Verse 15
John the Baptist was another witness beside John the Apostle and the other disciples of Jesus who testified to Jesus’ person.
"John the Baptist is one of six persons named in the Gospel of John who gave witness that Jesus Is God. The others are Nathanael (John 1:49), Peter (John 6:69), the blind man who was healed (John 9:35-38), Martha (John 11:27), and Thomas (John 20:28). If you add our Lord Himself (John 5:25; John 10:36), then you have seven clear witnesses." [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, 1:287.]
Even though John the Baptist was slightly older and began his ministry before Jesus, He acknowledged Jesus’ superiority to himself.
"In a society where age and precedence bestowed peculiar honour, that might have been taken by superficial observers to mean John the Baptist was greater than Jesus." [Note: Carson, p. 131.]
Jesus’ superiority rested in His preexistence with the Father and therefore His deity. John the Baptist’s witness to Jesus’ identity was important to the writer of this Gospel (cf. John 1:6-8; John 1:19-36).
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