 18 - The Spirit descends and remains

I hope you’re not tired yet of this segment on John the Baptist’s testimony. Ideally, you’ve seen that it’s quite rich and we are just scratching the surface. In this episode, I want to take one last look at this segment of John’s testimony and examine two more repetitive phrases or ideas and their significance.

First, John the Baptist’s repeated assertion, “I baptize with water.” (Verses 26, 31, and 33) What is his point? Why is it so important to emphasizes how he baptizes? Its significance comes out when he explains that the one to whom he is pointing (Jesus) baptizes with the Holy Spirit. (Verse 33) 

Secondly, we see a repetition of the Spirit descending and remaining upon Jesus. In verse 32, John the Baptist says, “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and remained on him.” Then in verse 33, he explains that the One who sent him to baptize with water said to him, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” (verse 33)  This was to be the evidence for John to recognize the one to whom John would point others.

Let’s bring these together. The Baptizer is making it clear how he is NOT the one to whom the greatest attention is to be given. He is only a messenger to tell people who they should turn to and why he is so important. (He is the Son of God. verse 34) John the Baptist is emphasizing that he himself only baptizes with water; something of the natural world. But, Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Why is that important? I am going to attempt to answer that question in the same manner that I have the previous few episodes; by looking at the context. 

When we looked at the repetition of the word and concept of “seeing,” the immediate context helped us understand the purpose of the repetition and shifting meaning of seeing through those uses. When we examined the idea of “knowing” or “not knowing,” we expanded the context back to the religious leaders encounter with John the Baptist. He told them that they didn’t know about the one who was so much greater. But, then in verses 29-34 he twice mentions that he himself did not know him. In this case, I want us to expand our contextual examination to the Old Testament. Why? We need to understand a little more about what it says about John the Baptist’s role is in order to understand why he telling us these things about Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

When John first tells the contingency of religious leaders, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (verse 23), he is quoting Isaiah 40:3 and claiming to be that “voice” which is now fulfilling this prophecy. The context of the first thirty-nine chapters leading up to this is about the sin of Israel and God’s discipline upon them for their rebellion. Now, we see hope and restoration of Israel to the LORD. In Isaiah 40:1 the prophet writes, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem , and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” 

Fast forward to Isaiah 42:1 in which God speaks through the prophet saying, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” No wonder John the Baptist recognizes the message given to him that the one upon whom the Spirit descends and remains is the one to whom he should point people. It’s consistent with what God had already revealed. 

John the Baptist is saying, What God has been promising in His word about your hope, Israel, has been fulfilled in Jesus because God’s presence and power are with him and he can and will baptize or dip you in the Holy Spirit to purify you and make you right with God. 

In Isaiah 42:1 it would appear that the promised hope is not just for Israel, but justice for the nations ( or “the world”) as well. 

John’s message to people coming to him is not something new that he was teaching. He was simply announcing that what God had promised has finally come about. That promise is found in the person of Jesus. 

My desire for these observations about the Baptizer’s testimony of Jesus and the Holy Spirit remaining upon him will prepare us for understanding and appreciating what the apostle John has in store for us about who Jesus is and his purpose for coming into the world.

Episode 17 - What do you know?

In episode 17 we are continuing a close examination of John the Baptist’s testimony as the author of this book records it for us. Each Gospel writer gives us a view of Jesus’ life and ministry and there are different angles from which we can view it through the witness of these early Christians. We saw in Episode 15 how the theme of “seeing” is repeated and I argued that it’s a theme that will run through this book.

What else did you notice that appeared to be a repetition? Did you notice that twice the Baptizer says, “I myself did not know him?” He first says it in verse 31 and then again in verse 33. In both instances he follows it up with an explanation that his purpose for baptizing with water was to reveal the one “who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (verse 33) “to Israel.” (verse 31) More on that in the next episode. 

In episode 15, I argued that it’s important to interpret words and phrases in their context to have a more clear and likely understanding of what the author intended to communicate. I would suggest that our understanding of what the Baptizer intends by “I myself did not know him” is best understood by its context. In this case, the context is a little more broad than what we looked at for two occurrences of the word “see”. 

If you go back a few verses to the beginning of John the Baptist’s testimony you’ll see that in speaking with the contingency of religious leaders who’ve come to find out if John is Elijah, or the Prophet, or even the Christ, John’s response to them could come across to them as an affront. I like to paraphrase John’s response as follows, “You people think I’m important? There’s someone else among you that you don’t even notice and he is far greater than I am.” (See John 1:24-28)

It might be tempting to think that John is a little bit arrogant in that response. However, his repeating the fact that even he himself did not know him is negating any argument the Baptizer is conceited. In fact, you’ll see that the author paints John the Baptist as a model of humility. 

So what is this telling us?

First, think about what the author said back in the Prologue “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. (verse 18) The point is that no human in their own ability can claim to have seen God and know everything about him except that God makes Himself known. This is true for even this special messenger or agent of God called John the Baptist. He’s saying there was nothing in me that allowed me to recognize who this person was if it weren’t for God revealing it to me. That is true for us and for everyone else. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:19-20 that God has revealed Himself (to an extent) through the Creation of the universe so that people should at least recognize that there is a God. But, the author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 1:1-2 that God had made Himself known through dreams and prophets and various ways in times past. But, in these last days He has spoken to us through a Son. Jesus came into the world so that God could give us a more clear picture of Who He is.

A second thing I believe we can learn from this is that we do not need to understand everything before we follow God’s will. If we believe God is leading us to serve His purposes, we can trust Him to accomplish what He wants to. It’s not our responsibility to bring the outcome. It’s only our responsibility and privilege to be obedient to His will.

