This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me: for he was before me.
All Commentaries on John 1:30 Go To John 1
John Chrysostom
AD 407
2. Do you see here also how he interprets the word before? For having called Him Lamb, and that He takes away the sin of the world, then he says that He is preferred before me, for He was before me; declaring that this is the before, the taking upon Him the sins of the world, and the baptizing with the Holy Ghost. For my coming had no farther object than to proclaim the common Benefactor of the world, and to afford the baptism of water; but His was to cleanse all men, and to give them the power of the Comforter. He is preferred before me, that is to say, has appeared brighter than I, because He was before me. Let those who have admitted the madness of Paul of Samosata be ashamed when they withstand so manifest a truth.
