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I baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”
In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
Mark 1:8-10 sits inside this longer paragraph.
John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins. John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. He preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen. I baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”
In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
I baptized you in water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”
In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
I have baptised you with water: but he shall baptise you with the holy goost.
And that came to passe in those dayes that Iesus cam from Nazareth a cyte of Galile: and was baptised of Iohn in Iordan.
And assone as he was come out of the water Iohn sawe heaven open and the holy goost descendinge vpon him lyke a dove.
Trueth it is, I haue baptized you with water: but he will baptize you with the holy Ghost.
And it came to passe in those dayes, that Iesus came from Nazareth, a citie of Galile, and was baptized of Iohn in Iordan.
And assoone as he was come out of the water, Iohn saw the heauens clouen in twaine, and the holy Ghost descending vpon him like a doue.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8–10 He showeth that all the force of baptism proceedeth…
He showeth that all the force of baptism proceedeth from Christ, who baptizeth within.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–10 8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but…
8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
Ver. 8. With the Holy Ghost] By whom your iniquity is taken away, Isa 6:6-7. {See Trapp on "Mat 3:11"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v9 Christ, who, Luk 2:51, went with his parents to…
Christ, who, Luk 2:51, went with his parents to Nazareth, and was subject to them, after he had been disputing with the doctors in the temple, now goes from Nazareth, a city in Galilee, to that part of Galilee near Jordan, or rather to Bethabara, where John was baptizing, and was baptized: See Poole on "Mat 3:13". "Mat 3:16". "Mat 3:17". "Joh 1:28", where this piece of history is more fully related. Luke addeth, that Christ was now about thirty years of age.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv8–9 John showed the dignity of Christ’s person above his…
John showed the dignity of Christ’s person above his own, in the former verse; in this he declares the excellency of Christ’s office, and the meanness of his own; I wash the body with water, but Christ cleanses the soul by the operation of his Holy Spirit.
Thence learn, That though the ministers of Christ do by Christ’s command dispense the outward ordinance of baptism, yet it is Christ himself, that by the inward work of his Spirit doth make it effectual to such as receive it. I baptize with water; but he with the Holy Ghost.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v9 We have here a brief account of Christ's baptism…
We have here a brief account of Christ's baptism and temptation, which were largely related Mt. 3 and 4.
I. His baptism, which was his first public appearance, after he had long lived obscurely in Nazareth. O how much hidden worth is there, which in this world is either lost in the dust of contempt and cannot be known, or wrapped up in the veil of humility and will not be known! But sooner or later it shall be known, as Christ's was.
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1. See how humbly he owned God, by coming to be baptized of John; and thus it became him to fulfil all righteousness. Thus he took upon him the likeness of sinful flesh, that, though he was perfectly pure and unspotted, yet he was washed as if he had been polluted; and thus for our sakes he sanctified himself, that we also might be sanctified, and be baptized with him, Joh 17:19.
2. See how honourably God owned him, when he submitted to John's baptism. Those who justify God, and they are said to do, who were baptized with the baptism of John, he will glorify, Luk 7:29, Luk 7:30.
(1.) He saw the heavens opened; thus he was owned to be the Lord from heaven, and had a glimpse of the glory and joy that were set before him, and secured to him, as the recompence of his undertaking. Matthew saith, The heavens were opened to him. Mark saith, He saw them opened. Many have the heavens opened to receive them, but they do not see it; Christ had not only a clear foresight of his sufferings, but of his glory too.
(2.) He saw the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. Note, Then we may see heaven opened to us, when we perceive the Spirit descending and working upon us. God's good work in us is the surest evidence of his good will towards us, and his preparations for us. Justin Martyr says, that when Christ was baptized, a fire was kindled in Jordan: and it is an ancient tradition, that a great light shone round the place; for the Spirit brings both light and heat.
(3.) He heard a voice which was intended for his encouragement to proceed in his undertaking, and therefore it is here expressed as directed to him, Thou art my beloved Son. God lets him know, [1.] That he loved him never the less for that low and mean estate to which he had now humbled himself; "Though thus emptied and made of no reputation, yet he is my beloved Son still." [2.] That he loved him much the more for that glorious and kind undertaking in which he had now engaged himself. God is well pleased in him, as referee of all matters in controversy between him and man; and so well pleased in him, as to be well pleased with us in him.
II. His temptation. The good Spirit that descended upon him, led him into the wilderness, Mar 1:12. Paul mentions it as a proof that he had his doctrine from God, and not from man - that, as soon as he was called, he went not to Jerusalem, but went into Arabia, Gal 1:17. Retirement from the world is an opportunity of more free converse with God, and therefore must sometimes be chosen, for a while, even by those that are called to the greatest business. Mark observes this circumstance of his being in the wilderness - that he was with the wild beasts. It was an instance of his Father's care of him, that he was preserved from being torn in pieces by the wild beasts, which encouraged him the more that his Father would provide for him when he was hungry. Special protections are earnests of seasonable supplies. It was likewise an intimation to him of the inhumanity of the men of that generation, whom he was to live among - no better than wild beasts in the wilderness, nay abundantly worse. In that wilderness,
1. The evil spirits were busy with him; he was tempted of Satan; not by any inward injections (the prince of this world had nothing in him to fasten upon), but by outward solicitations. Solicitude often gives advantages to the tempter, therefore two are better than one. Christ himself was tempted, not only to teach us, that it is no sin to be tempted, but to direct us whither to go for succour when we are tempted, even to him that suffered, being tempted; that he might experimentally sympathize with us when we are tempted.
2. The good spirits were busy about him; the angels ministered to him, supplied him with what he needed, and dutifully attended him. Note, The ministration of the good angels about us, is matter of great comfort in reference to the malicious designs of the evil angels against us; but much more doth it befriend us, to have the indwelling of the spirit in our hearts, which they that have, are so born of God, that, as far as they are so, the evil one toucheth them not, much less shall be triumph over them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–10 I indeed have baptized you with water,.... This was…
I indeed have baptized you with water,.... This was spoken to the baptized persons, partly to take off their dependence upon him and his baptism; and partly to direct their views to Christ, from whom the gifts and graces of the Spirit are alone to be had:
but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost; See Gill on Mat 3:11. One copy adds, "and with fire", as there: a Jewish writer says, the holy blessed God baptizeth with fire, and the wise shall understand (p).
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(p) R. Menachem in Lev. viii. apud Ainsworth on Gen. xvii. 12.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v9 Matt. iii, 13; Luke iii, 21.
Matt. iii, 13; Luke iii, 21.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Verse 8. I indeed have baptized you with water]…
Verse 8. I indeed have baptized you with water] As if he had said: This baptism is not to be rested in; it is only an emblem of that which you must receive from him who is mightier than I. It is he only who can communicate the Holy Spirit; and water baptism is nothing, but as it points out, and leads to, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The subject of these two verses is not found in Matthew nor John; but is mentioned with some varying circumstances by Luke, Lu 3:16.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v9 Mar 1:9-11. It came to pass in those days…
Mar 1:9-11. It came to pass in those days — Of John’s baptism at the river Jordan; that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee — Where he lived for many years in a retired manner, with his parents; and was baptized of John in Jordan — Near Bethabara. Joh 1:28. See on Mat 3:13-17.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v9 See the notes at Mat 3:13-17.
See the notes at Mat 3:13-17.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv9–10 See notes on our Saviour’s baptism, Matthew iii. ---…
See notes on our Saviour’s baptism, Matthew iii. --- That Christ was baptized by immersion, is clear from the text; for he who ascended out of the water must first have descended into it. And this method was of general use in the Church for 1300 years, as appears from the acts of councils and ancient rituals. It is imagined by some, that in the very spot of the river Jordan, where the ark stood whilst the Israelites passed over, our Lord (the ark of the covenant of grace) was baptized by St. John.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v9
SECOND SECTION
CHRIST
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______
Mar_1:9-13
(Parallels: Mat_3:13 to Mat_4:11; Luk_3:21 to Luk_4:13; Joh_1:29-42)
9And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of [by] John in Jordan. 10And straightway coming up out of [from, απο 4] the water, he saw the heavens opened [parted], and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. 11And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom5 I am well pleased. 12And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13And he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mar_1:10. Straightway, εὐθέως.—Mark’s watchword, constantly recurring from this time onwards. But here it means that Jesus only in a formal sense submitted to the act, and therefore did not linger in it. Much in the same way as Luke hastily passes over the circumcision of our Lord.—He saw the heavens.—Not John (as Erasmus and others), but Jesus is the subject of the seeing (Meyer): yet the concurrent and mediate beholding of the Baptist is not excluded; see John 1. That the occurrence should not have been only an external one, but also an internal (Leben Jesu, ii. 1, S. 182), Meyer calls “fantasy.” But it is certain that without the fantasy of theological spiritual insight we cannot penetrate the internal meaning of the text, and must fall now into mere dogmatism, and now into rationalistic perversions.
Mar_1:12. And immediately the Spirit driveth Him.—’Εκβάλλει is stronger than the ἀνήχθη of Matthew and the ἤγετο of Luke.
Mar_1:13. And He was there forty days tempted of Satan.—According to Meyer and others, Mark (with Luke) is here out of harmony with Matthew. This difficulty springs from neglecting to distinguish, 1. between real difference and less exactitude, and 2. between the being tempted generally of Satan, and the being tempted in a specifically pregnant and decisive manner. But it is evident that Mark places the crisis of Christ’s victory already in the baptism. That act of victory over self, and humiliation under the baptism of John, had already assured Him the victory over the now impotent assaults of Satan.—With the wild beasts.—The older expositors find hi this circumstance a counterpart of the serpent in paradise. Starke:—The wilderness was probably the great Arabian desert, and Satan attacked Him also through the beasts. Usteri and others:—Christ as the restorer of paradise, and conqueror of the beasts. De Wette:—This is a mere pictorial embellishment. Meyer:—He is threatened in a twofold manner: Satan tempts Him, and the beasts surround Him. But this is a misleading view. A threefold relation of Jesus is here depicted, 1. to Satan, 2. to the beasts, 3. to the angels; and it is arbitrary to separate the second from the third, and make it the antithesis of the first. There is nothing in the μετά to justify this.—The angels.—Not merely fortuitous individual angels. By the individuals which minister to Him, the angel-world is represented. Meyer:—By the ministering we are not to understand a serving with food, but a sustaining support against Satan and the beasts. This is more than fantasy.—The theory concerning the various forms of the history of the temptation, of which Mark is supposed to have used the earliest and simplest, we pass over, as flowing from the well-known scholastic misapprehension of this Evangelist’s original view and exhibition of the Gospel.—Ex ungue leonem! This holds good of Christ, as He is introduced by Mark; and in another sense it holds good of the beginning of the Gospel itself. Remark the expressions: οἱ ‘Ιεροσολυμῖται πάντες—κύψας λῦσαι—εἶδε σχιζομένους τοὺς οὐρανούς, etc.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The self-denial and self-renunciation with which Christ, the Son of God, had lived in the seclusion of Nazareth, was the condition and source of that strength in which He subjected Himself to the baptism of John in the Jordan. This act of subjection sealed His submission under the law, His historical fellowship of suffering with His people, and His passion. The baptism of Christ was consequently the pledge of His perfect self-sacrifice. Hence it was in principle the decision of His conflict and His victory; and therefore it was crowned with His glorification. In this one act there was a consummation of His consciousness as God, of His consciousness as Redeemer, and His consciousness as Victor.
