Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
Ver. 25. And the Jews] Who joined themselves to John's disciples, craftily and maliciously, that they might both set against Christ; like as the Jesuits at this day will cunningly comply with the Lutherans, and seem to side with them, that they may both set against the Calvinists.
About purifying] That is, baptism, called elsewhere the laver of regeneration, Titus 3:5, and by a Father, ‘ Αλεξιτηριον καθαρτικον, a purging preservative. "Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh," saith Peter, but a better thing, 1 Peter 3:21 .