John 1:24

The NASB translators understood this verse to be parenthetical describing the authorities who had sent the delegation that had been questioning John. The NIV translators interpreted it as identifying some of John’s questioners. Probably the NIV is correct here. It would be unusual for the writer to interrupt the narrative flow with this relatively insignificant detail, but for him to identify some of John’s examiners as Pharisees makes sense. The Pharisees were the strict interpreters of the Jewish laws, and John seemed close to violating these. [Note: See Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 1:308-35, for an extended discussion of the differences between the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes.]