2. Christ really decided, in His baptism, His victory over Satan. He went into the wilderness and made it a paradise. The serpent in this paradise assaults Him, but cannot hurt Him; the wild beasts sink peaceably under His majesty; and the angels of heaven surround and serve Him.
3. John is in the wilderness, and Satan tempts him not. Jesus is led up from the wilderness into the wilderness,—that is, into the deepest wildness of the wilderness (this being the residence of the demons, see Com. on Matthew 4),—and Satan comes down to assault Him there. But the Evangelist deems it superfluous to remark that Jesus overcame Satan. After what had just preceded, this was self-understood. Moreover, it is in the casting-out of the devils, that Mark presents to us Christ’s concrete victories over Satan. Yet this victory is intimated in the fact that He maintained His abode in the wilderness for forty days in spite of all the assaults of the devil, and that in that very wilderness the angels ministered to Him. The incarnate Son of God could hold His heavenly court in the place which Satan preëminently arrogated for himself. The Lord’s relation to His surroundings is threefold. 1. It is a sovereign and inimical one towards Satan, whose temptations appear only as impotent assaults. 2. It is a sovereign and peaceful one towards the beasts: they dare not hunt the Lord of creation, nor do they flee before Him. Jesus takes away the curse also from the irrational creation (Romans 8). According to the same Mark, who places this circumstance at the outset of his Gospel, Jesus commanded at its close that His Gospel should be preached to every creature. See Daniel in the den of lions. Comp. Gœthe’s Das Kind und der Löwe. 3. A sovereign and friendly one towards the angel-world. The world of the angels is subjected to the dominion of Christ: Eph_1:21; Col_2:10; Hebrews 1.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The abode of Jesus in Nazareth, or His self-humiliation, the foundation of all the Divine victories in His life, Php_2:6 seq.—The greatness of Christ by the side of the greatness of John.—Even in humiliation Christ is above John, in that He voluntarily submits to his baptism.—With the submission of Christ to the baptism of John, and what it signified, the whole course of His life, and also His victory over Satan in the wilderness, were decided. Hence His tarrying in the wilderness was the festival before a new career.—The perfected unfolding of the consciousness of Christ at His baptism, in its eternal significance.—With the self-consciousness of Christ was perfected the consciousness of the Son of God and of the Son of man at one and the same time: Thus, 1. the consciousness of His eternity in His Godhead, and 2. of His redeeming vocation in His humanity.—The significance of perfect self-knowledge in self-consciousness: 1. Finding self, 2. gaining self, 3. deciding and dedicating self in God.—The kindredness and difference between the development of the Redeemer’s consciousness and that of the sinner: 1. Kindredness: humiliation, exaltation. 2. Difference: a. Christ’s humiliation under the judgment of His brethren; b. the sinner’s under his own judgment;—a. Christ’s exaltation through the contemplation of the communion of the Trinity; b. the sinner’s exaltation through faith in the fellowship of the Redeemer.—As our consciousness, so our history: This holds good, a. of our true consciousness, b. of our false.—The abode of the Baptist and of the Lord in the wilderness, a token of the destruction of the satanic kingdom.—The inseparable connection between the divine dignity and the redeeming vocation of Christ: 1. He is Christ, and submits to John’s baptism of repentance; 2. He sees the heavens open upon Him, and enters into the depths of the wilderness to contend with Satan.—The connection between the Lord’s baptism and His temptation.—The connection between the humiliations and the exaltations of our Lord, an encouraging sign to all who are His.—The connection between the invigorations and the new conflicts of Jesus, an admonitory sign to all who are His.—Christ takes possession again of the wilderness (the world), without asking leave of Satan whose dwelling it is.—Christ in the wilderness Ruler of all: 1. Of the abyss, whose assaults He regards not; 2. of the earth, whose wild beasts and passions sink to rest at His feet; 3. of the heavenly world, whose angels minister to Him.—Wherefore the Lion of Judah, according to Mark, so often goes into the wilderness.—How the Holy Spirit opens, with the manifestation of Christ, the decisive conflict with the spirit of apostasy.—How the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of might, drives the Lord into the decisive conflict. Even Christ did not go led by self into the contest.—Christ changing the wilderness, despite Satan, into a paradise.—Adam in paradise, and Christ among the beasts in the wilderness.
Starke:—Humility the best adornment of teachers.—Jesus of Nazareth (despised): So little does the great God make Himself, and thus at the same time constructs a ladder by which we may go up.—Jesus sanctifies through His baptism the laver of regeneration in the word.—Rejoice, O soul, in that God is well pleased with His Son, and with thee also, who through Him art reconciled to God! But thou must in faith be made one with Him, Eph_1:5-6.—As soon as we become God’s children, the Holy Ghost leads us; but the cross and temptation come forth-with.—What the first Adam lost among and under the beasts, the Second Adam has asserted and regained among the beasts.—A pious man has nothing to fear, among either wild beasts or bestial men.
Gerlach:—How infinitely high does Christ stand above all human teachers, even those inspired by God.—Schleiermacher:—The legal excitement which John occasioned, and the excitement which Jesus enkindled.—Gossner:—Solitude and the wilderness have their temptations equally with the world.—Baur:—No one is near to celebrate this victory, yet God’s angels are there to glorify Him.
Footnotes:
[4][Mar_1:10.—The reading of the Received Text is ἀπό, which is also adopted by Scholz, and agrees, moreover, with Mat_3:16. But Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Meyer, following B., D., L., and the Gothic Version, read ἐκ. Griesbach also favored this reading. The English Version “out of” accords with the latter reading, but not with the former. The use of the two prepositions is seen m Luk_2:4 : “And Joseph also went up from (ἀπό) Galilee, out of (ἐκ) the city of Nazareth,” &c. “Beyond doubt,” remarks Winer, “ἐκ indicates the closest connection; ὑπό one less strict; παρά and more especially ἀπό, one still more distant.”—Ed.]
[5]Mar_1:11.—After B., D., &c., Lachmann and Tischendorf read ἐν σοί, “in Thee.”
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv9–10 § 16. — BAPTISM OF JESUS, Mar_1:9-11.
§ 16. — BAPTISM OF JESUS, Mar_1:9-11.
9. In those days — The days in which John was baptizing.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv9–10 9–11. The Baptism of Jesus
9–11. The Baptism of Jesus
9. in those days] i. e. towards the close of the year a. u. c. 781, or a. d. 28, when our Lord was thirty years of age (Luk_3:23), the time appointed for the Levite’s entrance on “the service of the ministry” (Num_4:3).
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came from Nazareth] where He had grown up in peaceful seclusion, “increasing in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man” (Luk_2:52), in a town unknown and unnamed in the Old Testament, situated among the hills which constitute the southern ridges of Lebanon, just before they sink down into the Plain of Esdraelon.
baptized of] i. e. by John. Comp. Luk_14:8, “when thou art bidden of (=by) any man;” Php_3:12, “I am apprehended of (= by) Christ;” Collect for 25th Sunday after Trinity, “may of (=by) Thee be plenteously rewarded.”
in Jordan] Either (i) at the ancient ford near Succoth, which some have identified with the Bethabara or rather Bethany of St John (Joh_1:28); or (ii) at a more southern ford not far from Jericho, whither the multitudes that flocked from Judæa and Jerusalem (Mar_1:5) would have found a speedier and more convenient access. From St Matthew we learn that (i) the purport of the Saviour’s journey from Galilee was that He might be thus baptized (Mat_3:13); that (ii) His Forerunner instantly recognised His superhuman and stainless nature; that (iii) he tried earnestly to prevent Him; that (iv) his objections were overruled by the reply that thus it became Him to “fulfil all righteousness,” i. e. every requirement of the Law. St Luke tells us that the Baptism of our Lord did not take place till “all the people had been baptized” (Luk_3:21).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–10 (8) I indeed have baptized you with water.—See Note…
(8) I indeed have baptized you with water.—See Note on Mat_3:11. St. Mark omits the “fire” which St. Matthew joins with the Holy Ghost, possibly as less intelligible to his Gentile readers.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8–10 I baptized you with water; but he shall baptize…
I baptized you with water; but he shall baptize you with or in the Holy Ghost. It is as though he said, "Christ will pour his Holy Spirit so abundantly upon you, that he will cleanse you from all your sins, and fill you with holiness and love and all his other excellent graces. " Christ did this visibly on the day of Pentecost. And this he does invisibly in the. sacrament of Holy Baptism, and in the rite of Confirmation, which is the completion of the sacrament of Baptism. John baptized with water only, but Christ with water and the Holy Spirit. John baptized the body only, Christ baptizes the soul. By how much, therefore, the Holy Spirit transcends the water, and the soul excels the body, by so much is Christ"s baptism more excellent than that of John, which was only preparatory and rudimentary. If it be asked why it was needful that our Lord should be baptized with John"s baptism, the best answer is that given by Christ himself, "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness;" it becometh us me in receiving this baptism, and you in imparting it. Christ was sent to do the whole will of God; and as in his circumcision, so in his baptism, "he was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin.
John"s baptism and Christ"s.
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I THE GRAND RELIGIOUS NEED OF MAN IS PURIFICATION. The existence of so many ceremonial religions is a presumption in favor of this. They all speak of offenses in man which require expiation. But the knowledge of the true character of sin is revealed by the Law. (Rom_3:19) Sin itself, of course, exists anterior to the knowledge of the Law of Moses, because of the "law of God written upon the heart." In Psalm 14 the universal depravity of the Jews of the age in which the psalmist wrote is very absolutely, declared; and St. Paul, in Rom_3:10, etc., quotes it freely, in proof that Jews as well as Gentiles are under the power of sin. "As his argument is at this point addressed particularly to the Jew, he reasons, not from the sense of sin or the voice of conscience, but from the Scriptures, whose authority the Jew acknowledged. The Jew would, of course, admit the inference as to the state of the Gentile world" (Perowne). The first aim, therefore, of every real religion must be the removal of sin, because:
1. The sense of guilt estranges man from God. Under this feeling of alienation the heart hardens, and the tendency is to cast off the authority of all Divine sanctions.
