On The Confusion of Pronouns in the Biblical Text But Knowing That They Really Serve a Purpose in Jesus' Teachings.

March 23, 2021                       John 3: 31-32

 ²⁷John answered, ‘No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, “I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.” ²⁹He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. ³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.’

31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³²He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. ³³Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. ³⁴He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. ³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. ³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.

4:1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’— ² although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— ³he left Judea and started back to Galilee.

            “The One”… How many “one”s are there?  One above, one of the earth, one coming from heaven…  One’s One and Three…oh that is just going to be comical in its expression.  So, One Above, One of Earth, One of Heaven.  See how much fun it can be to attempt to wade through pronouns?

            We know from verse 31 that the “One Above” and the “One of Heaven” are equivalent for John the baptizer.  Each of them first, comes from either above or heaven, and each is “above all”.  It is most reasonable to understand that the “One” in this case is Jesus.  Are they simply synonymous, or is there a distinction of degree between them?  Jesus spoke in the previous piece, to Nicodemus, about being born from above as a necessity to see the Kingdom of God.  And no one has ascended or descended from heaven except the Son of Man.

            The “one” who is of the earth speaks of earthly things.  Most obviously, in light of this whole conversation, John the baptizer is referring to himself.  He is the ‘friend’ of the bridegroom.  He is the forerunner.  He is the one unworthy to tie the sandals.  He is the one who was sent ahead of ‘Him’.  This conversation is John the baptizer’s ‘swan song’.  He-John-is on the way out of the limelight. 

            Then we switch out of referring to the “one”, how is in fact “two” in the context of the sentence, and we return to the ever loving “He”…  Who is he?  According to John, he testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony.  “He” could be John the baptizer, who is once again having to explain the difference between himself and the Messiah, precisely because no one seems to be accepting that testimony. 

            BUT, if we look to things like repeated language, in Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus, he says, in verse 11, “we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen”, but it is not believed.  John says to his disciples that no one accepts “his” testimony.  Jesus says that no one accepts “our” testimony. 

            I get hung up on the questions of the pronouns because I remember being prodded to clarify in my days in school when I used “he” too many times in a row, verbally and in my writing.  What if what matters here is NOT who the pronoun is about so much as what the referent of the pronoun is doing?  What the heaven does that mean?

            I am suggesting that when Jesus says “we”, it is not a “royal” we, a plural self-referent, but he is referring to the testimony of both himself and the one who prepared the way for him, to John the baptizer.  John is hyper-aware of distinguishing himself from Jesus, but their testimony, together, is of the same message about him.  So perhaps, in talking to Nicodemus, Jesus is referring to the combined efforts of himself and John, thus “we”, where John, to distinguish himself from Jesus, uses “he”, spends the time on using “one” three different times. 

            So you might be asking about now, how does wandering through ‘pronoun hell’ matter at all in understanding the Gospel?  John the baptizer equals earth.  Jesus equals above.  It matters because of Jesus is GOING to go in his discussions.  John takes pains to distinguish himself and Jesus, the earthly and the above/heavenly.  Jesus is going to reverse that, gathering the earthly INTO the heavenly by the power of God the Father, through Him. 

Pastor Pete