John Calvin Commentary John 1:24

"And they had been sent from the Pharisees." — John 1:24 (ASV)

Were of the Pharisees. He says that they were Pharisees, who at that time held the highest rank in the Church; he does so to inform us that they were not some contemptible persons of the order of the Levites, but men clothed with authority. This is the reason why they raise a question about his baptism. Ordinary ministers would have been satisfied with any kind of answer; but those men, because they cannot draw from John what they desired, accuse him of rashness for venturing to introduce a new religious observance.