John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were willing for a season to bask in his light.
35. He was a burning and shining lamp. When he calls John a burning lamp, this proves their ingratitude; for it follows that they are only blind, because they choose to be so, since God kindled a lamp before their eyes.
In these verses our Lord Jesus proves and confirms the commission he had produced, and makes it out that he was sent of God to be the Messiah. I. He sets aside his own testimony of himself (Joh 5:31): "If I bear witness of myself, though it is infallibly true (Joh 8:14), yet, according to the common rule of judgment among men, you will not...
Commenting on John 5:31-47
He was a burning and a shining light,.... He was not that light, the famous light, the Messiah, the sun of righteousness; yet he was the "phosphorus", the forerunner of that light, and was himself a very great one: he had much light himself into the person and office of the Messiah; in the doctrines of faith in Christ, and repentance towards God; in the...