Charles Ellicott Commentary John 1:32-33

"And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize in water, he said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon him, the same is he that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit." — John 1:32-33 (ASV)

I saw.—Better, I have seen, or beheld. The vision is in its result ever present, and is all-conclusive evidence. (Compare the words in their historic setting, Matthew 3:16, Note.)

In these verses the Evangelist again makes prominent the solemn witness of John, giving the process by which conviction had come to his own mind.