Discovery BoxJohn 3:26-30 
Context3:26 So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, 1 about whom you testified – see, he is baptizing, and everyone is flocking to him!”
3:27 John replied, 2 “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. 3:28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ 3 but rather, ‘I have been sent before him.’ 3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly 4 when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. 5 3:30 He must become more important while I become less important.” 6
1 tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.
2 tn Grk “answered and said.”
3 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).
sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.
4 tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).
5 tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”
6 sn Some interpreters extend the quotation of John the Baptist’s words through v. 36.
