Church Fathers Commentary John 1:29-31

"On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is become before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water." — John 1:29-31 (ASV)

Origen of Alexandria: After this testimony, Jesus is seen coming to John, not only persevering in his confession but also having advanced in goodness, as is suggested by the mention of a second day. Therefore, it is said, The next day John sees Jesus coming to him. Long before this, the mother of Jesus, as soon as she had conceived Him, went to see the mother of John, who was then pregnant; and as soon as the sound of Mary’s greeting reached Elisabeth’s ears, John leaped in the womb. But now, the Baptist himself, after giving his testimony, sees Jesus coming. People are first prepared by hearing from others, and then they see with their own eyes. The example of Mary going to see Elisabeth, her inferior, and the Son of God going to see the Baptist, should teach us modesty and fervent charity toward our inferiors. We are not told here where the Savior came from when He came to the Baptist, but we find it in Matthew: Then comes Jesus from Galilee to Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.

St. John Chrysostom: Alternatively, Matthew relates Christ’s coming directly to His baptism, while John relates His coming a second time, after His baptism, as appears from what follows: I saw the Spirit descending... The Evangelists have divided the periods of the history between them; Matthew passes over the time before John’s imprisonment and moves quickly to that event, while John focuses chiefly on what took place before the imprisonment. Thus he says, The next day John sees Jesus coming to him.

But why did He come to John the next day after His baptism? Having been baptized with the multitude, He wished to prevent anyone from thinking that He came to John for the same reason others did—namely, to confess His sins and be washed in the river for repentance. He comes, therefore, to give John an opportunity to correct this mistake. John did so with these words: Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.

For He who was so pure that He could absolve other people's sins evidently could not have come there to confess His own, but only to give John an opportunity to speak of Him. He also came the next day so that those who had heard John’s previous testimonies might hear them again more plainly, along with others. For he said, Behold the Lamb of God, signifying that Jesus was the one long sought after. He was reminding them of Isaiah’s prophecy and the shadows of the Mosaic law, so that through the figure he might more easily lead them to the substance.

St. Augustine of Hippo: If the Lamb of God is innocent, and John is a lamb, must he not also be innocent? Yet all people come from that stock of which David sings sorrowfully: Behold, I was conceived in wickedness. He alone, then, was the Lamb who was not conceived in this way. For He was not conceived in wickedness, nor did His mother bear Him in sin in her womb—He whom a virgin conceived and a virgin brought forth, because she conceived in faith and received in faith.

Origen of Alexandria: Whereas five kinds of animals are offered in the temple—three from the field (a calf, a sheep, and a goat) and two birds (a turtledove and a pigeon)—and three from the sheep family are mentioned (the ram, the ewe, and the lamb), John speaks only of the lamb. As we know, a lamb was offered in the daily sacrifice, one in the morning and one in the evening.

But what other daily offering, intended to be offered by a rational nature, can there be except the perfect Word, typically called the Lamb? This sacrifice, offered as soon as the soul begins to be enlightened, is considered a morning sacrifice, referring to the mind's frequent exercise in divine things. For the soul cannot continually focus on the highest objects because of its union with an earthly and physical body. By this Word, who is Christ the Lamb, we will also be able to reason about many things and, in a sense, attain to Him in the evening while engaged with matters of the body.

But the One who offered the lamb for a sacrifice was God hidden in human form, the great High Priest, He who said, No man takes it [my life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. Hence the name, the Lamb of God. For by carrying our sorrows and taking away the sins of the whole world, He has undergone death, which was like a baptism. For God allows no fault to pass uncorrected but punishes it with the sharpest discipline.

Theophylact of Ohrid: He is called the Lamb of God because God the Father accepted His death for our salvation or, in other words, because He delivered Him up to death on our behalf. For just as we say, "This is the offering of such a man," meaning the offering made by him, in the same sense Christ is called the Lamb of God, who gave His Son to die for our salvation. And while that typical lamb did not take away anyone’s sin, this one has taken away the sin of the whole world, rescuing it from the danger it faced from the wrath of God.

