John 3:31

He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

A large school of commentators understand this verse and to the end of the chapter, not as the words of John the Baptist, but as reflections of John the apostle, alleging this on the basis of what they call a change in style, a more advanced recognition of the true status of Christ, and a supposed reference to the conversation with Nicodemus. This allegation, in a sense, is not important; for there would have been no impropriety on the author's part: if, under the guidance of the Spirit, this paragraph had been added from his own inspired thoughts. But, in another sense, the question is of great import, since:

Strauss, Weisse, Reuss, and Bretschneider make the supposed PROOF of this Johannine appendix an evidence of inhistoricity throughout the Gospel, and the school of Baur finds in the entire representation simply an artistic endeavor on the part of a second century falsarius to show that John's disciples were absorbed into the catholic church.[26]

Therefore, we shall note the glaring weakness of the reasoning of such scholars, whose allegation of a change of style turns out to be nothing but a change of tense! And, as Westcott said: "The use of the present tense in John 3:32 is not inconsistent with the position of the evangelist."[27] Despite such an admission of Westcott, that scholar favored the position of understanding these words as of the apostle instead of the herald; but his argument is not convincing. For example, he said, "The use of the title `Son' (used singly and absolutely) appears to be alien from the position of the Baptist."[28] This is refuted by the fact that the first person ever on earth to hear Jesus called `Son' (singly and absolutely) was John the Baptist (Matthew 3:17), God Almighty himself being the speaker! It is therefore impossible to view John's use of the single title "Son" as having been anything alien to his position. These and other considerations confirm the conviction of this writer that the words should be understood as belonging to the person to whom they are ascribed in the Gospel. As Hovey said: "(There is) the improbability that the Evangelist would have passed without notice from the record of the Baptist's words to his own testimony concerning Jesus."[29]

He that cometh from above ... These words regarding Jesus contrast with John's admission that he himself was "of the earth," meaning that he did not come from heaven in the sense that Jesus did.

[26] H. R. Reynolds, op. cit., p, 132.

[27] B. F. Westcott, op. cit., p. 60.

[28] Ibid.

[29] Alvah Hovey, op. cit., p. 108.