2. Indwelling sin corrupts and perverts the moral mature. The vision of God is obscured, and as he is the Fountain of moral obligation and perception, moral distinctions become uncertain and confused. Right and truth are not desired for their own sakes; there is no genuine enthusiasm for them. On the contrary, the heart is already biased and bribed on behalf of evil. "Evil, be thou my good," expresses the final stage to which the corruption of the heart may attain; and:
3. Sinful habit and inherited tendency enfeeble the will. This moral weakness may coexist with the clearest perceptions of right and wrong. (Rom_7:14-19)
II RELIGIOUS MINISTRIES ARE TO BE TESTED BY THEIR POWER TO EFFECT THIS,
1. It is the general pretension which they make in common. There may be supernatural evidences, etc., to recommend them, but the practical ground upon which they base their claim to reception is really that, in some way or other, they can settle the question of sin between man and God. To judge them upon this point is not, therefore, to do them an injustice.
2. The standard is common and within human experience. In the measure in which they wean man from sin and reconcile him to the Divine Being, they prove their ability to make good their pretension. A religion whose followers have low moral ideas, or are not in the habit of practising what they profess, must be discredited as a moral power.
3. There are various respects in which this purifying power may show itself:
(1) Spiritual rest. This arises from a sense of forgiveness and of reconciliation with God. In other words, when the consciousness of guilt is removed and the sanctions of righteousness have been honored, the soul is satisfied and loses its fear and dislike to God, trusting, and in time loving, him.
(2) Moral inspiration. If sin has truly been overcomes and the relations of the soul with God are satisfactory, there will be hopefulness and vigor in the discharge of duty, resignation and patience in suffering, and a disposition to do good.
(3) Change of character and conduct. He who did evil and delighted in it will then find his joy in righteousness and holiness. There will he manifest "the fruits of the Spirit," and there will be "no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
III How THE SUPERIORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN THIS RESPECT IS TO BE EXPLAINED.
1. Because it was spiritual and not ceremonial. John anticipated the explanation in his prophecy concerning Christ. He was not, like himself, to baptize with water, but with the Holy Spirit. Now, John"s baptism was most significant, perhaps the most significant of the rites of the ceremonial law. Enforced by his moral earnestness, it also exercised a powerful spiritual effect. But it did not produce that which he preached, viz. repentance, in any inward and enduring manner. It was only indirectly spiritual. Duty was powerfully suggested by the symbol, and, where spiritual influence was at work, in many instances a morn! change was produced. But there was, so to speak, no command over that spiritual influence, no ensuring its operation upon the heart. What was needed was something that would go directly to the heart, and renew the moral nature.
2. It is only in the communication of greater spiritual power than existed before that this can take place. A strong moral nature like John"s was felt whilst it appealed to men, but, when its immediate influence was withdrawn, the impulses and emotions to which it gave rise died down again. Christ, on the other hand, furnished moral power in the communication of truth under vital and vivid representations. From the fullness of his own spiritual life also there was a constant overflowing of grace and strength. He spake as never man spake; his authority was felt; his example inspired. It was the meaning and spirit of everything he revealed. The conscience was strengthened, and the moral nature filled with new light and life. Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and know that thou art the Holy One of God". (Joh_6:68)
3. Because it was the communication of Divine life and power. He "baptized with the Holy Ghost." An awful and mysterious expression? The Spirit of God was set free by the atoning work of the Saviour to operate upon the heart and conscience of man. By purifying the outward man John sought to impress men with the sense of their spiritual impurity, and their need of forgiveness and inward cleansing. But only Christ could give purity of heart. He gave life; he inspired. The inward man was renewed, "created after God, in righteousness and true holiness." "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv9–10 Jesus came from Nazareth.
Mar_1:9-10
Jesus came from Nazareth.
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Nazareth of Galilee: The fitness of the spot
1. Its seclusion. It lies in a narrow cleft in the limestone hills which form the boundary of Zabulon, entirely out of the ordinary roads of commerce, so that none could say that our Lord had learnt either from Gentiles or from rabbis.
2. Its beauty and peacefulness. The flowers of Nazareth are famous, and the appearance of its inhabitants shows its healthiness. It was a home of humble peace and plenty. The fields of its green valley are fruitful, and the view from the hill which over shadows it is one of the loveliest and most historically striking in all Palestine. (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)
Nazareth
The village of Nazareth is reached by a narrow, steep, and rough mountain path. But the distant view of the village itself, in spring, is beautiful. Its streets rise in terraces on the hill slopes toward the northwest. The hills rise above it in an amphitheatre around to a height of five hundred feet, and shut it in from the bleak winds of winter. The flat-roofed houses, built of yellowish-white limestone of the neighbourhood, shine in the sun with a dazzling brightness, from among gardens and fig trees, olives, cypresses, and the white and scarlet blossoms of the orange and pomegranate. (C. Geikie, D. D.)
Hidden worth
Oh how much hidden worth is there, which, in this world, is either lost in the dust of contempt and cannot be known, or wrapt up in the veil of humility and will not be known! But sooner or later it shall be known, as Christs was. (M. Henry.)
Jesus Christs early youth and baptism
I. There is here an intimation of the fact, that Christ had hitherto resided in the city of Nazareth, in lower Galilee.
1. The name of this city attached itself to Jesus Christ as a term of reproach.
2. In this city Christ lived thirty years in seclusion, etc.
discharging the humble and homely duties of His station-thus obeyed the law in all its precepts.
II. When Christ was about to show Himself to Israel, He came to John to be baptized. He thus acknowledged the appointment of John, and honoured his office. He was made subject to the law. He thus dedicated Himself to the service of God.
III. The baptism of Christ was signalized by several miraculous and striking accompaniments.
1. The heavens were opened.
2. The Spirit descended.
3. There was a voice from heaven. (Expository Outlines.)
And was baptized of John in Jordan.-
Our Lords baptism
It is not possible for us to understand the whole mystery of this act, but we may reverently consider some of the motives which prompted the amazing condescension.
1. It may have been to consecrate water for the remission of sins. Just as the brooding of the Spirit of God upon the face of the waters at the first creation reduced order out of chaos, and prepared that element for all the purifications of the first dispensation; so when the moral re-creation of the world was inaugurated the operation of the same Blessed Agent, descending upon our Lord in the river Jordan, sanctified water to the mystical washing away of sin.
2. It may also have been that He designed thereby to be made one with His brethren, or to taste for their sakes at the outset of His ministry that curse of sin which He felt in all its intolerable burden at the close, before His cry of desolation.
3. Another motive He has expressly revealed. When the Baptist shrank back from an act that must have seemed profane, He pointed out that it was incumbent on Him to show an example of perfect obedience to His Fathers will.
4. Underlying this resolution of obedience was the consciousness of a deep humiliation. His self-abasement reached its lowest depth in His baptism. To be misinterpreted and misunderstood at every step was bad enough; but to be told that by His own confession He was a sinner, one with publicans and harlots, and that by His own act and deed He admitted His guilt and sought to have it removed-such self-abasement is more than man can either measure or conceive. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
The public commencement of a great life
I. That it emerged from comparative obscurity. From Nazareth of Galilee. Christs coming from Nazareth would tend-
1. To correct the proud nations of those to whom He came.
2. It would be a means of self-discipline.
II. That it was characterized by true humility.
1. Humility was shown in appreciating the worth of another mans work.
2. By giving preeminence to a man of inferior moral worth.
3. By submitting to the ceremonialisms of life.
III. That it was favoured with happy visions-He saw the heavens opened.
1. Christ was favoured with a revelation of the unseen world.
2. This revelation was given in the performance of a comparatively trivial duty.
IV. Christ was honoured by a Divine commendation. This is my beloved son, etc.
1. This commendation was paternal.
2. It was sympathetic.
Learn:
1. Comparative solitude is the best preparation for a life of public usefulness.
2. That men are not to be judged by the surroundings of their childhood.
3. That humility is the true adornment of a young man about to commence public life.
4. The happy interchange of sympathy between heaven and a truly pious soul. (Joseph S. Exell, M. A.)
The baptism of Christ
Note,
I. The time of it-In those days, A.D. 28, Jesus thirty years of age, the age at which the Levites began their ministry.
II. The place of it. Either the ancient ford at Succoth or near Jericho.
III. The manner of it. Of John. In Jordan. To fulfil all righteousness.
IV. The blessing that followed it. Credentials of Messiahship. Anointing for ministry with power (Cf. Rom_1:4; Act_10:38). Tranquility (Dove; see Isa_6:6). Expression of Divine favour. (H. Thorne.)
The baptism of Christ: Its significance
Jesus was baptized by His forerunner, who was both the representative of the old economy and the preacher of repentance for the new.
I. In the former relation the Baptist performed on the person of the Christian High Priest the washing which preceded His anointing with the Holy Spirit. The typical high priests were washed before their anointing.
II. In the latter relation the preacher of repentance administered the pledge of penitent washing for the Messiah to One who was also the representative of sinful man. Two ends were thus accomplished.
1. Christ was baptized as the Head and Surety of the human race; assuming in its symbol the transgression of mankind.
2. He was designated as the Messiah, in whom were combined all the offices to which His types were of old anointed. In the former sense, His baptism represented a sin assumed but not shared; He was numbered with the transgressors, and came by water before He came by blood. In the latter it represented the perfect purity which His preeminent ministry required; the water represented not the cleansing, but the absense of the need of purification. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)
The Baptism of Jesus
If we can distinguish between the important and the unimportant in this scene, between the transient and the permanent, we shall not study it in vain. Essential truths do not grow old.
1. Applying this test we find that one of the unessential truths concerning Christs baptism is its mode. The exact mode could not be reproduced; none of us can have the Jordan ford for our baptismal font.
2. The heavenly phenomena accompanying the baptism are not among its essential features. The accessories cannot, from their very nature, be universal What then were the essential features?
I. Christ our Lord there set for us a perfect example of perfect obedience. Baptism was an ordinance of God; Christ will not exempt Himself from any duty. Why should I be baptized? Because God commands it. Have you less need than Christ? The King of Glory did not despise it as a mere form of the Church. He received baptism as ratifying the mission of His great forerunner, and He also received it as the beautiful symbol of moral purification and the humble inauguration of a ministry which came not to destroy the law but to fulfil.
II. That it was his way of publicly renouncing sin and publicly professing religion. Christ is our Example as well as Redeemer. Every true follower of Christ must publicly renounce his sins and confess his faith.
