. 27 He*itis, who coming after me is preferred be-
' fore me 3, whoſe ſhoces latcher I am not worthy to un- ; looſe 4, |
5, t Jobhnthe Baptijt, had before to!d them, He that cometh after me, is ls, Preferred bj»; me, Sce the Notes there, He now repeateth thoſe 4 *ords 3 and it is obſervable, that the three other Evangeliſts all
Put this Paſſage before the Hiſtory of Chriſt's coming to him 0 be Baptized,” So as it is probable, that theſe
L S. FOAON. oncerning Chriſt : But others think that the article in the ; Meſſengers came to John as he was is not cinphaticalz and they only asked him if he were ately before or after Chriſt's Baptiſi for the Fews had a general notion, that the Spirit of Pro- ! he repeateth to his hearers, what he had a little before ſ1i4 of him ecy had left them ever ſince the times of Zachariah and Malachy | that he was to be preferred before hi . hoped was returned 1n Fohn the Bap:iſt,and about this they | with a Proverbial Speech, him, if he were a Prophet ? þ To which he anſwereth, No, hat Prophet promiſed, Deut. 18. 18. nor yet any of the old riſen from the dead ; nor yet one like the Prophets of the Old Teſtament, who only Prophecied of a Chriſt to come ; but as Chriſt calls bim, Matth. 31. 9. More than a Prophet, one who d declared to them a Chriſt already come ; for the Law and the Prophets Prophecied but until 7ohn 3 the Law in its Types
the Prophets, in ther Sermons foretclling a Meſſtah to come, John did more. His Father indeed, Luke 1, 75. called him the Prophet of the higheft ; but there Prophet is to be underſtood not in but in a large ſenſe, as the term Prophecy is taken, Rom. y 2. d the term Prophet often ſignifieth one that revealeth the Will of God tomenz in which large ſenſe 7ohn was a Prophet, and yet more than a Prophet, in the ſtrifter notion of the term ; and in that ſenſe No that is, no meer Prophet ; ſo Numb. 11.19. Moſes tells the |
—_—
—
with the Holy Ghoſt, and Fire, Matth. 3. 11. or with the Mot Ghoſt, as Mar. 1. 8. : ; : I OY
28 Theſe things were done in Bethabara beyond Jor- dan z, where John was Baptizing +.
4 The Evangeliſt had before told us what was done, theſe words tell us where, Some ancient Writers will have the place to have been Bethany but they ſeem not to have ſo well conſidered Fobn 11. 18. where Bethany is ſaid to have been but fifteen Furlongs from Jeruſalem,
that this place was 7ge2y, beyond Jordan, in the Tribe of Reuben, in the Country of Peres, x where John at this time was Baptizing, and probably had been fo for ſome time.
|cakethaway the ſin of the world b,
y The moſt think, the day following that day, when the Meffengers rom Hieruſalem had been examining the B.ptift, Heinſins thinks it was the ſame day. and faith, the Helleniſts uſually fo interpret 2 eTeveroy for us)e Javle, after theſe things ; but the former Senſe is more generaily embraced. 2 John ſeeth Jeſus coming ts im out of the Wilderneſs, (as ſome think) where ke iad hcen tempted by the Devil ; but then it muſt follow, that he was not amongſt the Croud, v. 26. ſtanding in the midſt of them when the Meflengers were there, and it ſhould appear by v. 32, and 33. that this which is here re- corded happened after Chriſt's Baptiſm by John Cof which this Evan- geliſt faith nothing ; ) it ſeer:1eth rather to be underſtood of aqother coming of Chriſt to John after he had been Baptized. * When Johr ſecing him,pointed as it were with his Finger to him (for the term Be- hold ſeemeth to be here uſed demonſtratively) ſhewing them the perſon whom he would have them caſt their Eye upon; whom he calls, a the lamb of God, not only to denote his Excellency, as we read of the Night of the Lard, Exod. 12. 42. and the Bread of God; Lev. 21. 21, which indeed Chriſt was, being without Blemiſh, x Per. 1.19. But with reference to the Lambs uſed in the Jewith Sacri- fices, not only at the Paſſover, Exod. 12. 5+ but in the daily Sacri- fice, Exod. 29, 38, Lev. 1. 10. or the Burnt Offerinz, and in the Peace Offering, Levit. 3. 7. and in the Sin Offering, Levit. 4. 32: he calls Chriſt the Lamb of God, probably, becauſe divers of the Prieſts were there to hear 3 and (as appears, v. 39. ) it was nigh the time of thcir daily Sacrifice, that ſo he might mind them, that Chriſt was the Truth and Anti-Type to all their Sacrifices, b 5 &tgwy, The word 1ignifies, both to take up, and to take away ; that taketh away the Sins of the World, as God (to whom it belongs ro forgive Sin)
and this he did by taking them upon himſelf (ſo it is Tranſlated, Matth. 16, 24.) expiating them, which expiation is followed by a plenary Remiffion, and taking them away, both the puniſhment of
them, and the root, and body, and power of them ; Redceming them as from the Grave and Hell due to Man for Sin; ſo from a Vain Coerſation, 1 Pet. 1. 18. and not doing this for the Jews on- ly, but for the Gentiles alſo, x John 2. 2. for many in the World, being he, without whom there is no remiffion, As 4. 12, Nor dot! his gracious at ceaſe at any time, 1t 154 work he is always do- ing, and which none but he can do : Miniſters may perſwade, Prieſts of old offered Lambs and other Beaſts in Sacrifice z but he alone takcth away Sin, So that, as what he ſaid to tne Meſſengers of the Sanhe- drim, gave all the honour of any valuable cffe& of Baptiſm to Chriſt - So, what he ſaith here, gives him all the honour of any good effe& of Preaching, or any good cet of our Miniſtry ; it is he alone, who (when we have ſaid or done what we can} taxeth away the Sin of the World.
man, which is preferred before me : for he was before
me. c And (ſaith he) this is he of whom I ſaid, (as v. 15.) he cometh after me in order ot Time and Miniſtry, but is more excellent than L am. Seethe Notes on v. 15.
31 And Iknewhim not e - but that he ſhould be made manifeſt unto Iſrael f, therefore am I come baptizing with water g,