John 3:25

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a Jew about purification.

King James Version (1611)
Then there arose a question between some of Iohns disciples and the Iewes, about purifying.

King James Version
Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.

English Standard Version
Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification.

New American Standard Bible
Then a matter of dispute developed on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification.

New Century Version
Some of John's followers had an argument with a Jew about religious washing.

Amplified Bible
Therefore there arose a controversy between John's disciples and a Jew in regard to purification (ceremonial washing).

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification.

Legacy Standard Bible
Therefore there arose a debate between John's disciples and a Jew about purification.

Berean Standard Bible
A dispute arose between John's disciples and a certain Jew over the issue of ceremonial washing.

Contemporary English Version
John's followers got into an argument with a Jewish man about a ceremony of washing.

Complete Jewish Bible
A discussion arose between some of Yochanan's talmidim and a Judean about ceremonial washing;

Darby Translation
There was therefore a reasoning of the disciples of John with a Jew about purification.

Easy-to-Read Version
Some of John's followers had an argument with another Jew about religious washing.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then there arose a question betweene Iohns disciples and the Iewes, about purifying.

George Lamsa Translation
Now it happened that a dispute arose between one of John''s disciples and a Jew about the ceremony of purifying.

Good News Translation
Some of John's disciples began arguing with a Jew about the matter of ritual washing.

Lexham English Bible
So a dispute occurred on the part of John's disciples with a Jew concerning purification.

Literal Translation
Then a question from John's disciples arose with the Jews about purification.

American Standard Version
There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purifying.

Bible in Basic English
Then a question came up between John's disciples and a Jew about washing.

Hebrew Names Version
There arose therefore a questioning on the part of Yochanan's talmidim with some Yehudim about purification.

International Standard Version
Then a controversy about ritual purification sprang up between John's disciples and a certain Jew.the Jews">[fn]

Etheridge Translation
But there was a question with some of the disciples of Juchanon (and) a certain Jihudoya, upon purification.

Murdock Translation
And one of John's disciples and a certain Jew had disputed respecting purification.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And there arose a question betwene Iohns disciples and the Iewes, about purifiyng.

English Revised Version
There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purifying.

World English Bible
There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with some Jews about purification.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews, about purifying.

Weymouth's New Testament
As the result, a discussion having arisen on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor a questioun was maad of Jonys disciplis with the Jewis, of the purificacioun.

Update Bible Version
There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purifying.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then there arose a question between [some] of John's disciples and the Jews, about purifying.

New English Translation
Now a dispute came about between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew concerning ceremonial washing.

New King James Version
Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purification.

New Living Translation
A debate broke out between John's disciples and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing.

New Life Bible
Then some of the followers of John and a Jew started to argue about the religious washing of the Jewish worship.

New Revised Standard
Now a discussion about purification arose between John's disciples and a Jew.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
There arose, therefore, a questioning, from among the disciples of John, with a Jew, - concerning purification.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews, concerning purification.

Revised Standard Version
Now a discussion arose between John's disciples and a Jew over purifying.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And ther arose a questio bitwene Iohns disciples and the Iewes about purifiynge.

Young's Literal Translation
there arose then a question from the disciples of John with [some] Jews about purifying,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then arose there a question amonge the disciples of Ihon with the Iewes aboute the purifienge,

Mace New Testament (1729)
Now there happen'd to be a dispute about baptism between a Jews, and some of John's disciples:

Simplified Cowboy Version
Some of John's crew and some Jews got to squabblin' over being religiously clean.

Contextual Overview

²²After this conversation, Jesus went on with his disciples into the Judean countryside and relaxed with them there. He was also baptizing. At the same time, John was baptizing over at Aenon near Salim, where water was abundant. This was before John was thrown into jail. John's disciples got into an argument with the establishment Jews over the nature of baptism. They came to John and said, "Rabbi, you know the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan? The one you authorized with your witness? Well, he's now competing with us. He's baptizing, too, and everyone's going to him instead of us." ²⁷John answered, "It's not possible for a person to succeed—I'm talking about eternal success—without heaven's help. You yourselves were there when I made it public that I was not the Messiah but simply the one sent ahead of him to get things ready. The one who gets the bride is, by definition, the bridegroom. And the bridegroom's friend, his ‘best man'—that's me—in place at his side where he can hear every word, is genuinely happy. How could he be jealous when he knows that the wedding is finished and the marriage is off to a good start? "That's why my cup is running over. This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines. "The One who comes from above is head and shoulders over other messengers from God. The earthborn is earthbound and speaks earth language; the heavenborn is in a league of his own. He sets out the evidence of what he saw and heard in heaven. No one wants to deal with these facts. But anyone who examines this evidence will come to stake his life on this: that God himself is the truth. "The One that God sent speaks God's words. And don't think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn't see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that." ³⁰Born from Above There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it." Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to—to God's kingdom." "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this ‘born-from-above' talk?" Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit. "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone ‘born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God." Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?" Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don't believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can't see, the things of God? "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life. "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. "This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is." After this conversation, Jesus went on with his disciples into the Judean countryside and relaxed with them there. He was also baptizing. At the same time, John was baptizing over at Aenon near Salim, where water was abundant. This was before John was thrown into jail. John's disciples got into an argument with the establishment Jews over the nature of baptism. They came to John and said, "Rabbi, you know the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan? The one you authorized with your witness? Well, he's now competing with us. He's baptizing, too, and everyone's going to him instead of us." John answered, "It's not possible for a person to succeed—I'm talking about eternal success—without heaven's help. You yourselves were there when I made it public that I was not the Messiah but simply the one sent ahead of him to get things ready. The one who gets the bride is, by definition, the bridegroom. And the bridegroom's friend, his ‘best man'—that's me—in place at his side where he can hear every word, is genuinely happy. How could he be jealous when he knows that the wedding is finished and the marriage is off to a good start? "That's why my cup is running over. This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines. ³¹"The One who comes from above is head and shoulders over other messengers from God. The earthborn is earthbound and speaks earth language; the heavenborn is in a league of his own. He sets out the evidence of what he saw and heard in heaven. No one wants to deal with these facts. But anyone who examines this evidence will come to stake his life on this: that God himself is the truth. ³⁴"The One that God sent speaks God's words. And don't think he rations out the Spirit in bits and pieces. The Father loves the Son extravagantly. He turned everything over to him so he could give it away—a lavish distribution of gifts. That is why whoever accepts and trusts the Son gets in on everything, life complete and forever! And that is also why the person who avoids and distrusts the Son is in the dark and doesn't see life. All he experiences of God is darkness, and an angry darkness at that."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