III. The evident approval of the Father in heaven. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)
The baptism of Jesus
I. The baptism of Jesus was the sign of the close of Johns commission as the forerunner. Every ministry has its culmination. Well if it be borne with Johns self-abnegation and humility!
II. The baptism of Jesus was the sign of the opening of Christs commission as the Redeemer.
III. The baptism of Jesus was the sign of a new era of spiritual influence. This gift now was the prelude and foretoken of that great pentecostal bestowment.
IV. The baptism of Jesus was the sign of the speedy fulfilment of the Fathers great design of redeeming love.
V. Practical lessons.
1. It should enhance our love to Jesus to see Him identifying Himself with all His sinful people.
2. We have an example of reverance for all Gods ordinances.
3. Baptism significant in connection with Christs own baptism. When it is more than a mere ceremony it is our burial with Christ into His death, pledges us to fulfil all righteousness.
4. Christ kept His baptismal vow. He has fulfilled all righteousness, not for Himself alone, but for His people also. (Anon.)
The Saviours consecration to His work
I. Our Lord was consecrated to his work by His baptism by the forerunner. The inferior started the superior on His public work. Many a man has received the first open recognition of his mission from one mentally and spiritually lower than himself.
II. Our Lord was consecrated to His work by prayer. St. Luke, who calls attention frequently to the prayers of Jesus, alone mentions this important fact. No great work should be entered on without prayer, especially no work connected with Gods kingdom.
III. Our Lord was consecrated to His work by the gift of the spirit. Outward ordinances, as the laying on of hands, etc., are for this end, etc.
IV. Our Lord was consecrated to His work by the approval of the Father. The approval and blessing of God are essential to a true work. (Anon.)
The coronation of the King
The baptism was, on His part, the assumption of His Messianic office; and on Gods, His anointing or coronation as the King. There are three stages in this lesson: The preliminary dialogue, which explains the paradox of the baptism of the sinless by and with the sinful, the Divine anointing of the King, and the Divine proclamation.
I. The becomingness of the apparently unbecoming baptism. The stern preacher bows in lowliest abasement before his carpenter cousin, and feels that his own character shows black against that lustrous whiteness. Who would have thought, when John was flashing and thundering against sin, that such sense of his own evil underlay his boldness? He clearly feels that Jesus is his superior, and needs no baptism of repentance. How had he come to this conviction? Difficulties have been raised as to the consistency of these words with his declaration that he knew Him not. But, not to dwell on the fact that anticipations and expectations are not knowledge, why should this insight into the character of Jesus not have then been granted to him by prophetic intuition, as he gazed on the gentle face? Why should not the Divine voice have then for the first time sounded in Johns heart, Arise, anoint Him: for this is He? It is a pure assumption that John had previous knowledge of Jesus. The city in the hill country of Judaea where his boyhood had possibly been passed, was far from Nazareth, and he had very early betaken himself to the desert and its isolation. The circumstances of the nativity may, or may not, have been known to him; but there is no reason to explain this conviction of the inappropriateness of his baptism of Jesus by previous knowledge. The other explanation seems to me both more probable and more accordant with his prophetic office. Christ accepts without demur the place which John gives Him. He always accepted the highest place which any man put Him in, and never rebuked any estimate of Himself as enthusiastic or too lofty. If Jesus had not up till that moment lived a perfectly sinless life, He committed a black sin in tacitly endorsing this estimate of Him. If He had lived such a life, on what theory of His nature is it explicable? A sinless man must be more than man. The same consciousness of blamelessness is put into plain words in His answer to John, which is Jesus own explanation of His baptism. It was an act of obedience to a Divine appointment, and therefore it became Him. It was the fulfilment of righteousness; that is to say, Jesus did not confess sin, but professed sinlessness in His baptism, and submitted to it, not because He needed cleansing, but because it was appointed as the duty for the nation of which He was a member. Why, then, was He baptized? For the same reason for which He was found in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and submitted to other requirements of the law from which as Son He was free, and bore the sorrows which were not the issue of His own sins, and went down at last to the other baptism with which He had to be baptized, though His pure life had for itself no need to pass through that awful submersion beneath the black, cold waters of death. The whole mystery of His identification of Himself with sinful men, and of His being made sin … for us, who knew no sin, lies in germ in His baptism by John. No other conception of its meaning does justice to the facts.
II. We have next the Divine anointing or coronation. The symbol of the dove seems to carry allusions to the grand image which represents the Spirit of God as brooding over chaos, and quickening life, as a bird in its nest by the warmth of its own soft breast; to the dove which bore the olive branch, first messenger of hope to the prisoners in the ark; to the use of the dove as clean, in sacrifice; to the poetical attribution to it, common to many nations, of meek gentleness and faithful love. Set side by side with that, Johns thought of the Holy Spirit as fire, and we get all the beauty of both emblems increased, and understand hew much the stern ascetic, whose words burned and blistered, had to learn. He knew what manner of spirit the King possessed and bestowed Meekness is throned now. Gentleness is stronger than force. The dove conquers Romes eagles and every strong-taloned, sharp-beaked bird of prey. The Prince of the kings of the earth is anointed by the descending dove, and His second coronation is with thorns, and a reed is His sceptre; for His kingdom is based on purity and meekness, is won by suffering, and wielded in gentleness. As is the King, so are His subjects, whose only weapons He has assigned when He bids them be harmless as doves. The purpose of this descent of the Spirit on Jesus was twofold. In Johns Gospel it is represented as principally meant to certify the Baptist of the identity of the Messiah. But we cannot exclude its effect on Jesus. For Him it was the Divine anointing for His mediatorial work. A king is king before he is anointed or crowned. These are but the signs of what we may call the official assumption of His royalty. We are not to conceive that Jesus then began to be filled with the Spirit, or that absolutely new powers were given to Him then. No doubt the anointing did mark a stage in His human development, and the accession to His manhood of all that was needed to equip it for His work. But the Spirit of God had formed His pure manhood ere He was born, and had dwelt in growing measure in His growing spirit, through all His sinless thirty years. Since He was a man, He needed the Divine Spirit. Since He was a sinless man, He was capable of receiving it in perfect measure and unbroken continuity. Since His baptism began His public career, He needed then, and then received, the anointing which at once designated and fitted Him for His work of witnessing and atonement.
III. We have finally the Divine proclamation. God Himself takes the heralds office. The coronation ends with the solemn recitation of the style and title of the King. Two Old Testament passages seem to be melted together in it: that in the second Psalm, which says to the Messianic King, Thou art My Son; that in Isa_42:1, which calls on the nations to behold … Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth. God speaks from heaven, and quotes a psalm and a prophet. Why should He not speak from heaven an illuminating word, which interprets whole regions of the Old Testament? This Divine testimony touches first the mystery of our Lords nature. Son of God is not merely a synonym of Messiah, but it includes the distinct conception of Divine origin and of consequent Divine nature. The name implies that the relation between Him and the Father is unique. The voice attests the Divine complacency in Him. The form of the verb in the Greek implies a definite past delight of the Father in the Son, and carries back our thoughts to that wonderful intercourse of which Jesus lets us catch some faint glimpse when He says, Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. From eternity the mysterious depths of the Divine nature moved in soft waves of love, and in its solitude there was society. Nor can we leave out of view the thought that the Fathers delight in the Son is through the Son extended to all who love and trust the Son. In Jesus, God is well pleased towards us. That complacent delight embraces us too, if we become sons through faith in the only begotten Son. The dove that rested on His head will come and nestle in our hearts, and brood there, over their chaos, if we have faith in Christ. (A. McLaren, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv9–10 9. In those days. When John had been preaching…
9. In those days. When John had been preaching and baptizing about six months. For the account of the baptism of Jesus see Matt. 3:13–17, and the notes.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v9 Mar_1:10. Straightway.—εὐθέως. Mark’s constant use of this word of…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Mar_1:10. Straightway.—εὐθέως. Mark’s constant use of this word of transition shows how full his heart was of his subject. It would appeal to the prompt, energetic spirit of his Roman readers. He (i.e. Jesus) saw.—The Baptism over, He was engaged in prayer (Luk_3:21), and then the vision was vouchsafed. The heavens opened.—Rending. Same word used of rending of veil of temple and rocks at the Crucifixion (Mat_27:51). The Spirit like a dove descending.—This was seen also by the Baptist (Joh_1:32-33), and was the sign by which he recognised in Jesus the Lamb of God. It was His solemn inauguration as the Messiah (Act_10:38). A dove.—Fit emblem of His gentle rule.
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Mar_1:11. A voice from heaven.—Heard again at the Transfiguration (Mar_9:7), and in the temple court (Joh_12:28). In whom I am well pleased.—In whom I decreed for good, the “good” being man’s redemption purposed by God in Christ from all eternity. In Mar_1:10-11, we behold all Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity working together to accomplish man’s salvation.
Mar_1:12. The Spirit driveth Him.—The human soul of Jesus, which shrank from the cup in Gethsemane, would naturally shrink also from close contact with the prince of evil. But, abhorrent as such an encounter was to His pure and holy nature, it could not be avoided. Nay, it must needs be the first act of His official life. The Second Adam must triumph where the first Adam fell.
Mar_1:13. With the wild beasts.—Far from human habitation and companionship. Nothing was wanting to complete the loneliness of our Divine Champion in His first combat with the enemy of souls. The angels ministered.—Doubtless both to His bodily and spiritual wants. “He who would not turn stones into bread was now fed; He who would not call upon angels to uphold Him in rash confidence was now sustained by them; He who demanded worship for God alone received homage from these servants of God.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mar_1:9-13
(PARALLELS: Mat_3:13 to Mat_4:11; Luk_3:21 to Luk_4:13; Joh_1:29-42.)
Christ’s preparation for ministry—“The beginning of the gospel” advances here another stage. “The Coming One” has come. The Son of God takes His place in history as Son of Man, and proceeds to “fulfil all righteousness,” identifying Himself in every possible way with the race He has come to redeem and save.
I. Christ is prepared for ministry by baptism.—
1. He was about thirty years of age at the time (Luk_3:23)—the age at which the Levites entered upon their work (Num_4:3). Hitherto—with the exception of an occasional visit to the capital—His life had been passed in seclusion at Nazareth, the Scriptures His daily study, the deep problems of human sin and misery His constant thought. Now He prepares to stand forth as the Champion of humanity by confessing their sins and expressing their repentance.
2. The place—on the eastern bank of the Jordan, near Jericho—to which Jesus came from Nazareth to be baptised was full of historic memories, carrying the mind back to the greatest of the judges, and one of the greatest of the prophets. There the Israelites crossed the Jordan dryshod, and entered with Joshua the promised land (Joshua 3); there Elijah, accompanied by Elisha, smote the stream with his mantle and opened a passage through its rapid waters (2Ki_2:8).
