a separatist · noun — genitive plural masculine, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 23:13-15 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neit…
Luke 11:39-44 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening…
Luke 11:53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many thing…
Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.
Luke 16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
John 3:1-2 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Matthew 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
John 7:47-49 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 1:19-28
We have here the testimony of John, which he delivered to the messengers who were sent from Jerusalem to examine him. Observe here,
I. Who they were that sent to him, and who they were that were sent. 1. They that sent to him were the Jews at Jerusalem, the great sanhedrim or high-commission court, which sat at Jerusalem, and was the representative of the Jewish church, who took cognizance of all matters relating to religion. One would think that they who were the fountains of learning, and the guides of the church, should have, by books, understood the times so well as to know that the Messiah was at hand, and therefore should presently have known him that was his forerunner, and readily em…
Elias--in His own proper person.
that prophet--announced in Deu 18:15, &c., about whom they seem not to have been agreed whether he were the same with the Messiah or no.
Adam Clarke on John 1:23
I am the voice of one crying - See the notes on Mat 3:3; Mar 1:4, Mar 1:5.
John Gill on John 1:24
And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. Who were the straitest sect of religion among the Jews; were very zealous of the traditions of the elders, and professed an expectation of the Messiah; and were famous in the nation for their knowledge and learning, as well as for their devotion and sanctity: and many of them were in the sanhedrim, as appears from John 3:1; see Gill on Matthew 3:7.
John Calvin on John 1:24-28
John 1:24-28
24. Now those who were sent were of the Pharisees. 25. Therefore they asked him, and said to him, Why then dost thou baptize, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a Prophet? 26. John answered them, saying, I baptize with water; but one standeth in the midst of you, whom you know not. 27. It is he who, coming after me, is preferred to me; whose shoe-latchet I am not worthy to loose. 28. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
24. Were of the Pharisees. He says that they were Pharisees, who at that time held the highest rank in the Church; and he says so in order to inform us, that they were not some contemptible persons of the order o…
The Church Fathers
But still those who were sent inquire further: "Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" Because this was said not from a desire to learn the truth, but from the malice of pursuing rivalry, the Evangelist silently made known when he added, saying: "And those who had been sent were from the Pharisees." As if he openly said: Those men inquire of John about his actions who do not know how to seek teaching, but only how to envy.
After the priests and Levites were sent from Jerusalem to ask John who he was, the Pharisees send to him as well, asking, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the prophet?" After they have examined him, they are the next to be baptized.… The difficulty is solved as follows. The Pharisees … who heard the words "generation of vipers …," although they have not believed him, probably come for baptism because they fear the crowd and, in accordance with their hypocrisy toward them, consider it proper to let themselves be washed that they might not seem to be opposed to such people.
(in Joan. tom. vi. c. 13) The questions of the priests and Levites being answered, another mission comes from the Pharisees: And they that were sent were of the Pharisees. So far as it is allowable to form a conjecture from the discourse itself here, I should say that it was the third occasion of John's giving his witness. Observe the mildness of the former question, so befitting the priestly and levitical character, Who art thou? There is nothing arrogant or disrespectful, but only what becomes true ministers of God. The Pharisees however, being a sectarian body, as their name implies, address the Baptist in an importunate and contumelious way. And they said, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, neither Elias, neither that Prophet? not caring about information, but only wishing to prevent him baptizing. Yet the very next thing they did, was to come to John's baptism. The solution of this is, that they came not in faith, but hypocritically, because they feared the people.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Jesus, The Christ · .Testimony of — .Testimony of
John · Mission of — Mission of
Pharisees, The · Many priest and Levites were of — Many priest and Levites were of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The Pharisees were deeply devoted to the Scriptures and earnestly desired a righteous life. They also believed in the coming Messiah, which explains their inquiries here. Some Pharisees became believers in Jesus (Acts 15:5), including the apostle Paul (Acts 26:5; Phil 3:5).
