He Must Increase and I Must Decrease: An Exposition of john 3:22-36
Introduction
Everyone wants to be popular. We also have a desire to have our egos stroked. We gauge our importance by how many followers we have on social media. We all want our posts to be liked. This is also important for those engaged in the ministry. Is our effectiveness based upon the number of members in the church we pastor? Are we successful if we sell many copies of our song? Are we a failure if members leave our church or our sales of books and music diminish? These are serious questions we have to answer. We can be thankful that Scripture addresses this question for us in the example of John the Baptist. Let us now examine John 3:22-36 to see what a successful ministry looks like in the sight of God.
Exposition of the Text
Verse 22 begins with the words “after these things.” What are the things to whom the Apostle John is referring? This passage follows immediately after Jesus’ dialog with Nicodemus. If one were to make this connection, then we see both passages emphasize that Jesus came down “from above.” There is also a contrast between heavenly and earthly things. There is also the theme of belief or rejection of Jesus’ person and testimony. So there are logical links between the two passages.
However, many scholars think that John may have placed the cleansing of the Temple in Chapter 2 early in the Gospel to bookend the first sign of Jesus which was the wedding in Cana of Galilee where Jesus turned the water into wine. John says that this was the first sign. The last sign is the resurrection of Jesus Christ where He will raise the Temple of His body after three days. The Gospels as a whole exhibit bot temporal as well as logical arrangement. There is a tendency to arrange the events chronologically, but there are times when passages are arranged logically because the one explains the other. For example, John tells us that Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus for burial on the evening before Palm Sunday. He also mentions Judas by name as being the one offended by the waste of money. This is John’s way of relating the anointing of Jesus with Judas’ betrayal. The arrangement here is chronological. However, Matthew places the anointing of Jesus later in the week and puts it next to Judas going to the High Priest to betray him. This connection is made logically. The anointing was earlier in the week and the beginning of the betrayal happened later in the week. Both gospels agree that the anointing of Jesus for burial was the cause for Judas’ betrayal, which is the main point. Placing the cause and effect together is a logical arrangement.
So if John placed the cleansing of the Temple where it occurs for logical emphasis, this would mean that there was only one cleansing of the Temple at the end of His ministry. I don’t want to say with any degree of certainty that this is the case, but there is good reason to think there was only one cleansing. One must also ask then if the conversation with Nicodemus also occurred during Passion Week as well. As “after these things” is a temporal marker, it seems to me that the Apostle John is referring back to some other event rather than the conversation with Nicodemus. The previous referent would seem to be the wedding in Cana at the beginning of Chapter 2, or it might even go back to the first chapter and the testimony of John in which He testifies of the primacy of Jesus over himself. As John the Baptist refers to this when He says: “You certainly do remember when I said.” This seems to best fit the use of “after these things.” Logically. The passage follows the discourse with Nicodemus, temporally it follows the marriage in Cana.
Verse 22 continues by saying that Jesus went into Judaea and was baptizing converts. John later goes on to explain that it was Jesus’ disciples who were doing the baptizing and not Jesus personally. John the Baptist and his disciples were also baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there. This has led to much controversy in the church over the mode of baptism. If one sprinkles, there isn’t need for much water. This is certainly a good point and worth discussing; however, there is something more important to be said about this passage than how we should baptize. The point we need to zero in on is that Jesus and John the Baptist were both baptizing at different locations. Logically speaking, once John introduces the bridegroom with “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world,” one would think that John the Baptist’s role was essentially done. Tow of John the Baptist’s disciples got the message and left him to follow Jesus. But not all of John’s disciples followed Jesus. Many remained with John the Baptist even after John was cast into prison. Later on, he sends some of these disciples to Jesus to ask if he had gotten things right.
So until John the Baptist was cast into prison, he continued to baptize. The fact that he continued to baptize after Jesus and His disciples baptized became the occasion for the enemy to exploit the division. They got into a dispute with the disciples of John the Baptist over the matter of purification. These Jews cared for neither John the Baptist and Jesus. But they hoped they could get them to discredit each other. We see this when they bring up the point that Jesus who had been baptized by John was also baptizing and making more converts that he was. The idea was to say that Jesus was being insubordinate to John the Baptist as John had baptized first. This temptation would have felled a lesser man. The fact that Jesus’ ministry was more successful was actually a testimony to the success of John the Baptist’s ministry and not failure. In fact, John the Baptist’s ministry would have been a total failure otherwise in the sight of God who had sent John to baptize.
John wisely answers that his ministry was a gift from God. When one reads “from heaven” in Hebrew thought, it is more correctly translated “from God.” Ministry is a gift of God. Proper exercise of that gift is an imperative. There has to be a sense of humility which John possessed. Not all exercise God’s gifts well. Paul at the beginning of Philippians makes a distinction between those who preached Christ out of goodwill and those who preached Christ out of strife and contention. Paul was happy that Christ was preached, regardless, but it is obvious that the former was to be preferred.
