In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”
For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make the way of the Lord ready! Make his paths straight!”
Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”
But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him. Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17 In a hilly country, which was notwithstanding inhabited, for…
In a hilly country, which was notwithstanding inhabited, for Zechariah dwelt there, Luke 1:40, and there was Joab’s house, 1 Kings 2:34; and besides these, Joshua maketh mention of six towns that were in the wilderness, Josh. 15:62.
John, who through his singular holiness and rare austereness of life caused all men to cast their eyes upon him, prepareth the way for Christ following fast on his heels, as the Prophet Isaiah foretold, and delivereth the sum of the Gospel, which in short space after should be delivered more fully.
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Not when Joseph went to dwell at Nazareth, but a great while after, about the space of 15 years: for in the 30 year of his age was Jesus baptized of John: therefore by those days is meant, at that time that Jesus remained as yet an inhabitant of the town of Nazareth.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–17 1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching…
1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
Ver. 1. In those days came John the Baptist] Whom Chrysologus fitly calleth fibulam legis et gratiae, the bond or buckle of both Testaments. He standeth as that angel, with one foot on the sea (the law), and with the other foot on the land (the gospel), Rev 10:1.
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Preaching in the wilderness of Judea] A place wherein we find six cities with their villages, Jos 15:62, but called a wilderness, because more thinly inhabited. In which sense we may say of Germany, that Aceldama or field of blood, and many other once rich and fertile countries, that they are become a wilderness, war being a tragedy that always destroys the stage whereon it is acted; but for the wickedness of them that dwell therein it is that a fruitful land is turned into a wilderness, saith David, Psa 107:34. And the heathen historian, Herodotus, saith little less, when he tells us that the ruin and rubbish of Troy are set by God before the eyes of men, for an example of that rule, that great sins have great punishments. Iam seges est ubi Troia fuit. Now grain grows where Troy was. (Ovid.) Now alterius perditio sit tua cautio, saith an ancient: not to be warned by others is a sure presage of ruin. (Isidore soliloq.) Scipio beheld and bewailed the downfall of Rome in the destruction of Carthage. And when Hannibal was beleaguering Saguntum in Spain, the Romans were as sensible thereof as if he had been then beating upon the walls of their Capitol. (Livy.) A storm often times begins in one place and ends in another. When the sword rides circuit (as a judge) it is in commission, Eze 14:17; Jer 47:6-7. And, "When I begin" (saith God) "I will make an end," 1Sa 3:12. We cannot but foresee a storm, unless we be of those in Bernard, who seek straws to put out their eyes with. {a} If we break not off our sins by repentance (that there may be a lengthening of our tranquillity, Dan 4:27), a removal of our candlestick may be as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven, as once to the Church of Ephesus. God may well say to us, as to them of old, "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel, a land of darkness?" Jer 2:31; or, as Themistocles to his Athenians, Are ye weary of receiving so many benefits by one man? Bona a tergo formosissima. Our sins have long since solicited an utter dissolution and desolation of all; and that we should be made a heap and a hissing, a waste and a wilderness. Jer 25:9; Jer 49:2. Quod Deus avertat. Because God left.
{a} Qui festucam quaerunt, unde oculos sibi eruant.
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 vv1–16 That is, in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar,…
That is, in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, (as Luke expounds it, Luk 3:1) when John the Baptist and Christ also were about thirty years of age, Luk 3:23, for there was no great difference betwixt the age of Christ and John, as may be learned from Luk 1:31,41,57.
In those days, while Joseph and Mary, and our blessed Lord, dwelt in Nazareth. See Exo 2:11. This phrase in those days is the same with in those years. It is an ordinary thing in the Hebrew to confound the words signifying a day and a year, and the Greeks did the same, as appears by the seventy interpreters, 1Sa 1:3,7. The evangelists pass over with a great deal of silence our Saviour’s minority, only mentioning his disputing with the doctors in the temple, Luk 2:46.
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Came John the Baptist; John the son of Zacharias, Luk 3:2, called the Baptist, either because he baptized Christ, or because by him God instituted the ordinance of baptism, which before that time the Jews used in the admission of their proselytes.
Preaching according to his commission, Luk 3:2, where it is said the word of the Lord came to him.
In the wilderness of Judea; some parts of Judea, where houses and inhabitants were very few. None must think that the history of the second chapter is continued in this, there was a distance of twenty-eight or twenty-nine years; the evangelist designing not to satisfy men’s curiosity, but only to give us that part of Christ’s story which might be profitable to us to know.
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 vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Observe here, 1. The preacher sent by God, John…
Observe here, 1. The preacher sent by God, John the Baptist, a pattern of mortification, and a preacher of repentance.
Observe, 2. The place he is sent to preach in, The wilderness of Judea; not in populous Jerusalem, but in a barren wilderness, where the inhabitants are few, and probably very ignorant and rude.
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Learn hence, That it is God’s prerogative to send forth the preachers of the gospel, when and whither, and to what people he pleases; and none must assume the office before they be sent.
Observe, 3. The doctrine that he preaches; namely, the doctrine of repentance, Repent ye. This was to prepare the people for the Messiah, and the grace of the gospel.
Learn thence, that the preaching of the doctrine of repentance is absolutely necessary, in order to the preparing of the hearts of sinners for the receivimg Christ Jesus and his holy doctrine.
Observe, 4. The motives which St. John uses to enforce the exhortation to repentance. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
That is, now is the so-much-expected time of the appearing of the Messiah come; the Old Testament dispensation is now to be abolished, and the mercy and grace of the gospel is now to be revealed; therefore repent, and amend your lives.
Note thence, That the free and full tenders of grace and mercy in the gospel, are the most alluring arguments to move a sinner to repent, and to convert to God.
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 vv1, 7, 13 We have here an account of the preaching and…
We have here an account of the preaching and baptism of John, which were the dawning of the gospel-day. Observe,
I. The time when he appeared. In those days (Mat 3:1), or, after those days, long after what was recorded in the foregoing chapter, which left the child Jesus in his infancy. In those days, in the time appointed of the Father for the beginning of the gospel, when the fulness of time was come, which was often thus spoken of in the Old Testament, In those days. Now the last of Daniel's weeks began, or rather, the latter half of the week, when the Messiah was to confirm the covenant with many, Dan 9:27. Christ's appearances are all in their season. Glorious things were spoken both of John and Jesus, at and before their births, which would have given occasion to expect some extraordinary appearances of a divine presence and power with them when they were very young; but it is quite otherwise. Except Christ's disputing with the doctors at twelve years old, nothing appears remarkable concerning either of them, till they were about thirty years old. Nothing is recorded of their childhood and youth, but the greatest part of their life is tempus, adēlon - wrapt up in darkness and obscurity: these children differ little in outward appearance from other children, as the heir, while he is under age, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all. And this was to show, 1. That even when God is acting as the God of Israel, the Saviour, yet verily he is a God that hideth himself (Isa 45:15). The Lord is in this place and I knew it not, Gen 28:16. Our beloved stands behind the wall long before he looks forth at the windows, Sol 2:9. 2. That our faith must principally have an eye to Christ in his office and undertaking, for there is the display of his power; but in his person is the hiding of his power. All this while, Christ was god-man; yet we are not told what he said or did, till he appeared as a prophet; and then, Hear ye him. 3. That young men, though well qualified, should not be forward to put forth themselves in public service, but be humble, and modest, and self-diffident, swift to hear, and slow to speak.
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Matthew says nothing of the conception and birth of John the Baptist, which is largely related by St. Luke, but finds him at full age, as if dropt from the clouds to preach in the wilderness. For above three hundred years the church had been without prophets; those lights had been long put out, that he might be the more desired, who was to be the great prophet. After Malachi there was no prophet, nor any pretender to prophecy, till John the Baptist, to whom therefore the prophet Malachi points more directly than any of the Old Testament prophets had done (Mal 3:1); I send my messenger.
II. The place where he appeared first. In the wilderness of Judea. It was not an uninhabited desert, but a part of the country not so thickly peopled, nor so much enclosed into fields and vineyards, as other parts were; it was such a wilderness as had six cities and their villages in it, which are named, Jos 15:61, Jos 15:62. In these cities and villages John preached, for thereabouts he had hitherto lived, being born hard by, in Hebron; the scenes of his action began there, where he had long spent his time in contemplation; and even when he showed himself to Israel, he showed how well he loved retirement, as far as would consist with his business. The word of the Lord found John here in a wilderness. Note, No place is so remote as to shut us out from the visits of divine grace; nay, commonly the sweetest intercourse the saints have with Heaven, is when they are withdrawn furthest from the noise of this world. It was in this wilderness of Judah that David penned the 63rd Psalm, which speaks so much of the sweet communion he then had with God, Hos 2:14. In a wilderness the law was given; and as the Old Testament, so the New Testament Israel was first found in the desert land, and there God led him about and instructed him, Deu 32:10. John Baptist was a priest of the order of Aaron, yet we find him preaching in a wilderness, and never officiating in the temple; but Christ, who was not a son of Aaron, is yet often found in the temple, and sitting there as one having authority; so it was foretold, Mal 3:1. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple; not the messenger that was to prepare his way. This intimated that the priesthood of Christ was to thrust out that of Aaron, and drive it into a wilderness.
The beginning of the gospel in a wilderness, speaks comfort to the deserts of the Gentile world. Now must the prophecies be fulfilled, I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, Isa 41:18, Isa 41:19. The wilderness shall be a fruitful field, Isa 32:15. And the desert shall rejoice, Isa 35:1, Isa 35:2. The Septuagint reads, the deserts of Jordan, the very wilderness in which John preached. In the Romish church there are those who call themselves hermits, and pretend to follow John; but when they say of Christ, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth, Mat 24:26. There was a seducer that led his followers into the wilderness, Act 21:38.
III. His preaching. This he made his business. He came, not fighting, nor disputing, but preaching (Mat 3:1); for by the foolishness of preaching, Christ's kingdom must be set up.
1. The doctrine he preached was that of repentance (Mat 3:2); Repent ye. He preached this in Judea, among those that were called Jews, and made a profession of religion; for even they needed repentance. He preached it, not in Jerusalem, but in the wilderness of Judea, among the plain country people; for even those who think themselves most out of the way of temptation, and furthest from the vanities and vices of the town, cannot wash their hands in innocency, but must do it in repentance. John Baptist's business was to call men to repent of their sins; Metanoeite - Bethink yourselves; "Admit a second thought, to correct the errors of the first - an afterthought. Consider your ways, change your minds; you have thought amiss; think again, and think aright." Note, True penitents have other thoughts of God and Christ, and sin and holiness, and this world and the other, than they have had, and stand otherwise affected toward them. The change of the mind produces a change of the way. Those who are truly sorry for what they have done amiss, will be careful to do so no more. This repentance is a necessary duty, in obedience to the command of God (Act 17:30); and a necessary preparative and qualification for the comforts of the gospel of Christ. If the heart of man had continued upright and unstained, divine consolations might have been received without this painful operation preceding; but, being sinful, it must be first pained before it can be laid at ease, must labour before it can be at rest. The sore must be searched, or it cannot be cured. I wound and I heal.
2. The argument he used to enforce this call was, For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The prophets of the Old Testament called people to repent, for the obtaining and securing of temporal national mercies, and for the preventing and removing of temporal national judgments: but now, though the duty pressed is the same, the reason is new, and purely evangelical. Men are now considered in their personal capacity, and not so much as then in a social and political one. Now repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; the gospel dispensation of the covenant of grace, the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all believers, by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a kingdom of which Christ is the Sovereign, and we must be the willing, loyal subjects of it. It is a kingdom of heaven, not of this world, a spiritual kingdom: its original from heaven, its tendency to heaven. John preached this as at hand; then it was at the door; to us it is come, by the pouring out of the Spirit, and the full exhibition of the riches of gospel-grace. Now, (1.) This is a great inducement to us to repent. There is nothing like the consideration of divine grace to break the heart, both for sin and from sin. That is evangelical repentance, that flows from a sight of Christ, from a sense of his love, and the hopes of pardon and forgiveness through him. Kindness is conquering; abused kindness, humbling and melting. What a wretch was I to sin against such grace, against the law and love of such a kingdom! (2.) It is a great encouragement to us to repent; "Repent, for your sins shall be pardoned upon your repentance. Return to God in a way of duty, and he will, through Christ, return to you in a way of mercy." The proclamation of pardon discovers, and fetches in, the malefactor who before fled and absconded. Thus we are drawn to it with the cords of man, and the bands of love.
IV. The prophecy that was fulfilled in him, Mat 3:3. This is he that was spoken of in the beginning of that part of the prophecy of Esaias, which is mostly evangelical, and which points at gospel-times and gospel-grace; see Isa 40:3, Isa 40:4. John is here spoken of,
1. As the voice of one crying in the wilderness. John owned it himself (Joh 1:23); I am the voice, and that is all, God is the Speaker, who makes known his mind by John, as a man does by his voice. The word of God must be received as such (Th1 2:13); what else is Paul, and what is Apollos, but the voice! John is called the voice, phōnē boōntos - the voice of one crying aloud, which is startling and awakening. Christ is called the Word, which, being distinct and articulate, is more instructive. John as the voice, roused men, and then Christ, as the Word, taught them; as we find, Rev 14:2. The voice of many waters, and of a great thunder, made way for the melodious voice of harpers and the new song, Mat 3:3. Some observe that, as Samson's mother must drink no strong drink, yet he was designed to be a strong man; so John Baptist's father was struck dumb, and yet he was designed to be the voice of one crying. When the crier's voice is begotten of a dumb father, it shows the excellency of the power to be of God, and not of man.
2. As one whose business it was to prepare the way of the Lord, and to make his paths straight; so it was said of him before he was born, that he should make ready a people prepared for the Lord (Luk 1:17), as Christ's harbinger and forerunner: he was such a one as intimated the nature of Christ's kingdom, for he came not in the gaudy dress of a herald at arms, but in the homely one of a hermit. Officers were sent before great men to clear the way; so John prepares the way of the Lord. (1.) He himself did so among the men of that generation. In the Jewish church and nation, at that time, all was out of course; there was a great decay of piety, the vitals of religion were corrupted and eaten out by the traditions and injunctions of the elders. The Scribes and Pharisees, that is, the greatest hypocrites in the world, had the key of knowledge, and the key of government, at their girdle. The people were, generally, extremely proud of their privileges, confident of justification by their own righteousness, insensible of sin; and, though now under the most humbling providences, being lately made a province of the Roman Empire, yet they were unhumbled; they were much in the same temper as they were in Malachi's time, insolent and haughty, and ready to contradict the word of God: now John was sent to level these mountains, to take down their high opinion of themselves, and to show them their sins, that the doctrine of Christ might be the more acceptable and effectual. (2.) His doctrine of repentance and humiliation is still as necessary as it was then to prepare the way of the Lord. Note, There is a great deal to be done, to make way for Christ into a soul, to bow the heart for the reception of the Son of David (Sa2 19:14); and nothing is more needful, in order to this, than the discovery of sin, and a conviction of the insufficiency of our own righteousness. That which lets will let, until it be taken out of the way; prejudices must be removed, high thoughts brought down, and captivated to the obedience of Christ. Gates of brass must be broken, and bars of iron cut asunder, ere the everlasting doors be opened for the King of glory to come in. The way of sin and Satan is a crooked way; to prepare a way for Christ, the paths must be made straight, Heb 12:13.
V. The garb in which he appeared, the figure he made, and the manner of his life, Mat 3:4. They, who expected the Messiah as a temporal prince, would think that his forerunner must come in great pomp and splendour, that his equipage should be very magnificent and gay; but it proves quite contrary; he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, but mean in the eyes of the world; and, as Christ himself, having no form or comeliness; to intimate betimes, that the glory of Christ's kingdom was to be spiritual, and the subjects of it such as ordinarily were either found by it, or made by it, poor and despised, who derived their honours, pleasures, and riches, from another world.
1. His dress was plain. This same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; he did not go in long clothing, as the scribes, or soft clothing, as the courtiers, but in the clothing of a country husbandman; for he lived in a country place, and suited his habit to his habitation. Note, It is good for us to accommodate ourselves to the place and condition which God, in his providence, has put us in. John appeared in this dress, (1.) To show that, like Jacob, he was a plain man, and mortified to this world, and the delights and gaieties of it. Behold an Israelite indeed! Those that are lowly in heart should show it by a holy negligence and indifference in their attire; and not make the putting on of apparel their adorning, nor value others by their attire. (2.) To show that he was a prophet, for prophets wore rough garments, as mortified men (Zac 13:4); and, especially, to show that he was the Elias promised; for particular notice is taken of Elias, that he was a hairy man (which, some think, is meant of the hairy garments he wore), and that he was girt with a girdle of leather about his loins, Kg2 1:8. John Baptist appears no way inferior to him in mortification; this therefore is that Elias that was to come. (3.) To show that he was a man of resolution; his girdle was not fine, such as were then commonly worn, but it was strong, it was a leathern girdle; and blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he comes, finds with his loins girt, Luk 12:35; Pe1 1:13.
2. His diet was plain; his meat was locusts and wild honey; not as if he never ate any thing else; but these he frequently fed upon, and made many meals of them, when he retired into solitary places, and continued long there for contemplation. Locusts were a sort of flying insect, very good for food, and allowed as clean (Lev 11:22); they required little dressing, and were light, and easy of digestion, whence it is reckoned among the infirmities of old age, that the grasshopper, or locust, is then a burden to the stomach, Ecc 12:5. Wild honey was that which Canaan flowed with, Sa1 14:26. Either it was gathered immediately, as it fell in the dew, or rather, as it was found in the hollows of trees and rocks, where bees built, that were not, like those in hives, under the care and inspection of men. This intimates that he ate sparingly, a little served his turn; a man would be long ere he filled his belly with locusts and wild honey: John Baptist came neither eating nor drinking (Mat 11:18) - not with the curiosity, formality, and familiarity that other people do. He was so entirely taken up with spiritual things, that he could seldom find time for a set meal. Now, (1.) This agreed with the doctrine he preached of repentance, and fruits meet for repentance. Note, Those whose business it is to call others to mourn for sin, and to mortify it, ought themselves to live a serious life, a life of self-denial, mortification, and contempt of the world. John Baptist thus showed the deep sense he had of the badness of the time and place he lived in, which made the preaching of repentance needful; every day was a fast-day with him. (2.) This agreed with his office as Christ's forerunner; by this practice he showed that he knew what the kingdom of heaven was, and had experienced the powers of it. Note, Those that are acquainted with divine and spiritual pleasures, cannot but look upon all the delights and ornaments of sense with a holy indifference; they know better things. By giving others this example he made way for Christ. Note, A conviction of the vanity of the world, and everything in it, is the best preparative for the entertainment of the kingdom of heaven in the heart. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
VI. The people who attended upon him, and flocked after him (Mat 3:5); Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea. Great multitudes came to him from the city, and from all parts of the country; some of all sorts, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, Pharisees and publicans; they went out to him, as soon as they heard his preaching the kingdom of heaven, that they might hear what they heard so much of. Now, 1. This was a great honour put upon John, that so many attended him, and with so much respect. Note, Frequently those have most real honour done them, who least court the shadow of it. Those who live a mortified life, who are humble and self-denying, and dead to the world, command respect; and men have a secret value and reverence for them, more than they would imagine. 2. This gave John a great opportunity of doing good, and was an evidence that God was with him. Now people began to crowd and press into the kingdom of heaven (Luk 16:16); and a blessed sight it was, to see the dew of the youth dropping from the womb of the gospel-morning (Psa 110:3), to see the net cast where there were so many fish. 3. This was an evidence, that it was now a time of great expectation; it was generally thought that the kingdom of God would presently appear (Luk 19:11), and therefore, when John showed himself to Israel, lived and preached at this rate, so very different from the Scribes and Pharisees, they were ready to say of him, that he was the Christ (Luk 3:15); and this occasioned such a confluence of people about him. 4. Those who would have the benefit of John's ministry must go out to him in the wilderness, sharing in his reproach. Note, They who truly desire the sincere milk of the word, it if be not brought to them, will seek out for it: and they who would learn the doctrine of repentance must go out from the hurry of this world, and be still. 5. It appears by the issue, that of the many who came to John's Baptism, there were but few that adhered to it; witness the cold reception Christ had in Judea, and about Jerusalem. Note, There may be a multitude of forward hearers, where there are but a few true believers. Curiosity, and affectation of novelty and variety, may bring many to attend upon good preaching, and to be affected with it for a while, who yet are never subject to the power of it, Eze 33:31, Eze 33:32.
VII. The rite, or ceremony, by which he admitted disciples, Mat 3:6. Those who received his doctrine, and submitted to his discipline, were baptized of him in Jordan, thereby professing their repentance, and their belief that the kingdom of the Messiah was at hand. 1. They testified their repentance by confessing their sins; a general confession, it is probable, they made to John that they were sinners, that they were polluted by sin, and needed cleansing; but to God they made a confession of particular sins, for he is the party offended. The Jews had been taught to justify themselves; but John teaches them to accuse themselves, and not to rest, as they used to do, in the general confession of sin made for all Israel, once a year, upon the day of atonement; but to make a particular acknowledgment, every one, of the plague of his own heart. Note, A penitent confession of sin is required in order to peace and pardon; and those only are ready to receive Jesus Christ as their Righteousness, who are brought with sorrow and shame to their own guilt, Jo1 1:9. 2. The benefits of the kingdom of heaven, now at hand, were thereupon sealed to them by baptism. He washed them with water, in token of this - that from all their iniquities God would cleanse them. It was usual with the Jews to baptize those whom they admitted proselytes to their religion, especially those who were only Proselytes of the gate, and were not circumcised, as the Proselytes of righteousness were. Some think it was likewise a custom for persons of eminent religion, who set up for leaders, by baptism to admit pupils and disciples. Christ's question concerning John's Baptism, Was it from heaven, or of men? implied, that there were baptisms of men, who pretended not to a divine mission; with this usage John complied, but his was from heaven, and was distinguished from all others by this character, It was the baptism of repentance, Act 19:4. All Israel were baptized unto Moses, Co1 10:2. The ceremonial law consisted in divers washings or baptisms (Heb 9:10); but John's baptism refers to the remedial law, the law of repentance and faith. He is said to baptize them in Jordan, that river which was famous for Israel's passage through it, and Naaman's cure; yet it is probable that John did not baptize in that river at first, but that afterward, when the people who came to his baptism were numerous, he removed Jordan. By baptism he obliged them to live a holy life, according to the profession they took upon themselves. Note, Confession of sin must always be accompanied with holy resolutions, in the strength of divine grace, not to return to it again.
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 vv2–17 And saying, repent ye,.... The doctrine which John preached…
And saying, repent ye,.... The doctrine which John preached was the doctrine of repentance; which may be understood either of amendment of life and manners; for the state of the Jews was then very corrupt, all sorts of men were grown very wicked; and though there was a generation among them, who were righteous in their own eyes, and needed no repentance; yet John calls upon them all, without any distinction, to repent; and hereby tacitly strikes at the doctrine of justification by works, which they had embraced, to which the doctrine of repentance is directly opposite: or rather, this is meant, as the word here used signifies, of a change of mind, and principles. The Jews had imbibed many bad notions. The Pharisees held the traditions of the elders, and the doctrine of justification by the works of the law; and the Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead; and it was a prevailing opinion among them all, and seems to be what is particularly struck at by John, that the Messiah would be a temporal king, and set up an earthly kingdom in this world. Wherefore he exhorts them to change their minds, to relinquish this notion; assuring them, that though he would be a king, and would have a kingdom, which was near at hand, yet it would be a heavenly, and not an earthly one. Hence the manner in which John enforces his doctrine, or the reason and argument he uses to prevail upon them to regard it, is by saying,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand: by which is meant not the kingdom of glory to be expected in another world; or the kingdom of grace, that is internal grace, which only believers are partakers of in this; but the kingdom of the Messiah, which was "at hand", just ready to appear, when he would be made manifest in Israel and enter upon his work and office: it is the Gospel dispensation which was about to take place, and is so called; because of the wise and orderly management of it under Christ, the king and head of his church by the ministration of the word, and administration of ordinances; whereby, as means, spiritual and internal grace would be communicated to many, in whose hearts it would reign and make them meet for the kingdom of glory; and because the whole economy of the Gospel, the doctrines and ordinances of it are from heaven. This phrase, "the kingdom of heaven" is often to be met with in Jewish writings; and sometimes it stands opposed to the "kingdom of the earth" (r); by it is often meant the worship, service, fear, and love of God, and faith in him: thus in one of their books (s) having mentioned those words, "serve the Lord with fear": it is asked, what means this phrase, "with fear?" It is answered, the same as it is written, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"; and this is "the kingdom of heaven". And elsewhere they (t) ask, "what is the kingdom of heaven?" To which is answered, "the Lord our God is one Lord". Yea, the Lord God himself is so called (u), and sometimes the sanctuary; and sometimes they intend by it the times of the Messiah, as the Baptist here does; for so they paraphrase (w) those words,
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"the time of the singing of birds, or of pruning, is come; the time for Israel to be redeemed is come; the time for the uncircumcision to be cut off is come; the time that the kingdom of the Cuthites (Samaritans or Heathens) shall be consumed is come; and the time that "the kingdom of heaven shall be revealed" is come, as it is written, "and the Lord shall be king over all, the earth."''
Very pertinently does John make use of this argument to engage to repentance; since there cannot be a greater motive to it, whether it regard sorrow for sin, and confession of it, or a change of principles and practice, than the grace of God through Christ, which is exhibited in the Gospel dispensation: and very appropriately does he urge repentance previous to the kingdom of heaven; because without that there can be no true and cordial embracing or entering into the Gospel dispensation, or kingdom of heaven; that is, no real and hearty receiving the doctrines, and submitting to the ordinances of it. Nor ought the Jews above all people to object to John's method of preaching; since they make repentance absolutely necessary to the revelation of the Messiah and his kingdom, and redemption by him; for they say (x) in so many words, that
"if Israel do not repent, they will never be redeemed; but as soon as they repent, they will be redeemed; yea, if they repent but one day, immediately the son of David will come.''
(r) Bereshit Rabba, fol. 7. 4. (s) Zohar in Exod. fol 39. 2. (t) Debarim Rabba, fol. 237. 2. (u) Zohar in Gen. fol. 112. 3. (w) Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 11. 4. (x) T. Hieros. Taanith, fol. 63. 4. & 64. 1. & Bab. Sanhed. fol. 97. 2.
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17 In those days - that is, while Jesus dwelt…
In those days - that is, while Jesus dwelt there. In the wilderness of Judea - This was a wilderness properly so called, a wild, barren, desolate place as was that also where our Lord was tempted. But, generally speaking, a wilderness in the New Testament means only a common, or less cultivated place, in opposition to pasture and arable land. Mark i, 1; Luke iii, 1.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 John the Baptist begins to preach, 1.
CHAPTER III.
John the Baptist begins to preach, 1.
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The subject of his preaching, 2, 3.
Description of his clothing and food, 4.
The success of his ministry, 5, 6.
His exhortation to the Pharisees, 7-9.
He denounces the judgments of God against the impenitent, 10.
The design of his baptism, and that of Christ, 11, 12.
He baptizes Christ in Jordan, 13-15;
who is attested to be the Messiah by the Holy Spirit, and a
voice from heaven, 16, 17.
NOTES ON CHAP. III.
Verse 1. John the Baptist] John, surnamed The Baptist, because he required those to be baptized who professed to be contrite because of their sins, was the son of a priest named Zacharias, and his wife Elisabeth, and was born about A. M. 3999, and about six months before our blessed Lord. Of his almost miraculous conception and birth, we have a circumstantial account in the Gospel of Luke, chap. 1: to which, and the notes there, the reader is requested to refer. For his fidelity in reproving Herod for his incest with his brother Philip's wife, he was cast into prison, no doubt at the suggestion of Herodias, the profligate woman in question. He was at last beheaded at her instigation, and his head given as a present to Salome, her daughter, who, by her elegant dancing, had highly gratified Herod, the paramour of her incestuous mother. His ministry was short; for he appears to have been put to death in the 27th or 28th year of the Christian aera.
Came - preaching] κηρυσσων, proclaiming, as a herald, a matter of great and solemn importance to men; the subject not his own, nor of himself, but from that God from whom alone he had received his commission. See on the nature and importance of the herald's office, at the end of this chapter. κηρυσσειν, says Rosenmuller, de iis dicitur, qui in PLATEIS, in CAMPIS, in AERE aperto, ut a multis audiantur, vocem tollunt, c. "The verb κηρυσσειν is applied to those who, in the streets, fields, and open air, lift up their voice, that they may be heard by many, and proclaim what has been committed to them by regal or public authority as the KERUKES among the Greeks, and the PRECONES among the Romans."
The wilderness of Judea] That is, the country parts, as distinguished from the city; for in this sense the word wilderness, מדבר midbar or מדבריות midbarioth, is used among the rabbins. John's manner of life gives no countenance to the eremite or hermit's life, so strongly recommended and applauded by the Roman Church.
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 vv1–17 Mat 3:1. In those days — That is, in…
Mat 3:1. In those days — That is, in those years. For, as these events happened near thirty years after those recorded in the former chapter, this phrase is to be taken, in a very extensive sense, for that age of which he had spoken in the preceding words. And it is here used with the greater propriety, because John did indeed appear in his public character while Christ continued to dwell at Nazareth, which was the event that Matthew had last mentioned. Christ was now about thirty years of age, before which time of life no priest, teacher, or prophet was allowed to perform his office, as the Hebrews tell us, and as may be collected from the Scripture, 1Ch 23:3. Hence we learn that great preparation is necessary for sacred offices. The evangelists, therefore, pass over almost in entire silence our Saviour’s minority, only mentioning his disputing with the doctors in the temple, Luk 2:46. And yet it is probable many other remarkable things happened during that period, which, if they had been recorded, we should have read with pleasure and profit. But as the Holy Ghost has not been pleased to favour us in this respect, let us be thankful for, and duly improve, what is made known to us. Came John — The son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who had lived for several years retired in the wilderness of Judea: the Baptist — So called, either because he was the first who, by God’s command, baptized penitents, or because by him God instituted the ordinance of baptism. For, admitting that the Jews received proselytes by baptism, yet he baptized Jews themselves, and from his time the ordinance of baptism must be dated. Before Christ’s entering upon the first part of his work, that of declaring the will of God, was recorded, it was necessary that the office of John should be spoken of, because he was his harbinger, or forerunner, and proclaimed his coming beforehand; and because, at the time of John’s baptizing Jesus, the Holy Ghost visibly descended on him, and consecrated him to his prophetic office. Preaching — The original word, κηρυσσων, means proclaiming, or crying aloud. It is properly used of those who make proclamation in the streets or camps, or who lift up their voice in the open air, and declare the things which are to be promulgated by public or royal authority, and which they have in charge from another. In the wilderness of Judea — That is, in the uncultivated and thinly-inhabited parts of Judea, where, it seems, his father Zacharias lived, Luk 1:39-40. For we are not to suppose that John shunned the society of men, as those afterward did, who, on that account, were called hermits; but he had been brought up and had always lived in the country, and not in the city, and had had a plain country education, and not an academical or courtly one, at Jerusalem. We must observe, that the term wilderness, among the Jews, did not signify a place wholly void of inhabitants, but a place in which they were fewer, and their habitations more dispersed, than in villages and cities. Hence we read of six cities with their villages, in the wilderness, Jos 15:61-62; that Nabal dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, 1Sa 25:1-2; and Joab had his house in the wilderness, 1Ki 2:34. John began his preaching in the desert, in which he had been brought up, Luk 1:80, as Jesus, in like manner, began his in Galilee, Act 10:37. There was, however, this difference between them, that Christ preached in Galilee, a country the most populous of any in that neighbourhood, but John in the desert, that is, in a place but thinly inhabited, and little cultivated. The former of which was suitable to the benignity of our Saviour, and the latter to the austerity of his forerunner. Lastly, John, who had begun to preach in Judea, is imprisoned and put to death in the dominions of Herod; Christ, on the other hand, who entered upon his ministry in the tetrarchy of Herod, is crucified at Jerusalem, in Judea.
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 vv1–17 In those days - The days here referred to…
In those days - The days here referred to cannot be those mentioned in the preceding chapter, for John was but six months older than Christ. Perhaps Matthew intended to embrace in his narrative the whole time that Jesus lived at Nazareth; and the meaning is, “in those days while Jesus still dwelt at Nazareth,” John began to preach. It is not probable that John began to baptize or preach long before the Saviour entered on his ministry; and, consequently, from the time that is mentioned in the close of the second chapter to that mentioned in the beginning of the third, an interval of twenty-five years or more elapsed.
John the Baptist - Or John the baptizer - so called from his principal office, that of baptizing. Baptism, or the application of water, was a rite well known to the Jews, and practiced when they admitted proselytes to their religion from paganism. - Lightfoot.
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Preaching - The word rendered “preach” means to proclaim in the manner of a public crier; to make proclamation. The discourses recorded in the New Testament are mostly brief, sometimes consisting only of a single sentence. They were public proclamations of some great truth. Such appear to have been the discourses of John, calling people to repentance.
In the wilderness of Judea - This country was situated along the Jordan and the Dead Sea, to the east of Jerusalem. The word translated “wilderness” does not denote, as with us, a place of boundless forests, entirely destitute of inhabitants; but a mountainous, rough, and thinly settled country, covered to some considerable extent with forests and rocks, and better suited for pasture than for tilling. There were inhabitants in those places, and even villages, but they were the comparatively unsettled portions of the country, 1Sa 25:1-2. In the time of Joshua there were six cities in what was then called a wilderness, Jos 15:61-62.
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17 "In those days," i.e. at the time of Jesus…
"In those days," i.e. at the time of Jesus Christ, whose history this book contains. This expression does not always mean that what is going to be narrated, happened immediately after that which precedes. (Bible de Vence) --- ’Tis a way of speaking used by the Hebrews, even when there is no connection of time, as here are passed over 30 years of Christ’s life. John the Baptist was so called from his baptizing the people in water. The Jews took this for some token of their Messias: for they said to him, (John i. 25,) why dost thou baptize if thou art not the Christ? --- In the desert, not in the house of his Father Zacharias, as some pretend, but in a true wilderness, as appears by the circumstances of his food, apparel, &c. (Witham) --- The Baptist was about 30 years of age. He, as well as our Lord, in conformity with the Jewish law, did not enter upon his public ministry before that age. (Haydock)
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).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Matthew Chapter 3
Matthew Chapter 3
We now begin His actual history. John the Baptist comes to prepare the way of Jehovah before Him, according to the prophecy of Isaiah; proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and calling on the people to repent. It is by these three things that John’s ministry to Israel is characterised in this Gospel. First the Lord Jehovah Himself was coming. The Holy Ghost leaves out the words “for our God,” at the end of the verse, because Jesus comes as man in humiliation, although acknowledged at the same time to be Jehovah, and Israel could not be thus owned as entitled to say “our.” In the second place the kingdom of heaven [6] was at hand-that new dispensation which was to take the place of the one which, properly speaking, belonged to Sinai, where the Lord had spoken on the earth. In this new dispensation “the heavens should reign.” They should be the source of, and characterise, God’s authority in His Christ. Thirdly, the people, instead of being blessed in their present condition, were called to repentance in view of the approach of this kingdom. John therefore takes his place in the wilderness, departing from the Jews, with whom he could not associate himself because he came in the way of righteousness (Mat 21:32). His food is that which he finds in the wilderness (even his prophetic garments bearing witness to the position which he had taken on the part of God), himself filled with the Holy Ghost.
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Thus was he a prophet, for he came from God, and addressed himself to the people of God to call them to repentance, and he proclaimed the blessing of God according to the promises of Jehovah their God; but he was more than a prophet, for he declared as an immediate thing the introduction of a new dispensation, long expected, and the advent of the Lord in Person. At the same time, although coming to Israel, he did not own the people, for they were to be judged; the threshing-floor of Jehovah was to be cleansed, the trees that did not bear good fruit to be cut down. It would be a remnant only that Jehovah would place in the new position in the kingdom that he announced, without its being yet revealed in what manner it was to be established. He proclaimed the judgment of the people.
What a fact of immeasurable greatness was the presence of the Lord God in the midst of His people, in the Person of Him who, although He was doubtless to be the fulfilment of all the promises, was necessarily, though rejected, the Judge of all the evil existing among His people!
And the more we give these passages their true application, that is to say, the more we apply them to Israel, the more we apprehend their real force. [7]
No doubt repentance is an eternal necessity to every soul that approaches God; but what a light is thrown upon this truth, when we see the intervention of the Lord Himself who calls His people to this repentance, setting aside-on their refusal-the whole system of their relationships with Him, and establishing a new dispensation-a kingdom which only belongs to those who hear Him-and causing at length His judgment to break forth against His people and the city which He had so long cherished! “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.”
This truth gives room for the exhibition of another and most highly important one, announced here in connection with the sovereign rights of God rather than in its consequences, but which already contained in itself all those consequences. The people from all parts, and as we learn elsewhere especially the ungodly and despised, went out to be baptised, confessing their sins. But those who, in their own eyes, held the chief place among the people, were in the eyes of the prophet who loved the people according to God, the objects of the judgment he announced. Wrath was impending. Who had warned these scornful men to flee from it? Let them humble themselves like the rest; let them take their true place, and prove their change of heart. To boast in the privileges of their nation, or of their fathers, availed nothing before God. He required that which His very nature, His truth, demanded. Moreover He was sovereign; He was able of those stones to raise up children to Abraham. This is what His sovereign grace has done, through Christ, with regard to the Gentiles. There was reality needed. The axe was at the root of the trees, and those that did not bring forth good fruit should be cut down. This is the great moral principle which the judgment was going to put in force. The blow was not yet struck, but the axe was already at the root of the trees. John was come to bring those who received his testimony into a new position, or at least into a new state in which they were prepared for it. On their repentance he would distinguish them from the rest by baptism. But He who was coming after John-He whose shoes John was not worthy to bear-would thoroughly purge His floor, would separate those that were truly His, morally His, from among His people Israel (that was His floor), and would execute judgment on the rest. John on his part opened the door to repentance beforehand; afterwards should come the judgment.
Judgment was not the only work that belonged to Jesus. Two things are however attributed to Him in John’s testimony He baptises with fire-this is the judgment proclaimed in Mat 3:12, which consumes all that is evil. But He baptises also with the Holy Ghost-that Spirit which, given to, and acting in divine energy in man, quickened, redeemed, cleansed in the blood of Christ, brings him out fromthe influence of all that acts on the flesh, and sets him in connection and in communion with all that is revealed of God, with the glory into which He brings His creatures in the life which He imparts, destroying morally in us the power of all that is contrary to the enjoyment of these privileges.
Observe here, that the only good fruit recognised by John, as the way of escape, is the sincere confession, through grace, of sin. Those only who make this confession escape the axe. There were really no good trees excepting those which confessed that they were bad.
But what a solemn moment was this for the people beloved of God! What an event was the presence of Jehovah in the midst of the nation with whom He stood in relationship!
Observe that John the Baptist does not here present the Messiah as the Saviour come in grace, but as the Head of the kingdom, as Jehovah, who would execute judgment if the people did not repent. We shall see afterwards the position which He took in grace.
In Mat 3:13 Jesus Himself, who until now has been presented as the Messiah and even as Jehovah, comes to John to be baptised with the baptism of repentance. We must remember that to come to this baptism was the only good fruit which a Jew, in his then condition, could produce. The act proved itself to be the fruit of a work of God-of the effectual work of the Holy Ghost. He who repents confesses that he has previously walked afar from God; so that it is a new movement, the fruit of God’s word and work in him, the sign of a new life, of the life of the Spirit in his soul. By the very fact of John’s mission, there was no other fruit, no other admissible proof, of life from God, in a Jew. We are not to infer from this, that there were none in whom the Spirit already acted vitally; but, in this condition of the people and according to the call of God by His servant, that was the proof of this life-of the turning of the heart to God. These were the true remnant of the people, those whom God acknowledged as such; and it was thus they were separated from the mass who were ripening for judgment. These were the true saints-the excellent of the earth; although the self-abasement of repentance could be their only true place. It was there they must begin. When God brings in mercy and justice, they avail themselves thankfully of the former, confessing it to be their only resource, and they bow their heart before the latter, as the just consequence of the condition of God’s people, but as applying it to themselves.