about: John 2:6, Matthew 3:11, Mark 7:2-5, Mark 7:8, Hebrews 6:2, Hebrews 9:10, Hebrews 9:13, Hebrews 9:14, Hebrews 9:23, 1 Peter 3:21

Reciprocal: Matthew 9:14 - the disciples Matthew 11:2 - he Mark 7:4 - except Mark 11:30 - General Luke 11:38 - he marvelled John 1:35 - and two John 10:17 - General Acts 13:24 - General Acts 21:24 - and purify Hebrews 1:2 - appointed

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then there arose a question,.... A dispute, or controversy, occasioned by the baptism, of John and Christ:

between [some] of John's disciples, and the Jews. The Syriac and Persic versions read, "between one of John's disciples, and a certain Jew"; and Nonnus renders it, "with an Hebrew man"; and so the Alexandrian manuscript; many others read, "with a Jew": the contention between them was

about purifying; either about the ceremonial purifications, and ablutions commanded in the law of Moses; or concerning the various washings of persons, and vessels, according to the traditions of the elders, which the Jews in common were very tenacious of; and which they thought were brought into neglect, and contempt, by the baptism of John: and this seems to have been occasioned by the baptism of Christ; which the Jew might improve against the disciple of John, and urge, that since another, besides his master, had set up baptizing, who could tell which was most right and safest to follow? and therefore it would have been much better, if no such rite at all had been used by any, but that the purifications required by the law of Moses, and by their elders, had been strictly and solely attended to.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A question - Rather a controversy a dispute.

John’s disciples - Those who had been baptized by him, and who attached great efficacy and importance to the teaching of their master. Compare the notes at Acts 19:1-5.

And the Jews - Many manuscripts, some of the fathers, and the ancient Syriac version read this in the singular number “with A Jew,” one who, it is commonly supposed, had been baptized by the disciples of Jesus.

About purifying - What the precise subject of this dispute was we do not know. From what follows, it would seem probable that it was about the comparative value and efficacy of the baptism performed by John and by the disciples of Jesus. The word “purifying” may be applied to baptism, as it was an emblem of repentance and purity, and was thus used by the Jews, by John, and by Jesus. About this subject it seems that a dispute arose, and was carried to such a length that complaint was made to John. From this we may learn:

1. That even in the time of Jesus, when the gospel began to be preached, there was witnessed what has been ever since - unhappy disputings on the subject of religion. Even young converts may, By overheated zeal and ignorance, fall into angry discussion.

2. That such discussions are commonly about some unimportant matter of religion - something which they may not yet be qualified to understand, and which does not materially affect them if they could.

3. That such disputes are often connected with a spirit of proselytism - with boasting of the superior excellence of the sect with which “we” are connected, or in connection with whom we have been converted, and often with a desire to persuade others to join with us.

4. That such a spirit is eminently improper on such occasions. Love should characterize the feelings of young converts; a disposition to inquire and not to dispute; a willingness that all should follow the dictates of their own consciences, and not a desire to proselyte them to our way of thinking or to our church. It may be added that there is scarcely anything which so certainly and effectually arrests a revival of religion as such a disposition to dispute, and to make proselytes to particular modes of faith, and of administering the ordinances of the gospel.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 25. John's disciples and the Jews — Instead of Ιουδαιων, Jews, ABELS. M. BV, nearly 100 others, some versions and fathers, read Ιουδαιου, a Jew, which Griesbach has admitted into the text. The person here spoken of was probably one who had been baptized by the disciples of our Lord; and the subject of debate seems to have been, whether the baptism of John, or that of Christ, was the most efficacious towards purifying.