“He must increase and I must decrease.”
This verse looks a little simple, maybe a bit to simple, but…. Who is this verse talking about? Who is talking in this verse? And what’s the story behind this verses’ statement?
The Who, What, and Where of This Verse:
Let’s start with the story behind this verse. To get the story and the context of this verse, along with any verses in the Bible, let’s look at the verses before verse thirty.
The Bible says in John 3:22-30:
“22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. 23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and they were coming and were being baptized. 24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison. 25 There arose therefore a discussion on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness, behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him." 27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.' 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And so this joy of mine has been made full. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
In verse twenty-two it says: “After these things..”. What ‘things’ is this verse talking about? “After these things” is referring to after Jesus made whine out of water and chased out the merchants from God’s temple.(John 2) Then, the Bible says that Jesus was baptizing. Not only was Jesus baptizing, but He was baptizing very near to where John the Baptist was!(V.23) Can you feel a conflict coming? And wouldn’t you know it, there was a conflict, but not between Jesus and John the Baptist.(V.25) Some believe that the ‘Jew’ that verse twenty-five tells us about, was one of Jesus’ followers. This is a belief I have. So let’s say that the follower was one of Jesus’ followers. Imagine with me that these followers, John’s and Jesus’ follower’s, come together and started talking… The issue arises about which one of these ‘men’, Jesus and John, are the right person that people should be following and being baptized by.
So what did these two groups of followers do? They went to John.(Verses 25-26) To get the idea of the tone of this conversation, think what it’s like when your little brother or sister comes in the house and says, “ Mom, dad! (Your name here) is outside doing something that he/she shouldn’t be doing!” Although Jesus nor John were doing anything wrong, that was the tone of these followers. But how did John reply? The Bible tells us in verses 27-29:
“John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing, unless it has been given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.' 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And so this joy of mine has been made full. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
In verse 27 John said that a man can receive nothing unless it’s been given to him from heaven. You see, John knew his place. John knew he wasn’t the Messiah, but rather that Jesus was and is!(John 1:19-26) John also knew that his ministry was not from his doing, but from God’s. But does this verse mean that everything we have and have been given is from heaven? You bet it does! The only reason someone has a job is because it’s been given to him from heaven, or God. The same is true with breathing, the only reason we can breath and are living is because God wants us too. But does this mean sin has been given to us from God? Not at all! God didn’t introduce sin, man did.(Gen. 3) But this doesn’t mean that God won’t let things that are ‘bad’ happen to us... But that is entirely different study which we might look at latter.
In verse 28 John reiterates that he is not the Messiah but was the forerunner for the Messiah, Jesus Christ. In verse 29 John says: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And so this joy of mine has been made full.”
You see, in old Jewish times when two people got married they would throw a big party, or what they called a feast. But sometime during this feast the bride and the bridegroom would slip out of the party, one by one, without being noticed and would meet in a room that was made for them. It was the friend of the bridegroom’s job to watch this room, have it ready, and let the groom and bride into the room. Once the friend heard the bride or bridegroom’s voice, he would let them into the room, leave them to be together, then go out and yell and rejoice about what was going on… The unity of a married couple. That’s what John was doing. He was the friend who went and prepared the room, the world, for the coming on the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, for the unity of mankind with God.
Then in verse thirty, John says: “He(Jesus) must increase and I must decrease.” Once again, John knew his place. John knew that he was the forerunner and not the Messiah, and he knew that once the Messiah came, that his ministry would come to a close and in order for the Messiah’s, (Jesus) to open. John sacrificed his followers and ministry so Jesus Christ’s could have His, so that anyone who ask Him(Jesus) into their hearts would become saved and spend eternity with Him in heaven! Talk about increasing Christ and decreasing self! So that’s the story behind this verse, who was talking in this verse(John), and Who this verse is talking about(Jesus).
Application Time
Now, what does this verse mean to you and how can we apply “Christ must increase and I must decrease” in our lives? Well, what I’m going to do is tell you what this verse means to me and some ways that I’ve applied it to my life; then the rest is up to you!
This verse is by far one of my favorite verses in the Bible! Whenever someone congratulates me or says good job I like to reply: “John 3:30!” Every time I read this verse it challenges me to put Christ, His Word, His way, and His path in front of me, just like John the Baptist did, not my own. This verse means to me that in order for Christ to increase in my life, I must decrease my self and sinful ways. Which also in turn means giving up things. This is true with everything! In order to increase in knowledge, you sometimes have to decrease in ‘fun’. Some of the things I have given up in my life, though I struggle with not taking them back, are my time, my energy, my thoughts, my words, my actions, my attitude, and more things that are between God and me. But don’t get me wrong, I’m still a sinner and I do fail! In fact, I fail a lot! We all fail at one point in time. We should never look at anyone and judge ourselves by how they act in order to justify our sinfulness. Rather, we should look at the perfect example and compare ourselves with Him. If we do this, we will always be humbled. That perfect example is Jesus.
This verse also means to me that whenever I do fail, that I can decrease myself and my pride by getting on my knees, humbling myself, and asking for forgiveness from the One that made me, God. But that’s just the decreasing part! When I read this verse it convicts and inspires me to increase Christ by reading my Bible, praying, witnessing, and doing many more things. I mean, the more I increase my time praying and reading the Bible, the more time I’m increasing Christ in my life. And believe me, it’s not a burden, but a joy!
And that’s just a glimpse of what this verse means to me and how I apply it. John 3:30 is one of those verse that, for me, is hard to put into words exactly how much it means to me. But now it’s your turn! Today, or sometime this week, I want you to take your Bible, and read John 3:22-30 and discover what these verses and verse thirty mean to you! Also, I challenge you to see how you can decrease you, and increase Christ in your everyday life. So please, take the time today or this week to make John 3:30 real to you and your life. And if you’ve never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and would like to, please call this number: 1-888-need-Him or to e-mail me. Finally, my prayer is that you will always listen to God and His word! And if you have any questions about this study, feel free to e-mail me and ask. And remember, “Christ must increase and I must decrease”!
May God bless you all!!