Now Jesus presents Himself in the midst of those who do this. Although truly the Lord, Jehovah, the righteous Judge of His people, He who was to purge His floor, He nevertheless takes His place among the faithful remnant who humble themselves before this judgment. He takes the place of the lowest of His people before God; as in Psa 16:1-11 He calls Jehovah His Lord, saying unto Him, “My goodness extendeth not to Thee”; and says to the saints, and the excellent in the earth, “all my delight is in them.” Perfect testimony of grace-the Saviour identifying Himself, according to this grace, with the first movement of the Spirit in the hearts of His own people, humbling Himself not only in the condescension of grace towards them, but in taking His place as one of them in their true position before God; not merely to comfort their hearts by such kindness, but in order to sympathise with all their sorrows and their difficulties; in order to be the pattern, the source, and the perfect expression of every sentiment suitable to their position.
With wicked unrepentant Israel He could not associate Himself, but with the first living effect of the word and Spirit of God in the poor of the flock, He could and did in grace. He does so now. With the first right step, one really of God, Christ is found.
But there was yet more. He comes to bring those who received Him into relation with God, according to the favour which rested on perfectness like His, and on the love which, by taking up His people’s cause, satisfied the heart of the Lord, and, having perfectly glorified God in all that He is, made it possible for Him to satisfy Himself with goodness. We know indeed that in order to do this, the Saviour had to lay down His life, because the condition of the Jew, as that of every man, required this sacrifice before either the one or the other could stand in relation with the God of truth. But even for this the love of Jesus did not fail. Here however He is leading them on to the enjoyment of the blessing expressed in His Person, which should be securely founded on that sacrifice-blessing which they must reach by the path of repentance, into which they entered by John’s baptism; which Jesus received with them, that they might go on together towards the possession of all the good things which God has prepared for them that loved Him.
John, feeling the dignity and excellency of the Person of Him who came unto him, opposes the Lord’s intention. The Holy Ghost by this brings out the true character of the Lord’s action. As to Himself, it was righteousness which brought Him there, and not sin-righteousness which He accomplished in love. He, as well as John the Baptist, fulfilled that which belonged to the place assigned Him by God. With what condescension He links Himself at the same time with John-”It becometh us.” He is the lowly and obedient Servant. It was thus He ever behaved Himself on earth. Moreover, as to His position, grace brought Jesus there, where sin brought us, who came in by the door the Lord had opened for His sheep. In confessing sin as it is, in coming before God in the confession of (the opposite of sin morally) our sin, we find ourselves in company with Jesus. [8] Indeed it is in us the fruit of His Spirit. This was the case with the poor sinners who came out to John. Thus it was that Jesus took His place in righteousness and obedience among men, and more exactly among the repentant Jews. It is in this position of a man-righteous, obedient, and fulfilling on earth, in perfect humility, the work for which He had offered Himself in grace, according to Psa 40:1-17, giving Himself up to the accomplishment of all the will of God in complete renunciation-that God His Father fully acknowledged Him, and sealed Him, declaring Him on earth to be His well-beloved Son.
Being baptised-the most striking token of the place He had taken with His people-the heavens are opened unto Him, and He sees the Holy Ghost descending on Him like a dove; and, lo! a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
But these circumstances demand attention.
Never were the heavens opened to the earth, nor to a man on the earth, before the beloved Son was there. [9] God had doubtless, in His longsuffering and in the way of providence, blessed all His creatures; He had also blessed His own people, according to the rules of His government on earth. Besides this, there were the elect, whom He had preserved in faithfulness. Nevertheless until now the heavens had not been opened. A testimony had been sent by God in connection with His government of the earth; but there was no object on the earth upon which the eye of God could rest with complacency, until Jesus, sinless and obedient, His beloved Son, stood there. But what is so precious to us is, that it is as soon as in grace He takes publicly this place of humiliation with Israel-that is, with the faithful remnant, presenting Himself thus before God, fulfilling His will-the heavens open upon an object worthy of their attention. Ever doubtless was He worthy of their adoration, even before the world was. But now He has just taken this place in the dealings of God as a man, and the heavens opened unto Jesus, the object of God’s entire affection on the earth. The Holy Ghost descends upon Him visibly. And He, a man on earth, a man taking His place with the meek of the people who repented, is acknowledged as the Son of God. He is not only anointed of God, but, as man, He is conscious of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Him-the seal of the Father set upon Him. Here it is evidently not His divine nature, in the character of the Eternal Son of the Father. The seal would not even be in conformity with that character; and as to His Person it is manifested, and His consciousness of it, at twelve years old in Luke’s Gospel. But while He is such, He is also a man, the Son of God on the earth, and is sealed as a man. As a man He has the consciousness of the immediate presence of the Holy Ghost with Him. This presence is in connection with the character of lowliness, meekness, and obedience, in which the Lord appeared down here. It is “like a dove” that the Holy Ghost descends upon Him; just as it was in the form of tongues of fire, that He came down upon the heads of the disciples, for their testimony in power in this world, according to the grace which addressed each and every one in his own language.
Jesus thus creates in His own position as man the place into which He introduces us by redemption (Joh 20:17). But the glory of His Person is always carefully guarded. There is no object presented to Jesus, as to Saul for instance, and, in a still more analogous case, to Stephen, who, being full of the Spirit, sees also the heavens opened, and looks up into them, and sees Jesus, the Son of man, and is transformed into His image. Jesus has come; He is Himself the object over whom the heavens open; He has no transforming object, as Stephen, or as we ourselves in the Spirit; heaven looks down at Him, the perfect object of delight. It is His relationship with His Father, already existing, which is sealed. [10] Neither does the Holy Ghost create His character (except so far as, with respect to His human nature, He was conceived in the virgin Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Ghost); He had connected Himself with the poor, in the perfection of that character, before He was sealed, and then acts according to the energy and the power of that which He received without measure in His human life here below (compare Act 10:38, Mat 12:28, Joh 3:34).
We find in the word four memorable occasions on which the heavens open. Christ is the object of each of these revelations; each has its especial character. Here the Holy Ghost descends upon Him, and He is acknowledged the Son of God (compare Joh 1:33-34). At the end of the same chapter of John, He declares Himself to be the Son of man. There it is the angels of God who ascend and descend upon Him. He is, as Son of man, the object of their ministry. [11] At the end of Act 7:1-60 an entirely new scene is opened. The Jews reject the last testimony that God sends them. Stephen, by whom this testimony is rendered, is filled with the Holy Ghost, and the heavens are opened to him. The earthly system was definitely closed by the rejection of the Holy Ghost’s testimony to the glory of the ascended Christ. But this is not merely a testimony. The Christian is filled with the Spirit, heaven is opened to him, the glory of God is manifested to him, and the Son of man appears to him, standing at the right hand of God. This is a different thing from the heavens open over Jesus, the object of God’s delight on earth. It is heaven open to the Christian himself, his object being there when rejected on earth. He sees there by the Holy Ghost the heavenly glory of God, and Jesus, the Son of man, the special object of the testimony he renders, in the glory of God. The difference is as remarkable as it is interesting to us; and it exhibits, in a most striking manner, the true position of the Christian as on earth, and the change which the rejection of Jesus by His earthly people has produced. Only, the church, the union of believers in one body with the Lord in heaven, was not yet revealed. Afterwards (Rev 19:1-21) heaven opens, and the Lord Himself comes forth, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Thus we see Jesus, the Son of God on earth, the object of heaven’s delight, sealed with the Holy Ghost; Jesus, the Son of man, the object of the ministry of heaven, angels being His servants; Jesus, on high at the right hand of God, and the believer, full of the Spirit, and suffering here for His sake, beholding the glory on high, and the Son of man in the glory; and Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, coming forth to judge and make war against the scornful men who dispute His authority and oppress the earth.
To return: the Father Himself acknowledges Jesus, the obedient man on earth, who enters as the true Shepherd by the door, as His beloved Son in whom is all His delight. Heaven is opened to Him; He sees the Holy Ghost come down to seal Him, the infallible strength and support of the perfection of His human life; and He has the Father’s own testimony to the relationship between them. No object on which His faith was to rest is presented to Him as it is to us. It is His own relation to heaven and to His Father which is sealed. His soul enjoys it through the descent of the Holy Ghost and the voice of His Father.
But this passage in Matthew requires some further notice. The blessed Lord, or rather what occurred as to Him, gives the place or model in which He sets believers, be they Jew or Gentile: only of course we are brought there by redemption. “I go to my Father and your Father, my God and your God,” is His blessed word after His resurrection. But to us heaven is opened; we are sealed with the Holy Ghost; the Father owns us as sons. Only the divine dignity of Christ’s Person is always carefully guarded here in humiliation, as in the transfiguration in glory. Moses and Elias are in the same glory, but disappear when Peter’s haste, permitted to be expressed, would put them on a level. The nearer we are to a divine Person, the more we adore and recognise what He is.
But another very remarkable fact is found here. For the first time, when Christ takes this place among men in lowliness, the Trinity is fully revealed. No doubt the Son and Spirit are mentioned in the Old Testament. But there the unity of the Godhead is the great revealed point. Here the Son is owned in man, the Holy Ghost comes down on Him, and the Father owns Him as His Son. What a wonderful connection with man! what a place for man to be in! Through Christ’s connection with Him the Godhead is revealed in its own fulness. His being a man draws it out in its display. But He was really a man, but the Man in whom the counsels of God about man were to be fulfilled.
Hence, as He has realised and displayed the place in which man is set with God in His own Person, and in the counsels of grace as to us our relationship with God, so, as we are in conflict with the enemy, He enters into that side of our position also. We have our relationship with God and our Father, and now we have to say to Satan also. He overcomes for us, and shews us how to overcome. Remark too, the relationship with God is first fully settled and brought out, and then, as in that place, the conflict with Satan begins, and so with us. But the first question was, Would the second Adam stand where the first had failed? only, in the wilderness of this world and Satan’s power-instead of the blessings of God-for there we had got.
Another point is to be remarked here, fully to bring out the place the Lord takes. The law and the prophets were till John. Then the new thing is announced, the kingdom of heaven. But judgment closes with God’s people. The axe is at the root of the trees, the fan is in the hand of the coming One, the wheat is gathered into God’s garner, the chaff burnt up. That is, there is a close of the history of God’s people in judgment. We come in on the ground of being lost, anticipating the judgment; but man’s history as responsible was closed. Hence it is said, “now once in the end of the world he hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” It has happened externally and literally to Israel; but it is morally true for us: only we are gathered for heaven, as in result the remnant then, and shall be in heaven. But, Christ rejected, the history of responsibility is over, and we come in in grace as already lost. Consequent on the announcement of this as imminent, Christ comes and, identifying Himself with the remnant who escape on repentance, makes this new place for man on the earth: only we could not be in it till redemption was accomplished. Still He revealed the Father’s name to those He had given Him out of it.
Footnotes for Matthew Chapter 3
[6] This expression is found only in Matthew, as specially occupied with dispensations, and the dealings of God with the Jews. “The kingdom of God” is the generic term. “The kingdom of heaven” is the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of God as specially taking this character of heavenly government; we shall find it (farther on) separated into the kingdom of our Father, and the kingdom of the Son of man.
[7] And we must remember that, besides the special promises to, and calling, of Israel as God’s earthly people, that people were just man viewed in his responsibility to God under the fullest culture that God could give him. Up to the flood there was testimony but no dispensational dealings, or institutions of God. After it, in the new world, human government, calling and promise in Abraham, law, Messiah, God come in grace, everything God could do, and that in perfect patience, was done, and in vain as to good in flesh; and now Israel was being set aside as in the flesh, and the flesh judged, the fig-tree cursed as fruitless, and God’s man, the second Adam, He in whom blessing was by redemption, introduced into the world. In the first three Gospels, as we have seen, we have Christ presented to man to be received; in John, man is set aside and Israel, and God’s sovereign ways in grace and resurrection brought in.
[8] It is the same thing as to the sense of our nothingness. He made Himself nothing, and in the consciousness of our nothingness we find ourselves with Him, and at the same time are filled with His fulness. Even when we fall, it is not until we are brought to know ourselves as we really are that we find Jesus raising us up again.
[9] In the beginning of Ezekiel, it is said indeed that the heavens were opened; but this was only in vision, as the prophet himself explains. In that instance it was the manifestation of God in judgment.
[10] This is true also of us when we are in that relationship by grace.
[11] It is all a mistake to make Christ the ladder. He, as Jacob was, is the object of their service and ministry.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv1, 13 3. (Mar_1:1-11; Luk_3:1-22; Joh_1:19-34)
FOURTH SECTION
ON ENTERING UPON HIS MINISTRY, JESUS REMAINED STILL UNKNOWN, EVEN TO THOSE WHO HAD HUMBLED THEMSELVES AND PROFESSED PENITENCE IN ISRAEL. IN THE BAPTISM UNTO REPENTANCE, HE RECEIVED HIS SOLEMN CONSECRATION UNTO DEATH; WHILE AT THE SAME TIME HE IS OWNED AND GLORIFIED BY THE FATHER AS HIS BELOVED SON, THE WHOLE BLESSED TRINITY SHEDDING THEIR LUSTRE AROUND HIM, AND HIS ADVENT BEING ANNOUNCED BY HIS SPECIAL MESSENGER JOHN.
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3. (Mar_1:1-11; Luk_3:1-22; Joh_1:19-34)
Summay:—This section gives an account of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus, and of his ministry, which commenced by calling the people to repentance, and subjecting them to a general purification, preparatory to the advent of the Messiah. His ministry culminated in the baptism of Christ Himself, whom John recognized by miraculous tokens from heaven, and proclaimed on this occasion as the Messiah. The section is divided into two parts: John as forerunner of the Lord, and as preacher and baptist,—(1) in his relation to the people; (2) in his relation to the Lord Himself, or the baptism and glorifying of Jesus. We note the marked contrast between the baptism of Jesus and that of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
A. Mat_3:1-12
1In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias [Isaiah], saying. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about [the] Jordan, 6And were baptized of [by] him in [the] Jordan, confessing their sins. 7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his1 baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And 9 think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to [for] our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 11I indeed baptize you with [in] water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes2 I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with [in] the Holy Ghost, and with fire:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his [threshing] floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat_3:1. In those days, בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם, Exo_2:11; Exo_2:23; Isa_38:1.—This indefinite mode of marking time always refers to a preceding date. Here the reference is to the residence of Jesus at Nazareth during the period of His obscurity; the contrast being all the more striking, when we bear in mind that during that season His inner life was maturing to the full glory of His theanthropic consciousness. (For other explanations of ἐν ταῖς ἡμέρ. ἐκ. comp. Meyer, p. 79.)
From the narrative of Luke we learn that John the Baptist was about half a year older than Jesus. The dates between the commencement of Christ’s ministry and that of His forerunner also correspond. It is not probable that either John or Jesus would have entered on their ministry before the completion of their thirtieth year. According to the law of Moses (Num_4:3; Num_4:47), the age of thirty was required for commencing the exercise of the priestly functions. The Levites ( Mat_8:24) could not enter on their duties before the age of twenty-five. Subsequently, however, this was reduced to the age of twenty (1Ch_23:24; 2Ch_31:17). Although there was no law confining the exercise of the prophetic office either to a particular age, or even to the male sex, it seems natural that persons who claimed public authority as prophets would wait till they had attained the canonical age for the priesthood. On the other hand, neither John nor Jesus could have been more than thirty when they entered on their ministry. According to this calculation, Jesus must have commenced His public career in the year 780 from the foundation of Rome (see Leben Jesu, vol. i. p. 161), and John a short time before. From Luk_3:1, we infer that John began his ministry in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius. But Tiberius was associated in the empire two years before the death of Augustus, that is, about the year 765. Accordingly, it is understood that Luke reckoned the reign of Tiberius from that year. This makes John’s ministry commence in 779.
In the wilderness of Judah (Jdg_1:16; Jos_15:61).—It was also called Jeshimon, 1Sa_23:19; 1Sa_26:1; 1Sa_26:3. It consisted of a rocky district in the eastern portion of the territory of the tribe of Judah, toward the Dead Sea. In this district the town of Engedi, and other places mentioned in the Old Testament, were situated, Jos_15:62; Jdg_1:16. It terminated on the northwest in the wilderness of Thekoa; on the southeast in the wilderness of Engedi, the wilderness of Ziph, and the wilderness of Mara. See the corresponding art. in the Encycls. Tradition, however, attaches the designation of “the wilderness of John” not to the places where he exercised his ministry, but to the district where from early youth he lived in retirement (Luk_1:80). This wilderness was situated amid the mountains of Judæa, about two hours to the southwest of Bethlehem. The term “wilderness” (מִדְבָּר, as distinguished from עֲרָבָה, a steppe) was given to a district which was not regularly cultivated and inhabited, but used for pasturage (from דָּבַר, to drive), being generally without wood and defective in water, but not entirely destitute of vegetation.
John the Baptist.—The Hebr. name יוֹחָנָן, “the Lord graciously gave,”3 is akin to the Phœnician and Punic חַנִּיבַצַל. John, the son of Zacharias the priest, and of Elizabeth (Luke 1), a near kinsman of Jesus, and only six months older than He (Luk_1:36), was born, according to rabbinical tradition, at Hebron, but according to modern expositors, at Jutta, in the tribe of Judah. From earliest childhood he was of a thoughtful disposition, and lived in retirement in the wilderness (Luk_1:80) as a Nazarite ( Mat_3:15), agreeably to the Divine ordinance. There the spiritual gifts with which he had been enriched by the Holy Ghost, who had sanctified him from the womb, developed and took shape in conformity with his high and holy calling to prepare the way for the Messiah. In his own person he embodied, so to speak, the Old Testament dispensation in its legal bearing, just as the Virgin Mary embodied and represented the evangelical aspect of the Old Testament as set forth in Abraham and the prophets. John was the personification of Old Testament righteousness according to the law; Mary was the personification of Old Testament faith in the promise, and of deep and earnest waiting for the promised salvation. Hence John appeared in Israel as the preacher of repentance, and the baptist.4 He commenced his public ministry in the wilderness of Judæa in the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, appearing in the garb, and following the manner of life, of a Nazarite. Summoning the people to repentance, he announced to them the near approach of the kingdom of heaven (the kingdom of the Messiah—Dan_2:44; Dan_7:13-14). On the desert bank of Jordan, in the solitary district near Jericho, 1. began what, from its special Divine appointment, and the prophetic authority with which it was administered, was really a new ordinance—the baptism unto repentance, and admission into the kingdom of heaven, with a view to the reception of the coming Messiah. His baptism implied that the whole people were unclean, and, in their present condition, unfit for the kingdom of heaven (according to Hag_2:14). So far as Israel was concerned, the rite originated in the Levitical lustration appointed for the unclean (Gen_35:2; Exo_19:10; Num_19:7; Jdt_12:7; Joseph, de bello Jud. ii. 8, 7; Wetstein in loc.; Nork, Mythologisches Wörterbuch, Wassertaufe, etc.). But it also bore analogy to the symbolical purifications, by water and otherwise, common among the various nations of the world, and to the baptism of Jewish proselytes,5 viewing these ceremonies in the light of the predictions of the prophets (Eze_36:25; Isa_44:3; Zec_13:1). This baptism was administered by immersion, and not merely by sprinkling. It denoted purification by, not only washing, but by submitting to sufferings akin to death. So far as is known, this rite was not accompanied by the usual sacrifices; but the deepest spiritual part of the sacrificial service—the confession of sins—preceded the immersion. This confession of sins, however, was not made over the head of an animal, as in the Levitical sin-offerings (Lev_16:21; Num_5:7), because the spiritual truth, that he who offered the sacrifice must himself be the sacrifice, or offer up himself, was nearing its grand realization. In one respect, however, the baptism of John resembled the sacrificial services of the priests, as John administered the rite of submersion himself; whereas, in ordinary lustrations, the person to be baptized sprinkled himself with the water of baptism. The immediate object of John’s baptism was to prepare the people for the Messiah and the kingdom of heaven (Mat_3:11); its final and highest object, the manifestation of the Messiah to His people (Joh_1:31; see Leben Jesu, ii. 452; iii. 49). The Lord’s manifestation to John, and the public witness of the Baptist to Jesus, as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, completed the prophetic mission of John. This appears from the fact, that henceforth the rite of baptism and the most distinguished of John’s disciples became connected with Jesus Himself.
Meanwhile John pursued his ministry even beyond its goal, which had now been reached. His course was, in consequence, marked by some degree of hesitation, although his sole and earnest desire still was to prepare the way of the Lord, and to promote His cause (Joh_1:36; Joh_3:23; Mat_11:3). But the manifest contrast between the baptism of John and that of the disciples of Jesus,—between John’s disciples and those of the Lord—between the rigid asceticism of the former, and the social, genial deportment of the latter,—suggested comparisons which, from the legal notions of the Jews, led to conclusions derogatory to the teaching of Christ, and, in the end, even to the rejection of both teachers. Besides, this contrast between the Old Testament type of righteousness and that of the New, subsequently cave rise to odious dissensions, and at a later period induced some of the disciples of John to abandon Jesus, and form a sect, which still waited for the coming of the Messiah, or even acknowledged John as its Messiah (see Gieseler, Kirchengeschichte i. 69). This result, however, the Baptist had not anticipated, when continuing the exercise of his ministry. His sole and growing aim was to accelerate the triumph of Messiah’s kingdom. Hence his denunciations of wickedness became more and more vehement. His denunciation of the adulterous connection between Herod Antipas and his brother Philip’s wife led to his imprisonment. Like his prototype at Horeb, he could not understand or fall in with the Divine arrangement of events. In order to bring about an immediate and full manifestation of judgment and vengeance, the Baptist now despatched his embassy to Jesus (Matthew 11), to induce the Messiah at once to reveal His power. Such being his views and motives, the scene at Horeb was once more enacted (1 Kings 19). It was necessary that not only the contrast between the Old and the New Testament, but the spiritual superiority of Jesus, should be fully exhibited. It was not in his intellectual discernment, but through his feelings, that John erred in regard to Jesus: he was “offended” where, in analogous circumstances, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Mary, and Peter stumbled. With divine gentleness, Jesus corrected his mistake; and this correction served at the same time as his vindication before the people. John is the greatest among the prophets of the Old Covenant; but the least in the kingdom of heaven—in the New Covenant—is greater than he in all that is distinctive of the New Testament, especially in clearness of faith and patience of suffering. Those who imagine that there is an inconsistency between John’s testimony, Joh_1:36, and his message, Mat_11:3, apparently forget that this testimony was the utterance of his loftiest faith, while his subsequent embassy was that of his deepest temptation. Nor is there any ground for maintaining that the narrative of John and those of the synoptic Gospels differ in regard to the Baptist. That Christ considered the cause of John as identified with His own, and the Baptist himself as His forerunner and servant, appears from the fact, that He treated the iniquitous execution of John, which Antipas was induced to order, as an act of hostility against Himself and His kingdom (Mat_14:13). For historical details, comp. the article in the Encyclops. See Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 5, 1 (also a monograph by Rohden, “Johannes der Täufer,” Lubeck, 1838).
Mat_3:2. The kingdom of heaven (of the heavens, τῶν οὐρανῶν).—Viewing the kingdom of God in its entire historical extent and development, we mark in it two periods. In the first it appears in its typical form, as the Old Testament theocracy; in the second, as the kingdom of heaven, ἡ βασιλεία τῶνοὐρανων. The contrast between the new manifestation, and the old form of the kingdom, had already been specified by Daniel ( Matthew 2 and Matthew 7). The use of the plural number in the original—the kingdom of the heavens, which also occurs in the Lord’s Prayer—may be explained by the conception of seven heavens (comp. 2Co_12:2 : “the third heaven”), but especially by the fact, that the kingdom of God extends, in its various spheres, throughout infinity. The kingdom of heaven, as appears from the prophecies of Daniel, is the kingdom of the Messiah; while the Lord’s Prayer teaches us that it is the kingdom of God’s Spirit, in which the will of man is made conformable to the will of God—a kingdom which comes from heaven, is heaven on earth, and ends in heaven. The expression is only found in Matthew (and in the rabbinical writings); but the same idea pervades the whole New Testament, where it frequently recurs under the designation of βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ, or βασιλ. τοῦ Χριστοῦ, or sometimes simply “the kingdom.” Matthew no doubt chose the expression “kingdom of heaven,” in order to distinguish the Christian kingdom of God more fully from the Jewish theocracy. (Monograph: Fleck, De Regno Divino, Lips. 1829.)
The contrast between the common Jewish expectations of the Messiah’s kingdom (or the revelation of the Messiah with miraculous signs from heaven, resuscitation of the race of Abraham, war and victory over the Gentiles, subjugation of the Roman world to the Jews, a reign of a thousand years, etc.), and the kingdom of heaven in its true and spiritual manifestation, is already clearly indicated by the preaching of John. It has sometimes been said that the repentance inculcated by John was merely that of the Old, not that of the New, Testament. But, even granting this, we must remember that John cherished the spiritual views of repentance propounded by the prophets, and not the common legal notions of the Jews, and that he represented the Old Testament in its point of transition to the New. The Baptist evidently regarded repentance as a μετανοεῖν—a change of mind. He was aware of the difference between mere outward and real repentance—between transient feelings and that deep change which manifests itself by corresponding fruits of righteousness. His idea of repentance exceeded the outward requirements of the Mosaic law as much as his rite of immersion that of sprinkling. In his view, repentance implied an entire renunciation of the world—dying to the old, and consecration to a new life. Besides, it is important to bear in mind that the Baptist seems to have already, in some measure, realized the rejection of the unworthy portion of the race of Abraham, and the calling of the Gentiles. But the great point of distinction lies in this, that the repentance which he enforced must have sprung from faith in the predictions regarding the coming Messiah. The circumstance, that Josephus, in his notice of the Baptist (Antiq. xviii. 5, 2), omitted any allusion to John’s testimony to the Messiah, is readily explained from his perfidious subserviency to Roman domination, which led him to renounce every hope dear to the Jewish heart and people.
Mat_3:3. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, Isa_40:3.—The quotation is made by the Evangelist, and not by the Baptist. In this case, also, we have the fulfilment of a typical, not a verbal prophecy. In its primary historical application, the passage (Isa_40:3, quoted from the Septuagint) contains a summons to prepare the way of Jehovah, who was about to bring back His people from exile. There is an allusion to the well-known Oriental custom of preparing the way for princes in their travels (Wetstein in loc.). The summoning voice is that of a herald. The application of the passage by the Evangelist shows that, in his mind, the advent of Christ was that of Jehovah Himself, and the true deliverance of God’s children from bondage; and that he regarded John as the real herald of the Lord. Many expositors of the original passage join the expression, ἐν τῆ ἐρήμῳ, with ἑτοιμάσατε; but the Evangelist evidently connects it with βοῶντος, as John was actually in the wilderness. The sense would be the same in both cases, the object of the Evangelist being to give a symbolical import to the wilderness where the Baptist exercised his ministry.
What Isaiah uttered as a typical prophecy, became a distinct prediction in Malachi (Mat_3:1), who regarded the mission of the forerunner of the Lord as corresponding to that of Elijah, and hence assigned to him even the name of Elijah (Mat_4:5). It is not to be supposed that the prophet referred to two forerunners,—one heralding the Lord’s coming to deliver His people, and merely resembling Elijah; the other, Elijah himself, come to make preparation for the day when Messiah should return to judge the earth. The prophet evidently regarded the day of judgment and the day of deliverance as the same. Similarly, the angel Gabriel also referred to John’s ministry as a fulfilment of the prophecy regarding Elijah: “He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Mal_4:6, comp. Luk_1:17). Lastly, Christ Himself blended the two predictions of Malachi, and applied them to the Baptist (Mat_11:10, comp. Mat_3:14 and Mat_17:11). Among Jewish theologians, different views obtained about the return of one of the old prophets preparatory to the coming of Messiah (Berthold, Christologie, p. 58).
Mat_3:4. The same John had his raiment, etc.—The expression implies that, as in the case of Elijah (2Ki_1:8), the austere, ascetic appearance of the Baptist corresponded with the character of his preaching, being an emblem of renunciation of the world, and of repentance. (1) His (peculiar and distinctive) dress was of camel’s hair. Not of camel’s skin, but of camel’s hair, from which a coarse kind of cloth, used for clothing and for the covering of tents, was manufactured (see Meyer, p. 83). (2) He had a leathern girdle. (3) His food consisted of locusts, ἀκρίδες. “Several kinds of locusts were used for food, especially by the poorest of the people. Lev_11:22; comp. Plin. Hist. Natur. 6:35; 11:32, 35. This is still the case in the East, especially among the lower classes. After throwing away the wings and legs, they cover the body with salt, and eat it either boiled or fried. (Niobuhr, ‘Reise,’ i. p. 402, etc.) The older expositors, under the impression that locusts were unfit for eating, conjectured that the original reading must have been, not ἀκρίδες, but ἐγκρίδες, cakes, or καρίδες, shrimps, or something else. But these conjectures do not deserve further consideration.” See Meyer, p. 83. (4) Wild honey was also part of his food. The question has been started, whether this honey was derived from trees or from bees? The latter flowed in abundance from clefts of rocks in the wilderness; the former was a kind of honey which issued from fig-trees, palms, and other trees. Meyer adopts the view of Suidas, that it was honey from trees; but surely it is needless to discuss whether the Baptist used one or both kinds of honey.
Mat_3:5. Then went out to him, etc.—That is to the banks of Jordan, הַיַּרְדֵּן (Gen_13:10-11. 1Ki_7:46; 2Ch_4:17), from יָרַד to run or flow (as the German Rhein from rinnen). For a description of the scene, see Winer and other Encyclops, and geographical works, especially Robinson; comp. also a beautiful sketch of the quiet around the scene, in the Travels of Pastor Schulz of Mühlheim. Note particularly, that Jerusalem herself, the holy city, goes into the wilderness as a penitent,—the wilderness being considered, according to Old Testament notions, as an unclean locality, the habitation of demons (Lev_16:21). A prelude this of Christ going forth to Golgotha, and of Christians going “beyond the camp,” Heb_13:13. Hence also Jerusalem is first mentioned, though in strict historical succession it would have been: the district about Jordan, Judæa, Jerusalem.
Mat_3:6. And were baptized, immersed, in the Jordan, confessing their sins.—Immersion was the usual mode of baptism and the symbol of repentance. According to Meyer, repentance was symbolized by immersion, because every part of the body was purified. But, in that case, the whole body might have been washed without immersion. We must keep in view the idea of a symbolical descent into the grave, or the death of sin, although this view, as explained in Rom. vi, could not yet have been fully realized at the time (comp. Leben Jesu 2:177. See also Ebrard, Wissensch. Kritik 257, who maintains that John fully understood the import of Christian baptism, and administered it accordingly). A full confession of sins accompanied the act of immersion. The compound ἐξομολογούμενοι denotes public confession. Hence it may perhaps be inferred that the confession was definite and specific,—the more so, as we might otherwise infer that a Jew would on such an occasion confess his special sins rather than hid general sinfulness. The particular form of confession was, however, undoubtedly left to each individual.
Mat_3:7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, etc.—Circumstances now arose of a character to perplex the Baptist about the propriety of his administering baptism. When the Pharisees and Sadducees presented themselves, he might refuse to administer the sacred rite, for which their impenitence rendered them unfit; while, on the other hand, a baptism of repentance seemed inapplicable in the case of the Lord Jesus.
The Pharisees, Talm. פרושין; according to Suidas, ἀφωρισμένοι, separated, distinctively pious, from פָּרַשׁ, to separate or divide,—not from the Particip. Act., “those who divide or make sharp distinctions” (teachers of the law), but from the passive or reflective form, in the sense of “separating themselves.” They did not, however, constitute a sect, but a school or party, actuated by the most intense sectarianism. They were the living expression of outward, traditional, and legalistic Judaism; and their strict separation was in reference to Gentiles, Samaritans, publicans, and sinners. They prided themselves on the most rigid observance of those legal prohibitions and lustrations, prescribed in their traditions, which detracted so grievously from the spirituality of the law, and perverted its object. On their history, doctrines, and religious and political importance, see Josephus, Antiq. xiii. 5, 9; xiii. 10, 5, etc. Their true character can only be thoroughly gathered from the Gospels, from the narrative of our Lord’s sufferings, from the Acts of the Apostles, and the history of Ebionism. Compare the article on the subject in Winer [and other Encyclops.], and also the author’s Leben Jesu ii. 1, p. 15, the Gesch. des apostol. Zeitalters, i. p. 296, [and works on Jewish History].
The Sadducees, Σαδδουκαῖοι (derived, according to Epiphanius, Hœres. i. 14, ἀπὸ δικαιοσύνης, i. e. from צַדִּיק, but, according to Jewish tradition, from a person called Zadok).—They were the party opposed to the Pharisees. On negative, antitraditional, foreign, and philosophical grounds, they rejected not only traditionalism, but also the inspired writings, except the books of Moses; and denied, along with the authority of the prophets, all the deeper truths of revelation, such as the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection, and its higher manifestations, such as the apparitions of angels. On all these points comp. Winer [and other Encyclops.], and the passages of Josephus relating to the subject, etc.
The third school or religious party of the Jews at this period, the Essenes, constituted a regular and fully organized sect. Comp. regarding them, Joseph. De Bella Jud. ii. 8; Antiq. xiii. 5, 9; and Philo’s dissertation: Quod omnis probus liber. The Essenes (a name derived from ὅσιος, or חָסִיד, or better from אְסָא, to heal—hence the healers, θεραπευταί) did not submit to John’s baptism. This is easily accounted for from the fact, that daily lustrations formed part of their ordinary religious observances. Hence they probably considered themselves as far beyond the baptism of John, which was only once administered, and, as a community, prepared to receive the Messiah. Lastly, from their blending of Alexandrian philosophy with Jewish notions of legal purifications, their views and expectations concerning the Messiah must have undergone considerable modification.
These three parties represented the three great deviations from the spirit and tendency of genuine Judaism. The Pharisees, like the Roman Catholics, exalted tradition into revelation, and superstitiously based their whole system on the principle of a righteousness procured by external observances. The Sadducees limited revelation to the law of Moses, and degraded the Mosaic faith into a rationalistic morality, a mere obedience of the law. The Essenes combined their Oriental and Alexandrian theosophy with revelation, excluded the idea of typical sacrifices, introduced dualistic doctrines, and based on it an esoteric righteousness peculiar to the members of their religious order. The Essenes formed a distinct sect; and, although the closest approximation in the syragogue to a deeper and more spiritual view of Judaism, and in some measure even anticipating the idea of a universal priesthood (as Ritschl has shown), they also adopted a greater admixture of views entirely heathen than any other school. Hence the idea of any connection between them and Christ, or even John, cannot for a moment be entertained (a statement, however, which does not apply to the later followers of John). By their lifeless orthodoxy, the Pharisees perverted Judaism itself into a sect; while the Sadducees formed an accommodating, negative, and sectarian party, who considered themselves, and acted chiefly as, a philosophic school.
The authority of John as a prophet, which, according to this passage, seems at first to have been recognised by a large portion of the dominant parties, and which probably occasioned the embassy, or at least private deputation, from the Sanhedrim, received a serious blow when John commenced his de nunciations. The dislike thus engendered became strengthened and rooted when the scribes saw Him whom John announced as the Messiah of Israel,—one so entirely different from what they had expected; and lastly, when the Baptist promulgated views wholly opposed to those of the Pharisees on the question of divorce, and, consequently, fell a victim to the resentment of Herod and his wife. Accordingly, when afterwards challenged to give an opinion on the divine authority of John’s baptism, the Pharisees declined to do so. Luke (Luk_7:30) refers to this subsequent attitude of the Pharisees and scribes in reference to the baptism of John.
It deserves notice, that Matthew does not repeat the article before Σαδδουκ.; “he includes them and the Pharisees in one and the same unworthy category.”
Mat_3:7. When he saw them come ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα.—The meaning is not, against the baptism, as Olearius and some others would interpret the passage. The contrary is to be inferred from what follows: who has warned you? The expression does not, however, denote simply their coming for the purpose of being baptized. The Baptist regards them as unfit and improper candidates who presented themselves for baptism only to strengthen their self-righteous conceit. The suggestion of Meyer (p. 86), that, immediately on their arrival, they were deterred by John’s denunciations from submitting to baptism, is equally unfounded. Such conduct would have placed them in open conflict with the Baptist; a course which even prudence forbade. But the effect of these denunciations was to diminish, and ultimately to stop, the crowds, belonging to their party, which had flocked to the scene of John’s ministrations This explanation removes the imaginary contradiction, which some have pretended to discover, between the narrative of Matthew and that of Luke, Sehneckenburger in favor of Luke, de Wette in favor of Matthew.
According to Luk_3:7, these denunciations were addressed to the multitude (τοῖς ὄχλοις); according to Matthew, to the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their interest in and sanction of the movement, no doubt, attracted crowds to the place of baptism. The presence of a multitude thronging to submit to what, after all, was to them only an outward rite, ill accorded with the real aim of John, who was anxious not for a general profession, but for individual conversions.
O generation (brood) of vipers.—Γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν denotes persons at once deceitful and malicious. Isa_14:29; Isa_59:5; Psa_58:5. The expression would convey to an Israelite the idea of representatives of pernicious doctrines and principles,—instruments of the kingdom of darkness. Such were preëminently doomed to punishment. Genesis 3; Mat_13:41; 2 Thessalonians 2, etc.—Who hath warned you?—An indication of his distrust of the sincerity of their ostensible motives. It could only have been by a special miracle that you would have been directed hither by the Spirit of God.—To flee.—To flee, and thus to escape from, בָּרַח מִן. The infin. Aorist denotes their being already ostensibly in the act of fleeing.—From the wrath to come, ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς.—The wrath, or the holy penal justice of God, is here identified with punishment it self. Rom_1:18; Eph_2:3.
Mat_3:8. Bring forth, therefore.—Οὖν, a conclusion relating partly to the charge brought against them, and partly to their profession of repentance. Fruits.—Proper, suitable fruits. Comp. Mat_7:17 ff, also with special reference to the Pharisees. Such good fruit as could not be produced without an entire change in the fruit-tree itself.
Mat_3:9. And think not—do not imagine you might say within yourselves,—i. e., think; אִמי בְּלִבּוֹ, to say in one’s heart: Psa_4:4; Psa_10:6; Psa_14:1; Mat_9:21; Luk_3:8; Luk_7:49.—We have Abraham for our father;—i. e., we shall be saved, because, as descendants of Abraham, we are members of the theocracy, and partakers of the promise given to our father. This view is clearly propounded in later rabbinical writings. See Meyer, p. 87. Compare Joh_8:39; Romans 9 As to the genuine children of Abraham, see Romans 4.—God is able.—God’s almighty power and liberty are not limited by hereditary right. He may reject them as spurious children of Abraham; and, on the other hand, He is able to create out of the stones in the wilderness genuine children of Abraham by faith, i. e., to transform uncultivated portions of the human race,—undoubtedly a reference to the calling of the Gentiles.
Mat_3:10. And now also the axe is laid, etc.—The preceding sentence only implied that the punishment of the spurious descendants of Abraham was possible; that now under consideration asserts that it was not only possible, but near,—nay, that it had already begun. Hence the use of the present tense. Now already the axe lies at the root of the tree, ready for its work of destruction. The statement implies that they are unfruitful trees, or trees of a bad kind ( Mat_7:19). The punishment will equally descend on all; every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, etc. This evidently refers to the exclusion of the unbelieving Jews from the kingdom of Messiah.
