And the messengers had been sent from the Pharisees.
Parallel translations
- WEB The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees.
- KJV And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
- BSB Then the Pharisees who had been sent
- NKJV Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.
- NLT Then the Pharisees who had been sent
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The delegation included members of the Pharisees. This explains their concern with John's authority to baptize.
Overview
The note that the envoys were from the Pharisees, the party most zealous for the law and ritual, prepares for their next question about baptism. As guardians of religious practice, they want to know by what right John administers a new rite. The detail situates the dialogue within the tensions of first-century Judaism that recur throughout John's Gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Luke 11:53As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him;
- Matt 23:13–15“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
- Luke 11:39–44The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.
- Luke 16:14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.
- John 3:1–2Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
- Luke 7:30But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.
- Acts 23:8For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess all of these.
- Matt 23:26You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.
- Phil 3:5–6circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
- John 7:47–49The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you?
- Acts 26:5having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Pastoral
Henry on the prologue — rich on the Word and the incarnation.
Seminary
- ★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 1:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.