portion as they grow in knowledge and faith, and se( Christ Him- self more clearly. As churches decay and fall awaj , they think less of Christ and more of their ministers. As churches revive and receive spiritual life, they think less of ministers and more of Christ. To a decaying church the sun is going down, and the stars are beginning to appear. To a reviving church the stars are waning, and the sun appearing.
31. — [IIe...cometh...ahove... above 021.1 -^"^ ^^^^ sentence John Ihe Baptist asserts the infinite superiority of Christ over himself oi any other child of Adam, whatever office he may fill. Christ is " from above." He is not merely man, but Cod. He came from heaven when He took our nature on Him, and was born. As God, He is as far above all His ministers and servants as the Creator is above the creature. He is " far above all principality, and power, and every name that can be named." He is " Head over ail things to the church," and richly deserves all the honour, and dignity, and respect, and reverence that man can give. (Ephes. i. 21, 22.)
[He that is of the earth... earthly. ..speaketh...earth.] In this sen- tence John the Baptist expresses in strong language the compara- tive inferiority to Christ of himself or of any other minister. " All who like me," he seems to say, " are only men, mere dust and clay, descended from a father who was made out of the dust of the ground^ are comparatively earthly. The weakness and feebleness of our origin pervade all our doings. By nature eaj-thly, our works are earthly, and our speaking and preaching earthly." — In short, there will be a savour of humanity about the ministry of every one who is naturally engendered of the seed of Adam.
The difficulty that some see in John the Baptist calling his own ministry " earthly," is quite needlessly raised. It is evident that he calls it so " comparatively." Compared to the teaching of Scribes and Pharisees it was not earthly but heavenly. Com- pared to the teaching of Him who came from heaven it was earthly. A candle compared to darkness is light. But the same candle compared to the sun is a poor dim spark.
[He that cometh. ..heaven. ..above aV.'\ Tliis sentence is only a repetition of the beginning of the verse. It is a second assertion of Christ's greatness and superiority over any mere man, in order to impress the matter more deeply on those who heard it. " Mark what I tell you," John the Baptist seems to say to his disciples, "I repeat emphatically that Christ having come from heaven, and being by nature God as well as man, is far above me and all othei- ministers, who are only men and nothing more."
Some think, as Erasmus, Bengel, Wetstein, Olshausen, and Tholuck, that John the Baptist's words end with the verse pre-