John 1:36

And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(36) And looking upon.—Better, and he looked upon Jesus as He was walking, and saith. The word “looked upon” expresses a fixed, earnest gaze. (Comp. John 1:42; Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:21; Mark 10:27; &c.) At this look, all the old thoughts in their fulness come crowding back. Yes. It is He. “Behold the Lamb of God!”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:29-36 John saw Jesus coming to him, and pointed him out as the Lamb of God. The paschal lamb, in the shedding and sprinkling of its blood, the roasting and eating of its flesh, and all the other circumstances of the ordinance, represented the salvation of sinners by faith in Christ. And the lambs sacrificed every morning and evening, can only refer to Christ slain as a sacrifice to redeem us to God by his blood. John came as a preacher of repentance, yet he told his followers that they were to look for the pardon of their sins to Jesus only, and to his death. It agrees with God's glory to pardon all who depend on the atoning sacrifice of Christ. He takes away the sin of the world; purchases pardon for all that repent and believe the gospel. This encourages our faith; if Christ takes away the sin of the world, then why not my sin? He bore sin for us, and so bears it from us. God could have taken away sin, by taking away the sinner, as he took away the sin of the old world; but here is a way of doing away sin, yet sparing the sinner, by making his Son sin, that is, a sin-offering, for us. See Jesus taking away sin, and let that cause hatred of sin, and resolutions against it. Let us not hold that fast, which the Lamb of God came to take away. To confirm his testimony concerning Christ, John declares the appearance at his baptism, in which God himself bore witness to him. He saw and bare record that he is the Son of God. This is the end and object of John's testimony, that Jesus was the promised Messiah. John took every opportunity that offered to lead people to Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Looking upon Jesus ... - Fixing his eyes intently upon him. Singling him out and regarding him with special attention. Contemplating him as the long-expected Messiah and Deliverer of the world. In this way all ministers should fix the eye upon the Son of God, and direct all others to him.

As he walked - While Jesus was walking.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

36. looking—having fixed his eyes, with significant gaze, on Jesus.

as he walked—but not now to him. To have done this once (see on [1760]Joh 1:29) was humility enough [Bengel].

Behold, &c.—The repetition of that wonderful proclamation, in identical terms and without another word, could only have been meant as a gentle hint to go after Him—as they did.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "John 1:35"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And looking upon Jesus as he walked,.... Either by them; or as he was going from them to his lodgings; it being toward the close of the day, when John had finished his work for that day, and the people were departing home: John fixed his eyes intently on Christ, with great pleasure and delight, and pointing at him,

he saith, behold the Lamb of God; as in John 1:29, where it is added, "which taketh away the sin of the world"; and which the Ethiopic version subjoins here.

Geneva Study Bible

{16} And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

(16) Christ is set before us to follow, not as a vain shadow, but as our Mediator.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 1:36. The Baptist, ἐμβλέψας τῷ Ἰησοῦ, having gazed at, or contemplated (see Matthew 6:26, ἐμβλέψατε εἰς τὰ πετεινά, and especially Mark 14:67, καὶ ἰδοῦσα τὸν Πέτρον … ἐμβλέψασα) Jesus as He walked, evidently not towards John as on the previous day, but away from him.—λέγει Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ without the added clause of John 1:29.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

36. looking upon] having looked on with a fixed penetrating gaze. Comp. John 1:42; Mark 10:21; Mark 10:27; Luke 20:17; Luke 22:61.

Behold the Lamb of God] This seems to shew that these disciples were present the previous day (John 1:19): hence there was no need to say more than this. This appears to have been the last meeting between the Baptist and Christ.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 1:36. Περιπατοῦντι, as He walked) He was not now coming to John, as He was, John 1:29 : for [to have come] oftener, would not have been becoming. To have done so once was condescension enough.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 36. - And steadfastly regarding (see Mark 10:21, 27; Luke 20:17; Luke 22:61) - with eager and penetrating glance, as though something might be learned from his slightest movements - Jesus as he walked; "walked," not towards John, as on the previous day, but in some opposite direction. This implies that their relative functions were not identical, and not to be confounded. This is the last time when the Baptist and the Christ were together, and the sublime meekness of John, and his surrender of all primary claims to deference, throw light on the unspeakable and gentle dignity of Jesus. He saith, Behold the Lamb of God. The simple phrase, without further exposition, implies that he was recalling to their minds the mighty appellation which he had bestowed upon the Saviour on the previous day, with all the additional interpretation of the term with which it had then been accompanied. The brevity of the cry here marks the emphasis which it bore, and the rich associations it already conveyed. The testimony to the method by which John had, at least in part, arrived at the conclusion is very remarkable. Jesus would not have fulfilled in John's mind the prophetic oracle of the Divine Lamb, or the sacrificial offering for the sin of the world, if steps had not been taken to convince John that he was the veritable Son of God. No mere human nature, but only that humanity which was an incarnation of the Eternal Logos, and filled with the abiding of the Holy Spirit, could be God's Lamb. Cf. here the remarkable fact that it was when the disciples had learned more clearly and grasped more firmly the idea of his Divine sonship that the Lord repeatedly proceeded to explain to them the approach of his sacrificial sufferings and death. As Son of God, he must die for man (Matthew 16:21; Luke 9:22, 43, 44; John 16:29-32). John 1:36

Vincent's Word Studies

Looking (ἐμβλέψας)

Rev., giving the force of the aorist, and he looked. See on John 1:29. The verb is used by John only here and John 1:42.

As He walked (περιπατοῦντι)

The verb literally means to walk about (περί). Here, possibly, walking along. Westcott, "walking away." See on 1 Peter 5:8; see on Luke 11:44.