John the Baptist then reminds them that he had previously told them that He was not the Christ (Messiah). “You yourselves certainly remember my testimony.” The Greek here is vert emphatic. Were these troublemakers the very same people who hade come to him with questions before. John also emphatically denies that he was the Messiah. In both cases he uses the Greek “ego” which means “I.” and “eimi” which means “I am.” These two words occur next to each other in this order in Exodus 3:14 when God tells Moses at the burning bust: “I AM (that I AM). This same arrangement also occurs in the “I AM” statements which Jesus makes in John which is to equate Jesus as the one who spoke to Moses. But when John emphatically denies that he is the Messiah, he is careful to reverse the order of these two words in one place and putting the word “not” between these two words in his denial. This is subtle, but it makes it clear that John is not somehow taking divine honors unto himself. Instead, he is making an emphatic denial of such. John then explains that He had been sent before “that one” to whom divine honor is due. John uses the strong adversative “but” which tells the reader to replace the idea that John the Baptist was the Messiah with the idea that the One who came after him was the Christ (Messiah).
John then says the one who follows him was the bridegroom who was coming for His bride. John was simply the best man who introduced the groom. After that, his role was finished. It would be totally inappropriate to show up the bridegroom at the wedding. Being the best man is a great honor, and one should be happy that he does his role well. This he rejoiced to do. His role was now complete. This completion is emphasized by the use of the Greek Perfect tense. There was nothing more to be done.
John concludes with the words: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The “I” here is in an emphatic form. He had to get out of the way and let Jesus shine. John’s ministry had been a total success. This is not to say that John the Baptist was perfect. The fact he was still baptizing rather than referring all requests to Jesus and his disciples indicates this. Perhaps this is the real reason John the Baptist ended up in prison. As long as John the Baptist was in the world alongside Jesus, there would be those who would follow him rather than Jesus. It seems likely that many of the disciples of John never came to Jesus which makes one wonder if they were disciples at all. Years later, in Ephesus, there was still a gathering of people who had been disciples of John the Baptist.
When one comes now to verse 31 and following, one must ask: “Which John is speaking?” “Is it John the Baptist or is it commentary by the Apostle John who composed the Gospel?” There has been scholarly contention over this issue as there had been concerning whether John 3:15-21 in the previous passage was spoken by Jesus or was commentary by John on Jesus’ dialog with Nicodemus. Some have noticed the similarities of verses 31-36 to 1 John and thing that it is commentary. Others think that John the Baptist spoke these words.
Again, we can see that controversy can be the cause of division. Satan tried to separate John the Baptist from Jesus. In this passage, we have already discussed the controversy over the mode of baptism. Now there is an attempted division between John the Baptist and John the Apostle. So how do we deal with this. I think the best way to resolve this is to properly understand the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture. It is the God-breathed words of God by the Holy Spirit. It is God who speaks, whether through Jesus or to John, Paul, Peter, John the Baptist, etc. by means of the Holy Spirit. Scholars place too uch emphasis on the human element of Inspiration. By this they have reduced the authority of Scripture to the speculations of men. We must avoid being divided by these ploys. What matters is that the Holy Spirit spoke verses 31-36, whether He used the mouth of John the Baptist or the pen of the Apostle John.
Verse 31 tells us that there is a great distinction to be made between heavenly things and earthly things. Even though Jesus fully shared in our humanity, He was also eternally God the Son. He is over all things. As human, he knew earthly things as well. But he would use earthly things in His teaching to explain heavenly reality. He did this with Nicodemus when he uses the analogy of the wind and the Spirit. In both Aramaic and Greek, the word for “spirit” and “wind” are the same. The Spirit of God is like the wind which one perceives but cannot see directly. Jesus also used parables to compare the Kingdom reality to earthly things. The earthly man can only speak of earthly things. From this we should see that the success or failure of our ministry is not based upon earthly standards but rather heavenly ones. Did we do what we were called to do?
The text then laments that even though the Lord of all had come down and testified in the presence of all, that few believed the heavenly message he brought. The Greek word translated “no one” should be seen as a hyperbole or else it would say that no one is a believer. The next verse states that some believed because they have set their seal on the truthfulness of God’s word. No one receives the testimony of Jesus by earthly means. It has to be a gift from God. Jesus preached the pure words of God by means of the Holy Spirit which he was given without measure. His words are as much Scripture as the Old Testament as it is the same speaker in both cases, the Spirit.
The text tells us of the love between the Father and the Son to whom He has given all things including the right to give eternal life to everyone who believes on Him. On the contrary, the one who does not believe will not see life as the wrath of God remains on Him. There is no middle ground. One either believes unto life eternal or faces eternal separation and punishment. It is one ting to accept or reject and earthly message. Someone might have given you a stock tip which if you had believed and followed up upon, you might have made or avoided the loss on money. Earthly matter such as these do not have eternal consequences. Gaining the whole world means nothing if you do not have Jesus. To not believe the words of God will cost you everything, eternally. This thought should increase in our lives and worldly gain and pleasure decrease.
Conclusion
To sum up the passage, we see that John the Baptist is the example par excellance of how we are to conduct our ministry. We need to know what our task is and do it. We need to remain humble. It is not a matter if we are praised and recognized or not. This is no certain proof of our effectiveness. Of course, neither should we see failure and rejection as proof that we have been faithful. We might have been poor servants whom the Lord could not use. The proof of effective ministry is is we hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant. We need to be constantly in prayer and study of the word. John the Baptist was human and not perfect. Yet Jesus gave Him the highest commendation. But John recognized that he was not even worthy to loose Jesus’ sandal strap which was the menial work of a slave. How much more should we who are hardly worthy to loose the sandal strap of John the Baptist rely humbly on the grace of God. We must receive our ministry from God as his gift and execute it accordingly, not relying upon human methods. Let us make it our goal to glorify Jesus.
