Christ's Increase, and Our Decrease
J. H. Holford, M. A. John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease. I. "HE MUST INCREASE." In one sense the words do not apply. The Saviour is God, very God of very God, and there can be no increase to that which is already infinite. He is also perfect man, without spot or imperfection, but it was in His office of Mediator, and in the glories of His mediatorial kingdom, that the Saviour was capable of increase. The greatness and glory of His work was to be manifested; the love which promoted, and the wisdom which carried out, the wondrous plan of salvation, were to be revealed, and fresh conquests to be achieved. Through faith in a crucified, yet risen and ascended Saviour, His people also shall prevail, yea, and be made more than conquerors through Him that loved them; and then as one nation after another has been brought into professed subjection to Christ, and as soul after soul has been rescued from Satan and brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God, we see the fulfilment of the words, "He must in. crease." II. "I MUST DECREASE." We have already noticed, that in a high and important sense, the increase of Christ is the increase of His people — they are concerned in the triumphs of His grace, and are to share His glory. But there is also a sense in which the believer in Christ, who is rejoicing in his Lord, and in the full salvation he has secured, can join in these words of the Baptist, "I must decrease." Yes, there is the carnal self, that which is of the earth, earthy — the old man, the old nature — which still retains so much of power, even in the regene rate, that which the believer desires daily to crucify, the flesh with its affections and lusts. All this is to decrease, and finally — although not entirely until he has put off the body of this death — to disappear. Surely we greatly need to decrease in self-esteem, in pride, in carnality, in all that tends to hinder us in our Christian life, and bring dishonour on our Christian profession. We are to decrease in having self as the all-engrossing object. New hopes and desires are to have fuller power over us; the great motive of the love of Christ is to have its place, constraining, compelling, drawing. Opportunities of usefulness, and of actively working for God, may also be diminished, and in failing strength and energies the Christian reads the words, "I must decrease." The work of Christ, indeed, will not suffer. (J. H. Holford, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: He must increase, but I must decrease. WEB: He must increase, but I must decrease.