Mat_3:11. I indeed baptize you in (ἐν) water (immersing you in the element of water) unto repentance.—The Baptist thus declares that he is not the judge, and, at the same time, that by his baptism of water he does not secure their salvation, but merely calls them to repentance. Lastly, he teaches them that his was merely a symbolical and temporary mission as the forerunner, to prepare for the higher mission of the Messiah. He that cometh after me (immediately following me), = the Messiah. The Baptist here describes his personal relation to the Messiah: I am not worthy to bear His sandals, to carry them and to take them away—in Mark and Luke, to tie on and to unloose. Among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, this was the function of the meanest slaves. (See Wetstein, Rosenmüller, Jahn.)—He proceeds to point out the relation of his baptism to that of Christ. He shall baptize, or immerse, you in the Holy Ghost and in fire.—He will either entirely immerse you in the Holy Ghost as penitents, or, if impenitent, He will overwhelm you with the fire of judgment (and at last with hell-fire). This interpretation of the expression “fire” has been propounded by many of the Fathers (some of whom, however, referred it to the fire of purgatory); and among modern expositors, by Kuinoel, Schott, Neander [de Wette, Meyer]. But some commentators—among them Erasmus [Chrys., Calv., Beng., Olshaus., Ebrard, Ewald, Alford, Wordsworth]—apply the expression to the kindling, sanctifying fire of the Holy Ghost. The warning tone of the passage, and the expression unquenchable fire, in Mat_3:12, are against this interpretation.6 In some Codd. the words καὶπυρί are omitted, probably from the erroneous supposition that they were equivalent to Holy Ghost.
Mat_3:12. Whose fan.—Here we have another figure of judgment, showing, even in a more striking manner than the preceding, the necessity and propriety of such judgment. The theocracy is the husbandry of God. But if the wise husbandman removes from his garden all such trees as merely encumber the ground, much more will he in harvest-time separate on the threshing-floor the wheat from the chaff, and deal with each according to the rules of husbandry. But the theocracy, or the kingdom of God, is with great propriety represented as God’s special field, of which both the sowing and the harvest are His (Mat_13:3). The fan in His hand, or the instrument for the separating or purging, is the word, or the preaching of the Gospel.—Threshing-floor ἅλων, גֹּרֶן—a circular space, beaten down or paved, on the farm. The corn was either trodden by oxen [or horses], or crushed by means of a threshing, sledge drawn by oxen [or horses]. Robinson, ii. 306. The threshing-floor denotes Messiah’s sphere of action (Ewald),—the holy land in an ideal rather than a material and literal sense (Meyer); not mankind (Baumgarten-Crusius), or the Jewish people (de Wette). The extent of this threshing-floor necessarily increases from century to century. The starting-point was the land of Judæa; the farthest verge is the earth’s remotest boundary,—being then ground beaten for threshing, and no longer a field which requires to be sowed. The purging of the threshing-floor is effected by separating the wheat and the chaff of the sheaves collected on it. He will διακαθαρίζειν, i. e., thoroughly purge.—The Wheat.—True and penitent believers, the precious, pure produce of God’s husbandry.—The garner, ἀποθήκη, the granary; usually dry, subterranean vaults. An emblem, first, of the kingdom of heaven on earth: and, secondly, of the heavenly inheritance.—The chaff.—In the widest sense, whatever is crushed, cut small. Here it means the whole refuse of God’s husbandry: First, the agencies applied to bring out the wheat; and, secondly, the persons whose hearts have clung to these agencies alone, and who, by their vain, formal services, have themselves become chaff. Whatever is to be assigned to the fire, the judgment-fire (Mal_4:1), hell-fire (Mat_25:41), is chaff. Chaff was used for fuel.—The expression, unquenchable fire (see Isa_66:24), points beyond the figure to the reality, although it denotes, in the first place, the violent, uncontrollable blaze of a straw fire. When the fiery judgment begins, it continues without interruption, till the unquenchable fire of Gehenna is kindled.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The almost simultaneous appearance of two such personages as John and Jesus indicated that this was a unique period of extraordinary commotion in the history of the world. John the Baptist was the personal embodiment of the Old, Christ that of the New, Testament; and as John was the forerunner of Christ, it follows that the Old Testament was the forerunner of Christ in respect of the inward and spiritual obedience and righteousness which it demanded. This spiritual legalism John represented, just as the Virgin was the representative of the prophetic hope and the evangelical aspirations of the Old Testament. Hence, Mary brings the Lord to the people; John brings the people to the Lord. But both were merely the means for introducing the New Testament and the Lord: He Himself is the new and perfect revelation of the divine, theanthropic, and redeeming life.—The contrast between John, the rigid preacher of repentance, and Jesus, the gentle preacher of the kingdom of heaven, had already been typified among the ancient prophets by the similar contrast between Elijah and Elisha. Elijah, for the most part, performed miracles of vengeance and judgment, pointing forward to the final catastrophe, the fiery judgment, and the end of the world. Hence he was appropriately snatched from the world in a fiery chariot. On the other hand, Elisha performed, for the most part, miracles of mercy and deliverance, thus preparing the way for the Messianic prophets. This contrast in the typical missions of Elijah and Elisha was itself an emblem, which had its entire fulfilment in the great contrast between Old and New Testament times, as exhibited in the twofold advent of the Baptist and of Christ.
2. The Old Testament contains the most varied references to the New, by its promises, its law, its types, and its prophecies. Its most striking reference, however, is that with which it closed, presenting as it did, in the person of the Baptist, the most faithful embodiment of the old dispensation. Thus the relation of the Baptist to Christ was that of the Old Testament itself to the Saviour. The grand mission of John was the baptism unto repentance. Its elements and commencement existed in the Old Testament; but the ordinance itself can only be understood if viewed as a new act of Divine revelation, a Divine mission, a prophetic creation. Its real import appears from the declaration that the whole people of Israel were utterly unclean. Once of old they walked over the dried bed of Jordan: now they must be immersed in the current of Jordan in their old state, in order to come out of it thoroughly renewed. But this declaration of the Baptist implied also the idea, that mere legal lustrations were incapable of purifying the people,—a truth which was also conveyed to their minds by the solemnities of the great day of atonement (Leviticus 16). Lastly, all this indicated that the baptism unto repentance was itself only a symbol, being an outward expression of the fact, that legal institutions were incapable of delivering the Jewish nation from sin. Accordingly, the baptism of John was at the same time a baptism unto repentance and in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, and its last and highest aim was to point the people to the person of the Messiah.
3. That John appeared in the wilderness as a preacher of repentance, and there administered his rite of purification, is another evidence of the great change which the views of Israel were about to undergo. According to Old Testament ideas, the camp would be considered clean, and the wilderness unclean (Leviticus 16). This, however, is now reversed; and Jerusalem must go forth to the wilderness, there to seek her purification. Typically, this contrast points forward to Golgotha, to the accursed place without the city, and to the Church of Christ disowned and excommunicated by the synagogue. But it also points backward to the voice of him who cried in the wilderness. Isa_40:3 (comp. Joh_1:23). Again, the wilderness is a symbol of the nation itself, or at least of the state of the Jews at the time. In that wilderness the prophet can find no path for the advent of the Lord. Hence a way has now to be prepared for Him by repentance; and this forms the burden of his message. Such was the grand mission of John: his work and commission was mainly, if not exclusively, to call to repentance. Besides the symbolic character attaching from its nature to a wilderness, the sojourn of John in the desert pointed to those deeper experiences, resulting from contemplation, retirement, and constant prayer, which marked the spiritual development of genuine Judaism even at an earlier period (Moses, Elijah, John, Christ, the Anchorites).
4. The expression, “Repent ye,” is not equivalent with “Do penance.”7 The original means, Change your minds, your mode of thinking and of viewing things,—not in order that the kingdom of heaven may come, but because it is coming or approaching (for the kingdom of heaven is at hand). This change of mind could only spring from a sense of the free mercy of God in manifesting the kingdom of heaven, and from the revelation of Christ in His grace and truth. Nor can it ever be otherwise; for without repentance, change of mind, conversion, regeneration (John 3), it is impossible to enter the kingdom of heaven.
5. We have already indicated the peculiar meaning attaching to the expression, kingdom of God, as distinguished from the kingdom of heaven. The former is the general conception and includes the entire kingdom of God, in every sense and bearing. Thus the theocracy was the kingdom of God in its typical and Old Testament form; while the kingdom of Christ is the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God in its reality, or the real theocracy. Viewed as a whole, the kingdom of God is the higher manifestation of the universal supremacy and rule of God in nature and in history, and the preparation for the kingdom of glory (kingdom of power, kingdom of grace, kingdom of glory). In direct contrast to the kingdom of grace is that of darkness. It appears along with the kingdom of grace, and keeps pace with it; and, though appearing to conquer, ultimately is always conquered. At last, when the kingdom of God shall have been perfected, it will also have reached its full and final development, and be ripe for the self-annihilation which awaits it. Then shall it also appear that all along it had been entirely subject to the kingdom of omnipotence, and subservient to the advancement of the kingdom of glory. In New Testament times, the Christian Church and the Christian State may be regarded as the twofold manifestation of the kingdom of God; which, however, must not be confounded with the essence of the kingdom of God. Lastly, the kingdom of God is the kingdom of heaven, both in respect of its origin and its goal, its essence and its manifestation, its King and its people, its law and its citizenship—the royal dominion of God in the souls of believers, through Christ and his Holy Spirit.
6. We may view the asceticism and austerity of John under a twofold aspect. On the one hand, it marks him out as a perfect Nazarite. The institution of Nazarites, with its various prohibitions, was from the first intended as something similar to, nay, as a higher completion of, the legal priesthood (Leben Jesu, i. 63; Apost. Zeitalter, ii. 303 and 3988). Hence the circumstance, that both John and the Apostle James were Nazarites, may be regarded as forming an appropriate transition from the Old Testament priesthood to that of the Spirit under the New Testament, just as the synagogue was a transition from the temple to the church. In other words, the Nazarites were the connecting link between the Old and New Testament priests, just as the synagogue was between the temple and the church, and the washing with water, between circumcision and baptism, and the breaking of bread and the cup of thanksgiving, between the passover and the Lord’s Supper. It was necessary that John should occupy the position of a Nazarite in order to pronounce sentence of impurity, not only upon the Jewish people, but upon their priesthood. Nor was his profession merely symbolical, implying a symbolical renunciation of the world. He actually renounced the pomp, the luxury, and the pursuits of his age and nation, and appeared before his cotemporaries free to utter his solemn denunciations against Pharisees and Sadducees, against the rulers of the synagogue and the rulers of the people.
7. It is most important to note the contrast between the grounds on which John was unwilling to baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees, and those on which he shrunk from baptizing the Lord. In his judgment, the former did not come up to the law of the Old Testament, while Jesus went far beyond the Old Testament. The Pharisees were unfit for baptism; baptism was unfit for the Lord Jesus. The rulers of his people appear in the presence of the Baptist as “children,” or rather as a race degenerate, and alien to true Judaism; while before Christ the Baptist lowly bends as the humblest servant in presence of the most glorious Lord. How different, then, the picture here presented of the spirit of the Old Testament from that drawn by some, who would identify the religion of the Old Covenant with Pharisaical Judaism!
8. The circumstance, that the Baptist is here introduced as denouncing sinners, sufficiently accounts for the difference between his delineation of the advent of Christ as the Judge, in the passage before us, and his description of Christ as the suffering Saviour in His address to His disciples, John 1 Besides, throughout the Old Testament, and indeed throughout Scripture, judgment and salvation are closely connected; and it has been too much the practice of scholastic theologians to sever and disjoin these two ideas. Further, the picture presented to the mind of the Baptist was evidently that of the advent of Christ, in all its phases to its final manifestation, commencing with the first, and including the second appearance of the Saviour. The judgment of separation, which was to be completed at His second advent, commenced at the first. The “fruits meet unto repentance,” which the Baptist required, were evidence of a genuine religious and moral renovation and regeneration, which implied the opposite of mere externalism and feigned repentance.
9. The baptism of water, and the baptism of fire,—the one administered by John, the other by Christ; the one bearing reference to the advent of the Messiah, the other, to the Messiah Himself, who had already appeared; the one, unto repentance in the sense of renouncing and dying unto the world, the other, unto repentance in the sense of the death and resurrection of Christ; the one, with water, which can only purify externally (legally and symbolically), the other, with the Holy Ghost, whose fire purifies internally, and purges away all dross; the one, to a forgiveness of sins which as yet was only matter of hope, and was to be really obtained in the baptism of the Spirit; the other, as the seal of actual forgiveness of sins. The baptism of John contained only the germ of a sacrament in the peace of hope which it conveyed, and the conditional assurance of a future baptism of the Spirit or reception into the kingdom of the Messiah; while Christ’s baptism of the Spirit finds its appropriate expression in the sacrament of Christian Baptism as the sign and seal of the inward baptism of the Spirit. It is indeed true that the baptism of the Saviour by John constitutes both the origin and the basis of Christian baptism; but it were to detract from the full meaning of that sacrament to assimilate it with the baptism of John, instead of viewing the latter as gradually advancing from the baptism of disciples to the baptism of Christ. Christian baptism, on the other hand, in the same proportion in which it degenerates in the church, relapses into the baptism of John, i. e., it approaches to the character of mere water-baptism. But whatever way we regard it, this great difference remains, that while the disciples of John still waited for the formation of the Church, we behold it in all its beauty, and with all its blessings of forgiveness and of peace. In other words, in the one case, the full idea of baptism, in its objective import as a sacrament, is realized,—the only requirement being, that he who receives the ordinance receive it in spirit and in faith; while, in the other, the objective aspect of baptism—or the Church—was still awanting. Hence the baptism of John might be repeated; not so Christian baptism. The baptism of John was not complete: in it the full idea of the rite was not exhausted;9 while we, who are baptized into the death of Christ, can fully enter into its meaning.
10. The transcendent majesty of the Lord appears, as He stands side by side with the Baptist, the greatest among them born of women under the Old Covenant. But the greatness of John consisted mainly in his almost unexampled humility, which from the first led him to designate his work which shook Israel to its centre as merely preparatory, and to subordinate himself at once to Him who was far greater than he.
11. The baptism of fire—in the sense of its purifying efficacy—had been already predicted by Malachi (Mat_3:3). Hence we conclude that the baptism of John must have conveyed at least some of the effects of this purifying fire. In another respect, also, there is a close connection between John and Malachi, as the denunciations of the Baptist were only a further development and application of the great truths propounded by the prophet about the insufficiency of the old theocracy; and just as Malachi pointed to the Baptist, so the Baptist points to Christ. Although the awakening produced by John, as every legal awakening, was not of a lasting character, its effects were permanent in the hearts of the elect, and more especially among his own disciples. This was sufficient—the Lord found a soil ready and prepared.
12. The most marvellous evidence of the spiritual power wielded by John was, that he induced the self-righteous and hypocritical professors of his age to submit to a baptism unto repentance, and that in such numbers, that it became a kind of agreeable fashion to go into the wilderness to be baptized (Joh_5:35).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
John and Christ; or the Founder of the New Covenant accredited by the last prophet of the Old Covenant.—John a connecting link between Malachi and Christ.—Old Testament prophecy pointing to Christ in the Baptist.—The baptism of John in its import, 1. as a token from God; 2. as concluding the Old Dispensation; 3. as a prophecy of the baptism of Christ.—As the renunciation of the world initiated by the Baptist only reached its completion in the death of Christ on the cross, so the baptism of John in that of Christ.—Baptism implies a descent into the depths,10 1. of self-knowledge; 2. of repentance; 3. of renunciation of the world; 4. of self-surrender to the grace of the Lord.—The call of the Old and New Testaments, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand: 1. The agreement between John and Christ in this call; 2. the difference in their meaning and application; 3. the call of John fully understood and completed in that of Christ.—The eternal basis and fundamental idea of all preaching—repentance and faith.—Baptism and preaching always go together.—John the prototype of preachers of repentance, as the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 1. The whole man, in all his saying and doing, a voice; 2. only a voice; 3. a voice crying; 4. a voice sounding through the wilderness, and awakening it.—Consistency of practice and teaching as giving point to our preaching—which is the voice of the Spirit in the world, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. 1. How it sounds: a. It sounds from every direction; b. in every place; c. at every hour; d. for every heart. 2. What the voice requires: a. A way for the Lord; b. to prepare the way for the Lord; c. to prepare it in the wilderness.—The way of the Lord is prepared by making a plain path. 1. The heart which was lifted up must be abased by repentance. 2. The heart that was abased must be lifted up by faith. 3. The heart which was wavering must have a straight path marked out by spiritual decision of life.—The outward renunciation of the world by the Baptist an emblem of that inward renunciation which every one has solemnly vowed in baptism.—Spiritual life is that state in which we freely renounce all things.—Wonderful effect upon the world of a believing renunciation of the world.—When judgment is at hand, our safety lies in being ready to part with all things.—Times of awakening are times of budding. 1. Their presence marks a spring-time from on high; 2. the blossoms must decay; 3. many blossoms are empty and fruitless; but, 4. some lasting fruit also remains.—The baptism of John the last festive hour of the Old Covenant.—Legal repentance must be followed up by evangelical repentance; i. e., sorrow for sin, caused by fear, must be followed by sorrow for sin, caused by love.—Genuine confession of sin marking spiritual decision and action.—Genuine confession of sin the foundation of every confession of faith.—Christ submitted to the baptism of John, although even Pharisees and Sadducees had received the rite.—The Pharisees and the Sadducees applying for baptism, or professing penitence. 1. Both parties were equally hypocritical. 2. The differed in the peculiar form of their hypocrisy. 3 They were equally overwhelmed by the judgment which descends on all hypocrites.—The self-righteousness of religious formalism always produces a generation of vipers hypocritically conforming to its demands: 1. A low and unimpressible generation; 2. a cunning; 3. a malicious and dangerous, generation.—The genuineness of our repentance must be proved by good fruits.—Our spiritual state must be brought to the test of everyday duty, or, Christian virtue must imply and perfect natural virtue.—There are in every age those who appeal to their descent from Abraham. Such appeal has, 1. always the same meaning; Isaiah , 2. different in different ages; and yet, 3. in every age equally vain and pernicious.—“God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham;” or, the creative power of free grace: 1. It can create children of Abraham from the stones of the wilderness (the hard hearts of the heathen),—for a stone has manifestly no life. 2. Such a change may be expected rather than in those who hypocritically profess to be Abraham’s children; for empty profession simulates life.—The Lord as Judge, under the figure of a husbandman: 1. among His trees; 2. on His threshing-floor.—“The axe is laid to the root of the trees:” 1. Its meaning: judgment has already commenced; there is no time to be lost. 2. Its application: be changed into good trees; bring forth fruits of righteousness; there is still time for it.—The majesty of Christ, as manifest in the contrast between John and Christ.—The baptism of water and the baptism of the Spirit; the baptism of the Spirit and the baptism of fire.—The baptism of the Spirit is itself a baptism of fire.—The grand final harvest in history; or, judgment and salvation. 1. The fan on the threshing-floor; or, the word of God separating the two classes. 2. The gathering of the wheat into the kingdom of love; or, the complete salvation of God’s people. 3. The chaff in unquenchable fire; or, the judgment of hypocrites.—The burning chaff, or the judgment: 1. As consuming all those outward forms, whether secular or spiritual, which had served as the vehicle of life; 2. as fiery torments of mere professors of religion, who sought for life in those forms alone,—a. throughout the course of history,—b. at the end of the world.—All empty profession as continually self-destroying and self-consuming—a hell: 1. an emblem of hell; 2. that which really constitutes hell; 3. the final object of hell.—The judgment of the world is at the same time the completion of the kingdom of God and of His children.
Starke:—The sum and substance of all Divine teaching is, repentance and faith.—He that would enter into the kingdom of heaven must, with heart and soul, forsake the kingdom of the world.—Wherever Christ goes with His Gospel, He finds nothing but a wilderness.—The law must rouse the conscience and open the door for the Gospel.—Teachers of religion must neither be flatterers, nor self-seekers, nor servants of men.—A Christian is satisfied with such provision as he can get. Let a minister be content even though he be placed in a wilderness.—Worldly men tremble, indeed, in view of judgment and of wrath; but although they dissemble and humble themselves, they are not sincere in Christ—It is quite possible to combine a holy zeal with genuine love.—Preachers should be acquainted with the prejudices of men.—We become Christians, not by birth, but by regeneration.—Outward communion with the Church will only ensure heavier judgment to those who enjoy it without becoming true believers.—The less merit a minister claims for himself in the work of his Master, the more successful will he be.—Holiness and humility advance at equal pace.—A preacher must know both how to allure and how to arouse his hearers.
Gerlach:—The tree which is unfit for bearing good fruit is fit at last for firewood. The man who will not be a monument of saving grace shall show forth the justice and holiness of God.
Heubner:—To become a preacher in the wilderness, requires moral heroism.—The doors of the heart must be thrown wide open if the King of glory is to enter in.—The confession of sinners (of sins) is of incalculable value.—”Generation of vipers:” there is frequently much of the serpent about the human heart, both in its malice and inclination to wards falsehood and deception.—The plainness and unsparing severity of John is far preferable to weak gentleness; the former rouses and excites just apprehension, while the latter lulls asleep and causes false security.—The false confidence of the Jews and their ancestors a warning to all.—National pride.—Only that which is good and pure can be admitted into the kingdom of Christ: all that is impure will be cast out.
ADDENDA
BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
The Sinaitic Manuscript of the Bible, which Professor Tischendorf rescued from the obscurity of the Convent of St Catharine on Mount Sinai, and carefully edited in two editions in 1862 and 1863,* two years after the issue of the third edition of Dr. Lange’s Commentary on Matthew, has been carefully compared in preparing the American edition of this work from Chapter 8 to the close of the Gospel of Matthew. I thought I was the first to do so, but just before I finished the last pages of this volume, I found that Bäumlein, in his Commentary on the Gospel of St. John,** and Meyer, in the fifth edition of his Commentary on Matthew, both of which appeared in 1864, had preceded me, at least in print. No critical scholar can ignore this manuscript hereafter. For it is the only complete, and perhaps the oldest of all the uncial codices of the Bible, or at least of the same age and authority as the celebrated Vatican Codex (which is traced by some to the middle of the fourth century), and far better edited by the German Protestant Professor, Tischendorf, than the latter was by the Italian Cardinal, Angelo Mai. In the absence of a simpler mark agreed upon by critics (the proposed designation by the Hebrew א has not yet been adopted, and is justly objected to by Tregelles and others on the ground of typographical inconvenience), I introduce it always as Cod. Sin., and I find that Dr. Meyer in the fifth edition does the same. As I could not procure a copy of the printed edition of this Codex till I had finished the first seven chapters, I now complete the critical part of the work by adding its more important readings in the first seven chapters where they differ from the textus receptus, on which the authorized English, as well as all the older Protestant Versions of the Greek Testament are substantially based.
*Novum Testamentum Sinaiticum, sive Novum Testamentum cum Epistola Barnabœ et Fragmentis Pastoris (Hermæ). Ex Codice Sinaitico auspiciis Alexandri II., omnium Russiarum imperatoris, ex tenebris protracto orbique litterarum tradito accurate descripsit Ænotheus Friderious Constantinus Tischendorf, theol. et phil. Dr., etc. etc. Lipsiæ, 1863. The text is arranged in four columns and covers 148 folios; the learned Prolegomena of the editor 81 folios. There is besides a magnificent photo-lithographed fac-simile edition of the whole Sinaitic Bible, published at the expense of the Emperor of Russia, in 4 volumes (3 for the Old and 1 for the New Testament, the latter in 148 folios), under the title: Bibliorum Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. Auspiciis augustissimis imperatoris Alexandri II. ed. Const. Tischendorf. Petropoli, 1862. A copy of this rare edition I have also consulted occasionally, in the Astor Library of New York. For fuller information on this important Codex (in the words of Tischendorf: “omnium codicum uncialium solus integer omniumque antiquissimus”), we must refer the reader to the ample Prolegomena of Tischendorf, also to an article of Hilgenfeld in his Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie, vol. vii. (1864), p. 74 ff. (who is disposed to assign it to a somewhat later age), and to Scrivener’s treatise, which I have not seen.
**Hengstenberg, in his Commentary on John, concluded in 1863, pays no attention whatever to this Codex, and is very defective in a critical point of view
Mat_3:3.—δια ησαιου, through Isaiah, instead of ὑπὸ Ἠσαί̈ου, by Isaiah. The reading διά is sustained also by Codd. B., C, D., Syr., Sahid., Æth., Vulg., Griesb., Lachm., Tischend., Alf., and is more correct; for the word was spoken by the Lord through Isaiah (a Domino per, as Irenæus has it). Hence insert in text on p. 67 after by: [through; διά].
Mat_3:6.—Cod. Sin.: ιορδανη ποταμω (also in Codd. B., C’., M., Δ., etc.) for ̓Ι ορδάνη ὑπ̓ αὐτοῦ. But ποταμῷ, river, may have been inserted from Mar_1:5.
Footnotes:
[1] Mat_3:7.—[Lachmann and Tregelles omit αν̓τοῦ; Tischendorf retains it.—P. S.]
[2] Mat_3:11.—[Literally: sandals, i. e. soles merely. of wood or leather, bound under the feet; hence ὑποδήματα form ὑποδέω. But the C. V. is more generally intelligible and may be retained.—P. S.]
[3][The German Gotthold, Gottlieb.]
[4][John represents also the prophetic or evangelical element of the Old Testament religion by pointing to “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” He united the spirit of Moses and that of Isaiah, and stood nearest to Christ, who was the end of the law and the promise. Hence he is called the greatest among those that are born of women and yet, as still belonging to the preparatory dispensation of the Old Testament, less than the least in the kingdom of heaven (Mat_11:11). The comparison is not one of personal merit, but of stand-point and official position.—P. S.]
[5]This view was for a long time generally entertained (for example, by Selden, Lightfoot, Danz, Ziegler, etc.); but has latterly been called in question by Schneckenburger (“Das Alter der jüd. Proselytentaufe,” Berl. 1828), by Meyer, and others, on the ground that “the earliest mention of baptism in the case of Jewish proselytes occurs in the Gemara Babyl. Jebamoth, 46, 2, while neither Philo, Josephus, nor the older Targums refer to such a rite. It seems to have originated after the destruction of the temple. Before that, proselytes were admitted by circumcision and the offering of a sacrifice, which latter, like every other sacrifice, was preceded by a Levitical purification with water, which the proselyte administered to himself.” But this very lustration was the germ of the later baptism of proselytes, only that it formed an adjunct of circumcision, and not of the sacrifice which was offered. After the destruction of the temple, when sacrifices ceased, the rite of baptism necessarily acquired much greater importance than formerly.
[6][Not necessarily so. It is harsh to separate “the Holy Spirit” and “fire,” as referring to opposite classes of persons, when they are clearly united in ὑμῦς, and by the copulative καί (not the disjunctive ἤ, aut). Moreover this prophecy was literally fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in tongues of fire. Act_2:3.—P. S.]
[7][“Do penance,” is the Roman Catholic version, made at Rheims, A. D. 1582. It follows closely here, as elsewhere, the Latin Vulgate which renders the Greek μετανοεῖτε, Mat_3:2, etc.: Poenitentiam agete. This difference of translation affects materially the whole conception of repentance. Luther translates: “Thut Busse;” but there is a difference between Busse, repentance, and Büssung, penance.—P. S.]
[8][The original substitutes here a (—) for a (,). I looked at the work quoted and rectified the reference.—P. S.]
[9][Dr. Lange: “Die Taufe des Johannes ging noch nicht in die volle Tiefe;”—a Play on words with reference to the etymology of Taufe from teufen, tiefen, i. e., to plunge into the deep, to submerge. With the same reference Dr. Lange calls Christian baptism “die absolute Vertiefung.” which is equivalent in meaning to the apostle’s figure of burial with Christ: “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death,” Rom_6:4.—P. S.]
[10][“Die Taufe geht mit uns in die Tiefe.”—Comp. the preceding note.—P. S.]
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.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–17 And saying, Repent ye--Though the word strictly denotes a…
And saying, Repent ye--Though the word strictly denotes a change of mind, it has respect here (and wherever it is used in connection with salvation) primarily to that sense of sin which leads the sinner to flee from the wrath to come, to look for relief only from above, and eagerly to fall in with the provided remedy.
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand--This sublime phrase, used in none of the other Gospels, occurs in this peculiarly Jewish Gospel nearly thirty times; and being suggested by Daniel's grand vision of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of days, to receive His investiture in a world-wide kingdom (Dan 7:13-14), it was fitted at once both to meet the national expectations and to turn them into the right channel. A kingdom for which repentance was the proper preparation behooved to be essentially spiritual. Deliverance from sin, the great blessing of Christ's kingdom (Mat 1:21), can be valued by those only to whom sin is a burden (Mat 9:12). John's great work, accordingly, was to awaken this feeling and hold out the hope of a speedy and precious remedy.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–17 § 15. — COMING AND MINISTRY OF JOHN THE…
§ 15. — COMING AND MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST, Mat_3:1-13.
1. In those days — The days in which our Saviour dwelt at Nazareth, as is detailed in the last chapter.
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Yet between the two chapters an interval of near thirty years has transpired. The infant Saviour has grown to manhood, and the period when the main work of his mission must be accomplished has arrived. His reputed father, Joseph, after living for some years as a carpenter at Nazareth, had died. His maternal brothers and sisters had grown up around him. The prodigies which attended his birth had almost passed from memory. His younger brothers, ignorant of the occurrence, doubted his claims to the Messiahship. His mother almost alone retained the remembrance undimmed; so that when the time for his first miracle arrived (Joh_2:3) she erred, not by want of faith, but by impatience for the mighty work.
Why did the brethren of our Lord, and his Nazarene townsmen, not recognize in his perfection of childhood his divine nature? This is not wonderful. It is probable that his innocent goodness appeared tame and insipid to their depraved tastes. It attracted less notice than the flaring smartness of many a boyish genius, or the precocity of any boyish bully. The sinless man was despised and rejected; no wonder the sinless child. Of the personal appearance of Jesus, not the slightest description is given in the New Testament. Pictures of him were in existence as early as the fourth century; but they are rather representatives of the ideal of Jesus in the mind of a man of pictorial genius, than an authentic likeness of his person.
Came — The evangelist says not that John lived; or that he appeared or flourished; but emphatically he came. The beginning of the explanation of the word is found in Mat_17:10-13, where our Lord declares that John the Baptist is Elias (Elijah) that should come. And by this we are referred to the fourth chapter of Malachi, which chapter should be well studied, in connection with the history of Elijah the prophet, by all who would get the key to the character of John. For John was the antitype of Elias, and in him Mal_4:5 was fulfilled.
John the Baptist — His miraculous birth, with its attendant wonders, is narrated by Luke, chap. 1. John was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, devout persons and of priestly rank. His mother was cousin of Mary, the blessed virgin mother. His birth was six months previous to that of the Messiah. It was pre-announced by the angel Gabriel, was attended by marked miracles, and celebrated by his father in an inspired song. He waxed strong in spirit, and preparatory to his stern mission “he was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.” While our Saviour was maturing to manhood in Galilee, John was growing up to be his forerunner in the hill country of Judea; so totally unacquainted, that when Jesus came into John’s presence for baptism, the Baptizer knew him not.
The Baptist — That is, the Baptizer. Many learned men have maintained that the baptism of proselytes existed among the Jews before the coming of John. After a critical review of the question of its existence, (Bib. Rep., April, 1853,) Prof. Stuart decides that “the probability, on the ground of evidence, is strong against it.” John then was probably called the baptist as being the first baptizer. Passages like Joh_1:25 and Mat_21:24-27 are most naturally explained under the view that John originated baptism proper by divine appointment, but in accordance with a Jewish expectation, that something of the sort would be established, suggested by passages like Isa_52:13; Eze_36:25; Zec_13:1.
Preaching — That is, proclaiming; or still more literally, heralding, or crying forth as a herald who goes forth to make proclamation. Heralds were anciently kings’ criers, who went forth to proclaim their mandates.
Wilderness of Judea — In the deserts near the Jordan. John appears to have begun his ministry first in the rural districts near Hebron. Afterward he removed nearer to the wild tract between Jerusalem, the Jordan, and the Dead Sea; and finally took his position at Bethabara. This spot he selected from the need of plenty of water. Along the western margin of the Jordan and Dead Sea the country was wild, and covered with but a thin population. Bethabara was traditionally believed to be the place where Joshua and the tribes entered the land of Canaan. Hence its name signifies the ford of the Jordan.
It is proper here to point out some of the special traits in which Elijah was the historical type of John.
Elijah was the founder or introducer of the prophets, as Moses was of the law, and as John was the introducer of the kingdom of Christ. He preceded the coming and indwelling of God with the prophetic order; as John preceded the coming and indwelling of God in Christ. He dwelt apart, as John did, in the desert, as a rebuke of the corruption of the social mass. He had his Ahab and his Jezebel, by whom he was murdered in intention; as John had his Herod and his Herodias, by whom he was murdered in reality.
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 1. In those days] See Luk_3:1, where the time…
1. In those days] See Luk_3:1, where the time is defined.
came] Rather, cometh. The same word and the same tense as in Mat_3:13.
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John the Baptist] So named by the other Synoptists and by Josephus: in the fourth gospel he is called simply John, a note of the authenticity of St John’s gospel. Josephus mentions the great influence of John and speaks of the crowds that flocked to hear him preach and to be baptized of him. He says John taught men “Justice in regard to one another and piety towards God.”
preaching] Lit. heralding, a word appropriate to the thought of the proclamation of a King.
the wilderness of Judea] i. e. the uncultivated Eastern frontier of Judah. The term also includes the cliffs and Western shore of the Dead Sea. In this wild and nearly treeless district there were formerly a few cities, and there are still some luxuriant spots. See Tristram’s Topog. of H. L. Ch. iv.
Ch. Mat_3:1-12. John Baptist preaches in the Wilderness of Judæa. Mar_1:2-8; Luk_3:1-18; Joh_1:15-34
St Luke does not name the Pharisees and Sadducees, he gives the particular exhortations to the various classes of people who came to hear John. In the fourth Gospel the Baptist’s disclaimer of the Messiahship (cp. also ch. Joh_3:25-36) and his teaching respecting the person of Christ are reported more fully.
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 vv1–17 (1) John the Baptist.—For the birth and early life…
III.
(1) John the Baptist.—For the birth and early life of the forerunner of the Christ, see Notes on. Luke 1. The manner in which he is mentioned here shows that his name was already well known to all readers of the Gospel. So, in like manner, Josephus names him as popularly known by the same title (Ant. xviii. 5, § 2), and describes his work as that of a preacher of repentance in nearly the same terms as St. Matthew. The symbolism of ablution as the outward sign of inward purification was, of course, derived from the Mosaic ritual. It was ordered for the consecration of the priests (Exo_29:4; Lev_8:6), for the purification of the leper and other unclean persons (Lev_14:8; Lev_15:31-32). It had received a fresh prominence from the language of Isa_1:16, of Eze_36:25, of Zec_13:1, and probably (though the date of the practice cannot be fixed with certainty) from its being used on the admission of proselytes, male or female, from heathenism. The question asked by the priests and Levites in Joh_1:25 implies that it was expected as one of the signs of the coming of the Messiah, probably as the result of the prophecies just referred to. That which distinguished the baptism of John from all previous forms of the same symbolism was, that it was not for those only who were affected by a special uncleanness, nor for the heathen only, but for all. All were alike unclean, and needed purification, and their coming to the baptism was in itself a confession that they were so. The baptism was, as the name implied, an immersion, and commonly, though not necessarily, in running water.
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The abrupt way in which the narrative is introduced “in those days,” after an interval of thirty years from the close of Matthew 2, may be explained as referring to the well-known period of the commencement of John’s ministry; or it may loosely refer to Mat_1:23, and imply that time had gone on with no change in the general circumstances. (Comp. Exo_2:11. See Excursus on the intervening History in the Notes on this Gospel.)
Came.—Literally, with the vividness of the historic present, cometh.
Preaching.—Here, as everywhere in the New Testament, the word implies proclaiming after the manner of a herald.
In the wilderness of Judæa.—The name was commonly applied to the thinly populated region in the southern valley of the Jordan, and so was equivalent to “the country about Jordan” of Luk_3:3, including even part of the district east of the river. In this region John had grown up (Luk_1:80).
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 vv1–17 Vers. 1-12. THE HERALD. (Parallel passages: Mar_1:1-8 Luk_3:1-18) His…
Vers. 1-12. THE HERALD. (Parallel passages: Mar_1:1-8 Luk_3:1-18) His public appearance and proclamation (vers. 1, 2), as foretold by Scripture (ver. 3). His Elijah-like dress (ver. 4). He is listened to by multitudes (vers. 5, 6). His faithful warning to typical Jews, and his pointing not to himself, but to the Coming One (vers. 7-12). The date at which he appeared is stated, in Luk_3:1, to have been "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar; i.e. between August, A.D. 28, and August, A.D. 29" (Schurer, I 2., p. 31).
In those days; and in those days (Revised Version). Probably merely contrasting those past days of the beginning of the gospel with the present, when the evangelist wrote. (cf. Mat_24:19, Mat_24:22, where the days yet future are contrasted with those present) In Mar_1:9 the expression is used directly of the Lord"s baptism. And (Revised Version); de ; Hebrew usage taking up the narrative. (of Jos_1:1 Jud_1:1 Rth_1:1 Est_1:1) Came; cometh (Revised Version); historic present; (cf. Mat_2:19) paraginetai , here equivalent to "come forward publicly," make one"s public appearance. (cf. especially Luk_12:51 Heb_9:11; also especially 1 Mace. 4:46; also infra, ver. 13 and Mat_2:1) John; Johanan. The name occurs first as that of a high priest in, apparently, the days of Rehoboam. (1Ch_6:9, 1Ch_6:10, Authorized Version) "The Lord is gracious" was a fitting title for one born by the special grace of God, and sent to be the herald of his grace to all men. (Tit_2:11) The Baptist.
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(1) The Jews were far from having attained the simplicity of our present system, by which each person has both a family and a Christian name, and is thus designated with sufficient exactness for all the ordinary purposes of life. Their custom of name-giving was, and still largely is, as follows:
(a) A Hebrew name is given to the child at circumcision. This is the holy name, and is used at all strictly religious ceremonies; e.g. when called to read the Law in the synagogue.
(b) Each person has a name whereby he is known among the Gentiles. This is, at the present time, the name used for business and social purposes, and may be either Hebrew or of some ether language. It is usually connected, either in sound or meaning, with the holy name. So Paul and Saul, Didymus and Thomas (for numerous examples, cf. Hamburger, "Real-Encycl.," vol. 2. pp. 831-836. Lowe, "Memorbook of Nurnberg," pp. 1828: 1881).
(c) He may have, either as well as or instead of the last, a name which designates him more exactly
(a) by mentioning his father or some other relation; e.g. Bartimaeus, Barsabbas (probably);
(b) by mentioning some physical, mental, moral, or other peculiarity; e.g. James the Little, Simon the Zealot, Barnabas (the son of exhortation), and, from non-biblical authors, James the Just, Rabbi Judah the Holy, Samuel the Astronomer, John the Shoemaker.
The title "the Baptist" belongs, of course, to this last class, and must have been given him partly because of the number of persons whom he baptized, and still more because baptism was the visible and external aim and result of his preaching.
(2) What was there new in John"s baptism? In considering this it must be remembered that
(a) dipping in water had been commanded in the Law as a religious rite to priests (Exo_30:20 Exo_40:12; of. Lev_8:6) on their first consecration to their office, and on each occasion that they fulfilled the holiest parts of their duties; (cf. the sprinklings of the Levites on their consecration, Num_8:5-22) and to all Israelites in eases of ceremonial uncleanness. (Lev_14:8 Num_19:13)
(b) It was very frequent among the Essenes (cf. especially the quotations from Josephus in Bishop Lightfoot, "Colossians," p. 171, edit. 1875).
(c) It was, we can hardly doubt, already customary at the admission of proselytes. There are, indeed, no certain allusions in Josephus, Philo, and the older Targumists (cf. Leyrer, in Cremer, s.v. baptizw ) to the baptism of proselytes properly so called; but
(a) it is distinctly mentioned in the Mishna, and in such a way as to imply that it was an ancient custom, for the schools of both Shammai and Hillel assume it as a matter of course ("Pes," 8:8);
(b) as with books, so with customs, acceptance in two bodies originally one, as the Jewish and Christian Churches were, throws back the book or custom before the date of the separation. In other words, it is most improbable that Jews would only have begun to practise baptism at the admission of proselytes after it had been practised by a body which had separated from them. Jews would not be likely to adopt the distinguishing rite of Christians.
