Paragraph 3:27–30

John declared that he was not the Messiah. The Messiah, he said, was much more important than he was.

3:27

A man can receive only what is given him from heaven: This sentence is in the form of a proverb. It indicates that all we are and all we have is a gift from God. John the Baptist was saying that God gave him his ministry. It was not the same as the ministry that God had given the Messiah.

Here are other ways to translate this sentence:

No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
No one can have anything unless God gives it to him. (Good News Translation)

In some languages it may be more natural to translate this as a positive statement. For example:

A man can get only what God gives him. (New Century Version)

only what is given him from heaven: This is a passive clause. It means “except what God gives.” There are at least two ways to translate it:

• Use a passive verb. For example:

except what is given him from heaven (Revised Standard Version)

• Use an active verb. For example:

only what God gives him (New Century Version)
-or-
unless God in heaven allows it (Contemporary English Version)

Use the verb form that is most natural in your language.

from heaven: This phrase is a Jewish way of speaking about God that shows respect. The Jews often avoided referring directly to God. In some languages it is more natural to indicate that this refers to God. For example:

No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. (New Living Translation (2004))

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.