3. But why should Jesus submit to the baptism of John? If we could answer this question fully, we should be well on the way to solve the mystery of the Incarnation. We can only dimly perceive some of the motives for this amazing condescension.
(1) Although the Sinless One, Christ was baptised with the baptism of repentance, because He chose—for us men and for our salvation—to be reckoned amongst sinners as if He were one Himself, and to receive the outward sign of the cleansing away of that evil and defiling thing in which He had no part.
(2) Although John’s superior in nature, Christ received baptism from him as if He had been inferior in office, for He was now dedicating Himself to His great work as the Second Adam and New Head of the race.
(3) Although King, Messiah, and not merely a subject in the heavenly kingdom, it was yet fit that He should be anointed for His own place in that kingdom; and who was so fit to perform that office as he who had prepared the way before Him?
(4) Moreover, by Himself receiving baptism, He “sanctified water to the mystical washing away of sin.” This was the beginning of that sacramental system which naturally flows from, and is the extension of, the Incarnation. Hitherto baptism had been but a sign, a figure, an emblem; henceforth it was to be a means, a channel, for the conveyance of Divine grace: hitherto God had been conceived of as far away in heaven; now He was to be regarded as having come down to make His abode amongst men.
4. Here, for a brief moment, the veil was drawn aside which shrouds the mystery of the Holy Trinity. The voice of God the Father is heard from heaven, God the Holy Spirit is seen descending through the opened heaven to earth, and God the Son is incarnate on earth in the likeness of our humanity, as the link between it and heaven.
II. Christ is prepared for ministry by temptation.—
1. A special interest belongs to this chapter of Christ’s life, because the narrative can only have been derived from His own lips, no human eye having witnessed His contest with the powers of evil.
2. From the waters of baptism He proceeds at once into the fires of temptation. This was no accident in His life, but part of the Divine plan for His equipment as our Representative and Head. Just when Satan’s fury was at its height—the heavenly attestation of Christ’s Sonship ringing in his ears—the Holy Spirit urges Jesus forward to the battle. Both the combatants realise that it is a matter of life and death—that if Satan be worsted now, it is the beginning of the end of his rule over men. He lays his plans accordingly, with the utmost skill and craft.
3. The scene of the encounter, if tradition may be trusted, was the wilderness of Jericho, the Quarantania of later days; a region full of rocks and caverns, to which hermits have often resorted, and whither pious pilgrims still wend their way, believing that a vivid realisation of their Saviour’s victory will be helpful to themselves. Some suppose, however, that Christ was carried by the Spirit into the more distant desert of Arabia, to the place where Moses and Elijah had fasted and held communion with God (Exo_34:28; 1Ki_19:8-18), and where afterwards St. Paul passed a season of seclusion and prayer (Gal_1:17).
4. How far was it possible for Christ to be tempted? The following answer, condensed mainly from Dr. Liddon’s Divinity of our Lord, may help to place this matter in a true light.
(1) We must here distinguish between (a) direct temptation to moral evil, i.e. an appeal to a capacity of self-will which might be quickened into active disobedience to the will of God; and (b) what may be termed indirect temptation, i.e. an appeal to instincts per se innocent, as belonging to man in his unfallen state, which can make obedience wear the form of a painful effort or sacrifice.
(2) Jesus was—(a) Emmanuel (Mat_1:23), Himself God the Saviour; (b) Son of God (Luk_1:35), implying a pre-existent superhuman personality in Him.
(3) This union of the Divine and human natures in Christ was not fatal to the perfection of either. But it was inconsistent with the presence of anything in Christ’s manhood that could contradict the essence of the perfect moral Being, i.e. the holiness of God. If He could have sinned, the Incarnation would have been a phantom. The sharpest arrows of the tempter struck Him, but, like darts lighting upon a hard polished surface, they glanced aside. Moreover, as it would seem, the personal union of the two natures in Christ involved, at least, the sight of the Beatific Vision by His humanity; and if we cannot conceive of the blessed as sinning while they worship around the throne, much less can we conceive it in One in whom “dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”
(4) But the union of Christ’s manhood with His Godhead did not exempt it from simple human instincts, such as, e.g., a shrinking from bodily pain. See Hooker, E. P., Luk_1:48. Upon Christ’s human will in its inchoate or rudimentary stage of desire, uninformed by reason, an approaching trial might so far act as a temptation, as, e.g., to produce a wish that obedience might be compatible with escape from suffering. But it could not produce, even for one moment, any wish to be free from the law of obedience itself.
(5) Questions: (a) Is this statement consistent with Heb_2:17; Heb_4:15; Heb_5:7? Yes: see Heb_7:26; 1Jn_3:5. Scripture denies the existence, not merely of any sinful thinking or acting, but of any ultimate roots and sources of sin, of any propensities or inclinations, however latent and rudimentary, towards sin, in Christ. When therefore Scripture speaks of His perfect assimilation to us, it must be understood of physical and mental pain in all their forms, not of any moral assimilation. (b) Is this account consistent with the exigencies of Christ’s redemptive work? Certainly. He is not less truly representative of our race, because in Him it has recovered its perfection. His victory is none the less real and precious, because, morally speaking, it was inevitable. Nay, He could not have been the Sinless Victim, offered freely for a sinful world (1Pe_3:18), unless He had been thus superior to the moral infirmities of His brethren. (c) Does not such an account impair the full form of Christ’s example? We gain in the perfection of the moral Ideal thus placed before us, to say nothing of the perfection of the Mediator between God and man, more than we can lose in moral vigour, upon discovering that His obedience was wrought out in a nature unlike our own in the one point of absolute purity. (d) But does not such an account reflect upon Christ’s moral greatness, and practically deny His moral liberty? No. The highest liberty does not imply the moral capacity of doing wrong. God is the one perfectly free Being; yet God cannot sin. The real temptation of a sinless Christ is not less precious to us than the temptation of a Christ who could have sinned would be. It forms a much truer and more perfect contrast to the failure of our first parent. It occupies a chief place in that long series of acts of condescension which begins with the Nativity and ends on the Cross. It is a lesson for all times as to the true method of resisting the tempter. Finally, it is the source of that strength whereby all later victories over Satan have been won: Christ, the Sinless One, has conquered the enemy in His sin-stained members.
Lessons.—
1. Seasons of special grace are often succeeded by seasons of special difficulty and trial; therefore, “be not high-minded, but fear.”
2. Solitude and separation from the world are no more free from spiritual danger than a state of intercourse with one’s fellow-men.
3. While ever praying, “Lead us not into temptation,” and being careful not to run into it of one’s own accord, the Christian must remember that when he is tempted it is his duty to fight, and by God’s grace overcome.
4. Christ fought the battle, and gained the victory, with the very weapons that are in the hands of all Christians; and He now waits to succour all them that are tempted.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Mar_1:9. The Jordan, says Dr. Otts, has so many peculiarities that it cannot be compared with any other river on the face of the globe. It is the one sacred river of Scripture—the only one. It has never been navigated, and it empties itself into a sea that has never had a port. It springs out of the snows that rest upon the lofty tops of the heaven-aspiring mountains, and it rushes madly through its narrow and ever-descending valley until it empties itself in a sea that is far below the level of all other seas. It is full of life, but after running its short career it suddenly dies away in the lap of death. At its sources, and for a long way down its course, its waters are as clear as crystal; and flashing in the sunbeams, they look like a flowing stream of molten silver; but before losing itself in the sea of death, its waters become muddy, as if filled with the filth of earth. Flowing into a sea in which no life can live, and which its unceasing flow never fills, it is a fit symbol of human life, ever descending and becoming corrupt, and finally plunging into the gulf of death which swallows up all streams flowing into it, and is never filled. In this stream was Jesus baptised, symbolising the glorious fact that He has entered the stream of our human life to redeem our souls from the sea of death into which all human life flows.
Mar_1:9-10. The baptism of our Lord.—
1. By His own conduct and example Christ here teaches us to “fulfil all righteousness.” He would have us ready and eager in our work for God—doing not as little but as much as we possibly can, determined to exceed rather than fall short.
2. By His own submission to baptism at the commencement of His ministry, He teaches us that this is the manner in which we also must begin to be His disciples.
3. As it was on His coming up out of the water that the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, so He teaches us to believe that in the sacrament of regeneration the babe baptised with water is baptised also with the Holy Spirit, who then cleanses the soul and makes it partaker of a new, even a Divine nature, by incorporation in the body of which Christ is the Head.
Christ’s baptism an epoch in His own consciousness.—We must not imagine that every day was the same to Christ, or Christ the same on every day. He had His great moments, as we have. We call the supreme moment when the soul awakens to God, and the man realises manhood, conversion. What this experience signifies to us, the moment symbolised by the baptism signified to Jesus, only with a difference in degree which His pre-eminence alone can measure. It marked His awakening to all that was involved in Messiahship; and such an awakening could not come without utmost tumult of spirit—tumult that only the solitude and struggle of tht wilderness could calm. The outward expresses the inward change. Before this moment no miracle; after it the miracles begin and go on multiplying. Before it no speech, no claim of extraordinary mission, only Divine and golden silence; after it the teaching with authority, the founding of the kingdom, the creating of the world’s light. Before it the carpenter of Nazareth, the son of Joseph and Mary, doing, in beautiful meekness, the common duties of the common day; after it the Christ of God, the Revealer of the Father, the Life and the Light of men. Now He who became so different to others had first become as different to Himself. What was soon to be revealed to the world was then made manifest to His own soul.—A. M. Fairbairn, D. D.