(c) Thus already, before John"s time, baptism was largely practised as a symbol of purification from sin and of entrance on a new and holier life. Wherein, then, lay the distinguishing feature of John"s baptism? Apparently in its being extended to all Israelites, without their having any personal ceremonial hindrance, and more particularly in the special aim and purpose to which it now referred. It signified the entrance upon a new life of expectation of Messiah. As of old, the nation had accepted the offer of God"s kingdom, and, having washed their garments, (Exo_19:10, Exo_19:14) had been sprinkled with blood, (Exo_24:8) so now, when this kingdom, was about to be more fully manifested, not the nation, indeed, considered as a whole, but (in harmony with the individualization of the gospel) those persons who responded to the invitation, came forward and publicly renounced their sins and professed their expectation of the kingdom (Edersheim, "Life," etc., 1:274). It is thus easy to account for the deep and widespread impression made by John the Baptist, (cf. Act_18:25 Act_19:3) and for the important position that he holds in summaries of the origins of Christianity. John"s baptism was treated by our Lord himself as the first stage in his earthly ministry, which culminated in the gift of the Holy Spirit, (Act_1:5) and naturally by the apostles as the historical introduction to the teaching and work of Messiah. Josephus"s account of John the Baptist is well known, but too interesting to be omitted. "Now, some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod"s army by Aretas came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John that was called the Baptist. For Herod had had him put to death, though he was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue both as to righteousness towards one another and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for baptism would be acceptable to God, if they made use of it, not in order to expiate some sins, but for the purification of the body, provided that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. Now, as many flocked to him, for they were greatly moved by hearing his words, Herod, fearing that the great influence John had over the people might lead to some rebellion (for the people seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it far best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of his leniency when it should he too late. Accordingly, he was sent a prisoner, in consequence of Herod"s suspicious temper, to Machaerus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. So the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and was a mark of God"s displeasure against him" ("Ant," 18:5. 2, Shilleto"s Whiston). Observe that
(1) Josephus confirms the Gospel account of the extent of John"s influence over his countrymen; but
(2) attributes his imprisonment and death to a political, not a moral, cause. It is quite possible, on the one hand, that political reasons were not altogether wanting; and, on the other, that Josephus was ignorant of the more personal and stronger motive of Herod"s action. Preaching (khrusswn). Unlike euaggelizomai this word refers, not to the matter, but to the manner, the openness, of the proclamation. In contrast to the esoteric methods alike of heathen philosophers and of Jewish teachers, whether Pharisees, Sadducees, or Essenes. The herald proclaims as a herald; cf. Isa_40:9 (the original context of our ver. 3); Gen_41:43 (LXX). In the wilderness. By this term is not necessarily meant absolute desert, but "des lieux pen habites ou non cultives" (Neubauer, "Geogr. du Talm.," p. 52: 1868). The very place in which John preached was part of the symbolism of his whole life. The expectation of Messiah must lead to separation, but separation deeper than that of those who called themselves the "separated" (Pharisees). Of Judea. The exact expression comes elsewhere only in the title of Psalm 63, and in Jud_1:16, where it is defined as "in the south of Arad." It seems that, while different parts of the rugged district from Jericho southwards, (Jos_16:1) immediately on the west and north of the Dead Sea, had their distinctive titles the wilderness of Siph, (1Sa_23:14, 1Sa_23:15) of Maon, (1Sa_23:24) of Engedi, (1Sa_24:1) of Jeruel, (2Ch_20:16) of Tekoa (2Ch_20:20) the whole district was, as belonging to the tribe and even more certainly to the kingdom and province of Judah, known by the name of "the wilderness of Judaea." According to tradition, John was now preaching near Jericho. We find him soon after this at Bethany beyond Jordan, (Joh_1:28) and later still at ten on, near Salim, in, or on the borders of, Samaria." (Joh_3:23)
Vers. 1-12. The forerunner.
I HIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
1. His sudden appearance. It is the first mention of John the Baptist in St. Matthew"s Gospel. He flashes upon us suddenly, like his prototype Elijah in the Old Testament. St. Luke tells us of his birth, of his solitary life: he "was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel." Now the time was come. "In those days," St. Matthew says, while the Lord was still at Nazareth, living a family life with brethren and sisters the children, in all probability, of Joseph by a former marriage taking his share in the family duties, labouring with his hands to support his virgin mother; in those days, while the Lord was still unknown, unrecognized, in the world that was made by him, comes John the Baptist.
2. His preaching.
(1) "Repentance." The word means properly a change of mind, an inner, spiritual change. It is the first note of warning in the New Testament, the first practical exhortation addressed generally to all men the first sermon in the First Gospel. St. John, indeed, belonged rather to the Law than to the gospel. He was the embodiment of the Old Testament, as Christ is the embodiment of the New. But he was preparing the way of the Lord, announcing the kingdom that was coming; therefore he preached repentance. A mighty change must come over all who are to be true citizens of that kingdom, fellow-citizens with the saints. All needed that great change. The Sadducees must lay aside their false doctrine, their worldliness, their indifference; the Pharisees must be set free from their formalism, their hypocrisy, their self-righteousness. All who would receive the Christ, who would come to him for peace and for salvation, must alike repent. Old things must pass away; all things must become new; indifference must make way for devotion, selfishness for self-sacrifice, the love of the world for the holy love of God,. This is the blessed change of repentance, the great need of every human soul.
(2) The kingdom of heaven. The Hebrew nation had been the kingdom of God, the theocracy. But Daniel had prophesied a kingdom" that should fill the whole earth, that should never be destroyed an ever-lasting dominion that should not pass away. That kingdom came from heaven; its government, its laws, its modes of life and thought and worship, are those of heaven; the great commonwealth of which the saints are citizens is now (uparcei) centred in heaven; (Php_3:20) it looks to heaven as its home, its proper country; it shall be established there when the kingdoms of this world shall have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. It is the great Church of Christ, the congregation of Christian people dispersed throughout the whole world. It was at hand, not yet come, but very near. Those who would be true citizens of that heavenly kingdom must repent; they must die unto sin, they must receive the consecration of a new and higher life. It is true still as it was then, "Except ye be converted,... ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
3. His description.
(1) By the prophet. He was a voice. John himself applied that description to himself. (Joh_1:23) Be was not the Christ, he said, not Elias, not that prophet; he was but a voice. Humility was one of his most striking characteristics. It was scarcely to be looked for in a man of his stern, severe character. In such a one you would expect unworldliness, self-sacrifice, austere self-control; but scarcely that deep, sincere humility which marked the holy Baptist. The power of God"s Spirit can unite in one personality graces which seem almost incompatible. "He must increase, but I must decrease," he said afterwards. He had been famous while Christ was still unknown. He was willing to be forgotten so that Christ should be glorified; nay, in his Utter self-forgetfulness, he rejoiced with joy in the overshadowing glory of the greater Prophet. He is an example to all Christian preachers. He was only a voice the voice of one crying. His preaching was powerful, aggressive, energetic; the voice was loud and strong. His self-forgetfulness, the intensity of his conviction, gave strength to his preaching. It was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, not in great cities, not in the crowded haunts of men. God sets his ministers sometimes in what seems to them a wilderness; they must work there, where he has placed them; each must do his best in that station to which God has called him. The voice must sound everywhere in the quiet country and in the great city, in the cottage and in the palace. God sends his ministers where it pleases him; they must accept the leadings of his providence. "Here am I; send me," is the trustful answer of the obedient Christian. But what was the cry? "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." Isaiah"s words, it may be, referred in their primary sense to the return from the Captivity. The Lord of hosts was about to lead his people back; he goeth before them. A high way through the desert must be made for the great King; every valley must be exalted, every mountain and hill made low. But they had a deeper meaning, a more august fulfilment. The Lord, the incarnate God, was coming now. The proud heart must be abased; the hands that hang down, the feeble knees, must be lifted up; the path must be made straight; there must be no wavering, no inconsistency, no crooked designs, but a simple, straightforward, decided readiness to receive the coming Saviour. He was at hand; soon he would knock at the door; the gates must be lifted up; the hearts of men must be prepared to welcome and to admit the Lord of glory.
(2) By the evangelist. He was an ascetic; he wore the rough garment of the prophet; like Elijah, he was a hairy man. He was a Nazarite; his unshorn locks waved rough and long in the wind; he drank neither wine nor strong drink; his food was of the commonest, that which the desert supplied locusts and wild honey, the food of the very poor. He was a very high saint of God, but a saint of the Old Testament type rather than of the New; suited for the times, as Elijah had been; greater than any who had preceded him. But, our Lord has told us, "he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
II HIS BAPTISM.
1. The multitudes. There was great excitement. It was a time of eager expectation. John"s character, his asceticism, his strange, solitary life, his stern, awful, heart-stirring preaching, commanded attention. Multitudes went out to listen to him and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan." The wilderness was lonely no more; it was filled with thronging crowds. There was an attraction not to be resisted in his preaching. Men could not but come; they could not but listen. Alas! they did not, most of them, repent. To the many he was what Ezekiel had been in his time, "a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument;" for they heard his words, but they did them not.
2. They were baptized of him in Jordan. He preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. John baptized with water; Christ, with the Holy Ghost and with fire. John"s baptism was a preparatory rite; Christ"s baptism was a sacrament of regeneration, the one baptism. (Eph_4:5) John"s baptism was unto repentance; Christ"s baptism was into Christ. John"s baptism was incomplete; it was not baptism with the Holy Spirit; (1Co_12:13) it did not remove the necessity of Christian baptism. (Act_19:5) But it was a holy rite, performed in accordance with the Divine command, (Joh_1:33) symbolical, like the purifications under the Law, of that spiritual cleansing which the sinful heart needs, and consecrated at last by the example of the Lord Jesus himself.
3. Their confession. The Greek word seems to imply that the confession was complete, not a mere general acknowledgment of sinfulness, but a special confession of definite sins. John"s baptism was unto repentance; confession was the preliminary, the pledge of that repentance without which the baptism was an empty sign. God requires confession of us, not necessarily to man, but to himself. There is no word of Holy Scripture more precious than that gracious promise, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
III HIS RECEPTION OF THE PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES.
1. They came to his baptism. It was strange the Pharisees came with their intense sectarianism, their hollow formalism; the Sadducees with their indifference, their unbelief. But they came; the power of John"s preaching, the attraction of his character and ascetic life, the widespread excitement, drew them with the multitudes who flocked to the banks of Jordan. So people come now in crowds to hear a great preacher; but, alas! often their hearts are not touched. They listen, but they are not converted. Did they seek to be baptized? We might have thought that they were drawn to John only by curiosity, but the Greek preposition seems to imply that they sought baptism at his hands. We cannot tell their motive. Perhaps it was simply the strong current of public opinion; they came because others came; as, alas! many come to church nowadays. Perhaps it was the desire to stand well in the sight of the people, who all regarded John as a prophet. Certainly it was not the right motive. John was unwilling to receive them; they were unfit for his baptism; they wanted the baptism only, not the repentance; the putting away of the filth of the flesh, not the inquiry of a good conscience after God; they did not feel the need of that change of heart which was the necessary preparation for the coming kingdom. Probably John refused to receive them. St. Luke tells us (Luk_7:30) that the Pharisees generally were not baptized of him.
2. His address.
(1) He rebukes them. Mark his unsparing severity. He was no flatterer. The high places in the Church were then in the hands of the Sadducees. The Pharisees had great influence; men revered them for their supposed sanctity; they were the recognized guides of public opinion. But John had no soft words for them. It is painful to Christians to speak sternly; but sometimes holy sternness is necessary, sometimes it is a bounden duty. It is never more necessary than in the case of those who have deluded themselves into the belief that they are righteous men, while their religion is mere formalism, hypocrisy, outside pretence. John called them a generation of vipers, offspring of vipers; our Lord used the same strong words afterwards. They were like the serpent in Genesis-cunning, deceitful; dangerous; all the more so, because they hid their venom under the appearance of godliness. The Baptist distrusted them: "Who hath warned you?" he said. He had not expected that such as they would seek his baptism. He knew the hardness of their hearts, the hollowness of the formalism to which they had enslaved themselves, their pride and confidence in their exclusive privileges. Nothing short of a miracle, he thought, could arouse them. They knew, indeed, that there was wrath to come; but they supposed it was reserved for the Gentiles, and that they, the seed of Abraham, were safe. Could it be that God"s Holy Spirit had touched even those proud zealots, and softened even those stony hearts? Nothing is impossible with God. If he bears with hardened sinners, his ministers may well bear with them. Therefore
(2) he counsels them. They must show the sincerity of their repentance by bringing forth the fruit of a holy life fruit worthy of the repentance which they professed. John"s baptism was a baptism of repentance. Repentance is a change of heart and thought; such a change must manifest itself in a renewed, a consecrated life. They must not trust in their descent from Abraham. God could raise up children to Abraham from the very pebbles that lay in the bed of Jordan. He would gather Gentile believers in crowds into his Church. They would become heirs of the faith of Abraham, true children of that father of many nations, in whose seed all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. We must always be on our guard against putting our trust in external privileges. Those privileges may be very great, very precious helps; but they are only helps toward the spiritual life; they are not the life itself. We must not dare to despise others who seem destitute of our privileges, but rather strive always to show, by increasing holiness of life, that we value and use the blessings which have been conferred upon us. And
(3) he warns them. Judgment was coming. Only holiness of heart and life could endure the searching eye of God. His baptism would not help them unless they brought forth fruit worthy of repentance. The Judge was already in the world. John was nothing in comparison with him not worthy to do him the most menial service. And as John was inferior to the coming Saviour, so was his baptism inferior to the Lord"s baptism. John baptized with water; Christ would baptize with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. The baptism which Christ afterwards ordained was a baptism of water, but not of water only; it was a laver of regeneration, a new birth of water and of the Spirit, a baptism into Christ by the one Spirit. (1Co_12:13) And he was to baptize with fire. The prophecy was literally fulfilled on the great Day of Pentecost; but its meaning is not exhausted in that first fulfilment. Christ baptized with fire not only then; he baptizes with the Holy Ghost, not only in the sacrament which he ordained. There is a more precious baptism yet; the perpetual baptism of the blessed Spirit"s presence, a true baptism with fire the fire of holy love and sacred energy, which spring from that Divine indwelling. This is the baptism which we must seek and pray for with all the power of our spirit, the only baptism which can help us in the great day, the baptism which distinguishes the saved from the lost, the wheat from the chaff. We must seek it all the more earnestly because he who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost is also the Judge, the awful Judge of quick and dead. He will gather the wheat into his garner; he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
LESSONS.
1. Repent. See that your repentance is deep and true, a real change of heart; for only the children of repentance are children of the kingdom.
2. Imitate John the Baptist in his self-denial, in his ardent zeal, in his deep humility.
3. Trust not in external privileges; see that your religion is true not words, not forms, not mere excitement, but a real active principle of life.
4. Think of the awful fire of judgment; pray for the refining fire of the gracious Spirit.
4. Seek earnestly to be well-pleasing to God in all things.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Vers. 1-3. Preparation for Christ.
It was no accident that brought about the conjunction of the mission of John the Baptist with the advent of our Lord. A Divine providence, the purpose of which was declared in an ancient prophecy, connected the two events. The conjunction is shown by that prophecy not to be like one of binary stars. The work of Christ is not associated with that of John. The Baptist is but the forerunner the pioneer opening up the way for the glorious King.
I PREPARATION FOR CHRIST IS NEEDED. The Jews were not fit to receive their Messiah; they needed the preliminary work of the prophet of the wilderness to make them rightly susceptible to the new influences of the kingdom. The world will not welcome its Saviour till the way has been made ready for his approach. Individual men and women are far from the kingdom of heaven, and the intervening district is wild and impassable till God makes a providential path across it. The ploughman must precede the sower. It is the work of John the Baptists to break up the fallow ground. Sometimes the messenger comes in the form of a great sorrow. Men are arrested and aroused, made to feel their helplessness and their need. Then, but not till then, they may receive the kingdom.
II THE METHOD OF PREPARATION MAY BE VERY UNLIKE THE METHOD OF SALVATION. John the Baptist is very different from Jesus Christ. The one is a recluse, the other a brotherly, sociable Man; the one lives in a wild, antique fashion, the other quite simply and naturally; the one speaks in thunder, the other in the still, small voice of sympathy and "sweet reasonableness." Nevertheless, John prepares for Jesus. The furnace that melts out the ore is harsh and fierce, yet it is making the metal ready for the goldsmith to work up into his beautiful design. Most un-Christlike experiences may bring us near to Christ.
III THE ESSENTIAL PRELIMINARY TO THE RECEPTION OF CHRIST IS REPENTANCE. The burden of the Baptist"s message was "Repent!" It is not to be supposed that he only preached the word. He must have laboured to produce the thing; he must have made it his aim to lead his hearers to a deep sense of their sin. Until a man owns his guilt he will not seek pardon. The reason of this is obvious directly it is perceived that salvation is just deliverance from sin; for who would wish for such a salvation while still clinging to his evil habits? To such a person Christ would appear not at all as a deliverer, but rather as an invader, as a robber who came to steal the choice treasures of the heart.
IV REPENTANCE IS ENCOURAGED BY THE PROMISE OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. That kingdom is near at hand; therefore the Baptist urges his hearers to lose no time in making themselves ready for it. The vision of the better life reveals the shame and horror of the life of sin. If there were no hope there would be no repentance; in such a state the awakened conscience could only plunge the soul into remorse which is hell. Therefore the message of the Baptist must be twofold. It is not right or wise to preach of sin by itself, nor to try to induce repentance chiefly by painting the guilt of the past in the blackest colours. The anticipation of Christ is the best inducement to repentance. W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER Vers. 1-15. The appearance of John the Baptist.
The interval between the last verse of the second chapter and the first verse of this chapter measures the period of the life of Christ stretching from his earliest childhood to his entrance on his public ministry, or close thereupon. Meantime we are here brought to the time when appeared one of the most distinctly marked, most honoured, characters of all history. John the Baptist, son of Zacharias and Elisabeth, was the child of prophecy. He was one of the noblest expressions, if not the very noblest, of the true prophet in his character and work. And as he sealed the testimony of his life with his life"s blood, it was given him to win the brilliant crown that awaits the prophet and martyr united in one. This is not the place for anything resembling a dissertation on the prophetic character in general, nor on the life and character of John the Baptist in particular. This only is proposed here, to give expression to what may seem the leading suggestions of this chapter as to "one called as was" John the Baptist, prophet and herald of the Teacher, the Example, the Saviour of the world. Let us remark respecting John the Baptist that
I HE WAS NOT MERELY CALLED TO BE A PROPHET WHEN THE TIME CAME THE TIME OF BIRTH, OF TRAINING, AND OF ENTRANCE UPON PUBLIC LIFE BUT HE WAS ANNOUNCED AND HE WAS THE SPECIALLY ANNOUNCED, OF PROPHECY. (Vers. 2, 3)
1. This circumstance places John the Baptist in a very small and select number. Many prophets there had been, and many things did they prophesy; but they did not prophesy of many persons.
2. The circumstance must equally stamp with a special peculiarity the prophet so announced. For such a man there must be some very special work.
3. To be long foretold by prophecy must wonderfully stretch the usefulness, or at all events the use, of the person so foretold. Through centuries his name is ordained to be a power. Faith attaches itself to it; hopes cluster round it; love invests something in it.
4. The fact itself must act as a lesson of non-merit and of non-boasting to the person who is all the while exalted by it. A man may be betrayed, perhaps, to think that what he is and what he does, and the consequences and results of his character and doings, are to his own praise (as, if these are wrong, they certainly redound to his own blame); but the use that came of him before ever he was must be all the work of a higher power. He can take nothing to himself for this.
5. In the light of the fulfilling of prophecy, the advent and career of John the Baptist is not only an evidence in the matter of revealed truth, but it is a leading, first-class evidence. It multiplies by a thousand the force of impression of that kind of evidence, when compared with all that results from the fulfilment of a mere event foretold.
III THE FAITHFUL ATTITUDE OF HIS OUTER LIFE TO HIS VOCATION OR MISSION. The kingdom of God is indeed not meat, nor drink, nor dress. Yet these may have a tale to tell. They rarely fail, in fact, to bear testimony one way or another. They serve to a large degree the part of a test of the mind and the spirit that rule in any one, and certainly not least in one, a large portion of whose life is lived in public.
1. Plainness of dress, abstemiousness in diet; a strict if not severe hold upon the habit of life, shall neither constitute conclusive evidence of the inner life, nor constitute under any circumstances merit; but if the man be honest in these outside "appearances" they do constitute virtue, and are an evidence of wisdom and of goodness; even as their Opposites, ostentation, intemperance, vanity, and heedlessness, are faults that soon hasten to number themselves in the rank of vice and sin.
2. In the dress and diet of John the Baptist there may sometimes seem to bean approach to the ostentation of austerity. We may correctly hold that a certain proclamation of temperateness and severity was intended to be heard. But as these were real, of ostentation there was nothing. The degeneracy of many a day, many a period, the extremes of "purple and fine linen" and "rags." betokened a state of things that required to have most plainly preached, the plainest gospel of plain dress, plain food, and plain, simple manner and speech.
3. The particular burden of the ministry of John the Baptist did simply demand a faithfully corresponding, practical illustration, in the presence of his audience, so to say. Otherwise nothing would have been, in this case, easier than for the whole congregation of the people to observe, to think, and to utter it forth, that their prophet of denunciation was one who "said, but did not." Harmonies there are in the vast ranges of nature in its highest and in its deepest things; in its sights most open to vision, and its subtleties most veiled with secrecy. And let us learn that it is ours to make harmonies true and genuine in what shall seem all the littlenesses of our daily life, our outer life, our life of sense as well as of soul.
4. We are not to imagine that John the Baptist exhibits this temperateness and plainness simply as the prophet non-imitable (as the priest of old wore garments of splendour not to be assumed by others), but as the example, who is set forth for this purpose, to be imitated, and imitated of all. There is therefore no more uncertain witness beneath the sun than that of him whose sarcastic motto has been written, "Do as I say, but not as I do.
III HIS ONE EXHORTATION TO THE PEOPLE. (Ver. 1) As there are epochs and turning-points in the history of the individual, so also in the history of a nation, and even of the world. Such a one had notably come in the time of the Flood. But now one very different had arrived. The nation of "Jerusalem and all Judaea" was hoary in sin. Yet it led the world in Divine appointments. The short, sharp summons to it, that meant from the lips of this prophet all mercy, was one of:
1. Alteration; the alteration of the kind that the word "repentance" carries. This is an alteration
a. deep from conviction of mind;
b. deep bathed in sorrow of heart; and
c. developed into a reformed life.
2. The altering was challenged upon one ground, viz. the finding of a new principle of rule on earth that which could be described as the kingdom or rule of heaven. The principle by which all heaven was ruled was to learn to acclimatize here on earth. Oh, wonderful grace and hope! If the "pattern of the tabernacle" once on a time came down from heaven, much more the pattern of this new-born rule, the not-passing, not-decaying, not-vanishing regime of human society. "For the kingdom of heaven is at hand." So this great practical repentance, rooted in all the deepest of spiritual thought, conviction, and feeling, is pleaded for because of the
(1) novel opportunity;
(2) unparalleled splendour and hope; and
(3) tremendous responsibility that lay couched in the fact that "the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
And this meant the regeneration of the world after long process of ages, through the regeneration of the individual.
IV HIS FIRST RECEPTION ON THE PART OF THE PEOPLE, AND HIS VARIOUS TREATMENT OF THAT RECEPTION.
1. He was received with attention and obedience on the part of the great bulk of the sinful and sin-burdened people (vers. 5, 6); and he baptized these, with the manner and, no doubt, with some words of approbation and encouragement.
2. He was repaired to by "many of the Pharisees and Sadducees." This meant either a very great and real change already in them, or it meant less than none at all in any good direction, but, on the contrary, an adherence too faithful to their ingrained foolishness, their long blindness, and their rooted hypocrisy. The treatment accorded to these men by John the Baptist proves that the latter was the real state of the case with them. Notice in this treatment:
(1) Its utter plain-spokenness. Fearless of the fearless must John the Baptist have been when he apostrophized such men in the terms, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Events proved that it was from no entrenched position that could reckon on safety, let a man say what his tongue might, that John spoke thus.
(2) Its consenting still to believe that there was a chance, and, therefore, still holding to the words of exhortation: "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.
(3) Its measured, faithful warning, with urgency added (vers. 9-12).
(4) Its self-disclaiming (ver. 11.)
(5) Its vigorous, fervent exalting of "the Mightier (vers. 11, 12). The language John held in reference to his greater Successor Jesus, in vers. 11, 12, is not only an exalting of the Person of Christ, but a description unsurpassed of his Divinest energy, as baptizing with the Holy Ghost;" of his purifying and discriminating energy with fire, and fan in hand, and cleansing of the threshing-floor; and of his consuming energy, "unquenchable fire" for the "chaff.
V HIS MODEST RECEPTION OF JESUS, WITH ABSOLUTE SELFRENOUNCING, IN HIS PRESENCE. The attitude of John the Baptist at this unexpected crisis was indeed to be expected. The thing to be observed is that it did not belie expectation! The mark of this great character was made indeed in those days. And the picture is engraved on the page before us, like a lively portraiture indeed. Would that more, many more, of the true servants of God and disciples of Jesus Christ were as transparent and as straight and as charged with sacred energy and reverent modesty! B.
HOMILIES BY MARCUS DODS Vers. 1-12. The forerunner.
I JOHN"S APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER. He claimed to belong to the old prophetic line by appearing clad in the prophetic garb, the single rough garment of skin. His manner of life harmonized with his dress; leaving the comfortable home and well-provided life and fair prospects of a priestly family, he adopted the meagre, comfortless life of an ascetic. To entangle himself with the world would have tended to blind him to its vices and silence his remonstrance. He gathered round him a few men like himself, and "taught them to pray." Thus he became "a voice." The rough garment, the long, uncared-for hair, the wiry, weather-beaten frame, the ascetic life, were all eloquent. In any age, in order to become a voice for good, a man must be unworldly, consistent, himself the most convinced. The men who have few desires for earthly gain and comfort are accepted as the messengers of Heaven. There is no power on earth like the power of a consecrated life.
II JOHN"S WORK WAS TO ROUSE THE PEOPLE TO PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD; to make ready for the coming of their King. (For illustrations of the figure, Stanley"s "Through the Dark Continent" may be consulted.) The herald of a royal progress has generally nothing to do but proclaim the approach of the king; triumphal arches are extemporized by the meanest village, unseemly things are swept away or hidden, the entire, population turns out to shout a welcome. But John had to turn the thoughts of men from lifelong pursuits; to convert, not an individual, which is hard enough, but a land. He had to prepare the way of One who came with power to bestow the Holy Ghost and make men the sons of God a King who could be acceptable only to men thirsting for God and righteousness. Who are prepared to welcome Christ? Who are in a condition to hail as good tidings salvation from sin?
III MEANS USED BY JOHN.
1. He preached and baptized. John preached that repentance was needed asa preparation for the coming King. He taught the people that it was a spiritual, not a physical, condition which qualified for entrance into the kingdom; that if it was a mere question of furnishing a number of Abraham"s children as subjects for the Messiah, God could turn the stones into children of Abraham. In fact, he excommunicated the whole of Israel, and assured them they could enter the kingdom only by repentance and by the grace of him who would baptize with the Holy Ghost.
2. He put this teaching in a symbolic form. He baptized. The rite characterized his ministry. He was the Baptist. He made the born Jews undergo the rite proselytes underwent. Three things, say the Jews, make a proselyte circumcision, baptism, sacrifice. And the law for the baptism of a proselyte was: "They bring the proselyte to baptism, and, when they have placed him in the water, they again instruct him in the weightier and lighter matters of the Law, which, being heard, he plunges down and comes up, and behold he is an Israelite in all things." Baptism was the symbol whereby the new birth was expressed to the eye. The Gentile went down into the water as into a grave, in which his old man was left, and he came up a new man, born now a Jew and not a Gentile born of the water. To ask Jews to submit to this ordinance was to ask them to acknowledge that their physical birth as children of Abraham was insufficient to prepare them for their King. Points for homiletic elaboration: connection of word and symbol in sacraments relation of sacrament to grace conferred John"s New Testament use of the title "Holy Ghost.
IV RESULTS OF JOHN"S WORK. There was a fascination about him which drew all classes. The very sight of an old prophet of the extinct type was worth a day"s journey to the wilderness. It became the fashion to see John and be baptized. The authorities paid him a compliment they can have paid to very few they sent a deputation to ask him if he was the Messiah. But a public character or a preacher may be very popular, and yet the impression he makes may be superficial and transitory. Some were guided to Jesus by John, but it is difficult to say how far he succeeded in his object.
V TESTS OF THE REALITY OF THE IMPRESSION HE MADE WERE GIVEN BY HIMSELF. No one was more surprised than he was at the kind of people that came to him. "Who hath warned you?" They professed repentance, but it was not profession which fitted them for the kingdom," but the reality. Jesus was to come "with his fan in his hand," to make a thorough separation between bad men and good. Meanwhile judge of your repentance:
1. Not by its present expression in misery of mind or shame. Some derive a deceptive comfort from the remembrance of the wretched days they spent, the tears they shed, the shame they felt, when first they awoke to their sin. Others suspect their own repentance because it brought no such sorrow. Other griefs have struck them so fair and indubitably, have left so distinct a mark, have forced them to so genuine an expression of their pain, that they are staggered on finding no such evident sorrow in their repentance. But there are various temperaments, and you must not measure your grief with the grief of other men. And repentance is not like a worldly loss it resembles not a fever or acute illness that seizes a man suddenly, but a chronic ailment, which hangs about him always, never making him cry out with pain, but always there, altering his whole life.
2. Judge by the fruits. Wait to see if it destroys sin in the life. Only a trained eye distinguishes the different kinds of corn in the blade, but any passer-by knows the difference between an ear of wheat and an ear of barley. Sunset is often a good deal like sunrise; but wait a little, and the difference is unmistakable. Fine spirit is like water; but apply a match, and the difference is apparent. Compare repentance about a worldly matter investing in a bad concern; how careful a man is afterwards! The man whose repentance is genuine will not be able to indulge in sin as he did. Especially his characteristic sins will be abandoned.
CONCLUSION. Christ is now revealed the Giver of the Holy Ghost. This is the gospel preached to us that there is a river into which we may be plunged, and from it rise new creatures, the whole past swept away, and ourselves started on a new life. We have been baptized in sign that the Holy Ghost is freely given to us. God has by baptism opened to us individually this greatest Gift. We need the outward symbol, for we disbelieve in the Spirit"s indwelling. So superficial has been our repentance, so unhelpful, so deceitful, that we always feel as if we were left to struggle alone against sin. We need to listen still to John, whose message was, "There standeth One among you who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. D.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD Vers. 1-4. The herald.
"In those days," viz. while Jesus dwelt at Nazareth, the place of separation and reproach, "came John the Baptist," viz. to herald him. Man"s order is to champion that which is popular, God"s order is to herald truth. We note
I THAT JOHN CAME IN THE QUALITY OF ELIJAH.
1. In this quality he was predicted.
(1) Gabriel stood at the right side of the altar of incense, evidently in response to the prayer of Zacharias which had ascended with the incense. Gabriel promised Zacharias that he should have a son in his old age, gave directions for the ordering of the child, adding, "And he shall go before the face of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the heart of the fathers to the children," etc. (Luk_1:11-17)
(2) Gabriel"s words clearly allude to those of Malachi, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers," etc. (Mal_4:5, Mal_4:6)
(3) "Elijah," in these passages, comes in two senses, and on the same principle it is evident that the place in Isaiah, (Isa_40:1-3) in the text applied to John, is in its ultimate sense also applicable to the Tishbite.
2. John accordingly behaved like Elijah.
(1) His dwelling was in the wilderness. There he was brought up. (Luk_1:80) There he exercised his ministry. Note: We get our moral strength for the rough work of life by retirement with God.
(2) John applied to himself the words of Isaiah, "I am the voice," etc. (see Joh_1:28) Note:
(a) John was simply the "voice," Jesus is the "Word.
(b) This voice arose out of silence.
Zacharias was dumb until he pronounced the name of "John." So we, until visited by the pledges of his mercy and grace, are dumb before God.
(3) His diet was the wild food of nature. "Locusts" were "clean". (Lev_11:22) Our conversation should be pure. "Wild honey," whether from the rock in which the bee had swarmed, or the saccharine exudation from the palm, date, or olive trees. (see Deu_32:13 1Sa_14:26) Note: Men of heavenly tempers are not epicures in earthly food.
(4) He wore a rough garment. This appears to have been the usual dress of the prophets. (see Isa_20:2 Heb_11:37) Therefore pseudo-prophets assumed it. (Zec_13:4) John"s garb particularly resembled that of Elijah. (2Ki_1:8) The girdle of dried skin, rough and strong, denoted the wearer to be a man of resolution, like his prototype. (Luk_12:35 1Pe_1:13) Note: If John"s dress was plain in the sight of men, he was himself "great in the sight of God". (Luk_1:15) Let us not plume ourselves upon our clothes, or value our fellows by outward appearances.
3. Yet is John distinguished from that prophet.
(1) He distinguished himself. When priests and Levites demanded it" he were Elijah, he said, "I am not". (Joh_1:21)
(2) Jesus also distinguished him. "If ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah which is to come. " So after John"s death he said, "Elijah indeed cometh first and restoreth all things". (Mat_11:14 Mar_9:12) John Baptist did not "restore all things.
(3) It is evident that in these prophecies there is a double sense. They point to two advents of Jesus. In the first he came to set up a spiritual kingdom, and was heralded by Elijah in "spirit and power." In the second he will come to establish a visible kingdom, and will be heralded by Elijah in person.
II THAT JOHN CAME TO HERALD THE KING MESSIAH.
1. His testimony was unequivocal.
(1) The "Lord" whom he proclaimed is styled "Jehovah" in Isaiah. John pointed out Jesus of Nazareth as that very personage. (see Joh_1:15, Joh_1:29)
(2) Herein was John the greatest of all the prophets. (Mat_11:9-11) Other prophets gave marks and tokens by which Christ might be known. John pointed him out in Person. The greatest triumph of prophecy is to bring men to the personal Jesus, in their very soul to see him as the saving Christ.
2. His qualifications were unimpeachable.
(1) John was indicated as a prophet of the Lord in the extraordinary circumstances of his birth. (Luk_1:5-25) In these he resembled Samson and Jeremiah. (Jud_1:13 Jer_1:5)
(2) He had his commission immediately from heaven. (Luk_3:2)
(3) The Jews acknowledged him. Multitudes of them came to his baptism (ver. 6). No one disputed his claims Mat_21:26; (Matthew Mar_11:32 Luk_20:6)
(4) The testimony of John to Jesus is therefore most valuable. The marks by which John identified Jesus as the Christ were Divine and inimitable. (Joh_1:32-34) It is difficult to conceive how the unbelieving Jews can dispose of John"s testimony.
III JOHN CAME ALSO TO HERALD MESSIAH"S KINGDOM.
1. He heralded it as the kingdom of the heavens.
(1) The Christian discipleship is a kingdom.
(a) It has subjects.
(b) It has a King.
(c) It has laws.
(2) It is called the kingdom of the heavens.
(a) Its principles are those of heaven.
(b) In the heavens its principles are made eternal.
(c) It prepares its subjects for translation to the heavens.
(3) It is in "spirit and power" the "kingdom of the God of heaven" described by Daniel. (Dan_2:44 Dan_7:13, Dan_7:14) In the other Gospels it is called the "kingdom of God.
(4) John, though a priest, never officiated in the temple. But he introduced the Lord of the temple. (Mal_3:1) Was there not here an intimation that the priesthood of Aaron was now to give place to that of Melchizedek?
2. He proclaimed its near approach.
(1) The coming of the kingdom in "spirit and power" dates from the ascension of Christ. (cf. Psa_110:1, 2 Luk_19:12-14) That event was indeed "at hand," but not the coming of the kingdom in visible glory.
(2) The spiritual kingdom is entered by faith. Believers do not pass out of it at death. In that "article" Jesus, however, comes in Person, though invisibly, to receive them to himself. (Joh_14:1-3)
3. He therefore preached repentance.
(1) "The voice," etc. The imagery here is borrowed from the practice of Eastern monarchs, who on taking a journey or going on a military expedition, used to send persons to "form the road." So repentance must:
(a) Bring down the eminences of pride, presumption, ingratitude.
(b) Fill up the hollows of inattention, apathy, despondency.
(c) Straighten the crooked places of prejudice, censoriousness, covetousness.
(d) Smooth the rough places of sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, profanity, immorality, instability.
(2) John"s garb and mode of living preached. His habits were in keeping with his doctrine. Sweet is the harmony between the lip and life.
(3) The time of his preaching was opportune. Jewish writers admit that their nation was then fearfully degenerated. They soon filled up the measure of their iniquity. No preaching was more needed than that of the Baptist.
(4) The place also was opportune. The mind of every man, whether Jew or Gentile, is like the wilderness in which John preached, and needs his stirring words. J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 1. The mission of preaching.
"Preaching in the wilderness of Judaea." John Baptist was not a teacher; he was precisely a preacher, in the first and proper sense of that word. Everywhere in the New Testament it implies proclaiming after the manner of a herald. It is the term used in the Old Testament of the witnessing work of the prophets. (see Neh_6:7 Isa 61:1Jo Isa_3:2, etc.) There is a distinct place for the preacher and for the teacher. They may be combined in one man, and the processes of preaching and teaching may go on together; but usually, if a man has the one gift, he has not the other; and we are constantly making the mistake of expecting a man to have the one gift because we see plainly that he has the other. Two things are gathered up in the term "preaching.
I PREACHING AS PROCLAIMING A MESSAGE. The preacher is but the agency, or medium, by means of which a message is conveyed. So John calls himself a "voice," because what he said was the all-important thing. This is the idea of the prophet, who was the medium through which a message of God was carried into the minds of men. It is essential to every preacher that he should have something to proclaim; therefore what Christian preachers preach is called the "gospel," or "good news.
1. But the preacher must be sure of his message. Compare the expression used by prophets, "The word of God came to me." A preacher proclaims, not what he thinks, but what he knows; what he grips as the truth of God given him to declare. The "accent of conviction" is the test of the true preacher.
2. And they who hear must feel convinced of the authority of the messenger. Not an authority arising out of his office, but out of the evidence that he holds a commission, and has a message. In what sense can preachers nowadays be said to have their messages direct from God?
II PREACHING AS PERSUADING TO RESPOND TO THE MESSAGE. This brings to view the personal force of the preacher. To be a herald he need but be a voice. To be a persuader he must be a voice with a tone in it; and that tone is the personal element. See, then, the kind of preachers that become men of power. They are men who "tell the truth;" but they are much more than this they are men who, like John the Baptist, can "make the truth tell. R.T.
The plea by which repentance is urged.
"For the kingdom of heaven is at hand." There seems to be evidence that Judaea was in a very low moral condition when John the Baptist appeared. Ceremonial religion took the place of practical righteousness, rabbinical rules covered personal indulgence and iniquity, luxury enervated the wealthy, and restlessness led to crime among the masses. It was a time when a moral reformation was needed, and John was, first of all, a national reformer. What John sought was the national repentance the change of mind of the nation (compare Jonah"s preaching to Nineveh). He dealt with individuals, not in relation to their private concerns, but as representatives of the nation; so we find that he convicts of the sins of classes, not of personal sins. From this point of view John"s work can be effectively compared with that of the ancient prophets (e.g. Elijah), who Were essentially national reformers. Those old prophets had demanded national repentance as a preparation for some special manifestation of the delivering or restoring power of God. The revelation of grace could not come unless men were morally prepared to receive it. So John pleads that the Messianic manifestation is close at hand, is at the doors; and there should be readiness to receive it. Illustrate by the Eastern custom of demanding that the roads should be repaired when an Eastern king proposed to visit a district.
I WE CLAIM REPENTANCE BECAUSE GOD WILL JUDGE, Our plea is the sinfulness of sin, the certain consequences of sin, the future judgment on sins. "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." This is right for the individual. Partly right. But even for the individual it may be doubted whether the revelation of Divine grace is not a more truly humbling force. "A sense of blood-bought pardon soon dissolves a heart of stone.
