John answered, “A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven.
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. (u) Why are you trying to better my state? This is every man's lot and portion, that he cannot better himself in the slightest way.
Christ went about weary in His journeyings to do good to souls. He left Jerusalem where His words made noise but did little good; the country received Him better because the great men there had less hold. His disciples stuck with Him through it all, following the ark whithersoever it moved.
AI summary
Commenting on John 3:22-36
Observe here, How holily and wisely John the Baptist corrects the envy and jealousy of his own disciples, and endeavours to root out all prejudice out of their minds against Christ; in order to which, he shews them a five-fold difference betwixt Christ and himself. 1. He tells them Christ was the Master, John but his minister, and that he had told them so from the beginning.