Mar_1:10. The Holy Ghost at the baptism of our Lord.—In pictures of Christ’s baptism one sees Jesus standing in the shallow water of the river, John from a shell or vessel pouring water on His head, and the Dove hovering over Him. The impression conveyed is that the Holy Ghost descended from heaven and lighted upon Christ during the performance of the rite, corresponding to, and a visible token of, the regenerating influence of the Spirit in Christian baptism. Yet the language of the Gospels gives no support to this idea. They all agree that the descent of the Spirit occurred after Jesus had been baptised, and when He had come up out of the river. St. Luke adds that the Holy Ghost assumed a bodily form, and that it was while Christ prayed that the descent took place. We may account for the general mistake in the artistic representation of this transaction by the prevailing notion which from primitive times has connected the Holy Spirit with the grace of baptism, and which saw in the details of the baptism of Christ a plain proof of this connexion. Of course there is a great truth in this idea, but it is not necessarily conveyed by the fact of Christ’s baptism; and if we hold this truth, we derive our belief from other sources, and not from this incident properly regarded. The general opinion is given, e.g., by Hilary: the Dove settles on the head of Jesus, in order that we might know that at our own baptism the Holy Spirit descends on us, and that we are bedewed with the unction of celestial glory, and are made the sons of God by adoption in Christ. But Jesus did not come to John’s baptism that He might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism did not impart grace. It was merely a formal ceremony, witnessing to the inward desire and striving of the heart. The water was a sign, and nothing more; it carried no inward and spiritual grace. Had the Holy Ghost descended as is represented in popular pictures, it would have indicated that what is true of Christian baptism was also true of John’s rite; and this we know is not the case. The baptism of John was from heaven; it was a preparation for entrance into the new kingdom; emptying Himself of, or voluntarily obscuring, His Divinity, Jesus constrained John to perform the initiatory rite, thus fulfilling all righteousness. His private life, so to speak, ended in Jordan; the consecration to His mission was to follow. So issuing from the river, He stopped upon its bank, and prayed, and the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in a bodily shape, and rested upon Him, and the heavenly voice proclaimed Him Son of God, in whom the Father was well pleased. Thus was He announced as Messiah; thus did He receive the fulness of the Spirit for His Messianic work; thus by the unction of the Spirit was He consecrated Messiah-King. One naturally sees here a lesson concerning the Christian ministry. Not natural endowments, not the ordinary grace that accompanies baptism, equip a man to exercise the office of minister in the Church of God, but the special gift of the Holy Ghost bestowed and received for this end. I would submit a further thought concerning the spiritual life and well-being of individual Christians. As Christ was not prepared and commissioned for His work without the additional effusion of the Holy Ghost, so the Christian needs the added gifts of the Spirit to fit him for his duty as the servant of Christ. If we look to the early records of the Church, we find that apostolic teachers were not satisfied with leaving to their converts only the grace which they obtained by baptism; they supplemented this by conferring upon them further good things. A practical comment on our passage in the Gospel is afforded by a transaction mentioned in Act_19:2-6. Surely they are not to be contemned who see here a cogent argument for the practice of confirmation. To fit the neophyte for the battle of life, to enable him to play his part as Christ’s faithful soldier and servant, he needs a fresh outpouring of the Spirit with His sevenfold gifts.—W. J. Deane, M. A.
Christ comes in the strength of gentleness.—Through the ages Christ’s strength has been the strength of gentleness, and His coming has been like that of Noah’s dove with the olive branch in its beak, and the tidings of an abated flood and of a safe home on its return. The ascetic preacher of repentance was strong to shake and purge men’s hearts by terror; but the stronger Son comes to conquer by meekness, and reign by the omnipotence of love. The beginning of the gospel was the anticipation and the proclamation of strength like the eagle’s, swift of flight, and powerful to strike and destroy. The gospel, when it became a fact, and not a hope, was found in the meek Jesus, with the Dove of God, the gentle Spirit, which is mightier than all, nestling in His heart, and uttering soft notes of invitation through His lips.—A. Maclaren, D. D.
The Holy Spirit came as a dove,—a gentle, joyous creature, with no bitterness of gall, no fierceness of bite, no violence of rending claws; loving human houses, associating within one home; nurturing their young together; when they fly abroad, hanging in their flight side by side; leading their life in mutual intercourse; giving in concord the kiss of peace with the bill; in every way fulfilling the law of unanimity. This is the singleness of heart that ought to be in the Church; this is the habit of love that must be obtained.—Cyprian.
Mar_1:12-13. Lessons.—
1. We in entering upon our Christian vocation ought so to behave ourselves as Christ did in entering upon His mediatorial office. He retreated from the world, and by that retreat He virtually declared that He had nothing to do with the world. Those therefore who are called to the preaching of the gospel, or to any other the like duty, are by this example taught to wean themselves from the things of this world, and to renounce whatever may hinder them from the performance of that duty, to which they are called.
2. Christ willingly follows whither the Spirit leads Him; and what His Father commands Him that He undertakes with all alacrity: we in the like manner ought cheerfully in all things to comply with God’s will and pleasure; nothing ought to deter us from a steady performance of our duty; nor hunger, nor thirst, nor deserts, nor devils ought to be terrible to us, whilst we are safe under the conduct of Christ and His Spirit.
3. Christ soon after He was baptised was led into the wilderness to be tempted. After we have listed ourselves amongst Christ’s soldiers, we must not expect to be idle, but must prepare ourselves for battle. Christ armed Himself against the assaults of the devil by fasting; this armour He Himself did not want, but He therefore put it on, that we might learn how to arm ourselves against our spritual enemies.—Bishop Smalridge.
Mar_1:13. Jesus was tempted.—
I. That He might sympathise with us in our trials, and assist us in our times of need.—The mariner who has once been cast on an inhospitable shore hastens with greater ardour to the relief of a shipwrecked crew than the callous inhabitant of the land who has never known the dangers of the deep. The orphan knows best how to mourn with his friend the loss of a parent; the bereaved parent most tenderly sympathises in the death of a brother’s child. As we feel in ourselves, so we judge of others; and it is a consolation to us, not only that our Saviour was of the same nature and constitution as ourselves, but that hardships, miseries, and temptations of the same kind were suffered by Him, and in a manner more severe than human nature is generally called to endure. We trust that He has learned to sympathise with us, and that His sympathy will teach Him to relieve.
II. That we might learn from His example how to resist temptation and to conquer.—The only weapon that He used was the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, which is equally available for us to wield. It furnishes us with the plainest directions for holiness of life, and the most powerful motives to obey them; it shows us clearly the pitfalls in our path, and how to avoid them; it animates us with visions of heavenly things, and wondrous promises to such as overcome.
III. That we might be convinced that this is God’s appointed path to perfection.—God has had one Son without sin, but no son without temptation. Christ’s trial consisted in the invitation to accept a lower ideal than the highest, to be content with a dazzling carnal glory instead of winning His way through divinely appointed sufferings to eternal renown. He was shown how He might turn out of the steep and stony path of sacrifice into the smooth and easy road of earthly pomp and grandeur—how with the world’s weapons He might win the victory. But He sternly and emphatically refused to entertain the tempter’s suggestion; and His refusal is a clarion call to us to remain loyal to our better selves, to trust implicitly the high convictions of our souls, to take up the cross and in it find the crown. It is not he that shirks the battle, but “he that endureth to the end,” who shall be “saved”: i.e. completely emancipated from all evil around and within, and presented faultless—unimpeached—before the throne.
Three prominent points in our Lord’s temptation.—
1. The relation of the supernatural to the natural in Himself; or, on the other side, His relation to God as His ideal human Song of Solomon 2. The relation of God to the supernatural in His person, and the official in His mission.
3. The nature of the kingdom He had come to found, and the agencies by which it was to live and extend.—A. M. Fairbairn, D. D.
Jesus the representative Man.—Jesus is here the representative Man, the Source and Head of the new humanity, the Founder of the kingdom that is to be. When He triumphs, it triumphs. When He is victorious, all are victorious that live in and by Him. And His victory, as it was for humanity, was by humanity. The supernatural energies that were in Him He did not use for Himself. In our nature, as in our name, He stood, fought, conquered. How perfectly, then, is He qualified to be at once our Saviour and Example!—Ibid.
Christ with wild beasts and angels.—
I. The companionship of the wild beasts.—
1. Not only a graphic indication that the place was wild and desolate, but also a reminder of the dominion over the lower creatures given originally to man, and doubtless exercised by our first parents unfearing and unfeared.
2. Nor can we doubt that the fiercest denizens of the wilds would become tame and gentle in the presence of “the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven”—the dumb animals rebuking the madness of all who recognise Him not!
II. The ministrations of the angels.—
1. The connexion between the three worlds—Earth, Heaven, Hell—is closer than we think.
2. Let the thought of our invisible friends banish all fear of our spiritual foes.
Christ manifested as Monarch of all.—
1. Of hell’s minions, whose assaults He triumphantly repels.
2. Of earth’s fiercest inhabitants, whose wild passions are subdued in His presence.
3. Of heaven’s angels, whose delight it is to minister to Him.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Mar_1:9-11. Christ the rainbow of the new covenant.—The baptism of our Saviour stands us under the gospel, instead of the same comfort, which the rainbow afforded unto the old world. The rainbow is a reflexion of the sunbeams in a watery cloud, and was ordained as a sign of pacification (Gen_9:13) that God’s anger should no more strive with man. Such a rainbow was Jesus Christ (Rev_4:3). Look upon Him, not standing majestically in a cloud above, but wading, like a humble servant, into the waters of Jordan beneath; look upon Him, how He sanctifies that element, which was once a means to drown the world, and now is made a means to save it; look upon Him in that posture, as a rainbow in the water, and you may read God’s sure covenant with His whole Church, that His anger is pacified in His well-beloved Son, and that He will be gracious with His inheritance (Joh_1:29; Eph_2:14; 1Pe_3:21).—Bishop Hacket.
A further revelation of the Godhead.—There are some of our ancient cathedrals, such as York and Lincoln, crowned with triple towers; yet when seen afar off in the blue distance, only a single mass of building can be discerned; but when advancing on our journey nearer, we nerceive that there are towers, though perhaps we cannot clearly trace their form or number—but when we arrive yet closer, we can see and admire the grand central tower, and the two western campaniles in all their grace and majesty. So the old world was taught first to recognise the Unity of God; then as the ages passed away the Second and the Third Persons of the Trinity were revealed; and at last in the fulness of time we behold the glory of the Most Sacred Trinity made manifest to men! When the Incarnate Redeemer went down into Jordan, the heavenly light of the Divine Spirit descended “as a dove,” whilst the Father’s voice proclaimed His almighty sanction!
Mar_1:9. The fellowship of penitence.—A strange thing happened a few years ago in an American court of justice. A young man was asked if he had aught to say why the extreme penalty should not be passed upon him. At that moment a grey-haired man, his face furrowed with sorrow, stepped into the prisoner’s box unhindered, placed his hand affectionately upon the culprit’s shoulder, and said, “Your honour, we have nothing to say. The verdict which has been found against us is just. We have only to ask for mercy.” “We”!—there was nothing against the old father; yet in that moment he lost himself, and identified his very being with that of his wayward boy. So in His baptism Christ pushes His way to a place beside us, lays His hand upon the sinner’s shoulder, and bears the shame and sorrow with him.