II JOHN CLAIMED REPENTANCE BECAUSE GOD WILL.SAVE. The "kingdom of heaven" is the manifestation of God"s delivering grace and power, the fulfilment of the national hope. He says, because God is gracious, therefore repent. The apostle ventures to declare that the "goodness of God" should "lead to repentance." And that is true to human nature, though doctrinal theologies have tended to obscure the truth. Love is the great melting, humbling power. God"s redemption is the true convicter of sin. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John A. Broadus 1886 · Public Domain On vv1, 13 Mat 3:1-12.
Mat 3:1-12.
Ministry Of John The Baptist
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The second great division of this Gospel comprises Matthew 3 to Mat 4:11, and narrates the events connected with the entrance of our Lord upon his public work, including the appearance and ministry of John the Baptist
(Mat 3:1-12), the baptism of Jesus (Mat 3:13-17), and his temptation. (Mat 4:1-11.) Here for the first time (Mar 1:1-8), and (Luk 3:1-18), become really parallel to Matthew; for Luke’s apparently parallel matter heretofore has been entirely distinct from Matthew.
Mat 3:1. In those days. The Rev. Ver. has, And in.[1] This signifies, in the days in which Joseph and his family dwelt at Nazareth, as recorded in the preceding sentence. This event and the appearance of John are thrown together as belonging to the same period, no account being taken of the uneventful intervening time, which, in this case, was near thirty years. (Luk 3:23.) So Exo 2:11, "in those days," passes over the whole time from Moses’ early youth, when his mother returned him to Pharaoh’s daughter, until he was forty years old. (Act 7:23) In other cases the expression is equally indefinite, though the time passed over is shorter (e. g., Isa 38:1 Mar 1:9 Act 1:15). The same use of the phrase is found in classic writers also, where nothing is aimed at but a general designation of the time. Luke (Luk 3:1) here gives the date of John’s appearance with great particularity. Pontius Pilate became procurator A. D. 25-6. The fifteenth year of Tiberius is probably to be counted from the time when he was associated with Augustus (two years before the latter’s death), which would be A. D. 12. There cannot be much doubt that John appeared in A. D. 26. Came, or rather, arrives, presents himself. The word is several times used to denote the arrival or public appearance of an official personage (compare 1Ma 4:46 Heb 9:11; and below, Mat 3:13); and it may be intended here to denote John’s appearance in his official character. The Greek has here the present tense, precisely as in Mat 3:13.
[1] The Greek has a particle of transition, de, which we often render ’and,’ ’but,’ or ’now’ and sometimes we begin more naturally without any conjunction. It is best to render it here, because the narrative seems to go right on without any marked interruption. The "Western" form of Greek text omitted the de, probably because it was thought there ought to be a pause.
John the Baptist.—The most probable date for the beginning of the Baptist’s ministry is A. D. 20, say in the spring. (Compare on Mat 2:19.) The name John (Johanan—Jehovah graciously gave) had become common since the time of the popular ruler John Hyrcanus (died B. C. 106); thirteen persons of that name are mentioned in Josephus; and in the New Testament, besides the Baptist and the Evangelist, we meet with John Mark (Act 12:12), and John of the high-priestly family. (Act 4:6) John the forerunner was well known to Matthew’s first readers as the ’Baptist,’ or Baptizer (compare Mat 14:2, Mat 14:8); we find Josephus also ("Ant.," 18, 5, 2) mentioning him as "John, who was surnamed Baptist." This name, the Baptizer, was of course given him in consequence of the remarkable rite he performed, which attracted universal attention, and was repeatedly used as the characteristic representative of his whole work (see on "Mat 21:25").—The circumstances connected with John’s birth are given only by Luke. Of his history since childhood we only know that he ’was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.’ (Luk 1:80) His father would be anxious to give to the child of such hopes the best priestly education, and it is probable that he retired to ’the deserts’ after the death of his parents, who were of advanced age at the time of his birth. Such a step would be natural only when grown, or nearly so. In the wild region between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea (see below), he probably spent his time in religious meditation, ripening for his great mission. Yet that he knew human nature, and observed the men of his own time, appears from Luk 3:10-14. In this same wild region dwelt the Essenes (see on "Mat 3:7"), and here also Josephus ("Life," 2) locates the teacher Banus, with whom he spent three years in seclusion, at a period about thirty years later than John’s public appearance. It had been appointed (Luk 1:15) that from the beginning of John’s life he should not ’drink wine or strong drink,’ i.e., should live as a Nazirite, (Num 6:1-21) implying extraordinary and lifelong consecration to God’s service. A child of the mountains, and living a temperate life in the open air, he probably became strong in body, as well as ’grew strong in spirit.’ (Luk 1:80.) Compare on Mat 3:4. It is probable (see on "Mat 3:13") that he began his ministry when about thirty years old. "This protracted period of private discipline and preparation in the life both of Christ and his forerunner, is in striking contrast with our own impatience even under the most hurried superficial processes of education." (Alexander).—That a priest should be called to be a prophet was not strange; compare Jeremiah and Ezekiel.—For a further account of John, see throughout this chapter, and on Mat 4:12; Mat 9:14 ff.; Mat 11:2-19; Mat 14:1-13; Mat 17:10-13; Mat 21:25, Mat 21:32. Kohler: "Though the historical information is very limited, there are few persons of whom we can form so clear and lively a conception.... An imposing figure, in whose posture and traits of countenance were depicted iron will, and deep, holy earnestness, yet without passing into hardness. In general, John may be called a classical example of the manifestation of love in the garb of severity. We cannot doubt his profound compassion for the unhappy condition of his people, sunken in sin and exposed to judgment, although it would hardly occur to us to conceive of him as weeping, like the Lord Jesus, over the coming fate of Jerusalem."
Preaching. See on "Mat 4:17". The word wilderness is used both in Old Testament and New Testament to denote a region not regularly built up and cultivated, portions of which were quite sterile, while other portions might be not destitute of herbage and other spontaneous productions. Such a tract was commonly used for pasturage, (Psa 65:12; Joe 2:22; Luk 15:4) and sometimes contained watchtowers, (2Ch 26:10) settled inhabitants (Jdg 1:16), and even cities. (Jos 15:61 Isa 42:11) The ’wilderness of Judea’ was a region of no very well marked boundaries, lying west of the Dead Sea, and of the extreme southern part of the Jordan, occupying about one third of the territory of Judah (Keim), and extending up into that of Benjamin. The narrow plain of the Jordan, from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, is also called by Josephus ("War," 3, 10, 17) a desert, and described by him as parched, unhealthy, and destitute of water, except the river. (So also Thomson, II. 159 f.) Now Luke (Luk 3:2-3) says: ’The word of God came unto John, in the wilderness, and he came into all the country about Jordan preaching,’ and John (Joh 1:28) speaks of him as engaged in baptizing, a little later than this, at Bethany, beyond Jordan. We thus conclude that Matthew, as in many other cases, contents himself with the general statement that John’s preaching and baptizing took place in the wilderness of Judea, which included the lower part of the Jordan valley, and being without definite boundaries, did not need to be carefully distinguished from the similar desert region extending farther up the river, into which (as we gather from the other Evangelists) John gradually moved, at length crossing the river, (Joh 1:28, Joh 10:40) and at a later period, (Joh 3:23) crossing back and removing to Enon, which was certainly west of the Jordan.[1] There is thus no occasion for inferring, as some do, from Luke’s expression, that John first preached for some time in the wilderness at a distance from the Jordan, and afterwards came to the river. It should be observed that events described as occurring in ’the wilderness,’ or ’the wilderness of Judea,’ must of necessity be referred to different parts of that quite extensive district. John had probably lived (Luk 1:80) in the southwestern part, towards Hebron; the scene of his baptizing was in the northeastern part; and the tract mentioned in Joh 11:54, apparently formed the northwestern part. As to the scene of the temptation, see on "Mat 4:1". The same Greek word is used in all the passages of New Testament in which the Com. Vet. has ’wilderness’ or ’desert.’ (See further on "Mat 14:13".)—John called the people away from the seats of government and of fixed social influences, into the wilder regions, where thought more readily becomes free, and where the mind is at once drawn out towards God, and driven in upon itself. (Keim.) In such a region was given the law of Moses, and pretenders to a prophetic mission, after our Lord’s time, repeatedly drew crowds into the wilderness. (Act 21:38 Mat 24:26; Joshua "Ant.," 20, 5, 1; "War," 7, 11, 1.)
[2] Prof. Warfield (Expositor, April, 1885,) suggests that the Bethany of Joh 1:28, was north of the Sea of Galilee, and so John the Baptist "traversed the whole length of Palestine, preaching repentance." But the evidence of a site called Bethany in that vicinity is very slender, and his argument from John’s narrative is far from satisfactory. Jesus might easily encounter several persons fromBethsaida, and one from Cana, among the great crowds attending John’s baptism, no matter where it was; for the people came fromall parts of the country. And the assumption that "the third day" of Joh 2:1, is to be counted not from Joh 1:43, but from Joh 1:35 (so as to place Jesus at Cana the day after he was with John), is arbitrary, unnatural, and in fact, when one compares the series of successive days in Joh 1:28-29, Joh 1:35, Joh 1:43, and then "the third day" in Joh 2:1, it seems to be out of the question. We can see no reason to believe that the Baptist ever reached Galilee.
Mat 3:2. This verse gives a summary statement of the substance of John’s preaching. Repent. To understand the precise New Testament use of this highly important term, we must distinguish between the Greek word, the English (borrowed from an imperfect Latin rendering), and the Hebrew expressions in Old Testament. The Greek word here and commonly used in New Testament (metanoein), signifies to change the thought, and so to change the opinion or purpose. This inner change naturally leads to, and thus the expression may be said practically to include, a corresponding change of the outward life, which we usually describe by the word ’reform.’ A change of thought does not necessarily involve grief; and the word is sometimes used by Greek writers for a mere change of opinion or judgment, where there was no occasion for regret. But in all moral uses of the term there will of course be grief at the previous wrong course that one now determines to abandon. Whenever this Greek word is employed in New Testament (unless we except Heb 12:17), the reference is to changing the mind, purpose, from sin to holiness, and no one will do this who does not feel deep sorrow for the sin he has already committed. Sorrow is thus not expressed by the word itself, but in New Testament use is always suggested from the nature of the case, and thus becomes associated with the word. To repent, then, as a religious term of New Testament, is to change the mind, thought, purpose, as regards sin and the service of God—a change naturally accompanied by deep sorrow for past sin, and naturally leading to a change of the outward life. A different Greek word (metamelesthai), signifying to change the feeling of care or concern, to regret, is employed in Mat 21:29-30, Mat 21:32; Mat 27:3. and in Rom 11:29; 1Co 7:8, 1Co 7:10 (’repented of’); Heb 7:21. This regret might of course lead to change of purpose and conduct, but the term does not denote any such change, though the circumstances sometimes suggest it. It is only the first Greek word that New Testament uses to denote repenting of sin. The distinction between the two must, however not be too strongly pressed, as shown by their use in the Septuagint (see below). A changed feeling might imply, or at least suggest, a changed purpose, and a changed purpose a changed feeling, so that both would sometimes yield substantially the same sense.
The Hebrew word for ’repent’ denotes pain, grief, and sometimes suggests change of thought and purpose: the Septuagint translate it sometimes by the second and sometimes by the first of the above-mentioned Greek words.[1] It is noticeable that the prophets nowhere exhort men to ’repent’ (though telling them to mourn and weep over their sins), but use the simple and practical word ’turn.’ The New Testament also frequently employs this general and practical term, variously translated into English by ’turn,’ ’return,’ ’he converted’; and in Act 3:19, Act 26:20, both are combined, ’repent and turn’. (compare Act 11:21, ’believed and turned’) It thus appears that the New Testament exhortation is substantially the same as that of the prophets (e. g., Joe 2:12-13 Isa 55:7 Eze 33:11, Eze 33:15 Zec 1:3-4); but the New Testament term (metanoein) rendered ’repent’ is more specific, and strictly denotes the inward change, leaving the outward change to be inferred as a consequence, or sometimes distinctly expressing it by adding the word ’turn.’ In both the Old Testament and the New Testament exhortation the element of grief for sin is left in the background, neither word directly expressing grief at all, though it must in the nature of things always be present.
[1] This Hebrew term is repeatedly applied to God, as grieving over something he had done (the Sept. using both Greek words). The people are said to ’repent’ (Septuagint metamelesthai) in Exo 13:17 Jdg 21:6, Jdg 21:15, and in Job 42:6; (in these the Septuagint mistranslates). As applied to grieving over sin, it is found in Jer 8:6 : ’No man repenteth of his wickedness,’ and Jer 31:19; ’After my turning, I repent,’ (in both passages the Sept. has metanoein). Compare Ecclus. Sir 48:11. The other purges of Old Testament in which English Version represents men as repenting, have in the original ’turn’. (1Ki 8:47 Eze 14:6, Eze 18:30) But in the Apocrypha, Ecclus. Sir 17:24 exhorts men to turn to the Lord and forsake their sins, and says, ’Unto those that repent (metanoein) he grants return to him.’ Wis 11:24, ’Thou overlookest men’s sins that they may repent.’ Compare Wis 12:10, Wis 12:19. Ecclus. Sir 44:16 speaks of Enoch as ’a pattern of repentance (metanoia) to the generations.’ Compare also Wis 5:3.
But great difficulty has been found in translating this Greek work into other languages. The Syriac versions, unable to give the precise meaning, fall back upon ’turn,’ the same word as in Hebrew. The Latin versions give ’exercise penitence’ (paenitentiam agere). But this Latin word, penitence, apparently connected by etymology with pain, signifies grief or distress, and is rarely extended to a change of purpose, thus corresponding to the Hebrew word which we render ’repent,’ but not corresponding to the terms employed in Old Testament and New Testament exhortations. Hence a subtle and pernicious error, pervading the whole sphere of Latin Christianity, by which the exhortation of New Testament is understood to be an exhortation to grief over sin, as the primary and principal idea of the term. One step further, and penitence was contracted into penance, and associated with medieval ideas unknown to New Testament, and the English Versions made by Romanists, now represent John, and Jesus, and Peter, as saying (paenitentiam agite), ’do penance.’ From a late Latin compound (repaenitere) comes our English word ’repent,’ which inherits the fault of the Latin, making grief the prominent element, and change of purpose secondary, if expressed at all, Thus our English word corresponds exactly to the second Greek word (metamelesthai), and to the Hebrew word rendered ’repent,’ but sadly fails to translate the exhortation of the New Testament. It is therefore necessary constantly to repeat the explanation that the New Testament word in itself denotes simply change of purpose as to sin, leaving us to understand from the nature of things, the accompanying grief and the consequent reformation.[1]
[2] A pamphlet, by Treadwell Walden, entitled "An Undeveloped Chapter in the Life of Christ " (New York, Whittaker, 1882), is devoted to the word metanoia. It Presents forcibly the grievous incorrectness of the translation, ’repentance,’ but does not show what English word or phrase could now be substituted in a popular version. The discussion is interesting and profitable. But we think the author exaggerates the importance of his theme, as monographs are apt to do, and is quite mistaken in supposing that the word expresses simply an intellectual change, a transfigured theory of moral truth.
But while John’s exhortation is substantially the same as that of the prophets, it is enforced by a new and strong motive, the near approach of the long-expected Messianic reign. Is at hand, or more literally, has come near. (So Mat 4:17, Mat 10:7) This is here mentioned by Matthew alone, who writes especially for Jews. They continually spoke of Messiah as ’the coming one’ (Mat 11:3), of the Messianic period as ’the coming age’, (Heb 6:5) and John tells them that Messiah’s reign has drawn near. He does not say, Repent, and so the reign will draw near, but Repent, for it has drawn near (Calvin). The word basileia, which everywhere in English Version is rendered kingdom, means (1) kingship, the possession of royal authority, e. g., Rev 11:15; ’the kingship (sovereignty) over the world is become our Lord’s and his Christ’s’; compare Rev 17:18; Mat 16:28; Psa 22:28. (2) ’reign,’ the exercise of royal power, or the period during which it is exercised; (3) ’kingdom,’ the subjects, the organization (Mat 12:25), or the territory. (Mat 4:8) In the sense of the territory it is not used in New Testament concerning Messiah’s kingdom, and probably not in the sense of organization. Of the renderings kingship, reign, and kingdom, two would frequently be necessary, and sometimes all three at once, to express the full sense of the original term. As we have to choose one, the word ’reign’ is in this and many other passages a more nearly adequate rendering than ’kingdom,’ and less likely to mislead. The kingdom (reign) of heaven is an expression used more than thirty times by Matthew, though he sometimes (Mat 12:28; Mat 19:24; Mat 21:31, Mat 21:43) uses the one always found in the other Evangelists, ’kingdom (reign) of God.’ ’Heaven’ is in this phrase always plural in the Greek, ’the heavens,’ an imitation of the plural (dual) form, which the word always has in Hebrew, and not differing in meaning from the singular. Heaven, regarded as the special residence of God, is sometimes very naturally used to represent God himself (e. g., Dan 4:26; Daniel 1Ma 3:60; Luk 15:18, Luk 15:21), just as we say, ’heaven grant,’ etc., and so ’kingdom of heaven’ is equivalent to ’kingdom of God.’ The Jews, scrupulous about using the name of God, frequently substituted ’heaven’ (e. g., 1Ma 3:50, 1Ma 3:60; 1Ma 4:55), and the Talmud often has the phrase ’kingdom of heaven.’ It was natural that Matthew, writing especially for Jews, should respect their feeling, and commonly use this expression.
The New Testament idea of the ’kingdom (reign) of God’ has its roots in the prophetic writings. In Isaiah (Isa 1:29) and Micah, it is declared that God will raise up a righteous king’, who shall deliver his people and give them prosperity (e. g. Isa 9:6-7, Isa 11:1-10; Mic 4:1-8). This hope is presented with modifications by Jeremiah and his contemporaries (e. g. Jer 23:5-6 Eze 37:24), pointing now not to an individual king, but to a Davidic dynasty, (compare 2Ch 13:8) guiding the mission of the chosen people. But in Daniel, when Israel is fallen low, there is given assurance that "the God of heaven" will establish a universal monarchy, with "one like a son of man" as the king. (Dan 2:44, Dan 7:13-14) This idea must have fermented in the minds of at least some Jews till it took the form we find in the Gospels, when devout persons are not only "waiting for the consolation of Israel," and "for the redemption of Jerusalem", (Luk 2:25, Luk 2:38) but "waiting for the kingdom of God"; (Luk 23:51, Luk 17:20) the Baptist says, "the kingdom of heaven (God) has drawn near," as something which all will understand. The Jews of that period had many fanciful confused, and sometimes fanatical notions in regard to the character of this expected divine reign, as shown by the book of Enoch, the Targums, and the Talmud, (see Lightfoot, Wetstein, Gill, and Drummond, "The Jewish Messiah"), but the New Testament is of course responsible only for its own use of the phrase. We see also that the statement in Daniel has, before the New Testament times, led to the belief that a "son of man," called also the Messiah, will reign in God’s promised kingdom, for this is expressly asserted in the book of Enoch, (much of which was pretty certainly written before the Christian era), and the Talmud abounds in references to "King Messiah."This persuasion our Lord confirms in Mat 13:41; Mat 25:31, Mat 25:34; Joh 18:36. It was one great object of Matthew’s Gospel to show how Jesus corrected the Jewish errors as regards the nature of the expected Messianic reign. Much error has diffused itself through the Christian world from confounding "the kingdom" with what is popularly called "the church." Edersheim.: "We must dismiss the notion that the expression Kingdom of Heaven refers to the church, whether visible (according to the Roman Catholic view) or invisible (according to certain Protestant writers)." Compare below on Mat 13:37 ff.
The statement of Josephus ("Ant.," 18, 5, 2) concerning John’s teachings and baptism, is marked by his usual affectation of a philosophical tone, and his usual omission of all Messianic references: "John, who was surnamed Baptist..... a good man, and one who bade the Jews in the exercise of virtue, and in the practice of righteousness towards one another and piety towards God, to come to baptism; for that so would the baptism also appear acceptable to him, if they used it, not for the forgiveness of certain sins, but for the purification of the body, it being supposed that the soul also had previously been cleansed by righteousness." Josephus adds that the people were greatly excited by John’s preaching, and that Herod imprisoned and slew him because he feared revolution—a statement which perhaps points to John’s proclamation in regard to the near approach of the kingdom of God. It was natural that Josephus should omit all distinct reference to this Messianic reign, for he had long before committed himself to the essentially absurd but politic statement that the Messianic hope of Israel was fulfilled in his patron Vespasian ("War," 6, 5, 4). Both Jews and heathen constantly inclined to think that ablution was itself the means of cleansing the soul from sin; and against this notion Josephus declares that John’s baptism was not expected to bring forgiveness of sins, but that the soul must have been previously cleansed by turning from sin to righteousness. Compare Tertullian: "We are not washed that we may cease to sin, but because we have ceased: since we have already been bathed in heart."
Mat 3:3. This is by some expositors taken as the words of John, who certainly did on one occasion apply the prophecy to himself; (Joh 1:2) but here the reference is much more naturally understood as made by the Evangelist—the present tense is expressing the general fact that John is the predicted forerunner. For gives the reason why John appeared in the wilderness and bade the people prepare for the Messianic reign, viz., because John is the person spoken of by—through—the prophet (’through,’ see on "Mat 2:17"), as destined to do so. The voice of one crying,[1] etc., Isa 40:3. In the Hebrew the accents indicate, and the parallelism proves, that ’in the wilderness’ belongs to ’prepare’; and so Rev. Ver., Isaiah. Matthew (as also Mark and Luke) follows the Septuagint in connecting that phrase with ’crying,’ and in omitting the parallel phrase ’in the desert’ from the next clause. This change does not affect the substantial meaning, and it makes clearer the real correspondence between the prediction and the fulfilment, ’preaching in the wilderness’ (Mat 3:1), ’crying in the wilderness’ (Mat 3:3). It might without impropriety be supposed that Matthew himself altered the phraseology to bring out this correspondence, but in many similar cases it is plain that he has simply followed the familiar Septuagint. Prepare ye. Make ye ready, was here substituted by Rev. Ver. for ’prepare,’ because in the parallel passage of Mark (Mar 1:3), the same word is translated ’make ye ready,’ in order to keep it distinct from another Greek word rendered ’prepare’ in Mar 1:2. Such pains to render the same Greek word everywhere by the same English word will prove very useful in concordance work, and all minute study, but it strikes the casual reader as useless alteration of the translation.—The immediate reference of the prophecy in Isaiah is probably to Jehovah, as leading his people back through the eastern desert from their captivity in Babylon: the remote reference is to the coming of Messiah, and spiritual deliverance. Here, as often in the prophets (see on "Mat 2:15"), there is a typical I relation between the history of Israel and that of Messiah.—Great public roads were rare in the East until introduced by the Romans. When an Oriental monarch was designing to journey into a certain region, he sent messengers in advance to require that a graded road should be prepared. Hence the image, here denoting spiritual preparation. Notice that in Isa 40:4, every part of the process of grading is mentioned.
[1] Or more exactly, ’a voice of one crying.’ It seems smoother in English to say ’The voice of one crying,’ but the noun is not really made definite here by the succeeding genitive, for the crier is himself indefinite. A voice is heard by the prophet, a voice of a person crying. (So Rheims, Davidson.) Derby, ’Voice of him that crieth,’ errs in making the latter clause definite. for ’him that crieth’ would require the article before the Greek participle.
Mat 3:4. And the same John had, or, ’And he, John, had.’ The difference in meaning between these renderings is unimportant. After remarking upon the prediction fulfilled in John, the Evangelist proceeds to speak further of John himself. The clothing of camel’s hair was a coarse cloth made by weaving camel’s hair and such cloth is still often worn in the East by the poor. There is no evidence that garments of camel-skin, like those made of sheep-skins and goat-skins (Heb 11:37) have ever been worn in the East (as imagined by the painters, and by Fritzsche and Smith, "Dict.," art. Camel); and the expression here distinctly forbids such a notion, being literally ’of camel’ s hairs’ (so the Greek of Mar 1:6, ’camel’s hairs’). So Meyer, Bleek, Weiss. A girdle was a necessary and almost universal part of an Oriental’s dress (compare Mat 10:9, marg. of Rev. Ver.; Act 21:11), being required to bind the long, loose robe (see on "Mat 5:40"), in order to active labour, or rapid locomotion, and it was often very costly and showy. (compare Rev 1:13) John’s girdle was made of leather, cheap and rude, as was Elijah’s. (2Ki 1:8) Meat, or food. The word ’meat’ is used in Com. Ver. to translate several Greek words, but all of them signify food, nutriment, sustenance. This would sometimes include flesh, to which, in modern English, the term meat is exclusively applied. (Compare 1Co 8:13, ’If food makes my brother sin, I will eat no more flesh.’ Bib. Un. Ver.) The law of Moses (Lev 11:22) allowed locusts at least of certain kinds, to be eaten; and a treatise in the Talmud copiously discusses the marks by which ’clean’ locusts might be distinguished. To eat these is still common in the East among the poor. The heads, legs, and wings being removed, they are boiled, stewed, or roasted, and sometimes dressed with butter. They are eaten both fresh, and dried, or salted. They are very different from what we call locusts. The notion that John ate the fruit of the tree which we call locust, is utterly unwarranted, and forbidden by the Greek word. The wild honey is thought by some able writers (as Fritzsche, Robinson, Meyer, Bleek, Grimm, Weiss) to have been the gum exuding from a tree, but on very slender grounds (comp Keil). Much more probably it was, as commonly supposed, the honey of wild bees, deposited in trees, rocks, etc., such as is mentioned in Old Testament (Jdg 14:8 f.; 1Sa 14:25 ff.; Psa 81:16), and found at the present day also in the wild regions in which John lived. This was very abundant, and considered cheap and poor food (compare Isa 7:15). Eustathius says (Wet.) that Pythagoras lived very poorly, often contenting himself with honey alone.
It had been predicted (Mal 4:5 f.) that Elijah the prophet should be sent before the advent of Messiah to prepare the people for his coming. This was explained by the angel (Luk 1:17) as to be fulfilled in John, who would go before the Lord ’in the spirit and power of Elijah,’ and was also declared by Jesus to have been fulfilled in John (see on "Mat 11:14"; Mat 17:10-13). The ministry of each consisted mainly in severe reproof and exhortation to amendment, and there was something appropriate to such a work in seclusion of life, with rude fare and coarse clothing, and in austerity of manner."Even his appearance called men to repentance." (Theophylact). This was hardly personal asceticism, but appears to have been designed, like the numerous symbolical acts employed by other prophets, to attract attention, and give greater impressiveness, to the reformer’s rebukes of a luxurious and worldly minded generation. It was what we call an "object-lesson." "We may imagine the effect when Elijah suddenly issued from his retreats, and, arrayed like some Bedouin or savage Dervish of to-day, stood before a weak and self-indulgent king, with stern look and tone, and harsh words merited reproof. And similar must have been the effect of John’s appearance and known mode of life." (Compare on Mat 11:8.) Elijah is described as ’a hairy man’ (2Ki 1:8), literally ’a possessor of hair,’ and this is best understood as meaning that he wore a garment made of hair (margin Rev. Ver.), especially as his girdle is mentioned immediately after. This characteristic dress of Elijah appears to have been imitated by succeeding prophets; for we find in Zec 13:4 the prediction of a time when the false prophets would become ashamed of their impostures, and would not ’wear a garment of hair to deceive.’ On the part of John, these peculiarities were not a mere imitation of his prototype, for they had the same appropriateness and significance in both cases.—There is little propriety in the notion of some artists and writers that John was attenuated through much fasting. Doubtless he did fast (see on "Mat 9:14"), but so did many Jews, and not necessarily to attenuation. His out-door life and homely food might (see on "Mat 3:2") even promote bodily health (compare Elijah), and physical force seems naturally implied in his preaching to great crowds in the open air, and boldly facing the most jealous and powerful. John was also like Elijah in that he was not a writing prophet, but left his work to be recorded by others. (Pressense).
Mat 3:5. After a general account (Mat 3:1-4) of John’s public appearance and preaching, with the fact that in him a prophecy was fulfilled, and after a description of his peculiar dress and manner of life, we have now (Mat 3:5 f.) a general statement that the people went forth to him in large numbers and were baptized, and this is followed (Mat 3:7-12) by a specimen of his preaching, given more in detail.
Then, Matthew’s favourite term of transition, resumes the time of Mat 3:1-2. Not only Jerusalem, but the entire district of Judea, and all the region round about,—or, the circuit of the—Jordan, only part of which was included in Judea, came forth. The Hebrew phrase, round of the Jordan’ or, ’circuit of the Jordan,’ i. e., the country about the river, is inadequately rendered in Com. Ver. by ’plain’ (Gen 13:10-11; margin Rev. Ver. ’circle’; 1Ki 7:46, 2Ch 4:17). The cases of its occurrence in Old Testament refer particularly, as here, to the lower part of the river, towards the Dead Sea. All, is of course, to be understood as a hyperbole, strongly expressing the fact that very many of the people came forth. (Compare Mat 8:34.) Similar hyperbolical expressions abound in all languages and periods. We learn from John (Joh 1:35-45; Joh 21:2), that some came from Galilee also, but this was perhaps at a later period, when John was baptizing higher up the river. The year to which John’s early ministry probably belongs, A. D. 26, was a Sabbatical year (Wieseler), when the people who strictly observed the law would have more than ordinary leisure.
It was centuries since a prophet had appeared, and the Jews had often longed for prophetic guidance. Thus Judas Maccabeus and his followers laid away the stones of the desecrated altar "until a prophet should appear to answer concerning them" (1Ma 4:46); and the woman of Samaria, as soon as she perceived that here was a prophet, asked him to settle the long-disputed question concerning the proper place to worship. (Joh 4:19 f.) In the time of Christ, some were expecting the personal re-appearance of Jeremiah (below, Mat 16:14), and many that of Elijah; (Joh 1:21 Luk 9:8 Mat 16:14, Mat 17:10, Mat 27:49) while others were looking for the prophet like unto Moses. (Joh 1:21 Deu 18:15, Deu 18:18) And now the report spread far and wide, that at last a prophet had come, who in dress and place of abode resembled the great Elijah, who might be Messiah, or at least a forerunner of Messiah, for he declared that the Messianic reign was near, who performed a very striking rite, and spoke severe rebukes and earnest exhortations to turn from evil ways, such as had been spoken by all the prophets, such as will always arrest the attention of mankind. No wonder the Jews, from all the country adjacent to the scene of his ministry, and for many months, continually poured forth to see and hear him, and, more or less, impressed by his announcement of the Messianic reign and his call to repentance, confessed their sins and submitted to his baptism.
Mat 3:6. Baptized. The Greek word baptizo, which we borrow, was of very common use, as is seen in every period of Greek literature, and was applied to a great variety of matters, including the most familiar acts of every-day life. It was thus a word which every Greek speaking hearer and reader in apostolic times would at once and clearly understand. It meant what we express by ’immerse’ and kindred terms,[1] and no one could then have thought of attributing to it a wholly different sense, such as ’sprinkle,’ or ’pour,’ without distinct explanation to that effect. The people who speak Greek at the present day wholly reject and ridicule the idea of using this Greek word in any other than its own definite and well-known sense; and the Greek Church still holds nothing to be baptism but immersion. But the newly discovered treatise called the Didache, or "Teaching," written some time in the second century, probably in the latter half of the century, shows that in some region of the Christian world there was a disposition to allow a substitute when water was scarce. Thus Matthew 7, "Baptize... in living water (i. e. of a stream, fountain, or pool, as opposed to standing or dead water). And if thou have no living water, baptize in other water; and if thou canst not in cold, then in warm. And if thou have neither, pour water upon the head thrice." Here it is evident that baptize means only immerse, but if water be scarce, pouring may be substituted for baptizing. In like manner we find in the West, towards the middle of the third century, that in case of severe sickness some allowed pouring, and after a while some thought sprinkling sufficient, and these more convenient substitutes grew increasingly common, though often condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities, until in the thirteenth century their general use was sanctioned by the Pope. Luther and Calvin (16th cent.) both explicitly declared that the primitive baptism was immersion, and the former said it ought to be restored; but they allowed the existing practice to remain undisturbed. In the course of time many Protestants came to perceive that it was very awkward to rest their practice in this respect on the authority of the Church of Rome, and being accustomed and attached to the practice they very naturally sought countenance for it in Scripture. Such are the unavoidable defects of language, that strongly biased and ingenious minds can always cast some apparent doubt over the meaning of the plainest words; as has been done, for example, with respect to words teaching the divinity of Christ, the atonement, and eternal punishment. It is therefore not surprising that a good many able and conscientious men in Great Britain and America (very few in Germany) have succeeded in persuading themselves that perhaps, or even quite probably, might be understood as meaning pour or sprinkle, or purify in general, or something that would sanction the practice handed down from revered fathers; and that a few very bold spirits should even venture to cut the knot and assert, that not only sprinkling may be baptism, but nothing else can he. These considerations should promote charity, and may serve to explain the rise, in modern times, of so much controversy about a very plain word.
[1] Bapto, ’dip,’ had the root baph, akin to bathus, ’deep’ (Curtius), just as dip and deep, German and have the same root. From bapto, came the verbal adjective baptos, ’dipt,’ and from this was made the verb bapt-izo, as if in English we should say dipped-ize, viz, to put into a dipped condition. The usual way of bringing one into a dipped condition would be to dip him. But sometimes it might be otherwise conceived; as e. g., land overflowed by water might be described as baptized, being now in, within the water, just as an object dipped would be within it. There is in language a general tendency to use stronger derivative or compound words (e.g. verbs compounded with prepositions) in place of the original and simpler word, until finally the compound or derivative is no stronger in many uses than the simple word. Thus rantizo means exactly the same as raino ’sprinkle’; compare statizo and histemi, kaumatizo and kaio, and many similar cases. Now baptizodid not become exactly and uniformly equivalent to bapto. The sense ’dye’ is confined to bapto, and there are various uses of baptizo, ’diptize’ in which bapto, ’dip,’ would be inadequate; but in many cases they are substantially equivalent, like rantizo and raino. The often repeated statement that baptizo is frequentative, signifying ’dip frequently,’ is erroneous, and would never have been made but for a failure to perceive the etymology of the word as above given.
This controversy has led to a wide examination of Greek literature with reference to this term, and in all the instances of its use that have been found, whether literal or figurative, its fundamental meaning (whatever may be the particular rendering most suitable to the connection and to English idiom) is always ’immerse,’ that being in the great mass of cases the only possible sense, and in all cases appropriate and natural. (See a full list of classified examples in Conant "On Baptize in" Philadelphia.) So it is defined and explained in most Greek Lexicons that are of any authority (e. g., in Liddell and Scott, Grimm, Sophocles’ Greek Lex. of the Roman and Byzantine periods, Boston), without a hint of any other meaning; and so it is interpreted by almost all commentators in Germany, the land of scholars, and by very many in the Church of England. But some good Lexicons of classical Greek (as Rosi and Palm) add such meanings as ’moisten,’ ’drench,’ overwhelm, justifying them only by certain figurative uses of the word, in which drunkards are called ’the baptized,’ or men are said to be baptized in (or with) debts, misfortunes, etc; some Lexicons of New Testament Greek (as Robinson) urge that in certain passages of New Testament and Septuagint (e. g., Mar 7:4 Luk 11:38 Act 2:41, Act 10:48, Act 16:33; Jdt 12:7), the circumstances make it, in the lexicographer’s judgment, unlikely that an immersion was performed; and some others (as Cremer, compare Stephen’s "Thesaurus"), suppose that the Jews came to use the Hebrew tabal ’dip,’ and therefore used baptizo, as a general term for religious washing, which might then be sometimes performed in other ways. Yet all the lexicographers who thus present an additional meaning give ’immerse’ as the primary and general meaning of the word. Now it is a most important principle in the interpretation of language, without the observance of which all interpretation becomes uncertain and unreliable, that whatever is the common and regular meaning of a word, as shown by its origin and general use, must be held to be its meaning everywhere, until there shall be found some passage in which it cannot have that sense. Upon this principle, whether formally recognized or not, scholars are constantly working. But no passage has been pointed out in which this word must have some other than its ordinary meaning; indeed, none in which that meaning is not both possible and appropriate. Thus the classical expressions solely relied on by Rost and Palm for another meaning, are given by Liddell and Scott (6th and 7th ed.) as examples of the primary sense ’to dip in or under water,’ and compared with the English phrases ’soaked in wine,’ ’over head and ears in debt,’ such expressions being obviously figurative in both languages. In the passages cited by Robinson, nothing more can be claimed than that in those cases immersion would have been inconvenient or difficult, and is therefore thought unlikely; while a due consideration of Jewish scrupulosity and known customs makes immersion not only possible in such cases, but natural enough—and these passages are so explained by a multitude of German and English writers who are certainly not prejudiced in favour of immersion, for they practice sprinkling, on the authority the church, or on the ground that it is a matter of little consequence. To the argument of Cremer that the Talmud sometimes uses ’tabal,’ ’dip,’ with reference to purifications in which Old Testament directed them to ’sprinkle,’ (rachatz), and that so tubal and baptize seem to have been employed as general terms for religious washing, however performed, it is enough to reply that the Jews had become so extremely scrupulous as frequently to employ the most complete form of purification (tabal) in cases in which only the less complete (rachatz) was required, wishing thus to make perfectly sure that no touch of impurity had failed to be removed. So already in Sirach 31 (34): 30 (Eng. Ver. Ecclus. Sir 34:25), ’One who immerses himself from a dead body and again touches it, what profit did he gain by his bath’ (compare Lay. Mat 22:4-6), in Jdt 12:7, and Mar 7:4 (see Meyer); and so in the proselyte-immersion of a later period (see below.) This explanation is at least as probable in itself as the theory of Cremer, and accords with the well-known scrupulosity of the Jews.—It thus appears that in none of the ways mentioned is warrant found for giving any such meaning as pour, sprinkle, or wash religiously, or any other than its own proper and well known sense. The argument that because baptism suggested (Joh 3:25) a dispute about purification, therefore any form of purification is baptism (Ed. Beecher on "Baptism," New York), is as if from the fact that an ease of yellow fever led to a dispute about malarial diseases, it should be argued that any farm of malarial disease is yellow fever. Dale ("Classic Baptism," "Judaic Baptism," "Johannic Baptism," "Christie and Patristic Baptism," four separate volumes, Philadelphia), defines as meaning ’intuspose,’ (i. e., ’put within,’ compare Liddell and Scott), ’merse,’ ’immerse,’ and then by a novel and ingenious, but purely fanciful and unreasonable process explains it all away, and reaches the conclusion that immersion is not baptism at all.[1] Some attempt has been made to construct an argument as to from the word used in the Syriac New Testament, in reply to which see a tract by C. H. Toy on Amad (Louisville.) These several theories add no force to the efforts of the lexicographers above mentioned, to justify some departure from the plain and recognized meaning of this Greek word.
[1] See review of Dale’s different volumes in "Baptist Quarterly" (Philadelphia), by A. C. Kendrick, 1869, p. 129. J. A. Broadus, 1875, p. 245, W. H. Whitsitt, 1877, p. 175. Also H. Harvey in Bap. Rev. 1879; "Studies in Baptism" by D. B. Ford, (Boston, Young, 1879) Broadus Tract on Immersion (A. B. P. S., Phil.)