John says, Behold Him Who takes away the sin of the world. He did not say, "who will take," but, "Who takes away," as if He were always doing this. For He did not only take it away when He suffered, but from that time to the present, He continues to take it away—not by being always crucified, for He made one sacrifice for sins, but by continually washing it away through that one sacrifice.

St. Gregory the Great: But sin will be taken away entirely from the human race only when our corruption has been turned into a glorious incorruption. We cannot be free from sin as long as we are held in this mortal body.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Why does he say "the sin of the world," not "sins"? Because he wished to express sin in a universal sense, just as we commonly say that "man was cast out of paradise," meaning the whole human race.

Glossa Ordinaria: Alternatively, "the sin of the world" refers to original sin, which is common to the whole world. Christ, by His grace, remits this original sin as well as the sins of each individual.

St. Augustine of Hippo: For He who took on our nature, yet without sin, is the One who takes away our sin. Some say, "We take away the sins of people because we are holy." For if the one who baptizes is not holy, how can he take away another’s sin, since he himself is full of sin? Against these reasoners, let us point to the text—Behold Him Who takes away the sin of the world—in order to put an end to such presumption of one person toward another.

Origen of Alexandria: Just as there was a connection between the other sacrifices of the law and the daily sacrifice of the lamb, so also the sacrifice of this Lamb is reflected in the pouring out of the blood of the martyrs, by whose patience, confession, and zeal for goodness the plots of the ungodly are thwarted.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Since John had said above to those who came from the Pharisees that one stood among them whom they did not know, he now points Him out to these same ignorant people: This is He of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me. Our Lord is called a "man" in reference to His mature age, as He was thirty years old when He was baptized. He is also called a man in a spiritual sense, as the Spouse of the Church, the sense in which St. Paul speaks: I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He comes after me, because He was born after me; He is made before me, because He is preferred to me.

St. Gregory the Great: He explains the reason for this superiority in what follows: For He was before me. It is as if he meant, "And this is the reason He is superior to me, though born after me—namely, that He is not limited by the time of His birth." He who was born of His mother in time was begotten of His Father outside of time.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Pay attention, Arius. He did not say, "He was created before me," but, He was before me. Let the false sect of Paul of Samosata also pay attention. They will see that He did not begin His existence with Mary. For if He derived the beginning of His being from the Virgin, how could He have been before His precursor, since it is evident that the precursor preceded Christ by six months according to His human birth?

St. John Chrysostom: So that he might not seem to be giving his testimony from any motive of friendship or family ties, on account of being related to our Lord according to the flesh, he says, I knew Him not. John could not have known Him, of course, having lived in the desert. The miraculous events of Christ’s childhood—the journey of the Magi and the like—were now a long time past, and John had been only an infant when they happened.

Throughout the entire interval, He had been completely unknown, so much so that John continues, But that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. (And from this it is clear that the miracles said to have been performed by Christ in His childhood are false and fabricated. For if Jesus had performed miracles at this early age, He would not have been unknown to John, nor would the multitude have needed a teacher to point Him out.)

Christ Himself, then, did not need baptism, nor was that washing for any reason other than to give a sign beforehand of faith in Christ. For John did not say he came baptizing in order to change people and deliver them from sin, but rather, that He should be made manifest in Israel.

But would it not have been lawful for him to preach and bring crowds together without baptizing? Yes, but this was the easier way, for he would not have gathered such large numbers had he preached without baptizing.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Now, when our Lord became known, it was unnecessary to prepare a way for Him, for to those who knew Him, He became His own way. Therefore, John’s baptism did not last long, but only as long as was needed to show our Lord’s humility. Our Lord received baptism from a servant in order to give us such a lesson of humility as might prepare us for receiving the grace of baptism.

And so that the servant’s baptism might not be ranked above the Lord’s, others were baptized with it who, after receiving it, had to receive our Lord’s baptism. In contrast, those who first received our Lord’s baptism did not later receive the servant’s.