“He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:31-36 NASB1995)
In context, John the Baptist was speaking of Jesus Christ, first testifying about his own self, that he (John the Baptist) was not the Christ, but that he had been sent of God ahead of him. He was not “the bridegroom,” but he was “the friend of the bridegroom.” And he said about Jesus, who is the Christ, and who is the bridegroom, that “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (see John 3:25-30) So he was being humble in confessing of himself that he was definitely inferior in nature to the Christ of God.
So, we must read the above passage in that context. So when he referred to Jesus Christ as “He who comes from above is above all,” and by contrast referred to himself as “he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth,” this was not in the context of the righteous vs the unrighteous, or the godly vs the ungodly. For John the Baptist was a servant of the Lord, called of God from before he was born to prepare the way of the Lord and for his coming, and to make straight (righteous, holy) his path.
But John was letting the people know that he was not the Christ, not the Messiah who was to come and who had now come. He was a human being as we all are, born with a sin nature, but made righteous by faith in our Lord God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. And he was being used of God to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus. But Jesus was born of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit to the virgin Mary, but not with a sin nature, because he was not born of man but of the Spirit of God. And while on the earth he was fully God and fully human (God incarnate – in the flesh).
And we, when we speak the words of God to the people, as called of God to his service, as servants of the Lord, should always have the same attitude as what John the Baptist had about himself, especially in relationship to Jesus Christ. We should never take credit or the glory for anything that God does in us and through us, as though we did this of our own nature and will. But we should always give the credit and the glory to God, provided that what we are doing and saying is, indeed, of God and not of our human flesh.
Next John the Baptist spoke of Christ as having come from heaven, and of him being above all, and of him giving testimony of what he had seen and heard, and yet no one (or few) received his testimony, i.e. the testimony of God, the Son of God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But whoever had received (accepted, believed) the testimony of Christ had set his seal to this, that God is true. Here John could have been speaking only of himself as the one who was testifying of Jesus Christ.
Now there are a lot of “he” did or said such and such in this passage, and it appears to go back and forth, to some extent, between Jesus Christ and John the Baptist as to who is speaking, so this can get a little bit confusing unless it is clear as to which “he” is being spoken of, such as Christ is the he who comes from heaven and is above all. That is clear. But both Jesus Christ and John the Baptist were sent of God and spoke the words (messages) of God, but only Jesus was/is God and thus truly speaks the words of God.
But if you don’t understand anything else from this passage of Scripture, please understand the meaning of verse 36. For it says, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Did you catch that? Belief in Jesus Christ, which is of God, and which is genuine, will result in obedience to our Lord and in dying with him to sin (part of obedience) or we are not of biblical faith in Jesus Christ, and we do not have eternal life with God in heaven.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
Your Servant
An Original Work / September 21, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Lord, I love to have You near me
As I go throughout my day,
Walking daily in Your footsteps,
As I humbly pray.
List’ning to You, hear You teaching
Me to live and work for You,
Lord, I pray You lead and guide me
Daily in Your truth.
Lord, I want to be Your witness,
Telling others of Your grace;
Telling how they can be set free
Of their sins today;
Share with them the love of Jesus,
He died on a cruel tree,
So that we’d be forgiven
For all eternity.
Lord, I want to serve You only,
As I bow on bended knee,
Making You my Lord and master,
And Your servant be.
Humbly walking in obedience,
Doing what You say to me,
Lord, may I be an example
Of one who’s set free.
Believe, Receive, Obey
An Original Work / September 29, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