It was once quite generally held (see especially Lightfoot), and is still maintained by some, that John’s baptism was an imitation of what is called Jewish proselyte-baptism. The resemblance between the two is but partial; for Maimonides (twelfth cent.) describes the ceremony as consisting in the person’s standing in the water and dipping himself, thus making it a self-purification. Recent investigation shows that there is no ground for believing this Jewish practice of a later time to have existed, as a distinct initiatory rite, in the time of our Lord. Not only is there no allusion to such a rite in the Old or New Testament, or in the Apocryphal books, but none in Philo or Josephus, although each of these writers has various passages in which it seems almost impossible that he should have failed to mention the rite had it then existed, nor any in the early Christian Fathers, some of whom search every page of Old Testament for rites or expressions bearing any, the most fanciful resemblance to baptism. It is not mentioned in the Mishna (about A. D. 200), nor clearly referred to in any of the other Jewish writings belonging to the early centuries after Christ, the first distinct account of it being in the Babylonian Talmud (Oemara), written in the fifth century. The origin of the rite among the Jews is readily explained. When a proselyte (see on "Mat 23:15") was received (before the destruction of the temple), he wan circumcised, and then before performing his first act as a Jew, viz., offering sacrifice, he must be purified; but this purification was not distinctively initiatory (peculiar to a proselyte), for the Jewish child also must he purified after circumcision, which itself made one unclean. There were thus three acts performed in admitting a proselyte—the circumcision (which really made him a Jew), the consequent purification (which as described by Maimonides, was an immersion), and then sacrifice, in which he publicly acted as a Jew. After the temple was destroyed, the sacrifice became impossible, and then the purification became the closing, and in the case of women, the only act performed; and so it naturally attracted greater attention, and by the fifth century had come to be regarded as distinct from all other purifications, and as possessing a very high importance, equal, if not superior, to that of circumcision. This view takes away all force from the otherwise plausible argument that the so-called proselyte-baptism must have been ancient, on the ground that the Jews would never have adopted it from the hated Christians; for we see that it was not so adopted at all, but was simply one of their own purifications, which from the force of circumstances came, in the course of some centuries after the destruction of the temple, to be regarded as a peculiar initiatory rite. And if later Jewish writers assert that it was ancient, even that it originated at Mount Sinai, they make the same claim for every usage existing among them, however unquestionably late in its origin; and besides, we have seen that the essence of this practice was ancient, though it afterwards assumed its peculiar character and consequence.[1]
[1] The explanation of its rise was first given by Schneckenburger, whose excellent little work "How Old is the Jewish Proselyte-Baptism" (1828), has not been translated from the German. The most complete and satisfactory discussion of the subject is by Toy, in Baptist Quarterly, 1872, p. 301 ff. See also among many writers, Gill, "Works," Vol. II. pp. 760-799, and Leyrer (and Delitzseh) in Herzog. Recent leading writers generally concur in Schneckenburger’s view, e. g., Winer, Meyer, Ewald, Bleek, Cremer, Keim, Keil, Godet; on the other hand, Edersh. (App. xii.) urges that "previous to Christ, the baptism of proselytes was customary"; but he gives neither evidence nor argument for anything else than the above-mentioned purification before sacrifices, which was a matter of course. Schurer also advocates the same opinion, but presents nothing new.
There is thus no reason for supposing that John’s baptism was a mere modification of some existing rite. Our Lord distinctly intimated (Mat 21:25) that the baptism of John was "from heaven." The forerunner himself testified that God "sent" him "to baptize in water." (Joh 1:33) Kohler: "So the baptism of John is a highly significant and expressive rite, which in its grand simplicity bears the distinct stamp of a divine Ordering."
In Jordan. The expression thus translated affords a strong, though in itself not an absolute proof, that the action of baptizing was performed within the limits of the stream This is the natural and regular meaning of the phrase, and must be everywhere adhered to unless there is something in the connection to forbid it. But the Greek preposition en is used in some connections not found in English; as, for example, we cannot say," a city was situated in the Euxine Sea," "an ambush was laid in a river," but the Greek has these expressions, meaning that the sea or river was in a certain general sense the locality in which the city or ambush was situated, though not in the strict sense which our ’in’ would indicate, seeing that such a sense is in those instances not possible from the nature of the case. So in English we say ’the man is in the mountain,’ meaning not the earth composing it, but the mountain in a more general sense. Now if the action of baptizing were one which could not be performed in the river in the strict sense, we might understand ’in the Jordan’ as meaning only in that general locality. (compare Mar 4:1, ’in the sea’) But until it is shown that the signification of the term baptize is incompatible with the idea of its being performed strictly in the river, i. e., in the water, we are bound to take the preposition in its proper and ordinary sense. Now even those who maintain that ’’ is at times used with a certain latitude, generally agree that its regular and usual sense is one which does not forbid, but entirely accords with, the idea of its being performed in the water. We have therefore the natural and almost uniform use of ’in’ concurring with the established meaning of the verb, and reinforcing the argument by which that meaning is established. (Compare ’in water’ Mat 3:11, Rev. Ver., margin). The Rev. Ver. reads, the river Jordan.[1] The word Jordan, always with the article in the Hebrew and the Greek, signifies ’the descender,’ and was so named from its rapid descent in a long and deep valley or fissure. The highest of its three principal fountains on the slopes of Hermon is seventeen hundred feet above the level of the Mediterranean; the first lake it forms, Huleh, has its surface only one hundred and twenty feet above the Mediterranean, while the second, the Lake of Galilee, is six hundred and eighty-two feet (Conder) below the level, and the third Lake, the Dead Sea, is twelve hundred and ninety-two feet below the level of the Mediterranean, besides being itself some thirteen hundred feet deep. The fissure or valley varies in width, south of the Lake of Galilee, from two to six miles, and nearer the Dead Sea it becomes fourteen miles wide (Conder). Winding about in this long, narrow valley is another depressed valley (forty to one hundred and fifty feet deeper), of several hundred yards in width; and within this the actual bed of the river sinks deeper still. The distance in a straight line from its highest source to the southern end of the Dead Sea is about one hundred and sixty miles, or excluding the Dead Sea, about one hundred and fifteen miles. But so extremely crooked is the winding river that Lynch estimates it to be near two hundred miles between, the Lake of Galilee and its mouth (which is sixty-five miles in a straight line), and though less crooked higher up, its whole length must be at least two hundred and seventy-five miles, not including the Dead Sea. The width and depth of course vary at different seasons, as it is swollen in February and March by the rains, and in May, the "time of harvest", (Jos 3:15) by the melting snows of Hermon. Above Lake Huleh it is some forty feet wide, and is deep and rapid, but fordable almost everywhere. Towards the Lake of Galilee it is about sixty feet, and easily forded at several places. For some miles below the lake Lynch found it about seventy-five feet wide, and at points ten feet deep (middle of April), but on one of the numerous rapids only eight inches deep. About five miles below the lake an important tributary enters from the east, and below this the usual depth varies from two and one half to six feet (Ritter). About half way from the Lake of Galilee to the Salt (Dead) Sea, the River Jabbok enters from the east, and smaller streams come in at various neighbouring points on both sides. It here becomes from eighty to one hundred and fifty feet wide, and from five to twelve feet deep (McClintock and Crooks, "Cyc."). Hear the mouth it widens to some five hundred and fifty feet, and the depth diminishes to two or three feet (Lynch). The principal fords are not many (though Conder collected the names of about forty in all). (1) About two miles above the mouth (Fish). Several miles higher up is the traditional place of our Lord’s baptism, nearly opposite Jericho, and somewhat above this is (2) a ford used at some seasons. At the traditional place the river is, in spring (when most travellers visit it), both too deep and too swift for fording. Yet just before Easter several thousand Greek and Oriental pilgrims (in the Middle Ages there were sometimes 100,000) go to this place—men, women, and children—and immerse themselves as a sacred bath, many of them changing their garments amid the dense thickets of shrubbery which extend for some distance from the stream; and almost every year, in the vast fanatical throng, crowding in together, some are drowned. Several miles above this place is now a ferry-boat, (compare 2Sa 19:18) which is handled with difficulty, the current being in March excessively strong. (3) Ten miles below the mouth of the Jabbok is a ford now much used in going from Nabulus to Es-Salt (Van de Velde). (4) Above the Jabbok is the ford of Succoth, where Jacob crossed with his family and flocks (Gen 32:10, Gen 32:22) (5) Near Beisan is a ford, which Robinson (III., 825) crossed with difficulty, but which, on March 24, 1871, the Modin of Beisan said would only reach the horses’ bellies. In this neighbourhood Conder, in April, found twenty-one possible fords within seven miles. About ten miles above Beisan is a Saracenic bridge (the only one now crossing the river), upon the road from Nabulus to Damascus, and above it are said to be several difficult and little-used fords. (6) Not far below the Lake of Galilee is an important ford, which the Jews of our Lord’s time must have constantly used in going from Galilee through Perea to Jerusalem. At this, on March 25, 1871, the water came nearly to the root of a horse’s Tail—but in summer the river falls much lower, and must be easily fordable at many points.—The outer and principal part of the Jordan valley is nearly all entirely unproductive without irrigation, justifying the statement of Josephus that the Jordan flows through a desert ("War," 3, 10, 7). But the banks of the river are everywhere fringed with trees (willow, balsam, etc.), amid which the birds sing, and in whose pleasant shade the multitudes could gather to hear the voice of the new prophet. As to the scene of the baptism of Jesus, see on "Mat 3:13".
[4] The word ’river’ (as in Mar 1:5) is here given by B, à. C. M. Δ. Σ. and more than thirty cursive MSS and by all the early versions except the Latin, and is adopted by Lach., Treg., Tisch., Alf., Weiss, W. H. Yet while Mark would naturally tell his Gentile readers that the Jordan was a river (like many other explanations he gives), this was quite needless for Matt., and contrary to his usage in similar cases. Translators and copyists in foreign countries would, however, think the word necessary here, even as à and Old Syriac have Inserted it in Joh 1:28. We thus see that Matthew is not likely to have written it and copyists would be likely to insert it. This strong union of intrinsic and transcriptional evidence might even outweigh the very strong documentary evidence in favour of the word, but for the fact that D and some copies of Old Latin omit ’river’ in Mar 1:5, as well as here, which indicates that the "Western" text was hostile to the word, and thus accounts for its omission in many copies of Matt. This word must therefore be accepted as a part of Matthew’s text, yet not without some lingering doubt. The question has obviously no practical importance, however interesting to the textual critic.
The people received this solemn rite confessing their sins. The Scriptures promise forgiveness on condition of confession, (Pro 28:13, 1Jn 1:9) though of course this is not the meritorious ground of forgiveness. It was required by the Mosaic Law (Lev 5:5, Lev 16:21, Lev 26:40 Num 5:7), and is often recorded as practised by the penitent (e. g, 2Ch 30:22 Psa 32:5; Neh 9:2-3; Dan 9:20; Act 19:18). The term here used appears to denote an actually spoken confession, and the present participle shows that it was made in immediate connection with the act of baptism. Most probably the confession was not made to the multitude, but simply to John, and was not uniform, but varied according to every man’s calling, character, etc., (compare John’s specific exhortations to different classes, Luk 3:10-14). The act of submitting to baptism was itself also (Kohler) a confession of faith, namely, of faith in the good news of the kingdom. (Mar 1:15 Act 19:4)
We have now (Mat 3:7-12) a specimen of John’s teachings given more in detail.
Mat 3:7. The Pharisees and Sadducees were the two great parties, at once religious and political, among the Jews at the time of Christ. The date of their origin is unknown, and they no doubt arose gradually. In the centuries immediately following the return from the Captivity there must have been various divisions of public sentiment. Some insisted on conforming to all decisions of tribunals and opinions of leading teachers, others thought it enough to observe the original directions of the law; some busied themselves in developing many real or supposed germs of truth contained in the law and the prophets, others said they wanted no religious teaching but that of the sacred books, especially the Pentateuch; some were extremely zealous for their religion, and ready to die in its defense, others were more ready to suit their action to changing circumstances; some cherished a bitter hatred to foreigners, others were friendly to them, etc. Such divergences of opinion on many questions of truth and duty would gradually associate themselves, by sympathy or antagonism, with some one leading division, so as to form two distinct, though at first not well defined, parties. Then when any new religious or political issue arose (the religious and political being always more or less blended, from the nature of the Jewish institutions), the mere fact that one party took one side of the question would decide the opposite party to take the other side. Thus by degrees the parties became sharply defined, compact, antagonizing at all points.[1] Josephus held that the Pharisees and Sadducees were distinct parties in B. C. 145. ("Ant.," 18, 5, 9.) Certainly in the later years of John Hyrcanus (died B. C. 106), they were politically antagonistic. ("Ant.," 13, 10, 5.) By the time of our Lord’s ministry, the division had doubtless become more pronounced. The history of their hostility was known to run back to the Maccabean struggle, the Pharisees now representing the patriots of that time, and it had included many fierce political conflicts and wars under the successors of John Hyrcanus ("Ant.," 13, 15, 5; 13, 16, 5), which left a bitter and lasting hatred. At the time of Christ, the Sadducees were comparatively few in number, but embraced a large proportion of wealthy and influential men ("Ant.," Mat 18:1, Mat 18:4), including many members of the Sanhedrin, (Act 5:17) and were more likely to have the sympathy of the Roman rulers. But the Pharisees were far more numerous, and on account of the patriotic record and pious reputation of the party, possessed the sympathies and support of the people at large. Yet, while political antagonism had caused bitterness, the chief differences between the two parties had always been religious. The Pharisees held to many traditional interpretations of Scripture (e. g., Mat 5:21, Mat 5:33, Mat 5:43), some of them not merely erroneous, but subversive of its great truths, and also to many traditional rules for the conduct of life, particularly as to externals, some of these likewise tending to set aside the teachings of God’s word. (Mat 15:2 ff.) These they claimed, as most Jews have ever since done, to be of almost equal authority’ with the law; indeed, they were called the "oral law," and held to have been given orally to Moses at Mount Sinai, and handed down from him. About two centuries after Christ many of these traditions were written down, and form what is called the Mishna, or ’second,’ i. e., the second law.[2] All these traditional interpretations and rules the Sadducees rejected, acknowledging no authority but the Scriptures, and especially ’the law,’ i. e., the five books ascribed to Moses. But the interpretations of the later centuries before Christ, as received among the Pharisees, had elicited from the Scriptures various true and important doctrines, as that of the separate existence of spirits, and a certain approach to the Christian doctrine of the resurrection from the dead (compare on Mat 22:23); while the Sadducees, in avoiding traditionalism, went to the opposite extreme of rationalism, and wholly rejected these doctrines, and even the belief in angels, (Act 23:8) though this last is so plainly and repeatedly taught in Old Testament. The Pharisees, in their fanatical zeal for the law of purifications, and the numerous rules which tradition had added, shrank from all association with "sinners," i. e., persons who notoriously violated the law, (Luk 7:39) and thought it inexcusable in Jesus to do otherwise. (Mat 9:11 Luk 15:2) Thus, when they came from market, where they might possibly have touched some person or thing that was ceremonially ’unclean,’ they were wont to perform a complete purification, ’immersed themselves,’ before they would eat. (Mar 7:4)[3] This scrupulosity in separating themselves probably led to the name Pharisees, ’separators.’ The name Sadducees most likely meant ’righteous,’ as denoting that they contented themselves with being simply righteous men, and did not care for newfangled beliefs and strait-laced observances.[4] Our Saviour less frequently referred to the errors of the Sadducees, great as they were, doubtless because the people in general were little likely to be misled by them; he does however caution his disciples against their doctrine (and that of the Phar.) in Mat 16:11. They appear ’tempting’ him in Mat 16:1, and Mat 22:23. But the Pharisees had, with some exceptions (such as Nicodemus, Gamaliel, Paul), lost the true patriotism and especially the true piety which had gained their party so much popular favour, and were striving by the most shameful hypocrisy to retain an influence which they no longer deserved, and which they abused to the worst ends; and our Lord rebuked their hypocrisy on various occasions, and unsparingly exposed it in the last public discourse of his ministry,Matthew 23. The continued rivalry between Pharisees and Sadducees was the providential means of securing freedom from persecution for several years after the ascension of Christ (Acts 4-6), and was made useful even at a later time by Paul. (Act 23:6) No writings of Sadducees remain to us, and we know them, besides the few references in New Testament, only from writers who were Pharisees, viz., Josephus and the Talmud, and who may have done them scant justice. They seem to have ceased to exist soon after the destruction of the Jewish State, which was the natural fate of a rationalistic party, having little devout earnestness, and whose standing had been social and political rather than religious.
[1] The above was written before the appearance of Edersheim’s work, and the view presented finds gratifying support in his elaborate discussion. (Book iii. chap. 2.)
[2] Commentaries upon the Mishna (with supplementary traditions also) were afterwards written, and known as Gemara, ’completion,’ because they completed the Mishna. The Jerusalem Gemara was written in the fourth century after Christ, and that of Babylon in the fifth century. The Mishna, with one or the other of these, is commonly meant by the term Talmud (’instruction’).
[3] So, if an Egyptian touched a swine, he went to the river and ’dipped himself from it’ (bapto), clothes and all (Her. II. 47).
[4] The common Jewish derivation from a supposed founder named Zadok is now almost universally rejected. Geiger’s recent theory, that the Sadducees were an aristocratic, priestly class, ’the priests of the seed of Zadok’, (Eze 43:19) is adopted by Hausrath and Schurer, by Twisleton in Smith’s Dict., Geikie and Ginsburg in Kitto, but is extremely far-fetched, and does not explain the facts. See in opposition to it. Edersh Vol. I. p. 322. The best recent treatises are those of Wellhausen and Montet. (See Index.)
The term ’sect’ applied in Eng. Ver. to the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Act 5:17, Act 15:5, Act 26:5) does not, according to its present use, correctly render the Greek word nor correctly represent the facts of the case; they were parties, with the peculiarity above mentioned, that they were at the same time religious and political parties. But there was a ’sect,’ in our sense, then existing among the Jews, called the Essenes, who had a strictly exclusive organization and worship, and indeed lived in seclusion, much like the monks of later times. They were few in number, having small communities scattered over Palestine, and the largest on the western shore of the Dead Sea. They were probably an offshoot of the Pharisees, whose leading views they shared. Their comparative insignificance, their never attending the temple-worship, and this apparent relation to the Pharisees, will account for the fact that they are never mentioned in N. T., nor in the Talmud, being known to us only through the writings of Philo, Josephus, and Pliny. All attempts to show that some ideas or practices were derived from them by John the Baptist or by Jesus, have proved a failure; but their teachings do throw light on the heresy Paul attacked at Colosse (see an admirable essay in Lightfoot on Colossians). Josephus says ("Ant.," Mat 13:5, Mat 13:9) that the Essenes were utter fatalists, the Sadducees held to extreme views of free-will, substantially rejecting providence, while the Pharisees occupied a middle ground, recognizing both human freedom and responsibility, and divine control.
Come—or, coming—to his baptism, that is, coming to be baptized by him.[1] The expression many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, with only one article, throws the two parties together as both needing sharp rebuke. (Compare Mat 16:6, Mat 16:11, Mat 16:12.)—What is here given as addressed to them, really applied, more or less, to the people at large, and was intended to apply to all it fitted, and Luke (Luk 3:7) gives it as addressed to ’the crowds that came forth to be baptized by him.’ So in Matthew, the people at large are evidently addressed in what immediately follows, Luk 3:9 ff. Perhaps also Matthew here refers to a particular case, while Luke states a general fact, as his tenses (in the Greek) may imply.—We learn from Luk 7:29 f., that the Pharisees and lawyers who on a certain occasion in Galilee heard the teachings of Jesus concerning John, had not been baptized by John, as the people present and the publicans had been; but this ought not to be relied on as proving that no Pharisees had been baptized by John. Only a portion of them were at all disposed to seek his baptism, and some of these were doubtless repelled by John’s stern rebuke and rigorous requirements. (Compare on Mat 21:32.)
[1] Tisch, and W. H. omit ’his,’ but on insufficient grounds.
O generation, or, Ye offspring—of vipers, merely a phrase of reproach, describing them as noxious and odious, and perhaps also as insidious. (Compare Mat 12:34; Mat 23:33; Isa 14:29; Isa 59:5; Psa 58:4.) Classic writers present similar expressions. The idea that they are meant to be described as children of the devil, the old serpent, seems fanciful. Warned, is stronger than the original, which signifies to show secretly or partially, and thus to intimate, suggest, indicate, or more generally, to make known. To flee from, may either mean ’to escape,’ as in Mat 23:33, or to ’avoid,’ ’shun,’ as in 1Co 10:14. With the former meaning it would be, ’Who intimated to you that you would escape the coming wrath?’ viz., when there was so little reason to believe they would escape; with the latter: ’Who suggested to you to flee from,’ etc., the surprise being that any one should take the trouble, with so little prospect of any good result. The latter is the more natural sense. The wrath to come—or, coming wrath. It was expected among the Jews (as the book of Enoch shows), that in connection with Messiah’s appearance there would be an outburst of God’s wrath upon his enemies, i. e., upon the Gentiles. But John, in accordance with the whole tenor of his teaching, describes ’the coming wrath’ as threatening all God’s enemies, including impenitent Jews; and this was already implied in Malachi 3-4. Similarly Paul in 1Th 1:10.
Mat 3:8. Fruits, fruit (singular), is the correct reading.[1] Bring forth, literally, make. The rendering ’bring forth,’ common from Tyndale down, mixes the metaphors. ’Produce,’ though not pleasing, would be allowable, and suits exactly in Mat 3:10. Therefore, presents the exhortation as the consequence of what precedes, or is naturally supplied. "As you profess repentance and wish to be baptized, therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance, and thus prove that you really do repent." This exhortation he might naturally address to all, (Luk 3:8) while it was especially appropriate to the Pharisees and Sadducees. It is not probable that he required them to go off and prove their repentance before he could baptize them; he only gave them a special charge.
[1] Not only is the singular best supported, but we can see how the plural might be introduced in assimilation to Luk 3:8.
Mat 3:9. A great hindrance to a true repentance on their part, was the idea generally entertained among the Jews, that all the descendants of Abraham must certainly escape wrath, would assuredly be saved. (see Joh 8:33, Joh 8:39) John proceeds therefore to correct this error. Think not to say, is an exact imitation of the Greek, and signifies either ’do not think yourselves at liberty to say,’ ’warranted in saying,’, (compare Php 3:4) or more probably, ’do not think you will say,’ ’do not propose to yourselves to say’ (compare Luke’s ’do not begin to say’). To say within yourselves, corresponds to a well-known Hebrew expression, ’to say in his heart’ (Mat 24:48; Psa 4:4; Psa 10:6; Psa 14:1), and is used also in Mat 9:21 Luk 7:39, Luk 7:49; Rev 18:7. We have Abraham to—or, for—our father, with emphasis on ’father,’ as shown in Greek by the order of the words. Descended as they were from Abraham, they thought themselves perfectly safe from the Messianic wrath, and in little need of repentance. One Rabbi in a Midrash even says (Wet.), "In the age to come Abraham sits beside the gates of Gehenna, and suffers no circumcised Israelite to go down"; though the Rabbi does make ingenious provision for an exception in the case of those who have sinned excessively. Edersheim: "No principle was more fully established in the popular conviction, than that all Israel had part in the world to come, and this specifically because of their connection with Abraham. This appears not only from the New Testament, from Philo, and Josephus, but from many Rabbinic passages." I say unto you, calls attention to what he is about to say, as being important. (Compare on Mat 5:18). Of, or, out of, as the material (translated ’out of’ by Noyes and Davidson). He perhaps pointed to the loose stones lying on the river-bank. The fact that God could with such perfect ease raise up children to Abraham, and so was not dependent on them for the continuation of Abraham’s posterity, would suggest that they might readily be set aside from enjoying the blessings promised to Abraham’s descendants. So God once threatened to Moses that he would destroy the nation, and raise up a new people from him.—This representation that the Messianic blessings would not necessarily be enjoyed by all Jews as such, accords with that of Joh 1:29, that they would not be limited to Jews, but that Messiah’takes away the sin of the world.’ Compare also Paul’s argument in Gal 3:7, and Rom 4:16.
Mat 3:10. Now also, or, already. Not only is there a coming Messianic wrath, but already there is beginning a Messianic discrimination among tile descendants of Abraham. It is therefore high time to repent (Weiss). ’Also’ must be omitted; it was doubtless inserted from Luk 3:9. Even now translates ’now’ in its emphatic position. Is laid unto, or, lies at, the root. Noyes. The verb is exactly ’lies.’ The Greek preposition leads many to render ’is laid to the root,’ i. e., applied to it in actual cutting; and timber being very scarce in Palestine, it is now common to cut down a tree at the ground (Thomson, ii., 291). But the meaning more probably is that it has been brought to the tree and lies there ready for use. Therefore, i. e., since such is the design with which the axe has been placed there. Bringeth not forth good fruit, is the same image as in Mat 3:8; but instead of the specific idea of fruit appropriate to repentance, we have here the more general idea of good fruit. Hewn down, literally ’cut out,’ viz., out of its place in the vineyard. (So Davidson). The present tenses, ’is cut out’ and ’is east,’ describe the action as actually going on; the discrimination is already beginning, ’even now.’ In Mat 7:19, the present tense denotes what is customary in the case of all such trees. Every, the most honoured and privileged of the nation (Mat 3:7) not excepted. There was beginning a severe scrutiny of all, and the unworthy would be utterly excluded from that share in Messiah’s kingdom which the persons addressed so confidently anticipated.
At this point Luke mentions various classes as inquiring of the preacher, ’What are we to do then?’ viz., by way of producing good fruit, fruit worthy of repentance; and gives tome piquant and highly suggestive replies. (Luk 3:10-14)
Mat 3:11. The idea of Mat 3:10 is now (Mat 3:11 f.) brought out by John more explicitly by contrasting with his own work that of the greatly superior personage who is coming after him, whose work will be far more discriminating and thorough. The most striking and characteristic thing about his own ministry being the baptism he administered (compare on Mat 21:25), he employs that in stating the contrast. And it could be very naturally thus employed, since immersion in water furnished an apt and expressive image for representing the soul as being as it were immersed in, bathed in, brought completely under the influence of, thoroughly affected by, the operations of the Holy Spirit. The risen Saviour afterwards used the same image, and made the same contrast with John’s baptism, in promising to the disciples the Holy Spirit’s influences, to be given after his ascension. (Act 1:5) The contrast here is certainly not, as some have imagined, between John’s baptism and that actually performed by Jesus, through his disciples, (Joh 3:22, Joh 4:2) for that was as much a "water baptism" as John’s. Nor does it seem proper to confine the view in any respect to the personal ministry of Jesus, but to understand a reference to the entire work of the coming Messiah, including what followed his personal ascension. This work of Messiah would differ from, and be superior to, the merely introductory work of the forerunner in the way stated.
Indeed ’here represents a very peculiar Greek particle (men) which denotes that to the clause in which it stands there will presently be opposed or contrasted some other statement (commonly introduced by ’but’). We have nothing exactly like this in English, and have to say ’indeed,’ ’truly,’ ’to be sure,’ etc., and often we use no word, and express the idea by a mere emphasis: "I baptize in water.... but he that is coming," etc. (Compare especially men, truly, on Mat 9:37.) With—rather, in water (as given in Amer. App.), is the proper rendering of the preposition and case here employed. In a few expressions the Greek has en, ’in’ (with its case), to denote merely the instrument or means, not merely in phrases which we can imitate, as ’In what shall it be salted?’, (Mat 5:13) ’In what measure ye measure’, (Mat 7:2) but also, in imitation of a Hebrew use, in connections where the English idiom could not employ ’in,’ as ’Trample them with (in) their feet’ (see on "Mat 7:6"), "Smite with (in) the sword." (Luk 22:49) Here the action was originally conceived as in a certain sense located in the feet, the sword, a conception foreign to our idiom. But it must be observed that this use of the preposition is rare, and it cannot with propriety be so understood unless the connection is such as altogether to exclude the common and natural meaning. Show, on grounds apart from this expression, that baptizing, from the nature of the action, cannot have been performed ’in water’ in the strict local sense, and it will be lawful to interpret the preposition (with its case) as here used in a looser local sense, denoting the instrument or means. But here the common and natural sense of the preposition exactly agrees with the nature of the action. (Compare on Mat 3:6, and also compare 1Co 10:2, ’in the cloud and in the sea,’ and 2Ki 5:10, 2Ki 5:14) So here Meyer, Weiss, McClellan, etc.
But we are told by some that while John (Joh 1:26, Joh 1:31, Joh 1:33) has this same ’in water,’ Luke, in the parallel passage to this, (Luk 3:16) and also in Acts (Act 1:5, repeated in Act 11:16), uses the simple case of the noun without any preposition (and so probably in Mar 1:8),[1] and that this certainly means ’with water,’ denoting merely an instrument, which makes i more likely that the same was meant in Matthew and John. Then it is argued that an instrument is always wielded, and applied to the object affected by the action, and so that "baptize with water" cannot denote an immersion. But these positions are untenable. The simple Greek case may itself mean ’in water,’ that is, it may be not the instrumental but the locative case.[2] And granting it to be the instrument, an instrument must be used according to its natural relation to the action. There is a curious parallel in Mat 14:13, ’Jesus withdrew in a boat’ (en ploio); here, Mar 6:32, has the simple case without a preposition (to ploio),[3]. This also may mean ’in the boat,’ but grant that it is instrumental, the way to make a boat the instrument of going across the lake is to put yourself in the boat. So the above argument from ’with water’ falls to the ground.—Luke, in both the passages (Mat 3:16 Act 1:5) has en pneumati, ’in the Spirit,’ and so Mar 1:8, the reason probably being that the local reference was obvious in speaking of ’water’ as connected with baptize, but needed to be more distinctly brought out in speaking of the Holy Spirit, that the figure of immersion in the Spirit might not be overlooked.’[4]
[1] In Mar 1:8, the authorities are so divided, and the probabilities of assimilation to Matt. and John or to Luke are so balanced, that it is hard to decide. But ’baptize’ would naturally have suggested ’in’ to the copyists (some copies have it even in Luk 3:16), and this makes it more likely that the original text of Mark was like that of Luke (W. H.) In Matt. and John, and in Acts, there is no variation in the copies.
[2] See probable examples of the locative with baptizo, in Conant, "on," example 71, 78, also, perhaps, 60, 73, 76, 86. Compare Latin immergo alto, unda, etc., where the case is necessarily locative and not instrumental.
[3] Here, as in Mar 1:8, some copies (some very good ones here) insert en ’in,’ probably for the same reason as there, that the circumstances suggested it. Joh 21:8 has a similar expression, to ploiario (no preposition), and without variation in the copies, and the expression in the common text of Mark is at any rate Greek, if it be not the true text.
[4] Here also (Mark) W. H. omit the preposition, but with slender evidence, and apparently through their curious devotion to B.
Unto repentance. The most natural way to understand this preposition (with its case), in Greek as in English, would be ’in order that you may repent.’ So the same expression in Wis 11:23, ’Thou overlookest the sins of men unto repentance.’ The difficulty is that John’s baptism evidently presupposed repentance, and was to be followed by ’fruits worthy of repentance.’ Accordingly, some urge that the preposition (with its case), ’unto,’ must here denote the occasion or ground of the baptizing, a meaning which it clearly has in Mat 12:41, and which is ascribed to it here by the Greek commentator Euthymius[1]. This, however, is a very unusual and difficult use of the preposition, though certainly possible. Others take it to mean generally, ’with reference to repentance’ (so Tyndale, ’in token of’). Such a meaning the preposition with its case does somewhat frequently have,[2] and that gives here a very good sense (as it would also in Luk 3:3 Mar 1:4, ’unto remission of sins’). But it is best to adhere if possible to the common and most natural sense ’in order to.’ And it may perhaps be so understood if we revert (Cremer) to Mat 3:7-8, the special occasion of what John is saying. Those whom he baptized all professed repentance, but concerning some it was very doubtful whether there was a real change of thought and purpose (see on "Mat 3:2"), and he exhorts them to show by the appropriate fruits that such was the case. He might therefore say, "I baptize you in order that you may really repent, "including in the one view and one expression, the primary change of purpose and the subsequent results and proof thereof. This makes the design that of John in baptizing (so Hofmann in Keil), and not exactly the design of the baptism itself (as Meyer, and many). In the parallel passages of Mark and Luke, (Mar 1:8 Luk 3:16) this phrase, ’unto repentance,’ is not given, probably because each of them had just before spoken of it as a ’baptism of repentance.’ That expression (Mar 1:4; Luk 3:3; Act 13:24, Act 19:4) is still more indefinite than the other; by it the baptism is simply distinguished from other baptisms, characterized as a repentance-baptism (compare ’Babylon—removal’ Mat 1:11), and we are left to determine, from the nature of the case and the known circumstances, what precise relation existed between the baptism and repentance.
[1] Euthymius (12th century) expressly says, "eis metanoian instead of dia ten metanoian" (’because of repentance’) and argues "for he baptized them confessing, which is equivalent to repenting, because they repented. And such a baptism was a proof of repentance."
[2] See eis, translated concerning, Act 2:25, and such phrases as "to jeer at a man eis his rags" (Aristoph.), "to reproach friendship" (Xen.), "to differ from one virtue" (Plat.)
He that cometh after me. Literally, the (one) coming behind me. The expression implies that they had heard of this coming personage before. And we know from the Talmud that the Jews frequently spoke of Messiah as Habba, ’the coming (one;’), (compare Mat 11:8, Mat 21:9) perhaps originally deriving it from such expressions as Zec 9:9 Mal 3:1 Psa 118:26. Mark and Luke, not writing especially for Jews, do not here use this Jewish phrase. (Mar 1:7 Luk 3:16) Mightier than I, not only superior in position, but more powerful, able to accomplish what he could not. Not worthy to bear, or, more exactly, in colloquial phrase, ’not fit to carry.’ The word rendered shoes (or, sandals) signifies ’what is bound under,’ and denotes the sole of leather, raw hide, or wood which they wore under the foot, and which, fastened to the foot by a thong or strap, constituted its entire covering. A Bedouin from beyond Jordan may be seen to-day with just such sandals of untanned sheepskin. It was the office of the lowest menial among all the slaves of a household, to carry his master’s sandals, as when he went to the bath, or to untie and remove them when he entered the house; this last being the expression given by Mark and Luke as used here or on a similar occasion. Somewhat similar among us would be the task of removing muddy overshoes. A like menial service was that of washing the feet after removing the sandals. (Luk 7:44 Joh 13:3 ff,) We learn from Luk 3:15 that the people were beginning to meditate whether John himself might be the Messiah, and it was partly to meet this that John told them he was so immensely inferior to the Coming One. In general, John is singularly free from self-assertion. While boldly rebuking the most influential classes, (Mat 3:7) and braving the wrath of Herod Antipas, (Mat 14:4) he speaks of himself only in the way of declaring the incomparable superiority of the Coming One. (compare Joh 3:28 ff.) Great force of character, united with great humility and modesty, must command hearty admiration.
He, emphatic, as in Mat 1:21. With the Holy Ghost and with fire. Better, in the Holy Spirit and fire. Rev. Ver. The original has no article, and some propose to render ’in Holy Spirit,’ i. e., in holy spiritual influences. But the phrase Holy Spirit was so definite by reason of its common use, as to be for Matthew’s readers virtually a proper name, so that, like other proper names, it could he used with or without the article; and it is used without the article in numerous instances, particularly when in connection with a preposition, as here. English idiom requires the article, as in many other cases where the Greek may omit it. Compare ’holy covenant’ in 1Ma 1:15, and ’all Scripture’ in 2Ti 3:16. As to ’Ghost,’ and ’Spirit,’ see on "Mat 1:18". Observe how helpful it would be to have the same word ’Spirit’ here as in 2Ti 3:16, and 2Ti 4:1. This statement of John’s is plainly a figure, as in Mat 3:10, Mat 3:12. To say that John’s baptism was only in water, and Christian baptism is both in water and the Spirit, is curiously to mix the image and that which it signifies. But such mixing need not surprise us, for much confusion has arisen in Christian thought from the wide-spread notion of baptismal regeneration. John here says that while he immersed men in water, the symbol of a new and pure life, the mightier Coming One would (so to speak) immerse them in the Holy Spirit, who really produces such a life. Jesus did not literally immerse men in the Spirit, any more than he literally smote men with an axe, (Mat 3:10) or cleansed them with a fan. (Mat 3:12) Plumptre: "As heard and understood at the time, the baptism with the Holy Ghost would imply that the souls thus baptized would be plunged, as it were, in that creative and informing Spirit which was the source of life and holiness and wisdom." It is likewise explained as a figurative immersion by Neander, Meyer, Bleek. This figurative use of the term resembles such expressions of profane writers as ’immersed in ignorance,’ ’in sorrow,’ ’in debts,’ as also our Saviour’s description of his own dreadful sufferings as a baptism. (Luk 12:50) In English too we are constantly saying, ’immersed in business,’ ’plunged in despair,’ ’bathed in delight,’ etc.
But what is meant by the additional words, and fire? Observe that in the preceding verse the fire receives the unfruitful trees, and in the next verse the fire consumes the chaff. Mat 3:11 evidently teaches the same general lesson, and it would therefore be natural to understand the fire which ends each of the three parallel sentences in essentially the same way as a fire which consumes the wicked. And notice that Luke (Luk 3:16) who also gives ’and fire,’ has the other images of burning the unfruitful trees and the chaff, (Luk 3:9, Luk 3:17) while in Mar 1:8 Joh 1:33; and Act 1:5, Act 11:16, where the other images are not mentioned, neither are the words ’and fire’ given. This would seem to leave no doubt as to the meaning of these words. The objection is that in the other images (Mat 3:10, Mat 3:12) two classes are distinguished, and the destiny of each is separately stated; while here it is simply ’shall baptize you,’ one class of persons, ’in the Holy Spirit and fire,’ without even repeating the preposition before ’fire’—as if it meant one class and one destiny, though stated by means of two terms. But the ’you’ whom John is addressing are not simply the believing and penitent, but the Jews in general, with special reference at the outset (Mat 3:7 f.) to the Pharisees and Sadducees. Now it had been predicted by Malachi (Mat 3:1 ff.) that the messenger of the covenant would come and purify the nation (especially the Levites, who were necessary to a bettered worship and national life), as silver is purified in a furnace; and this does not simply mean that he would purify individuals by consuming what was faulty in them, but Mal 4:1-3 shows it to mean that he would purify the nation by consuming the wicked individuals like ’stubble,’ and then the truly righteous of the nation would rejoice and prosper. The nation would be, as it were, thrown into a furnace of fire, which would consume the wicked among them, and leave a purified nation. In like manner, John says, the mighty Coming One will ’plunge you,’ the Jews whom he is addressing, ’in the Holy Spirit and fire’; some will be consumed and some preserved, a purified people. Just how far the ’Holy Spirit’ in John’s mouth differs from the O. T. and approaches the N. T. idea, it would be very difficult, and is not necessary, to determine. But it can scarcely be questioned that John’s thought is connected with that of Malachi, and if so, the explanation just offered is in all probability correct. Compare Bleek. More or less similar is the view of Origen, Fritzsche, Neander, de Wette, Hengstenberg, Meyer, Reynolds.—Many, however, suppose that the ’Holy Spirit’ is to be taken in the strictly N. T. sense, and ’fire’ is simply appended as an image of the Spirit’s purifying work upon the individual, consuming his faults. So Chrys., most Roman Catholic commentators, Calvin, Olshausen, Ewald, Godet, Edersh., Morison, and a number of others. Some of these think we have a similar expression in Joh 3:5, ’born of water and the Spirit,’ and some refer to the tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost as an actual exhibition of the image which John here employed. Such a view disregards the striking parallelism of Matthew’s three sentences, and rejects the guidance of Malachi. Our Lord promised the disciples (Act 1:5) a baptism in the Holy Spirit ere many days, which wan fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, and on that day appeared tongue-shaped flames sit ting on their heads, and obviously symbolizing the power of speaking with other tongues. And it is maintained that this is what John meant. But Jesus did not in his promise add ’and fire,’ and there is no mention of fiery tongues in the case of Cornelius and his household, when Peter expressly recognized (Act 11:16) a fulfilment of the Saviour’s promise. Nay, the forerunner meant something deeper and broader than the power of speaking with tongues; he was describing the great work of discrimination, by which some would be destroyed and the rest purified.
That difficulty was long ago felt as to the meaning of ’fire,’ appears from its being omitted here by many late MSS., and a few late versions and Fathers; yet none of them omit it in Luk 3:16. Wyclif and Rheims have ’in the Holy Ghost and fire.’ Tyndale introduced ’with the Holy Ghost and with fire,’ (altering the preposition and repeating it), followed by the other early Protestant versions, and now by Alford and Darby. ’In the Holy Spirit and fire’ is the rendering of Bible Union Revision, of Noyes (’in fire’) and Davidson, and Amer. App. to Rev. Ver.