Mar_1:12-13. Quarantania.—This wilderness has been identified, by the voice of tradition, in the Greek and Latin Churches, as that wild and lonely region between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, called in modern geography Quarantania. It is an extensive plateau, elevated to a considerable height above the plain of Jericho and the west bank of the Jordan; and hence the literal accuracy of the expression in St. Matthew, that Jesus was “led up” into the wilderness. Travellers have described it as a barren, sterile waste of painful whiteness, shut in on the west by a ridge of grey limestone hills, moulded into every conceivable shape; while on the east the view is closed by the gigantic wall of the Moab mountains, appearing very near at hand, but in reality a long way off, the deception being caused by the nature of the intervening ground, which possesses no marked features, no difference of colour on which to fix the eye for the purpose of forming an estimate of distance. Over this vast expanse of upland country there are signs of vegetation only in two or three places, where winter torrents have scooped out a channel for themselves, and stimulate year after year into brief existence narrow strips of verdure along their banks. The monotony of the landscape and the uniformity of its colouring are varied only when the glaring afternoon sun projects the shadows of the ghostly rocks across the plain, or, at rare intervals, when a snowy cloud, that seems as if born of the hills themselves, sails across the deep-blue sky and casts down on the desolate scene the cool, dark mantle of its shade. A more dreary and lonely scene it is impossible to imagine.—H. Macmillan, D.D.
Great temptations.—The story of the Temptation is peculiar, but not wholly unique. It is not without its parallel in human experience, not without its analogue in literature and history. The great heroes whom the world reveres have passed through similar experiences of test and trial. Thus, in the legends of the East, there is brought to us the story of the temptation of Buddha on that night when all the powers of evil gathered around about him to assail him by violence or to entice him by wiles.
“Nor knoweth one,
Not even the wisest, how those fiends of hell
Battled that night to keep the truth from Buddh:
Sometimes with terrors of the tempest, blasts
Of demon-armies clouding all the wind
With thunder, and with blinding lightning flung
In jagged javelins of purple wrath
From splitting skies; sometimes with wiles and words
Fair-sounding, ’mid hushed leaves and softened airs
From shapes of witching beauty; wanton songs,
Whispers of love; sometimes with royal allures
Of proffered rule; sometimes with mocking doubts,
Making truth vain.”
So, in the mythology of Greece, we have the story of the temptation of Hercules. Pleasure comes to him in wanton but bewitching form, and bids him follow her, and promises him the cup of pleasure and that he shall drink of it. She will strew his path with flowers all the way, and accompany him with song and dancing. Wisdom comes to him with sterner voice—with beauty, indeed, but with solemn and almost forbidding beauty—and calls him to combat and to battle that he may win manhood. So in the later history of the Church is the strange, mystical story of the temptation of St. Anthony, with its wiles and its enticements, with its demons inviting to sin by smiles, and its demons tormenting with red-hot pincers. In human history we find the same or like record. We have like temptations in the lives of John Wesley, of Luther, of Xavier, of Loyola. Open the page of history where you will, and you can hardly find the story of any great, noble, prophetic soul that has not had its hour of battle with the powers of darkness. As in the story of Napoleon the Great, concerning whom history tells us that for two long months he struggled over the question whether he should divorce his faithful wife and take another that he might build up a European dynasty, and came out from his chamber after the last night of battle with a face so pallid, so wrought upon by the struggle, that it was as no face he ever shewed after the hottest battlefield of Europe. But love went down before the hope of ambition in that battle; and the devil won.
Tempted like as we are.—It is recorded of the great soldier, the gallant Montrose, that finding his followers ill provided with armour, he stripped off breastplate, and steel cap, with his stout leathern coat, and rode into battle in his bared shirtsleeves, at the head of his men, to show them that he scorned to use defences of which they could not avail themselves. Even so our Great Captain laid aside the panoply of heaven, and as a man entered into the conflict.
Temptation following on privileges.—Pirates, when they see a ship set sail for a rich cargo to foreign parts, keep away, and take no notice of her; they let her go by in peace; but when she is coming back from that foreign port, laden with rich goods, the case is very different. Then the pirate uses all his efforts to take that ship, and leaves no means untried. So with us; after Holy Communion the devil knows that we are very dear to God, and have received Christ.
Satan vanquished.—There is in Tintern churchyard, not far from the grand ruins of the abbey, a defaced and broken tombstone, grass-grown, and whereon only one sentence can be read; it consists of these striking words—“I tread Satan under my feet,” not a word more; it is the record of an unknown fight, and a nameless victory over the wiles of the devil. Such may, through Christ’s help, be one day the triumphant exclamation of us all.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v9 Mat 3:13-17; Mar 1:9-11; Luk 3:21-23. “Then Jesus comes…
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
Mat 3:13-17; Mar 1:9-11; Luk 3:21-23. “Then Jesus comes from Galilee unto Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.” Our Lord was six months younger than John, and hence He awaits the arrival of His majority — thirty years — before He will enter upon His official Messiahship. As John was sent from God to introduce Him to the world he is the man to inaugurate Him into His ministry. “John continued to decline Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou unto me?” John was no exception to the human race, born with a depraved heart, which must be sanctified with a baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Of course, I am satisfied that John already enjoyed the sanctified experience, like his prophetical predecessors, in advance of his dispensation. We are to understand this, as a statement of a great generic truth, that not only John, but every other human being, needs the baptism of Jesus to sanctify him for heaven. “And Jesus responding, said, Permit it now; for thus it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness; then he permits Him.” Our Savior is Prophet, Priest, and King. The Levitical law positively required the high priest to have the anointing oil poured on his head, as Moses in the case of Aaron, before he is permitted to enter upon the duties and privileges of his office. This is the righteousness here pertinent; as our Savior never needed righteousness in the sense of justification, we are only permitted to give the word a ceremonial signification, complying with Old Testament law. “And Jesus, having been baptized, came up immediately from the water;” E.V., “out of the water,”
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is corrected in R.V., rendering it “from the water,” as apo does not mean “out of,” but only “from.” “And, behold, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and coming upon Him.” The Holy Ghost here assumes His symbolic form of a dove, becoming visible to mortal eyes. The cooing of the dove thrills the heart with melancholy, reminding us of the Holy Spirit, grieved over the wickedness of the world, and bewailing the hardness of the human heart. It is a significant fact, as is positively affirmed, that you can not make the dove angry; but you can grieve him so he will leave you and never return. “Behold, a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am delighted.” O what a popular sensation is aroused when John, on tiptoe, cries aloud, “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!” thus boldly notifying the multitude that the wonderful Shiloh of prophecy, Redeemer of Israel, whom he has all the time been preaching to them, is already on the ground. All eyes are turned in utter bewilderment, looking about, and many shouting, “Where is He?” The multitude spontaneously crowd together, as if moved by sacred awe, forming a long aisle, through which the Prince of glory, walking down, meets their preacher, demanding baptism at his hands. Ten thousand eyes are now centered on this wonderful scene, the Prince of glory meeting the prophet of the wilderness at the baptismal waters. Luke says, “Jesus, having been baptized, and while praying, the heaven is opened;” simultaneously the Divine voice roaring out from the blue dome of heaven, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” O what a stir throughout the multitude! Some say, “It is thunder, ringing down from a cloudless sky.” Others say, “That is impossible; but an angel spoke to Him.” Now, all eyes are strained and looking after Him. But He is gone, led by the Spirit away into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v9 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XVIII. Jesus Baptized].
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XVIII. Jesus Baptized].
P A R T T H I R D. BEGINNING OF OUR LORD'S MINISTRY.
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XVIII. JESUS BAPTIZED BY JOHN IN THE JORDAN. (Jordan east of Jericho, Spring of A. D. 27.) aMATT. III. 13-17; bMARK I. 9-11; cLUKE III. 21-23.
b9 And a13 Then bit came to pass in those days, that Jesus came acometh bfrom Nazareth of Galilee, ato the Jordan [Tradition fixes upon a ford of Jordan east of Jericho as the place where Jesus was baptized. It is the same section of the river which opened for the passage of Israel under Joshua, and later for Elijah and Elisha. This ford is seventy or eighty miles from Nazareth] unto John, to be baptized of him [He set out from Nazareth, intending to be baptized. Such was his intention before he heard John preach, and he was therefore not persuaded to do it by the preaching. His righteousness was not the result of human persuasion.] band was baptized of John in [Greek "into." The body of Jesus was immersed or plunged into the river] 14; aBut John would have hindered him [It seemed to John too great an honor for him to baptize Jesus, and too great a humiliation for Jesus to be baptized. There is some dispute as to how John came to know this righteousness of Christ, which prompted his protest. The one natural explanation is, that the intimacy of the two families indicated at the beginning of Luke's account had been kept up, and John knew the history of his kinsman], saying, I have need to be baptized of thee [those are most fit to administer an ordinance who have themselves deeply experienced the need [82] of it], and comest thou to me? [John felt that he needed Jesus' baptism, but could not think that Jesus needed his. The words "I," "thee," "thou," and "me," show that John contrasted the baptizers as well as the baptisms. As a human being he marveled that the Son of God should come to him to be immersed. The comings of Jesus and the purposes for which he comes are still the greatest marvels which confront the minds of men. Moreover, it should be noted that this protest of John's needed to be made, for it saved Jesus from being baptized without explanation, as if he were a sinner. Baptism without such explanation might have compromised our Lord's claim as the sinless one.] 15 But Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer i it now [Permit me for this moment to appear as your inferior. The future will make plain and clear the difference between us, both as to our missions and our natures. The words show a Messianic consciousness on the part of Jesus]: for thus it becometh us [Some take the word "us" as referring to Jesus and John, but the clause "to fulfil all righteousness" shows that "us" refers to Jesus, and he uses the plural to show that it also becometh all of us] to fulfil all righteousness [Jesus came not only to fulfill all the requirements of the law, but also all that wider range of righteousness of which the law was only a part. 1. Though John's baptism was no part of the Mosaic ritual, it was, nevertheless, a precept of God, given by his prophet ( Joh_1:33). Had Jesus neglected or refused to obey this precept he would have lacked a portion of the full armor of righteousness, and the Pharisees would have hastened to strike him at this loose joint of his harness ( Mat_21:23-27). 