25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"
27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven."
John 3:25-27 (NKJV)
Comments:
Here we see that John's disciples were a little confused about the relationship of John to Jesus. Apparently, they imagined some sort of competition between the two, with their "team" losing popularity fast. John, however, had the correct view of what was going on, in fact he had already stated it once before (see 1:29-30). The first thing John does to set his disciples straight is to let them know that everything he (John) is has come from heaven. In other words, everything he (and they) has is a gracious gift from God. With this statement he prevents any form of pride in self and in turn cuts away jealousy.
I think we all need to remind ourselves occasionally that, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven."
No comments:
Post a Comment