Mat 3:12. A third image for the work of scrutiny and separation, and here expressly referred, as in Mat 3:11, to Messiah. Fan, more exactly a winnowing-shovel; with this the Jews threw up their wheat against the wind, which would blow away the chaff, (compare Psa 1:4 Dan 2:35 Hos 13:3) while the grain fell in a heap. The ’threshing-floor,’ a circular space of beaten earth, was then cleaned up, and the straw and chaff sometimes burned. (See Isa 5:24) Thoroughly purge, or, cleanse. The examination and discrimination will be complete. The garner, or granary, barn, literally, place for putting away. The Jews often used underground granaries, cut in the solid rock, like cisterns, or vaulted and cemented In these grain could be kept for years. The term rendered chaff includes also bits of straw, broken by the treading. With unquenchable fire. We may here render ’with fire,’ instrumental, or ’in fire,’ locative, just as in Mat 3:11 and Mat 13:40. Compare ’into fire,’ Mat 3:10, and Mar 9:43. By saying unquenchable fire, he turns attention away from the literalities of the image to the eternal thing represented. So with ’eternal tabernacles’ in Luk 16:9. Rev. Ver.
Luke adds (Luk 3:18, B. U. Ver.) that ’with many other exhortations he published the good tidings to the people,’ varying his practical exhortations while adhering to the same general good news that the reign of heaven was near at hand. This statement, as shown by what follows in Luke, is designed to cover the whole period of John’s ministry. In Joh 1:26 f., we have two instances of testimony to Jesus after his baptism, somewhat similar to that of Mat 3:10-12, borne before the event.
Homiletical And Practical
The personal character of John the Baptist. (1) His courageous severity, Mat 3:7, Mat 14:4. (2) His practical wisdom, Luk 3:10-14. (3) His humility and unselfishness, Mat 3:11 Joh 3:27-30.—religious benefits of solitude, as illustrated by the case of John.—-The ministry of John. (1) Its subjects and spirit. (2) Its relation to the ministry of Jesus. (3) The great effects it produced, Mat 3:5, Mat 11:11.—Jer. Taylor: "John was like the morning star, or the blushings springing from the windows of the east, foretelling the approach of the Sun of righteousness."Luther: "New things. (1) A new prophet; (2) A new ceremony; (3) A. new preaching; (4) A new king."
Mat 3:2. The calls to repentance, (1) By the prophets, (2) By John, (3) By Jesus, (4) By the apostles. The old exhortation, ’repent,’ and the new motive, ’for the reign,’ etc.—Henry: "True penitents have other thoughts of God and Christ, and sin and holiness, and this world and the other, than they have had, and stand otherwise affected toward them. The change of the mind produces a change of the way."
Mat 3:3. Preparation for Christ’s reign: (1) In what it consists—confessing and forsaking sins. (2) How it is exhibited, (a) by baptism, Mat 3:6, (b) by fruit, Mat 3:8.’ (3) How men are induced to make it—by the voice of one crying.—Ed Irving: "I do therefore consider the Baptist as our pattern and permission to take strong weapons of argument and terrible denunciation, wherewith to clear away obstructions, and make a highway for the descent of our Lord. Christ came not until the Baptist had come. The gospel of salvation cometh not until the fear of condemnation and ruin hath seized us. The Baptist rested his lever upon the instant coming of Christ, and from that fulcrum took his purchase upon the present." Chrysostom: "The Prophet and the Baptist go upon the same ideas; the Prophet says, ’Prepare ye the way of the Lord,’ the Baptist, ’Produce fruits worthy of repentance.’ "
Mat 3:4. The first Elijah and the second Elijah. (compare Mat 11:14) Bengel: "Even John’s food and raiment preach Ed." —Jer. Taylor: "The preacher’s life is his best sermon "’—Ed Irving: "And what is there good that cometh not out of suffering? and what is there great that cometh not out of self-denial? what is there new, in knowledge or in virtue, that comets not out of solitary thought? and what is there noble and lasting in purpose that cometh not out of long nursing and strengthening in the secret chambers of the mind?" —Hall: "Never will Christ come into that soul, where the herald of repentance hath not been before him."
Mat 3:6. Relations between confession of sin and baptism.
Mat 3:7. The wrath to come. (1) There is still a wrath to come. (2) We ought to flee from it. (3) We ought to induce others to flee. (4) Mere alarm will not secure escape.—Coming to baptism unworthily: (1) With superficial views and impressions, Mat 3:7. (2) With proud self-reliance, Mat 3:9. (3) With no intention to live accordingly, Mat 3:8. Ed Irving: "But rougher far than hairy raiment or rocky wild was that ungentle voice which was rung among the thousands of Israel. Such a salutation as he opened with perhaps never smote the pride of any assembly, ’O generation of vipers!’ It was bitterly, it was uncourtly, but oh, it was truly said."
Mat 3:8. Theophylact: "We must not only flee evil, but also produce fruits of virtue."—Christianity is positive.
Mat 3:9. Human pride humbled by remembering divine sovereignty.—Folly of relying on a pious ancestry, when not pious ourselves. Christianity does not propose to save men by nations or by races, but individually.
Mat 3:10-12. Christianity discriminates: (1) The righteous and the wicked living together. (2) How Christianity discriminates between them. (3) The resulting rewards and punishments.
Mat 3:10. Theophylact: "Not ’that did not produce,’ but ’that does not produce’; for we must be always bearing fruit. If you showed mercy yesterday, but plunder to-day, you do not please" (God).
Mat 3:11. Henry: "It is a great comfort to faithful ministers, to think that Jesus Christ is mightier than they, can do that for them, and that by them, which they cannot do; his strength is perfected in their weakness.... Those whom God puts honour upon, are thereby made very humble and low in their own eyes."
Mat 3:12. John’s illustrations are all drawn from familiar objects, and mainly rural—from fruit-trees, cutting with an axe, threshing and winnowing grain, stones that lie around, a servant carrying his master’s sandals, the baptism he is performing, the customs as to marriage.—Luther: (Joh 3:29) "Such preaching as John’s does not pass away without fruits."
John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (American Baptist Publication Society, 1886) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 John the Baptist.
Mat_3:1
John the Baptist.
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I. The special mission of the Baptist.
1. He wag the herald of the Messiah.
2. He belonged, properly, neither to the Mosaic nor to the Christian dispensation. His was a transition ministry.
3. He was appointed to prepare for, as well as to announce, the introduction of the Gospel. A spiritual economy, demanding a process of moral and religious preparation.
4. His character corresponded with his office-stern.
II. The chief subject of his preaching.
1. The nature of repentance.
2. The duty of repentance.
3. The connection of repentance with faith in Christ.
4. The evidences of repentance. Learn
(1) The necessity of repentance;
(2) What are the hindrances to the progress of the gospel in the world. (R. Watson and D. Moore.)
John the Baptist
1. His work.
2. His qualifications.
3. His message.
4. His Divine appointment.
5. His un-worldliness.
6. His popularity.
7. His courageous utterances. (D. C. Hughes,M. A.)
Wilderness
I. In his solitude he did breathe more pure inspiration.
1. Heaven was more open.
2. God was more familiar and frequent in His visitations.
3. In the wilderness his company was angels.
4. His employment, meditation and prayer.
5. His temptations, simple and from within.
6. His occasions of sin as few as his examples.
7. His condition such, that if his soul were at all busy, his life could not easily be other than the life of angels.
II. In solitude pious persons may go to heaven by the way of prayers and devotion.
1. In society, by the way of mercy, charity, and dispensations to others.
2. In solitude there are fewer occasions of vices.
3. But also the exercise of fewer virtues.
4. Temptations though they be not from many objects, yet are in some circumstances more dangerous.
5. Because the worst of evils, spiritual pride seldom misses to creep upon those goodly oaks, like ivy, and suck their heart out.
6. As they communicate less with the world, so they do less charity and fewer offices of mercy.
III. Many holy persons have left their wilderness and sweetnesses of devotion in retirement to serve god in public, by the ways of charity and exterior offices.
IV. John the Baptist united both these lives; and our blessed Saviour … for He lived a life:
(1)common;
(2)sociable;
(3)humane;
(4) charitable;
(5) and public.
From both we are taught that-
I. Solitude is a good school.
II. The world is the best theatre.
III. The institution is best there, but the practice here.
IV. The wilderness hath one advantage of discipline.
V. Society hath opportunities of perfection.
VI. Privacy is best for devotion.
VII. Publicity for charity. (Jeremy Taylor.)
Wilderness of Judaea
Everything in this desert is of one colour-a tawny yellow. The rocks, the partridges, the camels, the foxes, the ibex, are all of this shade, and only the dark Bedawin and their black tents are distinguishable in the general glare From a very early period this horrible wilderness appears to have had an attraction for ascetics, who sought a retreat from the busy world of their fellowmen, and who thought to please God by torturing the bodies which He had given them. Thus the Essenes, the Jewish sect whose habits and tenets resembled so closely those of the first Christians, retired into this wilderness and lived in caves. Christian hermits, from the earliest period, were also numerous in all the country between Jerusalem and Jericho, and the rocks are riddled with caves in inaccessible places where they lived Lifeless and treeless though it be, nature prepares every day a glorious picture, quickly-fading but matchless in brilliance of colour; the distant ranges seem stained with purple and pink; in autumn the great bands of cloud sweep over the mountains with long bars of gleaming light between; and for a few minutes, as the sun sets, the deep crimson blush comes over the rocks and glorifies the whole landscape with an indescribable glow. (Lieut. Condor, R. E.)
Solitude sometimes conducive to usefulness
The Baptist did not rush from the society of his species into the solitudes of Judaea to hide his candle for ever under a bushel, as modern and ancient asceticism has done; but he resorted thither only from an unselfish and most expanded motive, namely, in order that his candle alight all the more brightly, and widely, and publicly shine, when he issued forth at length to preach, in the midst of mixed crowds, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (B. Jones.)
Solitude necessary to inward realization
Only in quiet, in solitude with God, in unbroken questioning with his own soul, can a prophet of God discover what God is saying to his spirit. (S. Brooke, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 13 Chapter 3
Chapter 3
His Herald - Mat_3:1-12
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THIRTY years have gone since all Jerusalem was in trouble at the rumour of Messiahs birth. But as nothing has been heard of Him since, the excitement has passed away. Those who were troubled about it are aging or old or dead; so no one thinks or speaks of it now. There have been several political changes since, mostly for the worse. Judea is now a province of Rome, governed by procurators, of whom the sixth, called Pontius Pilate, has just entered on his office. Society is much the same as before-the same worldliness and luxurious living after the manner of the Greek, the same formalism and. bigotry after the manner of the Scribe. There is no sign, in Jerusalem at least, of any change for the better.
The only new thing stirring is a rumour in the street. People are telling one another that a new prophet has arisen. "In the Palace?"-"No." "In the Temple?"-"No." "Surely somewhere in the city?"-"No." He is in the wilderness, clad in roughest garb, subsisting on poorest fare-a living protest against the luxury of the time. He makes no pretence to learning, draws no fine distinctions, gives no curious interpretations, and yet, with only a simple message, -which, however, he delivers as coming straight from God Himself, -is drawing crowds to hear him from all the country side. So the rumour spreads throughout the town, and great numbers go out to see what it is all about; some perhaps from curiosity, some in hope that it may be the dawn of a brighter day for Israel, all of them no doubt more or less stirred with the excitement of the thought that, after so many silent centuries, a veritable prophet has come, like those of old. For it must be remembered that even in gay Jerusalem the deep-rooted feelings of national pride and patriotism had been only overlaid, not superseded, by the veneer of Greek and Roman civilisation, which only seemed for the moment to satisfy the people.
So they go out in multitudes to the wilderness; and what do they see? "A man clothed in fine raiment," like the Roman officials in the palace, which in those degenerate days were Jerusalems pride? "A reed shaken by the wind," like the time-serving politicians of the hour? Nay, verily; but a true prophet of the Lord, one reminding them of what they have read in the Scriptures of the great Elijah, who suddenly appeared in the wild mountain region of Gilead, at a time when Phoenician manners were making the same havoc in Israel that Greek manners are now making in Jerusalem. Who can he be? He seems to be more than a prophet. Can he be the Christ? But this he entirely disclaims. Is he Elijah then? John probably knew that he was sent "in the spirit and power of Elijah," for so his father had learned from the angel on the occasion of the announcement of his birth; but that was not the point of their question. When they asked, "Art thou Elijah?" they meant "Art thou Elijah risen from the dead?" To this he must, of course, answer, "No." In the same way he must disclaim identity with any of the prophets. He will not trade upon the name of any of these holy men of old. Enough that he comes, a nameless one, before them, with a message from the Lord. So, keeping himself in the background, he puts his message before them, content that they should recognise in it the fufilment of the well-known word of prophecy: "A voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."
John wishes it to be distinctly understood that he is not that Light which the prophets of old have told them should arise, but is sent to bear witness to that Light. He has come as a herald to announce the approach of the King, and to call upon the people to prepare for His coming. Think not of me, he cries, ask not who I am; think of the coming King, and make ready for HIM, -"Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."
How is the way of the Lord to be prepared? Is it by summoning the people to arms all over the land, that they may repel the Roman invader and restore the ancient kingdom? Such a proclamation would no doubt have struck a chord that would have vibrated through all the land. That would have been after the manner of men; it was not the way of the Lord. The summons must be, not to arms, but to repentance: "Wash you, make you clean: put away the evil of your doings." So, instead of marching up, a host of warriors, to the Roman citadel, the people troop down, band after band of penitents, to the Jordan, confessing their sins. After all it is the old, old prophetic message over again, -the same which had been sent generation after generation to a back-sliding people, its burden always this: "Turn ye unto Me, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts."
Like many of the old prophets, John taught by symbol as well as by word. The preparation needed was an inward cleansing, and what more fitting symbol of it than the water baptism to which he called the nation? "In that day," it was written in the prophets, "there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." The prophecy was about to be fulfilled, and the baptism of John was the appropriate sign of it. Again, in another of the prophets the promise ran, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you and I will put my spirit within you." John knew well that it was not given to him to fulfil this promise. He could not grant the real baptism, the baptism of the Holy Ghost; but he could baptise with water; he could give the sign and assurance to the truly. penitent heart that there was forgiveness and cleansing in the coming One; and thus, by his baptism with water, as well as by the message he delivered, he was preparing the way of the Lord. All this, we cannot but observe, was in perfect accord with the wonderful prophetic utterance of his father Zacharias, as recorded by "St. Luke" thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by "the remission of their sins,"-not to give salvation, which only Christ can give, but the knowledge of it. This he did not only by telling. Of the coming Saviour, and, when He came, pointing to Him as "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world": but also by the appropriate sign of baptism, which gave the same knowledge in the language of symbol addressed to the eye.
The summons of the prophet of the wilderness is not in vain. The people come. The throngs increase. The nation is moved. Even the great ones of the nation condescend to follow the multitude. Pharisees and Sadducees, the leaders of the two great parties in Church and State, are coming; many of them are coming. What a comfort this must be to the prophets soul. How gladly he will welcome them, and let it be known that he has among his converts many of the great ones of the land! But the stern Baptist is a man of no such mould. What cares he for rank or position or worldly influence? What he wants is reality, simplicity, godly sincerity; and he knows that, scarce as these virtues are in the community at large, they are scarcest of all among these dignitaries. He will not allow the smallest admixture of insincerity or hypocrisy in what is, so far, a manifest work of God. He must test these new-comers to the uttermost, for the sin of which they need most to repent is the very, sin which they are in danger of committing afresh in its most aggravated form in offering themselves for baptism. He must therefore test their motives: he must at all risks ensure that, unless their repentance is genuine, they shall not be baptised. For their own sakes, as well as for the works sake, this is necessary. Hence the strong, even harsh language he uses in putting the question why they had come. Yet he would not repel or discourage them. He does not send them away as if past redemption, but only demands that they bring forth fruit worthy of the-repentance they profess. And lest they should think that there was an easier way of entrance for them than for others, lest they should think that they had claims sufficient because of their descent, he reminds them that God can have his kingdom upon earth, even though every son of Abraham in the world should reject Him: "Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."
It is as if he said, The coming kingdom of righteousness and truth will not fail, even if Pharisees and Sadducees and all the natural children of Abraham refuse to enter its only gate of repentance; if there is no response to the Divine summons where it is most to be expected, then it can be secured where it is least to be expected; if flesh become stone, then stone can be made flesh, according-to the word of promise. So there will be no gathering in of mere formalists to make up numbers, no including of those who are only "Jews outwardly." And there will be no half measures, no compromise with evil, no parleying with those who are unwilling or only half willing to repent. A time of crisis has come, -"now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees." It is not lifted yet. But it is there lying ready, ready for the Lord of the vineyard, when He shall come (and He is close at hand); then, "every free which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire."
Yet not for judgment is He coming, -John goes on to say, -but to fulfil the promise of the Father. He is coming to baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire-to purify you through and through and to animate you with a new life, glowing, upward-striving, heaven-aspiring; and it is to prepare you for this unspeakable blessing that I ask you to come and put away those sins which must he a barrier in the way of His coming, those sins which dim your eyes so that you cannot see Him, which stop your ears so that you cannot recognise your Shepherds voice, that clog your hearts so that the Holy Spirit cannot reach them, -repent, repent, and be baptised all of you; for there cometh One after me, mightier than I, whose meanest servant I am not worthy to be, -He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, if you are ready to receive Him; but if you are not, still you cannot escape Him, "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly cleanse His threshing-floor; and He will gather His wheat into the garner, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire" (R.V).
The work of John must still be done. It specially devolves upon the ministers of Christ; would they were all as anxious as he was to keep in the background, as little concerned about position, title, official rank, or personal consideration.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1–17 1. In those days. Many years after the incidents…
1. In those days. Many years after the incidents of the last chapter; somewhere from twenty-five to thirty. Came John the Baptist. Called the Baptist or Baptizer because he baptized the people. He came forth as a preacher and reformer. He was the subject of prophecy (Isa. 40:3; Mal. 3:1); his birth was announced by an angel; he was of a priestly family, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary. He was now about thirty years old. Preaching in the wilderness of Judea. A region thinly inhabited, used mostly for pasture, a rocky tract in the eastern part of Judea and west of the Jordan and the Dead Sea.
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 vv1, 13 Mat_3:1. In those days.—Of Christ’s secluded life at Nazareth…
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat_3:1. In those days.—Of Christ’s secluded life at Nazareth (see Luk_3:1, etc.) St. Matthew passes over a period of nearly thirty years (Luk_3:23). Preaching.—Lt heralding; making, by command, a royal proclamation. Wilderness of Judæa.—The name was commonly applied to the thinly populated region in the southern valley of the Jordan, and so was equivalent to “the country about. Jordan” of Luk_3:3, including even part of the district east of the river. In this region John had grown up (Luk_1:80) (Plumptre).
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Mat_3:2. The kingdom of heaven.—St. Matthew alone uses this expression, but he also employs the equivalent phrase, the kingdom of God, in common with the other New Testament writers. In itself the expression was not new. It connected itself in Jewish thought with the theocracy—the direct rule of God—of which the earthly kingdom was a shadow (Carr). See Supplementary note. At hand.—By the Jews the Messiah was always conceived as the means whereby the kingdom of God was to be set up (Wendt). Of. Dan_7:13-14.
Mat_3:3. Prepare ye the way.—The conquerors of the East sent a herald before them to call the people of the countries through which they marched to prepare for their approach. A “king’s highway” had to be carried through the open land of the wilderness, valleys filled up, etc. The words used are, of course, poetical in their greatness (Plumptre). The preparation was to be by repentance.
Mat_3:4. Camel’s hair, i.e. woven of it. The dress was, perhaps, deliberately adopted) by the Baptist as reviving the outward appearance of Elijah (2Ki_1:8) “who suddenly appeared in the wild mountain region of Gilead, at a time when Phœnician manners were making the same havoc in Israel that Greek manners” were “now making in Jerusalem” (J. M. Gibson). See Dr. Edersheim’s Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. i., p. 130, as to the luxuriousness of Jerusalem at this time. Locusts.—The insect, not the pod. Permitted by the law (Lev_11:22). Still used by the poor in Palestine and Syria. Wild honey.—Honey made by wild bees. Jos., B. J., IV. viii. 3, speaking of the plain of Jericho, says that the palm-trees, when pressed, exude honey; but, he adds, “the country produces honey from bees.” Zorn, Kuinoel, Fritzsche, and others, suppose the “wild honey” to have been of purely vegetable origin. There were clearly both kinds in the wilderness of Judæa (H. R. Reynolds).
Mat_3:5. Region … Jordan.—This would include the whole length of the river-valley, and would, therefore, take in parts of Peræa, Samaria, Galilee, and Gaulonitis (Plumptre).
Mat_3:7. Pharisees.—The name signifies “separatists”; the party dates from the revival of the national life and observances of the Mosaic law under the Maccabees. Their ruling principle was a literal obedience to the written law and to an unwritten tradition. Originally they were loaders of a genuine reform. But in the hands of less spiritual successors their system had become little else than a formal observance of carefully prescribed rules. Politically they were the popular party, supporters of an isolating policy, who would make no terms with Rome or any other foreign power. The Zealots may be regarded as the extreme section of the Pharisees. Sadducees.—The aristocratic and priestly party; they acquiesced in foreign rule and foreign civilisation. Refused to give the same weight as the Pharisees to unwritten tradition, but adhered strictly to the written law of Moses. Their religious creed excluded belief in a future life or in angels and spirits. The name is probably derived from Zadok the priest in David’s time (Carr). O generation of vipers.—Perhaps borrowed from Isa_59:5. Both parties “poisoners of the nation’s religious principles” (Brown). Flee from the wrath to come.—The coming of the Messiah was expected to be a time of judgment (Dan_7:10; Dan_7:26) which, however, the Jews interpreted of the heathen only (Mansel).
Mat_3:9. Abraham … father.—The boast seems to have been common. See Joh_8:33-39. The later Hebrew literature frequently expresses the conviction that the children of Abraham occupied a position of exclusive and exceptional privilege (H. R. Reynolds). Stones.—The coming kingdom of righteousness and truth will not fail, even if Pharisees and Sadducees and all the natural children of Abraham refuse to enter its only gate of repentance. If flesh become stone, then stone can be made flesh, according to the word of promise (J. M. Gibson).
Mat_3:10. Axe.—The woodman has, as it were, taken his position, and, while making his brief preparations, such as the adjustment of his vesture, etc., has laid his axe at the root. The crisis-time has come. Not a moment should be lost (Morison).
Mat_3:11. Shoes, or sandals.—Among Jews, Greeks, and Romans alike, this office, that of untying and carrying the shoes of the master of the house or of a guest, was the well-known function of the lowest slave of the household (Plumptre). With fire.—Origen, among the Fathers, and among moderns Neander, Meyer, De Wette, and Lange interpret this as a baptism of the impenitent with hell-fire, and so as a distinct baptism from that of the Spirit, but this is, as Dr. D. Brown says, “exceedingly unnatural.” The “with” would be better omitted. It is in italics in the R. V. The Baptist adds “and fire,” to give a vivid description of the mighty and mightily purificatory influence of the Holy Spirit (Morison).
Mat_3:12. Fan = winnowing-fan. Purge, cleanse (R. V.). Floor, threshing-flour (R.V.). Chaff = all but the actual grain, i.e. the ungodly and evil-doers. Unquenchable fire = the wrath of God against evil, which is, in its very nature, eternal, and can only cease with the cessation or transformation of the evil (Plumptre). How picturesque John’s preaching! Mat_3:7-12 are full of striking imagery.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_3:1-12
Before His face.—At last the silence is broken. At last a partial explanation is given. One stands up to tell us (at least) that such an explanation is coming, and to prepare us for the mission which the long-silent Jesus is at last about to begin. Let us note, first, what is said of this forerunner in the passage before us. Let us note, secondly, what he says of himself.
I. What is said here about him.—About his office, to begin. He is, pre-eminently, a preacher (Mat_3:1); a man with a message, having something to “say” (Mat_3:2); a “voice crying out” (Mat_3:3). He came and preached. That is his story in brief. About the place of his preaching. Other preachers had been sent to deliver their messages in temples and cities (Jer_36:5-6; Jon_1:2; Jon_3:1-2); this man was sent to raise his voice in the solitudes of the “wilderness” (Mat_3:1; Mat_3:3). About the object of his preaching. To bring men to “repent” (Mat_3:2); to a proper sense, and open acknowledgment, and practical forsaking of their sins. About the singular urgency and cogency of his preaching. Other preachers had referred to what was to happen in the future (Isa_2:2, etc.), he always spoke of that which was close (end of Mat_3:2). About his place as a preacher. The greatest in word of all previous prophets had foretold his coming and work (Mat_3:3). The greatest in deed of all previous prophets had been so like him even in apparel and food (Mat_3:4, cf. 2Ki_1:7-8) as to be almost a prophecy of his appearance. About his success as a preacher. On this point even those other preachers, with all their advantages, had much to lament (see Isa_53:1; 1Ki_19:10). In this case, on the contrary, we see, on this point, almost all a preacher could wish. Multitudes of hearers, brought out to him in the wilderness, brought from afar, brought from all parts, brought to “hear” and to “do,” brought to open confession of sins, and brought also to such desire for amendment as to be “baptised of him” in the River Jordan in attestation thereof (Mat_3:5-6)—what true preacher would not rejoice in seeing such results from his words? In seeing even an approximation to such tokens as these? About the character of his preaching. Here, perhaps, this preacher of preachers is greatest of all. None of his extraordinary success is due to anything of an unworthy type in his language. Not Elijah himself, on the contrary, could be more faithful than he. No matter who they were who came to his preaching, however high in position or repute, whether believing too much or too little, even if (apparently) of all men the least likely to come (Mat_3:7), he has but one message for all, and that a message of the most heart-piercing kind (Mat_3:8). Neither will he allow them, be they who they may, to dream of safety in anything else (Mat_3:9); or to be content, if they listen to him, with anything less (Mat_3:10). On all points, therefore, what is said of him here points him out as a preacher indeed. Never was there, in fact,—when all is considered—such a preacher before! (cf. Mat_11:11).
II. What he says of himself.—Simply that, after all, his great work is to testify to Another. This, for example, is why he is so especially urgent in demanding amendment of life. That great Searcher of hearts, who is so close behind him, will be satisfied with no less. Already, as it were, He is “laying” His axe to the root of the tree (Mat_3:10). The next thing, therefore, with every fruitless tree, will be to hew it down for the fire (ibid.). This, again, is why this most successful of preachers insists on baptism as he does. Not so much for its own sake as for what it prepares for, does he make use of this sign. One is coming so much “mightier” than he, that he himself is unworthy to serve Him even in the lowliest way. The principal use, therefore, of my baptism, which is “with water unto repentance,” is to prepare you for His, which shall be a baptism, on the contrary, “with the Holy Ghost and with fire” (Mat_3:11). Once more, this is why he, finally, fixes attention on that coming One and His work. What an instrument of discrimination, e.g. is that which He holds in His hand! How thoroughly, with that “fan” of His, will He “purge His” own “floor”! And how wide apart, and how irrevocable therefore, will be the separation it works! Where is the “wheat”? In His “garner.” Where is the “chaff”? In the “fire.” What sort of fire? That which cannot be “quenched” (Mat_3:12).
See here, therefore, in this “preparation” for Christ, for such it is in effect (end of Mat_3:3):—
1. How much it contains.—How it testifies, on the one hand, to the greatness of Christ! In it one who surpasses all the greatness of the past, points to that “coming One” as greater by far than himself. How it testifies, on the other hand, to His holiness! If there has been anything unexamined before, it will now be so no longer. So holy is He who comes that nothing unholy can remain in His sight. What stillness of heart—what readiness to hear—such testimonies should create.
2. How much, for all this, this present testimony suggests.—A call to repentance is an indication that, so far, there is no absolute need to despair. But it is not very much more. “Who knoweth if He will return and repent?” (Joe_2:14). “Who can tell if God will turn and repent?” (Jon_3:9). It seems noteworthy, therefore, that, in what is told us here, the Baptist tells us no more. Afterwards, when he sees the Saviour Himself, he adopts a very different strain. “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (Joh_1:29). Meanwhile, it is not unfitting, in this preliminary teaching, that he only “prepares” for that Light!
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat_3:1-12. The ministry of John.—There are two classes of men—those that are made by the times, and those that are made for them. John the Baptist belonged to the latter class. There are three great truths which this passage develops:
1. That the system of Jesus is a system of Divine rule. “Kingdom of heaven.” It is the ruling power of God—God reigning by His truth, over the reason, heart, and conscience of man.
2. That reformation is indispensable to the enjoyment of this system. “Repent.”
3. That the effecting of this reformation is one of the greatest ministries of man. This mission was John’s. He had an insight of the heart of his age. Hence his cry for reformation. John’s ministry may be regarded as a type of the ministry needed for an age of religious form and sensuousness, in order to prepare it for a higher teaching. His mission was—
I. Moral in its aim.—What kind of reformation did he seek? Intellectual? Institutional? No; he aimed at the reformation of Judæa’s heart. No ministry is valid that strives not supremely for this moral reformation. Three facts show this:
1. That all systems of religion, erroneous either in idea or practice, spring from wrong moral principles.
2. Systems thus erroneous may be destroyed in form, and the moral principles from which they spring remain as vigorous as ever.
3. That the great mission of Christianity is to combat and crush the moral principles of wrong.
II. Faithful in its appeal.—Two things show his faithfulness:
1. His declaration of their character—“generation of vipers.”
2. His faithfulness is seen in destroying the chief object of their glory—“Think not to say,” etc.
III. Symbolical in its ritualism.—The grand end both of the Jewish and Christian rites was the same, viz. to teach; to portray truth to the senses. Thus John regarded baptism. Symbolic of spiritual cleansing. So unutterably strong were his convictions of the importance of spiritual reformation that he not only made the Jordan help him to speak them, but his labouring soul made both his dress and diet symbolic. There is something transcendently more important for humanity than either food or raiment.
IV. Self-abnegating in its spirit.—“He that cometh after me,” etc.—D. Thomas, D.D.
Mat_3:1-2. John the Baptist.—
I. John’s character as a man.—
1. A man of extraordinary piety. Filled with Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb. A godly child, a godly boy, a godly man, the greatest saint probably of his dispensation.
2. His piety was marked by extreme abstemiousness. A Nazarite.
3. Partly as a consequence of his Nazaritic obligations, his dwelling was in the wilderness. Herein we partly see the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament holiness. The Old Testament holiness manifested itself principally in isolation from the world. Its primary idea was separation. But the New Testament holiness consists, not in separation from the world, but in the pervasion of the world. Its primary idea is permeation.
4. At the age of thirty the “word of the Lord came unto John”—he received his official call to be a prophet. Not the product of his age. Had a mission to his age, not from it. The great man should be an interpreter of his age, but to interpret does not mean to share.
II. John’s character as a preacher.—
1.A voice. To behold John was a sermon in itself. “I am a voice; I am not the Speaker, only the voice of one; the Speaker is coming after me, for He was before me.”
2. A voice crying. Literally, crying aloud. Guard against the supposition that his ministry consisted of nothing but sound. “John was a burning and a shining lamp,” says the Saviour. His preaching was warm and enlightening.
3. He was a voice crying aloud in the wilderness. First came John crying aloud in the wilderness, shouting lustily at the highest pitch of his voice. Then came Jesus Christ, the very opposite of John, sitting quietly whilst teaching, and speaking in calm, subdued, and measured tones.
4. He cried, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” etc. His was the work of preparation; strength, therefore, was more requisite than refinement. Adorn your frontispieces, embellish your corner-stones, but let the foundations be as rugged as you please.
III. The character of John’s ministry.—
1. It aimed chiefly at the conscience. “Repent,” a word addressed not to the understanding or to the imagination, but to the conscience.
2. He neither reasoned nor apologised but stated the truth in its stark nakedness.
IV. The motive forces of John’s ministry.—The kingdom of heaven wears two aspects; of wrath, to those who obstinately refuse allegiance to it; of grace, to all who submit and accept its overtures of peace. John gave special prominence to the Divine wrath. “Who hath warned you,” etc. We, living at the zenith of the gospel dispensation, should expatiate more particularly on Divine grace. Repent—why? Because wrath is coming. Why? Because grace has come.—J. C. Jones, D.D.
Mat_3:3-12. The herald of the King.—
I. We have an outline sketch of the herald and of his work.—
1. John was Elijah over again.
2. His message is summed up in two sentences, two blasts of the trumpet—the call to repentance and the rousing proclamation that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
3. John’s fulfilment of prophecy.
4. His asceticism. The more luxuriously self-indulgent men are, the more are they fascinated by religious self-denial. A man “clothed in soft raiment” would have drawn no crowds. His asceticism was the expression of his severe, solitary spirit, detached from the delights of sense, and even from the softer play of loves, because that coming kingdom flamed ever before him, and his age seemed to him to be rotting and ready for the fire. There is no need to bring in irrelevant learning about Essenes, to account for his mode of life. The thoughts which burned in him drove him into the wilderness.
5. The last point in this brief résumé of John’s work is the universal excitement which it produced. Wherever a religious teacher shows that he has John’s qualities, as our Lord in His eulogium analysed them, viz. unalterable resolution, like an iron pillar, not a reed shaken with the wind, conspicuous superiority to considerations of ease and comfort, a direct vision of the Unseen, and a message from God, the crowds will go out to see him; and even if the enthusiasm be shallow and transient, some spasm of conviction will pass across many a conscience, and some will be pointed by him to the King.
II. We have a more detailed account of John’s preaching as addressed to the Pharisees and Sadducees.—If they were drawn into the current it must have run strong indeed. John’s salutation is excessively rough and rude. He was not scolding when he called his hearers, “ye offspring of vipers,” but charging them with moral corruption and creeping earthliness. The summary of his preaching is like a succession of lightning flashes.
1. The remarkable thing about his teaching is, that in his hands the great hope of Israel became a message of terror, the proclamation of the impending kingdom passes into a denunciation of “the wrath to come,” set forth with a tremendous wealth of imagery.
2. Next comes the urgent demand for reformation of life as the sign of real repentance. His exhortation does not touch the deepest ground for repentance in the heart-softening love of God manifested in the sacrifice of the King, but is based wholly on the certainty of judgment. So far, it is incomplete; but the demand for righteous living as the only test of religious emotion is fully Christian, and needed in this generation as much as it ever was.
3. The next flash strikes the lofty structure of confidence in their descent. He wrenches away this shield against which his sharpest arrows were blunted.
4. With a new emblem the immediate beginning of the judgment is proclaimed, and its principles and issues are declared.
5. The coming of the kingdom implied the coming of the King. So his sermon reaches its climax in the ringing proclamation of His advent.
6. Note the grand conception of the gifts of the King. He would come, bringing with Him the gift of a mighty Spirit, whose quick energy, transforming all deadness into its own likeness, burning out the foul stains from character, and melting cold hearts into radiant warmth, should do all that his poor, cold, outward baptism only shadowed.
7. Note, further, the renewed prophecy of judgment. There is something very solemn in the stern refrain at the end of each of three consecutive verses—“with fire.” The first and the last refer to the destructive fire; the second, to the cleansing Spirit. But the fire that destroys is not unconnected with that which purifies. The very same Divine flame, if welcomed and yielded to, works purity, and if repelled and scorned, consumes.
8. Note the limitations in John’s knowledge of the King. His prophecy unites as contemporaneous events which, in fact, are widely separate—the coming of Christ, and the judgments which He executes, whether on Israel or in the final “great day of the Lord.” There is no perspective in prophecy.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mat_3:3. John’s call to preach.—John’s calling and authority to preach are described to be from heaven, according to the prophecy past of him (Isa_40:3).
1. The calling and authority of a preacher are chiefly to be looked into, that he take not this honour to himself.
2. A called preacher should labour that the hearts of the hearers be prepared for more and more lively receiving of Christ. John sought to prepare the way of the Lord.
3. He should discharge his commission plainly; keeping back nothing of the Lord’s revealed counsel and not fearing what flesh can do unto him.
4. He should labour to bring down the pride of impenitent hearers, and to lift up the dejected souls of such as in the sense of their sin and unworthiness dare not believe.—David Dickson.
Mat_3:4. John’s fitness for his commission.—
1. Such as the Lord doth call to the ministry, He fitteth them for the work, and for the times wherein He doth employ them. Such austerity was fit in a Nazarite, sent forth to waken a world besotted in security.
2. Ministers in the outward manner of living should so behave themselves, as least exception may be taken against them, and as the work in their hand may be most advanced.—Ibid.
Locusts and wild honey.—I have myself “eaten” exactly this food, of “locusts” and “wild honey.” It so happened that when I rode upward from Jericho to Bethel, and later, from Beyrout to Baalbec, the air was darkened with clouds of locusts. They covered the ground on my return journey two and three inches deep; in places, whither a strong east wind had blown them, nearly a foot deep. Gathering a basketful, I had them preserved, “dried,” pounded, and ultimately “cooked.” My cook (for the occasion) was a Frenchman; but he assured me he followed “the custom of the country.” I must frankly own that I shrank from partaking of the dish, and at first, at any rate, the proportion of “locust” to the delicious “wild honey” in the comb—drawn from a hollow pomegranate trunk—was very slight. But I could have imagined myself eating shrimps. They were well seasoned of salt, and the combination of the salty with the honey taste gave a not unpleasant originality and fragrance of flavour. I cannot affirm that I would care to choose such “food” habitually, but if circumstance or duty demanded it, I should be able to “live” upon it. Certes, I should very much prefer “locusts and wild honey” to the pod of the tree that some have sought to substitute for the “locusts.” Anything more fushionless (Scotice, tasteless and nurtureless) than the “washy” (Scotice, tasteless) sweet pods of the locust-tree (Ceratonia Siliqua) I cannot imagine.—A. B. Grosart, D.D.
Mat_3:7. A special sermon to the Pharisees and Sadducees.—
1. How powerful is the preaching of truth, when the Lord is pleased to bless the same.
2. Such as profess to believe the Word, and to repent of their sins and submit to God’s ordinances, cannot be excluded from entering into the society of the church. 3. Notorious sinners may and should, in their receiving into the church, after any pollution by scandal, be put in mind of their former evil life, that they may be humbled the more, and be more holy for time to come.
4. It is a rare thing to see sectaries converted. John wondereth at their coming.
5. Wrath doth follow on all the wicked who either live epicures, as the Sadducees, or seek to be justified by their own works, as the Pharisees.
6. Coming to Christ, and subjection to His ordinances is the way to eschew wrath.
7. When God’s glory, people’s edification and salvation, do require that public faults should be publicly reproved, then the credit of the party reproved is not to be stood upon.—David Dickson.
The Pharisees and Sadducees coming to John.—As we recall who these Pharisees and Sadducees were, surely most remarkable is the historico-biographic fact, that “many” of them “came” to “hear” the “preaching” and to seek the “baptism” of John the Baptist? What brought them?
I. That strange emotion and sympathy which sometimes runs through a whole community.—The tidal wave floods a community, and all are borne upon it.
II. Here was a new sensation.—I must believe that, as these Pharisees were human, their weary formalism of outward observances, from which all of reality and sacredness had long vanished, often and often made them sigh for something that would interest and nurture them. Then, the Sadducees, as they too were human, had instincts and sharp sorrows and achings and ominous agitations that, spite of themselves, must have led them to doubt and speculate, wonder and dread. I have observed that modern Pharisees and Sadducees rather like to have their consciences flagellated—occasionally; and I can well believe that the lash and the terrors and the authority of John the Baptist’s ministry had something to do with the coming of this unique “many.”
III. The Messianic expectation was in the air.—Even outside of Judaism there was a great “hope” of a “Coming One.” Within Judaism itself there were not a few who “waited for the consolation of Israel.”
IV. The “Finger of God” was in it.—God “sent” the man as herald and as preacher, and it could not but be that He would see to it that the souls for whom the summons, “repent ye,” was meant, aye, and the lightning softened into light of its sequel, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” should be there to hear.—A. B. Grosart, D.D.
A generation of vipers.—The self-righteousness of religious formalism always produces a generation of vipers, by hypocritically conforming to its demands.
1. A low and unimpressible generation.
2. A cunning generation.
3. A malicious and dangerous generation.—J. P. Lange, D.D.
The Pharisees and Sadducees at John’s baptism.—Bearing in mind that coming to John’s baptism was the seal of his success, and that his baptism contained in symbolical form the whole substance of his teaching, these are the two topics of the text:—
I. The meaning of John’s message.—
1. That those baptised were in danger. “Flee,” etc.
2. The importance of confession (Mat_3:6). On the eve of a promised new life they were required to acknowledge the iniquity of their past life.