2. It was the divinely appointed method by which the Messiahship of Jesus was to be revealed to the witness John ( Joh_1:33, Joh_1:34). We should note here that those who fail to obey God's ordinance of baptism fail (1) to follow the example of Jesus in fulfilling the divine will and precepts; (2) to obey one of the positive commands of almighty God spoken by his own Son.] Then he suffereth him. [John's humility [83] caused him to shrink from this duty, but did not make him willfully persist in declining it. Humility ceases to be a virtue when it keeps us from performing our allotted tasks.] c21 Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized [This may mean that, on the day of his baptism, Jesus was the last candidate, and hence his baptism was the most conspicuous of all; but it more probably means that Jesus was baptized in the midst of John's work--at the period when his baptism was in greatest favor], that, Jesus also having been { a16 And Jesus, when he was cbaptized, and praying [All divine ordinances should be accompanied with prayer. Luke frequently notes the times when Jesus prayed. Here, at the entrance of his ministry, he prayed, and at the last moment of it he also prayed ( Luk_23:46). In his highest exultation at the transfiguration ( Luk_9:29), and in the lowest depths of humiliation in Gethsemane ( Luk_22:41), he prayed. He prayed for his apostles whom he chose ( Luk_6:12), and for his murderers by whom he was rejected ( Luk_23:34). He prayed before Peter confessed him ( Luk_9:18), and also before Peter denied him-- Luk_22:32], b10 And straightway coming up out of awent up straightway from bthe water [the two prepositions, "out of" and "from," show that Jesus was not yet fully out of the river, and that the vision and the voice were immediately associated with his baptism], aand lo, bhe saw [The statement that he saw the Spirit descending, which is also the language of Matthew, has been taken by some as implying that the Spirit was invisible to the multitude. But we know from John's narrative that it was also seen by John the Baptist ( Joh_1:33, Joh_1:34), and if it was visible to him and to Jesus, and it descended, as Luke affirms, in a bodily shape like a dove ( Luk_3:22), it would have required a miracle to hide it from the multitude. Moreover, the object of the Spirit's visible appearance was to point Jesus out, not to himself, but to others; and to point him out as the person concerning whom the voice from heaven was uttered. No doubt, then, the Spirit was visible and audible to all who [84] were present Luk_4:14] as a dove [That is, like a dove. All four evangelists are careful to inform us that it was not an actual dove], and coming upon him; c22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form [Lightfoot suggests that the Spirit thus descended that he might be revealed to be a personal substance and not merely an operation of the Godhead, and might thus make a sensible demonstration as to his proper place in the Trinity], as a dove [The descent of the Spirit upon Jesus was in accordance with prophecy ( Isa_11:2, Isa_41:1). The dove shape suggests purity, gentleness, peace, etc. Jesus makes the dove a symbol of harmlessness ( Mat_10:15). In fact, the nature of this bird makes it a fit emblem of the Spirit, for it comports well with the fruits of the Spirit ( Gal_5:22, Gal_5:23). The nations of the earth emblazon eagles upon their banners and lions upon their shields, but He who shall gather all nations into his kingdom, appeared as a Lamb, and his Spirit appeared under the symbol of a dove. Verily his kingdom is not of this world. It [85] is a kingdom of peace and love, not of bloodshed and ambition. Noah's dove bore the olive branch, the symbol of peace, and the Holy Spirit manifested Jesus, God's olive branch of peace sent into this world-- Psa_72:7, Luk_2:14, Joh_14:27, Eph_2:11-18], upon him, a17 and lo, a voice ccame aout of the heavens, cheaven [Voices from heaven acknowledged the person of Christ at his birth, his baptism, his transfiguration and during the concluding days of his ministry. At his baptism Jesus was honored by the attestation of both the Spirit and the Father. But the ordinance itself was honored by the sensible manifestation of each several personality of the Deity--that the three into whose name we ourselves are also baptized], asaying, This is bthou art [The "this is," etc. of Matthew are probably the words as John the Baptist reported them; the "thou art," etc., of Mark and Luke are the words as Jesus actually heard them. The testimony of the Father is in unreserved support of the fundamental proposition of Christianity on which the church of Christ is founded ( Mat_16:15-18). On this point no witness in the universe was so well qualified to speak as the Father, and no other fact was so well worthy the honor of being sanctioned by his audible utterance as this. The testimony of Christ's life, of his works, of the Baptist, and of the Scriptures might have been sufficient; but when the Father himself speaks, who shall doubt the adequacy of the proof?] amy beloved Son [See also Mat_17:5. The Father himself states that relationship of which the apostle John so often spoke ( Joh_1:1). Adam was made ( Gen_1:26), but Jesus was begotten ( Psa_2:7). Both were sons of God, but in far different senses. The baptism of Jesus bears many marked relationships to our own: 1. At his baptism Jesus was manifested as the Son of God. At our baptism we are likewise manifested as God's children, for we are baptized into the name of the Father, and are thereby permitted to take upon ourselves his name. 2. At his baptism Jesus was fully commissioned as the Christ. Not anointed with material oil, but divinely consecrated and qualified by the Spirit and accredited by the Father. At baptism we also [86] received the Spirit ( Joh_3:5, Act_2:38, Act_19:1-6), who commissions and empowers us to Christian ministry-- Act_1:8, 1Jo_3:24], in whom { cin thee [Some make the phrases "in whom" and "in thee" to mean more than simply a declaration that God is pleased with Jesus. They see in it also the statement that the Father will be pleased with all who are "in Christ Jesus"-- Eph_1:6] aI am well pleased [It is no slight condemnation to be well pleasing to God ( Job_4:18). It is the Christian's joy that his Saviour had this commendation of the Father at the entrance upon his ministry.] c23 And Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age. [The age when a Levite entered upon God's service ( Num_4:3, Num_4:47); at which Joseph stood before Pharaoh ( Gen_41:46); at which David began to reign ( 2Sa_5:4). Canon Cook fixes the date of Christ's baptism in the spring A. U. C. 780. Wiseler in the summer of that year, and Ellicott in the winter of that year.]
* Recognizing the weight of Bro. McGarvey's argument, I nevertheless contend that the multitude only shared partially in such a vision, if they shared it at all; for 1. There is no Scripture which even hints that the vision was seen by more than the two "inspired" parties, Jesus and John; and, on the contrary, the words of Jesus at Joh_5:37, though not addressed to the specific audience present at his baptism, were addressed to the Jews generally. 2. Jesus was to be manifested by his character and teaching rather than by heavenly sights and sounds ( Mat_12:39), and the mysteries of the kingdom ( Mat_13:11), and the opened heavens ( Joh_1:50, Joh_1:51), with many other manifestations, were reserved for believers ( Joh_12:28-30, Mat_17:1, Mat_17:2, Mat_17:9, Act_1:9, Act_7:55, Act_7:59, Act_10:40, Act_10:41), and are still so reserved ( 1Co_2:14). As to the arguments given above, we suggest that "bodily shape" does not insure universal sight. Baalam did not see what the ass saw ( Num_22:21-31). Again, it may be true that Jesus did not need to see the vision to "point him out to himself," but he must have needed it for some purpose, for it is twice asserted that he saw it, and the temptations which immediately follow show that assurances of his divinity at this particular time were by no means misplaced.
[FFG 82-87]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv9–10 The Baptism of Christ and the Beginning of His…
The Baptism of Christ and the Beginning of His Ministry.
v. 9. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
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The Mode of Baptism
The Lutheran Church has always held that it is a matter of indifference, so far as the command of God is concerned, and therefore a point of Christian liberty, whether Baptism is performed by immersion or dipping, by sprinkling, by pouring, or by washing, the essential thing being the application of water, not the form of this application. Other church bodies are very narrow in this respect, the Greek Catholic Church maintaining that a threefold immersion is necessary, and the Baptist and Campbellite churches insisting that immersion it must be, at all costs.
In deciding this question, it would obviously be useless to refer to the New Testament passages in which the Sacrament of Baptism is instituted, for there we gain no explanation of the method used by Christ and the apostles, and experience has shown how foolish it is to draw conclusions from attending circumstances about which we know little or nothing. The historical accounts, however, have some value. For instance, the apostles, on the Day of Pentecost, would have had neither time nor the water necessary to immerse the three thousand that were converted by the sermon of Peter, Act 2:41. Also, the number of rivers in which the eunuch of Queen Candace of Ethiopia might have been immersed by Philip can easily be counted by an infant of a day, for there are none.
But a better method to get a clear under. standing of the form of Baptism is to take the use of the word baptize in Scriptures, in passages where it is used in its ordinary meaning, where the Sacrament is not spoken of. Verse 4, in the chapter above, is a passage illustrating such use. That cups and pots were immersed in ceremonial washing, might still be plausible, but that the couches of the dining-room were also dipped in water every day, is clearly out of the question. The prescribed form of ceremonial purification, which was the method in common use, was the sprinkling of consecrated water. The baptism of the children of Israel, 1Co 10:2, was not by immersion, as was that of the Egyptians, but by sprinkling. The Bible throughout prefers sprinkling to immersion as a symbol of cleansing, Isa 52:15; Eze 36:25. In Joe 2:28 pouring, not immersion, is the figure employed. In fulfillment of this prophecy, the apostles, on Pentecost Day, were baptized with the Holy Ghost, Act 1:5; Act 2:3. See Act 2:41; Act 10:44-48; Act 16:32-35; Act 8:38
The fact that the mode of Baptism was not fixed by Christ or by His apostles, but that this was left open to the Christian Church, is substantiated also by the testimony of history. In a book which is reckoned with those of the Apostolic Fathers, called The Teaching of the Twelve, which dates not later than the middle of the second century, the passage occurs: "If you have not living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot baptize in cold water, do so in warm; but if you have neither, then pour out water three times on the head in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. " Walafrid Strabo, a German monk and writer (808-, tells us that St. Lawrence, a Roman deacon who suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Valerian about 258, baptized one of his executioners with a pitcher of water, by pouring the water on the man’s head. The cases recorded in history might be multiplied indefinitely and brought forward to the time of the Reformation. But the conclusion which we must reach, after comparing all evidence, is that, while immersion was the rule for baptisms in the post-apostolic age, other modes of Baptism have always been in use in the Church, and anyone of them may be employed, so long as the application of water with the appropriate formula, as instituted by Christ, is made.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v9 It happened in those days
It happened in those days
This marks the beginning of a new event in the story line. (See: Introduction of a New Event)
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he was baptized by John
This can be stated in active form. AT: "John baptized him" (See: Active or Passive)
the Spirit coming down on him like a dove
Possible meanings are 1) this is a simile, and the Spirit descended upon Jesus like a bird descends from the sky toward the ground or 2) the Spirit literally looked like a dove as he descended upon Jesus. (See: Simile)
A voice came out of the heavens
This represents God speaking. Sometimes people avoid referring directly to God because they respect him. AT: "God spoke from the heavens" (See: Metonymy and Euphemism)
beloved Son
This is an important title for Jesus. The Father calls Jesus his "beloved Son" because of his eternal love for him. (See: Translating Son and Father)
translationWords
Jesus
Nazareth
Galilee
baptize
John (the Baptist)
Jordan River
heaven
Holy Spirit
dove
beloved
Son of God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8–10 1:8 John’s baptism prepared people for God’s Kingdom by…
1:8 John’s baptism prepared people for God’s Kingdom by calling them to repentance. The baptism of Jesus brought the gift of the Holy Spirit, through whom sinful people become God’s children (Rom 8:15-16; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 4:6).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.