27. Respondit Ioannes, et 27. John answered and said: A dixit: Non potest homo man cannot receive anything, accipere quidquam, nisi fuerit unless it be given him from ei datum de coelo. heaven. 28. Ipsi vos mihi testimonium 28. You yourselves do bear me perhibetis, quod dixerim: Non witness, that I said, I am not sum ego Christus, sed quia Christ, but that I am sent missus sum ante illum. before him. 27, 28. John’s answer to his disciples is his last recorded testimony to Christ. It is to the effect that a man may not arrogate to himself power or office unless he have authority from God, and that his own office is merely that of precursor to the Messias. 29. Qui habet sponsam, sponsus 29. He that hath the bride, is est: amicus autem sponsi, qui the bridegroom: but the friend stat, et audit eum, gaudio of the bridegroom, who gaudet propter vocem sponsi. standeth and heareth him, Hoc ergo gaudium meum impletum rejoiceth with joy because of est. the bridegroom’s voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. 29. By a familiar example the Baptist illustrates the difference between himself and Christ. On the occasion of a Jewish marriage it was usual for the bridegroom to have a friend (“amicus sponsi,” corresponding to the παράνυμφος of the Greeks), whose duty it was to arrange the preliminaries to the marriage, and at the marriage feast to minister to the bridegroom. The sense of the Baptist’s words then is, that though many are present to a wedding, only one, he who hath the bride, is the bridegroom. His friend, who has helped to bring about the marriage, is satisfied to stand and minister to him, rejoicing exceedingly to hear the bridegroom speaking with his bride, nor jealous of the happy relations which subsist between them. *This, my joy, therefore, is fulfilled.* In these words the Baptist points the application of the comparison to Christ and himself. The Baptist is the “amicus sponsi,” who prepared the disciples for Christ; Christ is the bridegroom, and the disciples flocking to Christ (verse 26) were to constitute the Church, which is His spouse. See 2 Cor. xi. 2; Eph. v. 25, 27. 30. Illum oportet crescere, me 30. He must increase, but I autem minui. must decrease. 30. John had fulfilled his mission; thenceforward, therefore, whereas Christ, in virtue of His nature, and His office of Messias, should increase, the Baptist himself should decrease, in influence and fame. 31. Qui desursum venit, super 31. He that cometh from above, omnes est. Qui est de terra, is above all. He that is of de terra est, et de terra the earth, of the earth he is, loquitur. Qui de coelo venit, and of the earth he speaketh. super omnes est. He that cometh from heaven, is above all.