[112] Luke 1:17. =27, 28. A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.= Some, as Alford and Maurice, suppose that John refers to himself, saying in effect: I cannot take more than God has given me, viz., the mission of a herald; others, as Chrysostom, that he refers to Jesus. This latter seems to me clearly the true view, which has been abandoned, perhaps, from a reluctance to apply the principle involved in it to Christ, that whatever power he possessed was not independent but derived from the Father. The connection seems to me to be this: “If he whom I baptized is drawing all men unto him and is conferring on them spiritual gifts greater than I conferred, it is because his spiritual power, heaven bestowed, is greater. For, in the spiritual realm no man can usurp; no man can receive what heaven does not give.” In other words, spiritual results are always an all-sufficient justification for any spiritual work. No question of its regularity, or of the authority or the right of the worker is to be entertained.--=Ye yourselves bear me out.= He turns their words, “to whom thou barest witness,” against themselves. See for his witness Matt. 3:11, 12; John 1:20, 25-27.--=I am sent before him.= As a herald before a king (Luke 3:3-6). [Illustration: TRADITIONAL SITE OF ENON.] 29 He that hath the bride[113] is the bridegroom: but the friend[114] of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. [113] Cant. 4:8-12; Jer. 2:2; Ezek. 16:8; Hos. 2:19, 20; Matt. 22:2; 2 Cor. 11:2; Ephes. 5:25, 27; Rev. 21:9. [114] Cant. 5:1. 30 He must increase, but I _must_ decrease.