Episode 15 - What do you see?

So, did you complete your assignment from the last episode? Did you look for words, phrases, or ideas that you thought we’re being repeated? I gave you a hint to get you started and suggested that you look for forms of the word or idea meaning “to see.” I saw four occurrences of forms of that English verb in those few verses. In addition, there was the word “Behold!” a command meaning “Look at!”. That at least is associated thematically. Let’s look at this a little more closely. 

We often interpret words and expressions within their context to understand the intended meaning by the author and perhaps even a change or expansion of meaning when the author has used the same word or idea so that the meaning shifts from a literal meaning to a figurative one. 

For example, the literal definition of the verb “to see” means to “perceive with one’s eyes.” I could say, “At a young age I saw people bring their Bibles to church.” That is an example of the most literal sense of “saw;” the past tense form of to see.  We understand that meaning by the context in which it’s used. But, we also use the same word to mean something beyond that strict literal definition of the word. If I were to say, “Over my life, I have come to see how valuable reading my Bible can be in my walk of faith,” we immediately understand that my use of the verb “see” is not about the sense of “perceiving something with my eyes,” but rather,  it’s an expression to indicate “understanding and/or valuing” my reading and studying the Bible. 

Some languages, like Greek which is the primary language of our  New Testament Scriptures, have multiple words that can mean the same thing or have nuances that allow them to expand or shift meaning. Bible translators may translate the meanings of these different words to the same English word. So, the repetition that we see may not only be there for emphasis but cause us to ask ourselves, “Does the context indicate that the meaning has changed or expanded in some manner?” 

This is what is happening in this brief testimony of John the Baptist. When the Baptizer “saw” Jesus coming toward him in verse 29, the context makes it clear that the meaning of “saw” is the most simple, literal meaning; that he “perceived with his eyes” that Jesus was coming toward him. But, in verse 32 where the author quotes the Baptizer saying, “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove . . .” the context informs us that John the Baptist has perceived something more than just a man walking toward him. He says to others around him, “I saw the Spirit descend . . .” So, it’s clear that he is using his eyes. But, the question evoked by the context is, “Can humans normally see a spirit?” I believe it’s safe to say that the answer is “no.” In the original language, the author actually uses a different word that means “to see” and this second occurrence of “saw” in this short account is the Greek word transliterated “theaomai.” It allows for expanded use of seeing to mean “to perceive something above and beyond what is merely seen with the eye.” (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature Third Edition Ed. Danker) Interestingly, this is the same word used in John 1:14 in which the author himself said, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory . . .” The author has communicated through a thematic repetition that John the Baptist moves from perceiving something simply with his eyes to seeing something beyond what is perceptible with the eyes. 

Verses 33-34 contain our third and fourth occurrences of “see” and “seen” respectively and they are yet a third different word in the Greek translation from the first two. It’s not essential that we discuss this in-depth at this time. It is valuable to understand that John is establishing a theme of “seeing.” By now, you should begin to realize that he won’t always mean the literal sense of perceiving with the eyes. 

The important thing for us is to slow down and ask ourselves, “Is this repetition here to get my attention and to help me perceive something beyond what I can just see with my eyes?” Perhaps, this can be a prayer for you this week. “Father - Help me see what you want me to see; even the things that cannot be seen with my eyes.”

Episode 14 - Time for a challenge

I want to do something different in this episode. Instead of explaining Scripture in this episode, I want to give you an assignment. The purpose is to help you grow in your skills for Bible study and interpretation. One should never take another individual’s personal interpretation of Scripture as absolute truth. What I say should never be in contradiction with the most important tenets of the Christian faith that have been held by the Church at large since the time of Christ. Obviously, Christians will vary on the interpretation of some passages and minor things. But, even then, if someone has an interpretation that is unique or never considered by anyone before, it’s probably wrong. My hope here is to encourage you in thinking about things that apply to interpret all kinds of literature. In other words, what I’m asking you to do here is not unique or “rocket science.” It’s normal. 

In a few moments, I’m going to read the full account of the event of Jesus coming to John the day after he tells the religious rulers that his role is simply to point people to Jesus. What I want you to do is to listen and take note of things that you think might be important. Do you remember how I pointed out in Episode 2 that “repetition” is a characteristic in literature that shows us importance?

In the first verse of John’s gospel, we saw the repetition of the “to be” verb “was.” It emphasized what “the Word” was. For the rest of John’s prologue, forms of the verb “ginomai” was used nine times in those relatively few verses. It means to “become or to be created.” In the light of the evidence that John was making a connection to the Creation account in Genesis 1, that would be important, wouldn’t it? 

So, listen and/or read through John 1:29-34 multiple times and make notes about what is repeated. Whether it be a word, a phrase, or even just an idea, write that down and ask yourself if you think it could be important. It’s not important to necessarily answer that question right now. What is important is that if there is a truth, an idea or theme that the author wants us to discern through repetition, perhaps we’ll be more sensitive to its occurrences when we see them.

When you’ve done this and if you have time and interest, go back to the beginning of this book and read starting in verse 1 and see if any of these words, phrases, or ideas have already been mentioned. If so, add those to your notes. 

Here is the full text of this event. When I’ve finished, I’m going to give you a hint to get you started. Then in the episodes to follow, I’ll point out some of the things I’ve noticed and suspect is important to what the author wants us to understand.

John 1:29   The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

Ok. Do you need some help getting started? Does it seem like the idea of “seeing” is important? Does it only mean observing with one’s eyes? What could it mean?