Jesus and His disciples also baptised people, though John 4:2 makes it clear that it was the disciples who did the actual baptising. Jesus also spent time with His disciples. The last few verses of John 3 describe an overlap period between the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus. It seems that at this point Jesus was doing similar things to John.
John's ministry was coming to an end. John's disciples were stricter about ceremonial matters than was Jesus and His disciples. Moreover, people were concerned about the fact that Jesus was attracting more followers than John. It seems that everyone was concerned about this except John himself, John knew the ministry that God had given to him, namely to prepare the way for Jesus, and he knew that "his" ministry was really God's ministry. However, his followers and others viewed things in a human manner, seeking to make division and worrying about things. Similar things have happened throughout church history and still do today. Someone has a ministry from God and fulfils it, but the followers start focusing on the man or the ministry, rather than the work that God is doing. This always leads to trouble. Jesus alone is the centre of it all, He alone is the focus.
John fully understood his role, and was content with that. The deity of Jesus is crucial, for John draws on the fact that Jesus alone is from heaven for the validity of Jesus' ministry. Jesus clearly has much greater authority to talk about heaven than anyone else, for no one else has been there!
Jesus speaks the words of God. The Greek word used for "word" here is rhema. A lot of is made of the difference between rhema and logos by some people, but there really isn't much justification for this in the Bible itself (it is still true however that God does speak to individuals, it is just that there is no need to draw a great distinction between logos and rhema).
Jesus is the focus of it all, and eternal life depends upon accepting or rejecting Jesus.
John's ministry was coming to an end. John's disciples were stricter about ceremonial matters than was Jesus and His disciples. Moreover, people were concerned about the fact that Jesus was attracting more followers than John. It seems that everyone was concerned about this except John himself, John knew the ministry that God had given to him, namely to prepare the way for Jesus, and he knew that "his" ministry was really God's ministry. However, his followers and others viewed things in a human manner, seeking to make division and worrying about things. Similar things have happened throughout church history and still do today. Someone has a ministry from God and fulfils it, but the followers start focusing on the man or the ministry, rather than the work that God is doing. This always leads to trouble. Jesus alone is the centre of it all, He alone is the focus.
John fully understood his role, and was content with that. The deity of Jesus is crucial, for John draws on the fact that Jesus alone is from heaven for the validity of Jesus' ministry. Jesus clearly has much greater authority to talk about heaven than anyone else, for no one else has been there!
Jesus speaks the words of God. The Greek word used for "word" here is rhema. A lot of is made of the difference between rhema and logos by some people, but there really isn't much justification for this in the Bible itself (it is still true however that God does speak to individuals, it is just that there is no need to draw a great distinction between logos and rhema).
Jesus is the focus of it all, and eternal life depends upon accepting or rejecting Jesus.
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