3. The necessity of a renewal of heart. We lose part of the significance of baptism from its transplantation away from the climate in which it was natural and appropriate. It was impossible to see that significant act in which the convert went down into the water, travel-worn and soiled with dust, disappeared for one moment, and then emerged pure and fresh, without feeling that the symbol answered to, and interpreted a strong craving of the human heart. It is the desire to wash away that which is past and evil. Now to that craving John gave reality and meaning when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” Had he merely said, “Flee from the wrath to come,” he would have filled men’s life with the terrors of anticipated hell. Had he only said, “My baptism implies that ye must be pure,” he would have crushed men’s hearts with the feelings of impossibility, for excellence without Christ is but a dream.
II. The Baptist’s astonishment at his own success.—
1.What was the secret of this power by which he chained the hearts of men as by a spell?
(1) One point was what we see every day. Men of thought and quiet contemplation exercise a wonderful influence over men of action.
(2) His was a ministry of terror. Fear has a peculiar fascination. The preaching of John in this respect differed from the tone of Christ’s. How many of John’s terrified Pharisees and Sadducees retained the impression six months? Excitement has its uses, impression its value. But excitement and impression are not religion.
(3) Men felt that John was real. Religion in Jerusalem had long become a thing of forms. John spoke as men speak when they are in earnest, simply and abruptly, as if the graces of oratory were out of place. And then, that life of his! This tells—the reality of unworldliness.
2. Let us analyse that success a little more closely by considering the classes of men on whom that influence told. First of all, we read of soldiers, publicans and the poor people coming to John for advice, and with the acknowledgment of guilt; and we do not read that their arrival excited the smallest emotion of astonishment in John’s bosom. The wonder was not there. But among those who came, there were two classes who did move him to marvel.
(1) The moral, self-satisfied formalist. Pharisees. Men who rested satisfied with the outward. Men without souls, from whose narrow hearts the grandeur of everlasting truth was shut out.
(2). The calm, metaphysical, reasoning infidel. Sadducees. Could not be satisfied with the creed of Pharisaism. Passed from doubt to denial. I deduce from those facts which astonished John two truths: (a) Formalism, even morality, will not satisfy the conscience of man. (b) Infidelity will not give rest to his troubled spirit. There is rest nowhere except in Christ, the manifested love of God.—F. W. Robertson, M.A.
Mat_3:8. Repentance.—Repentance includes:—
I. Conviction, or the sense of the fact of sin.
II. Contrition, or the sense of the evil of sin.
III. Confession, or the sense of the relation of God to sin. “Against Thee only have I sinned.”
IV. Conversion, or the. practical evidence of a real sense of the above things.
Repentance distinguished from “despair,” as despair leads to doom, repentance to conditions of safety. Repentance put for salvation, as being the starting point; and because, if real, it will lead to salvation, not as meriting that salvation, but as being a condition appropriate to the reception thereof.—Weekly Pulpit.
Hypocritical repentance.—Fra Rocco, a Dominican, preached a celebrated penitential sermon on one occasion, when all the audience were in terror, and fell on their knees, showing every sign of contrition. Then he cried, “All who are truly penitent, hold up your hands!” Every man in the vast multitude held up his hand. Then he said, “Holy Archangel Michael, thou who standest with adamantine sword at the judgment-seat of God, cut me off every hand which has been held up hypocritically.” Every hand dropped.—Paxton Hood.
Restitution as proof of repentance.—An extensive hardware merchant in one of the Fulton street prayer-meetings in New York appealed to his brother merchants to have the same religion for “down-town” as they had for “up-town”; for the week-day as for the Sabbath; for the counting-house as for the communion table. After the meeting a manufacturer with whom he had dealt largely, accosted him. “You did not know,” said he, “that I was at the meeting and heard your remarks. I have for the last five years been in the habit of charging you more for goods than other purchasers. I want you to take your books and charge back to me so much per cent. on every bill of goods you have had of me for the five past years.” A few days later the same hardware merchant had occasion to acknowledge the payment of a debt of several hundred dollars which had been due for twenty-eight years from a man who could as easily have paid it twenty-four years before.—Family Treasury.
Mat_3:9. A far-reaching principle.—That was a mighty, far-reaching principle established. To-day it abides. A frivolous story—perchance mythical—is somewhere told of some French noble lady, wherein she is made to say that “The Almighty will think twice before He damns so great a peer of France as Duke.…” Semi-unconsciously there is a vast amount of this counting on things that have not a grain of sand’s weight with God. Genius, rank, beauty, wealth, power, splendid service, go for absolutely nothing in the supreme matter of destiny, divorced from character, apart from the spiritual life. However much they may aggravate doom, they will in nowise touch the entrance into “the kingdom.”—A. B. Grosart, D.D.
Reliance on ancestry.—There are persons who seem to have nothing on which to base their claims to notice but the fact that they had noble ancestry, and they are never tired of informing you of that fact. There is every reason for likening them, as Sir T. Overbury did, to that useful esculent, the potato. They make a show, and flourish; but the best part of them, according to their own boasting, is, like the potato, buried and underground.—Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.
Mat_3:10. Christian reform.—The man from whose lips these words poured forth like a leaping bugle-call was an inspired reformer. The axe was the spirit and genius of a new religion. The trees were bad laws, obsolete customs, social inequalities and religious bigotries. Into the forest of abuses John went, swinging his axe and crying “Reform! Repent! Make way!” Observe:
1. The reformer’s message proved the reality of his mission. That message was balled up and concentrated in one heroic word “Reform.”
2. The reformer’s dress indicated the intensity of his mission. The reformer has no time to waste on niceties. One supreme passion fills his soul—the wrongs of his country, the sins and sorrows of his fellows.
3. The reformer’s food proved his devotedness to his mission. His was a case of plain living and high thinking. To-day we need men of the stamp and spirit of John. To-day we need a new instalment of Christian reform.
I. Reformation in the State.—I do not mean a reformation such as Luther wrought so much as a reformation in the tastes, manners, and lives of the people. True reformation in the State will come when the principles of Jesus Christ are in the ascendant. The remedy must be deep and divine, reaching to the very heart and core of human society.
II. Reformation in the home.—No man has a right to be thrust into a hovel, and for that rent-racked. But the true reformation of the home must be deeper and more radical. The home should be the spring of inspiration and power to a nation. In it should be cherished and created the purest ideals, the loftiest ambitions, the holiest enthusiasms. The best house-furnishing is to pack into our homes the principles of the Sermon on the Mount. The most beautiful ornaments are grace, joy, and love. The finest decorations are a good temper, a sound character, a Christlike life. You can only reform your home by reforming your character.
III. Reformation in the individual.—The distinctive note in John’s message was personal. “Repent ye.”—Charles Houghton.
Mat_3:12. Christ’s separating fan.—
1. The visible church is like a cornfloor, wherein good and bad, as chaff and corn, are mixed together.
2. Christ as the perfect Husbandman will so sever the one from the other that not one of the wicked shall be in company of the godly. “Throughly.”
3. Christ hath means at hand to make the separation. His word, church censures, afflictions, persecution, death, and judgment.
4. The upright and fruitful shall be gathered into heaven, the unfruitful cast into hell.—David Dickson.
The great Winnower.—
I. The disciples of John were to learn:—
1. That their hearts were under another tillage-cultivation than their own. They could not winnow the grain, they could not separate corn from chaff. If there was no one more skilful than they were to do that, the labour had been thrown away.
2. They were to be sure that this discipline, if it was indeed Divine discipline, would be thorough. “He will throughly purge His floor.”
3. Those who heard John speak, and understood him, must have received two lessons at first sight inconsistent. They must have been sure that He who was conducting the sifting discipline, of which the prophet testified, over them and over the whole nation, was the Lord of the spirits of all flesh. And yet they were told of a Man standing among them, who claimed the floor as His, and could prove it to be His by purging it.
II. John the Baptist’s words were fulfilled when Jesus Christ came in the flesh.—They have been fulfilling themselves in every age since He ascended on high. In every age men, who have been led to discover their own great necessities, have asked indeed for one who should forgive their sins; but quite as earnestly for one who should destroy their sins. They have learned to welcome sufferings when they found that they were designed for this object. And so, too, the course of history and the trials of nations interpret themselves. As long as there is any strength, vitality, faith in a people, so long is there wheat, which Christ will assuredly gather into His garner; and so long that nation will be subjected to frequent fires, that its chaff, all its untruth, and baseness, and heartlessness, may be burnt up; nay, it may be said always to be in such fires, for the time of our wealth, as well as the time of our tribulation, is a searching time. That is the time in which it is hardest for us to separate the chaff from the wheat, and therefore in which we have most need to recollect that there is a Lord who is doing it, and will do it thoroughly.—F. D. Maurice, M.A.
The fan; the wheat; the chaff.—I. The fan on the threshing floor; or the Word of God separating the two classes.
II. The gathering of the wheat into the kingdom of love; or, the complete salvation of God’s people.
III. The chaff in unquenchable fire; or, the judgment of hypocrites.—J. P. Lange, D.D.
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 vv1, 2, 7, 8, 13 Luk 3:1-2. “In the fifteenth year of the dominion…
CHAPTER 4
MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST BY MATTHEW, MARK, AND LUKE
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Luk 3:1-2. “In the fifteenth year of the dominion of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of Iturea and the Trachonitis country, and Lysanias being tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.” Luke gives us important specifications, stating that Tiberius was emperor of the Roman world; Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea; Herod — i.e., Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, who was on the throne of Judea when our Savior was born, and slew the infants — was tetrarch of Galilee. His jurisdiction also included Perea, east of the Jordan. As both of these countries were traversed by our Savior, it is important that they appear in this introductory. The Philip here mentioned, the brother of Herod, and governor of Iturea and Trachonitis, was not the one whose wife, Herodias, Herod Antipas took; but she was the wife of another Philip, who was a half brother to Herod. Abilene, the tetrarchy of Lysanias, was a region of country in Anti-Lebanon, between Damascus and Heliopolis. We have Annas and Caiaphas here, both spoken of as high priests; and we see, in our Lord’s arraignment, He was brought before each one of them. The solution of the matter seems to be that the Roman authorities favored the high-priesthood of Annas, and the Jewish that of Caiaphas. After Zacharias and Elizabeth fled away from Jutta, near Bethlehem, into the wilderness of Judea, to protect their child from the cruelties of Herod, they returned no more during the minority of John. Consequently, upon reaching the age of thirty, he entered at once upon his ministry there in the desert (Mat 3:1-2), “preaching in the desert of Judea, and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Mar 1:4, “John came baptizing in the desert, and preaching the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins.” I here use the word “desert,” in lieu of “wilderness,” because the latter is utterly illusory to the American reader. By wilderness, in this country, we understand a wild region of Country, overgrown with briers, brambles, and brush, as well as forest trees. That is not the Bible meaning of the word eremos, which means a region of country either destitute of water, because the rains do not fall on it, or at least partially destitute, because of insufficiency of rains. Four times have I traveled through the wilderness of Judea, where John the Baptist was brought up and did his first preaching. It is a desert, dry and unproductive, seldom seeing a green leaf, because of insufficient rains. Mosses, ferns, and nettles grow there, fed on by the goats, donkeys, and camels. In the deserts there are oases, like islands in the ocean, where springs of water so irrigate as to produce some sustenance for man and beast, and these are the places of habitation. John was brought up in that poor, wild, sterile desert of Judea, lying between Jerusalem and Bethlehem on the west, and the Dead Sea on the east.
Here we see that the burden of John’s Gospel is repentance unto the remission of sins. When man truly repents, God always forgives. John cried, with stentorian voice, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” i.e., Christ the King is at hand, who, of course, brings the kingdom with Him. Matthew 3; Mar 1:3; Luk 3:4. “The voice of one roaring in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord: make His paths straight.” “Crying,” E.V. is “boontos,” from “boo,” the noise an ox makes when he lows. Hence it means roaring like an ox. We see from these facts that John had a stalwart, robust constitution, having been brought up in the rough and tumble life of the desert, and now, thirty years old — i.e., a grown young man — in his vigor, filled and flooded with the Holy Ghost, he throws his great mouth wide open, and roars, like an ox bawling. His message was simple and brief. He had but one theme, and that was repentance unto the remission of their sins, confirming their covenant by water baptism. His stentorian voice, and the burning truth, which leaped like forked lightnings from his lips, stir the people terrifically, as he assures them that the King of heaven is already on the earth, and the most important enterprise of life is to prepare to meet Him, which they can only do by repenting of all their sins, unto a conscious experimental remission, which he proposed to confirm by water baptism. A true repentance is accompanied by restitution, which undoes all the bad work of the former life, making all wrongs right so far as possible, God taking the will for the deed in case of impossibility. If you would get saved, the Lord must come into your heart. He will not travel over a crooked road. Hence you must make his paths straight — i.e., make straight ways for the Lord to come into thy heart; i.e., you must straighten out all of your own crooked ways — otherwise the Lord will never come into your heart, and you would better never have been born. John gave the trumpet no uncertain sound. He had both the thunder and the lightning — the former, to call attention and terrify; and the latter, to kill. O how the Lord needs such preachers now, to arouse a slumbering world and a dead Church from the lethargy of swift damnation!
Luke 5, 6. “Every valley shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low.” True repentance brings the king, the queen, the nobleman, the great man, the hon tons of society, down low in the dust at the feet of Jesus, where they can get religion, and be humble enough to black their own shoes, cook, and wash dishes, delighted to wait on themselves and their friends, and live the life of the meek and lowly; while the wonderful redeeming grace of God lifts up beggars, drunkards, and harlots, and transforms the very “filth and offscourmg of the world” into mighty men and saintly women, whose seraphic voices hold multitudes spellbound, and whose mighty works will glorify God in the day of eternity. “Crooked things shall be straight, and rough places shall become the smooth Ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” These wonderful transformations of redeeming grace and sanctifying power, transforming the roughest reprobates into the most amiable saints, and the most stupid simpletons into fire-baptized witnesses for Jesus, the blackest debauchees into bloodwashed pilgrims for glory bound, tells the wonderful secret of the world’s evangelization. There is no other way to bring about this summum desideratum, for which every true heart sighs night and day. Hence it devolves on the holiness people of all lands to verify the Commission, and “preach the gospel to every Creature.” O what a glorious privilege, to be numbered with the Sacramental Army, going forth to conquer the world for Christ!
JOHN’S LIVING
The great reason why we can’t evangelize the world is, the puzzling problem of ministerial support. The Bible answers all questions and sweeps away all difficulties. Here we have John the Baptist, the greatest’ preacher the world saw in four thousand years, and a paragon for all others to imitate. See this wonderful prophet of the desert, with a huge stone for a pulpit, and an audience of ten thousand, standing on the burning sand, listening hour after hour, so utterly spellbound that the sun goes down before they are aware. The preacher has nothing on his body by way of apparel but the coarse, shaggy, camel’s-hair mantle, worn by the poorest people, and tied around his loins with a strap of rawhide; i.e., actually clothed like a beggar. Now what about boarding the greatest preacher the world had ever seen? It is an unequivocal truth that he lived on the locusts, sweetened with the wild honey gathered from the rocks in the mountains, as the “wilderness [desert] of Judea” is one continuous bed of rugged, precipitous, cavernous, barren mountains, where very little rain falls in the winter, and none in the summer, producing very scanty vegetation but a short period in the year. I am aware that great efforts have been made to explain away the idea that John really ate the locusts. There is a tree in the Holy Land called the carob or horn tree, bearing fruit eaten by poor people, much resembling the American honey-locust. Many have claimed that this was the food of John the Baptist. Even my Arab guide pointed it out to me as the food which John ate. I must state here, once for all, that the theory is utterly untenable. The fruit of that tree is called keration. (Luk 15:16.) The prodigal son actually ate it, along with the hogs, which are very fond of it; while the word translated locusts, and specifying the food of John the Baptist, is akris, and has no meaning except the animal locust. Hence there is no dodging the issue without flatly contradicting the Word of God. So set it down as a matter of fact that John lived on locusts. This clear revelation of God’s Word is abundantly corroborated by all the collateral facts and circumstances appertaining to the case.
(a) This day the locusts abound in the very country where John lived thirty years and entered upon his wonderful ministry.
I have seen them, in quantities so great that I could have filled a bushel basket in a diameter of a single rod.
(b) It is a well-known fact that the Bedouins, living in the desert now, eat the locusts, not simply in case of emergency, but they are very fond of them, regarding them as a luxury, and devouring them voraciously, preferring them cooked, with salt, but eating them unhesitatingly raw, with salt if they have it, and without it if they have it not. They traverse the desert, hunting them; fill great sacks with them; carry them on camels and donkeys to their tents, and feast like kings so long as the locusts last.
(c) The poor people in the desert, with whom John was brought up, habitually eat the locusts.
Of course they invited their preacher to eat with them, giving him such as they had; i.e., locusts sweetened with wild honey. My Arab guide, accompanying me when I saw the locusts in the “wilderness of Judea,” and dismounted so as to enjoy a good look at them, as they manifested no disposition to get out of my way, told me that they taste much like fish, and are quite palatable. I took his word, and was satisfied without testing the matter. The locusts which I saw were very fine looking, and several times so large as the grasshoppers in the American deserts, of which the Indians are so fond.
(d) Good Lord, deliver us from criticizing Thy Word, and give us grace unhesitatingly to take the Bible as it says, and save us from all efforts to explain it away! John the Baptist had no money, and needed none.
We do not conclude from this that we should not give the preachers money, or anything else we have and they need. But we do conclude that the person who waits for money is out of God’s order. John had none, and was not in a place to get any. Myriads are now called by the Holy Ghost under similar circumstances. O how they grieve the Spirit when they wait, year after year, for money to defray traveling expenses, pay board, and purchase clothing and books, while millions are dropping into hell! I find men and women everywhere who confess that they are called by the Spirit, and are not in the work. An awful responsibility awaits them at the judgment bar. They should go, like John the Baptist, waiting for nothing. “The Lord will provide.”
It may not be my way, It may not be thy way; Yet, in His own way, The Lord will provide.”
If I could be a thousand men, I have open doors enough for them all to enter. What about the support? That is already settled with a draft on heaven’s bank.
Can we not have the faith of Sister Amelia Andrew, the wife of the sainted bishop? The Confederate War has swept over the country, a deluge of blood and fire, disorganizing Churches and revolutionizing society. General Lee has surrendered, and the war is over. Bishop Andrew, though now an octogenarian, is much concerned for the work in Texas, which has received no attention during the dark quadrennium.
He says to his sanctified Amelia, “O, how I‘d like to go to Texas, and look after the interest of God’s kingdom in the great ‘Lone Star State!’”
“My dear, why do you not go?” “No money.”
“I can send you to the boat-landing on Tombighee River, in my carriage, without any money.”
“But what can I do when I get there, with no money to defray my traveling expenses?”
“The Lord will provide,” responded the sanctified wife.
The venerable bishop acquiesces, and goes away by faith alone, without a cent of money. On arrival at the boat-landing, he meets a steamboat captain, a dear old friend, who kindly invites him to accept a free ride to New Orleans. On arrival at New Orleans, he meets a sea captain, a precious old friend, so glad to see him, who invites him to enjoy a free ride on his ship to Galveston, Texas. O how the Texans are delighted to receive him! God blesses his ministry. He stays long, sees the glory of God, and returns to his Alabama home with money in his pocket.
But this was a good run of luck. O no! It was the good providence of God.
I have seen it all my life. The difficulty of ministerial support is the devil’s trump-card, in the game he is playing with the Church for the damnation of the world. The argument in the case of John the Baptist is unanswerable, covering all the ground, and applicable under all circumstances.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. John was the finisher of one, and the…
Mat 3:1
I. John was the finisher of one, and the introducer of a new dispensation. His words found an echo in all hearts, for what had stirred in him had been stirring in the Jews, only they could not give it clear expression. The new epoch of thoughts took substance as the Baptist spoke. He threw into words, and in doing so interpreted, the wordless passion of a thousand souls. That it is to be a preacher.
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II. Of all the blessed works which God gives to man to do in this life, there is none more blessed than that of the awakener—of the interpreter. It is the work which I would that all who see beyond the present, and whose eyes God has opened, would now undertake in England; for there is a movement abroad in society which ought to be made constant, and which needs an interpreter of its meaning. Old thoughts, old institutions are ready to perish; the old forms do not fit the new thought, the new wants, the new aspirations of men. New wine has been poured into old bottles, and the old bottles are bursting on every side. There is a stirring of all the surface waters of English life and thought, but no one can tell why they are stirred; there is something at work beneath which no man sees, which causes all these conflicting and commingling currents, all this trouble on the upper waters.
III. There is, however, in it all that which is inexpressibly cheering. It tells us plainly that Christ is coming, not in final judgment, but in some great revolution of life and thought. We are waiting for the Sun of Righteousness to rise, and to illumine the new way on which we are entering. Let us be ready for our John the Baptist when He comes; let us pray for the Interpreter and the Awaker, who will come and say to us, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Let us live in prayer, and progress, and patient watching for His presence.
S. A. Brooke, Sermons, 1st series, p. 148.
Mat 3:1-2
Morality and Religion.
I. As far as we know of the preaching of John the Baptist, it consisted in what we should call the enforcement of moral duties. Soon after, our Lord Himself began His own ministry, and His public teaching opened with the great discourse which ever since all Christians have known as the Sermon on the Mount. And what is the general tenour of this sermon? Again it consists in the enforcement of what we should call moral duties. And still, through our Lord’s teaching to the very end, the same principle ever returns, that whatever else may be needed to be His servant, this, at any rate, is indispensable, that you shall do God’s will, that your life’s action shall be governed by God’s laws, that you shall bring forth good fruits.
II. In order to make it easier to reflect seriously on our lives, and on the true character of them, let us, as it were, gather them up under their chief heads: Principle and Temper. (1) Now we all mean by principle that strong sense of duty which keeps us straight in all cases in which we are not taken by surprise, or misled by mistake, and even in those cases never lets us wander far, but quickly checks the straying feet, and calls us to the path. The characteristic of principle is trustworthiness. The man of principle will live in secret as he lives in public, and will not gratify a wish when it cannot be known, which he would not gratify if it could be known. The man of principle is emphatically the man who loves the light, and comes to the light. Apply this to our own lives. See how much of our lives is right by a sort of happy accident, by absence of temptation, by presence of all manner of aids. See how fitful, uncertain, untrustworthy, we often are. Look to this, and you will assuredly find much to mend. (2) It is quite possible to have right principles, and yet to spoil all by want of control of temper. High principles must of course stand above disciplined temper; but let not any Christian dream that to leave temper unchecked is a light sin in the eyes of the God of love. Not even high principle can be retained for ever against the effect of self-indulged temper on the soul.
Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons, 2nd series, p. 234.
I. Consider the character, office, and ministry of the Baptist, as preparatory to the setting up of the Gospel Kingdom. He was all ardour, and courage, and uncompromising fidelity. He respected no persons, he spared no vices, he regarded no consequences. We cannot fail to observe the sectional character of John’s preaching, the skill with which he addressed himself to the exposure of class errors and class sins. The ministry of the Baptist was, so to speak, a type of the dispensation of the Spirit. Just as it is the twofold office of the Comforter, first to convince of sin, and then to take of the things of Christ and show the way of propitiation; so it was the twofold office of John, first to alarm the conscience by saying, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," and then to kindle faith by saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world."
II. Observe the appropriate connection between evangelical repentance and any part or lot in the kingdom of heaven; between spiritual conviction of sin and the realized advent of Him who is to deliver us from its guilt and power. "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." As the ministry of John generally was to prepare for the coming of Christ, so we should expect the chief object of that ministry would be to prepare men’s hearts for the receiving of Christ. And these requisitions are met in that first trumpet-blast which the Baptist sounded in the ears of a slumbering world, "Repent, repent."
III. Then look at some of the resulting fruits of such preaching, as they actually followed on the stern wilderness message. First we see there were, among those who came to him, deep and humiliating convictions of sin; and these expressed openly, aloud, in the face of their friends and of the whole world. Here we find excited in the heart the very first pre-requisite for bringing Christ within reach, the very condition which disposes to appreciate the great Physician’s medicines, as well as to become the subjects of an effectual cure. John’s preaching exhibited the moral order of the soul’s conversion. His first care was to ensure conviction of sins. No love of Christ, and no professed care about Christ, could be of any avail without that. This done, however, then may Christ be held up; and just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness did the Baptist direct all eyes to the Crucified, and proclaim to those smitten with a sense of sin, and trembling with a consciousness of their soul’s danger, "Behold the Lamb of God."
D. Moore, Penny Pulpit, No. 3,219.
I. Repentance is not a formal or technical thing. It is simply an operation of the human mind in regard to evil things—putting spurs to the zeal of men, in going away from evil and towards good. Repentance, therefore, is merely an abandonment of evil things, in order that one may reach after better and higher things. The degree of repentance essential is just that which is necessary to make you let go of mischief and evil. Just as soon as you know enough of the evil of sin to let it alone, or to turn away from it with your whole strength, you have repentance enough. Deep and abundant convictions are beneficial in certain natures, because in these natures only such sensuous and wrestling experiences will avail, since they are coarse-fibred, since they rank low morally, and since, therefore, they need rasping. But if they are more nobly strong, if their moral nature is more sensitive, if they can turn from evil on a slighter suggestion, is it not better? For men ought to repent easily. It is a sin and a shame for them to repent reluctantly and grudgingly.
II. The highest form of repentance is a turning away from bad to good on account of the love which we bear to others; in other words, on account of that imperfect love which belongs to us in our physical and earthly relations; for we seldom find men who have the pure and spiritual impulse of love toward God so strong as to act as a dissuasion from evil and a persuasion toward good until they have actually been drawn into a divine life.
III. Repentance may be, as it respects either single actions or courses of action, a secondary impulse for some special intent or struggle, or it may become a dominant influence, acting through long periods, and renewing and refreshing itself continually.
IV. From this great law no one can escape. There is not a man who does not need this primary experience, this turning to a higher life from the animal life; and there is no man who has a power of reasoning so high, no man who was born with such qualities, with such a balance of all the attributes of the soul, that he stands disengaged from the great law of repentance of everything that is evil, and of aspiration toward all that is good.
H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 100.
References: Mat 3:1, Mat 3:2.—J. C. Jones, Studies in St. Matthew, p. 53; F. D. Maurice, Sermons in Country Churches, p. 110. Mat 3:1-3.—New Outlines of Sermons on the New Testament, p. 6. Mat 3:1-6.—Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. i., p. 70. Mat 3:1-12.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 25; vol. x., p. 99.
Mat 3:11
I. The Holy Spirit is fire. Fire all over the world has been taken to represent the Divine energy. Even in heathendom, side by side with the worship of light, was the worship of fire. Though the thought was darkened and marred, wrongly apprehended, and ferociously worked out in ritual, it was a true thought for all that. And Scripture has from the beginning used it. There is a continuous chain of symbolism, according to which some aspect of the Divine nature, and especially of the Spirit of God, is set forth to us as fire. The question then is, What is that aspect? The fire of God’s Spirit is not a wrathful energy, working pain and death, but a merciful omnipotence, bringing light, and joy, and peace. The Spirit which is fire is a Spirit which giveth life. So the symbol, in the special reference in the text, has nothing of terror or destruction, but is full of hope, and bright with promise.
II. Christ plunges us into this Divine fire. I presume that scarcely any one will deny that our Version weakens the force of John’s words, by translating "with water, with the Holy Ghost," instead of in water, in the Holy Ghost. Christ gives the Spirit. In and by Jesus you and I are brought into contact with this cleansing fire. Without His work it would never have burned on earth; without our faith in His work it will never purify our souls.
III. That fiery baptism quickens and cleanses. (1) Fire gives warmth. Christ comes to kindle in men’s souls a blaze of enthusiastic Divine love, such as the world never saw, and to set them aflame with fervent earnestness, which shall melt all the icy hardness of heart, and turn cold self-regard into self-forgetting consecration. (2) Fire purifies. That Spirit, which is fire, produces holiness in heart and character, by this chiefly among all His manifold operations, that He excites the flame of love to God, which burns our souls clear with its white fervours. This is the Christian method of making men good—first, know His love, then believe it, then love Him back again, and then let that genial heat permeate all your life, and it will woo forth everywhere blossoms of beauty and fruits of holiness, that shall clothe the pastures of the wilderness with gladness.
A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, 2nd series, p. 227.
References: Mat 3:11.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 99. Mat 3:11-16.—S. A. Tipple, Expositor, 1st series, vol. ix., p. 81.
Mat 3:12
I. The disciples of John were to learn (1) that their hearts were under another tillage-cultivation than their own. They could not winnow the grain, they could not separate corn from chaff. If there was no one more skilful than they were to do that, the labour had been thrown away; the corn would not supply bread to the eater, or seed to the sower. (2) They were to be sure that this discipline, if it was indeed Divine discipline, would be thorough. "He will throughly purge His floor." (3) Those who heard John speak, and understood him, must have received two lessons, at first sight inconsistent. They must have been sure that He who was conducting the sifting discipline, of which the prophet testified, over them and over the whole nation, was the Lord of the spirits of all flesh. And yet they were told of a Man standing among them, who claimed the floor as His, and could prove it to be His by purging it.
II. John the Baptist’s words were fulfilled when Jesus Christ came in the flesh. They have been fulfilling themselves in every age since He ascended on high. In every age men, who have been led to discover their own great necessities, have asked indeed for one who should forgive their sins; but quite as earnestly for one who should destroy their sins, who should put an everlasting barrier between that in them which they knew to be their enemy often their triumphant enemy—and that which cleaved to a Friend, and sought fellowship with Him, likeness to Him. They have learned to welcome sufferings when they found that they were designed for this object. The fires were good which denoted that they were baptized with the Spirit, and that He would not leave them till He had made them what they were created to be. And so, too, the course of history and the trials of nations interpret themselves. As long as there is any strength, vitality, faith in a people, so long is there wheat, which Christ will assuredly gather into His garner; and so long that nation will be subjected to frequent fires, that its chaff, all its untruth, and baseness, and heartlessness may be burnt up; nay, it may be said, always be in such fires, for the time of our wealth, as well as the time of our tribulation, is a searching time. That is the time in which it is hardest for us to separate the chaff from the wheat, and therefore in which we have most need to recollect that there is a Lord who is doing it, and will do it thoroughly.
F. D. Maurice, Lincoln’s Inn Sermons, vol. iii., p. 267.
References: Mat 3:12.—Bishop Huntington, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 403; J. Keble, Sermons from Advent to Christmas Eve, p. 290.
Mat 3:13
The baptism of Christ was—
I. The proclamation of His human relationship to man, and of His human relationship to God. His development had reached its height. He was clearly conscious of His Divine nature. He was clearly conscious of His complete union with our nature. But His Divine nature, so far as its omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience—so far as all that could separate Him from sharing perfectly in our humanity—was concerned, was to remain uncommunicated as yet to His natural, growing humanity; while the perfect holiness, the perfect spiritual character of God, were to be exhibited unmarred, through the medium of His humanity. Hence His baptism was the formalized proclamation of His sinless human nature. He declared by that act that, as man, He submitted Himself to the will of His Father, as shown in the mission of the Baptist.
II. John’s baptism prepared those who underwent it for admission into the kingdom which was at hand; it consecrated them to the new work of the new kingdom. In their case two conditions had to be fulfilled—repentance and a sense of sin. But these conditions were impossible to Christ. He had no sense of sin. He needed no repentance. The import of the rite was then different in His case. It consecrated Him King of the theocratic kingdom, and proclaimed to all men that His organization of that kingdom had begun. Thus, while the historical meaning of the rite varied with the subjects to whom it was administered, there was an element of preparation in it which was common to both. It consecrated the people to be members of the theocratic kingdom; it consecrated Christ to be the theocratic King; but it marked for both the commencement of a new course of life, in which the subjects of the Kingdom were to receive pardon and life; in which the King was to accomplish the work of salvation, and to bestow life upon His followers.
S. A. Brooke, Sermons, 1st series, p. 236.
References: Mat 3:13-17.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., pp. 65, 224; Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. i., p. 90.
Mat 3:15
I. We see from the text how faithfully Jesus observed the forms and duties of religion. Nothing invests the ordinary means of grace with such importance as to see our Lord, like one of ourselves, observing them. He was independent of all means, and stood in no need of such aids. Yet, able to walk without these crutches, He stoops to our condition, that He may teach us, by His own example, the devout, diligent use of all the means of grace. (1) He prayed. (2) He punctually attended worship in the house of God.
II. Let me exhort you to the diligent use of these means of grace. Can anything be plainer than this, that if our blessed Lord did not neglect the means of grace, much less should we, can we, afford to do so?
III. Let me exhort you to a devout use of these means of grace. For true religion does not lie in them. If religion be not in the heart it is nowhere. Trust not in mere outward duties, the most scrupulous and punctual attention to them. We are to use the means of grace diligently, yet devoutly, in dependence on the grace of God, that, bringing us into His presence and under His sanctifying power, we may be saved, not only from the punishment, but from the thraldom and love, of sin.
IV. In setting Christ before you as your pattern as well as propitiation, I am not calling you to a hopeless task. It is not by fits and starts that men become holy. It is not occasional, but prolonged, continuous, and lifelong efforts that are required; to be daily at it, always at it; resting but to renew the work; falling but to rise again. It is not with a rush and a spring that we are to reach Christ’s character, attain to perfect saint-ship; but step by step, foot by foot, hand over hand, we are slowly, and often painfully, to mount the ladder, that rests on earth and rises to heaven.
T. Guthrie, The Way to Life, p. 175.
References: Mat 3:15.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 3rd series, p. 74. Mat 3:16.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 63. Mat 3:16, Mat 3:17.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 909; A. Barry, Cheltenham College Sermons, p. 243. Mat 3:17.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 289. Matt 3—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 79.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Subdivision 1. (Mat 3:1-17; Mat 4:1-11.)
Subdivision 1. (Mat 3:1-17; Mat 4:1-11.)
The King once more identified.
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1. At the beginning - as we are now - of the New Testament, it is natural to turn to consider the relation of the Old Testament to it; and this is pressed upon us in an especial manner by the Old Testament apparition which meets us at the threshold of the New in the person of John the Baptist. That he should go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias, is declared of him by his father Zacharias; and Christ Himself says of him, "If ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come." It is not necessary to discuss here his exact relation to Malachi’s closing prophecy. It is at least plain that he reproduced in his character and preaching the typical prophet whom even in his garb he very much resembled; and his call to repentance is only giving voice to what the law and the prophets united to proclaim.
It is divinely significant that the long interval of about four centuries should intervene between the two portions of God’s inspired Word - His twofold testimony to man; and it is equally significant that the general character of the last prophecy should be that of lament over the utter failure of the people, their history closing at the same time, as if there were no use in any longer giving record of their doings. This is in fact the final account of man as man, the genealogies of Chronicles also ending, and the New Testament having only one genealogy, as it has practically only the history of One, the Second Man in contrast with the first, and (thank God) He the last Adam of a new creation.
The ages up to Christ were ages of probation, the law itself being the typical form of this, and giving character to the whole canon of the Old Testament; but even the Gentiles, left in general, as it might seem, outside of positive direct dealings of God with them, only furnish in this way more perfectly their own contribution to the history of utter ruin. And the verdict of the ages as to these both is given us in Scripture itself in such a way as yet to cover both classes of mankind with this double condemnation.
The law tested man - the Jew - as to righteousness: and the verdict of the law as to those under it is (as the apostle declares) that there is none righteous, no, not one (Rom 3:10; Rom 3:19). But the book of Job takes up also the best man of the Gentile world, and outside of law, to make him acknowledge as to himself the self-same condition (Job 42:6).
Again, the Gentile was left to his own wisdom - so dearly bought - to find out by searching as to God. But, says the apostle, "when the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe" (1Co 1:21). And yet again, the book of Ecclesiastes shows us a Jew - the wisest man on earth - setting himself upon the same quest, to find by wisdom as to God’s ways with man, only in his turn to be utterly baffled (Ecc 8:16-17).
In either case, God’s coming in is man’s only hope; in either case, men are lost utterly: every mode of trial, every assistance that can be given them, short of a salvation all of God, only the more confirms this.
The chosen people of God are the signal example of this. After having been in their deliverance from Egypt, and in the early part of their wilderness-journey, signal examples of the grace of God, they choose a legal covenant in self-confidence to their ruin. Their after-history is only that of the successive stages of their descent into it; until in their removal to Babylon the brand of their apostasy is put upon them. And though a remnant returns at the end of the seventy years predicted, the nation is owned no more as the people of God. Our Lord’s own picture of them is but that of a "fig-tree planted in the vineyard," not of the vine restored. (See Isa 5:1-30.) And to this, too, with its plentiful leaves of profession, He comes seeking the fruit which should have accompanied them, and finds none.
The causes leading to this are as patent as they are instructive. The remnant returning from the Babylonian captivity find God with them as a remnant, and as far as they have faith to count upon Him; but there is no general return of heart to God even in these, and still less in the nation at large, nor could there be hope or profit in putting them back where they had been before, to follow once more the course that had led them to ruin. No, the only hope is in that ruin itself laid to heart, that it may produce in them that distrust of self in which they shall lay hold of God and find blessing.
Accordingly as a people they are not restored. The decree of Lo-ammi is not revoked (Hos 1:9): the covenant is not renewed. They return under Gentile dominion, to build up again their temple and city; but they cannot bring back again what they have lost - that glorious Presence with them which was the distinctive feature of their national pre-eminence. The glory of God, which. Ezekiel had seen definitely leave its place among them (Eze 11:22-23), never returned; there was no ark of the covenant, and as a consequence no propitiatory mercy-seat to receive on the day of atonement the peace-making blood; there was no Urim and Thummim, the habitual means of consulting with God (Ezr 2:63). While He could speak with them by a prophet, and did, this was an exceptional thing, and itself a sign of changed relationship.
Soon even the prophet’s voice closed, and closed in words of sadness and rebuke. They were left with the long story of their past against them, all their hopes now concentrated in the Christ that was to come.
The only hope that ever was! the failure of all else would work indeed for blessing, if it only shut them up to that. The law with its condemnation, the types with their spiritual enigmas inviting solution, the prophecies with their clearer light, all alike pointed them forward to but One. Could they now fail to hear the Voice that spake to them? Would they not humbly, gladly accept the grace that was now held out to them?
Alas, it was in this interval that Pharisaism arose under the guise of patriotism and a zeal, all too late, for the Word which they had slighted. It took up fanatically the covenant under the condemnation of which they lay - not heeding, not accepting the condemnation. It took up the law to fence it in by fresh prohibitions from the possibility of a breach, but thus turned it into a mere and grievous yoke of ordinances, without life, which they could not deal with, and so ignored. Above all, it built them up in a self-righteousness which made them inaccessible to the grace of Christ, while ignorant and because of their ignorance of the righteousness of God which would have led them to repentance. They became thus the "ninety and nine just persons who needed no repentance," and who could therefore ask indignantly and decidedly," Which of the Pharisees have believed on Him?"
To a nation of legalists thus it was that John the Baptist came. He came as the true voice of the law and the prophets, the spirit of the Old Testament incarnate in him. He came with the sound of his Master’s feet behind him, and the announcement that at last the Kingdom of heaven was at hand. But the years that had passed had brought no recovery, and the promise had to come with a voice of warning in it. Crying in the wilderness, and not in the cities of the land, - there where Jehovah still remembered there had been shown the kindness of her youth, the love of her espousals, when Israel was holiness to the Lord, and the first-fruits of her increase (Jer 2:2-3), and whither again He will have to allure her, in order that He may speak comfortably to her (Hos 2:14). There the cry of "Repent" was in its place.
It was the cry Isaiah had predicted, the voice of the herald before Jehovah Himself, urging them to prepare His way by taking their true place before Him, making His paths straight, as righteousness required. For he was "come in the way of righteousness," as the Lord afterwards testified of him, and could only "mourn" for a condition of things without God, and from which he must needs stand apart. Apart he is therefore, in the most uncompromising manner. While the son of a priest, he exercises no priestly functions. We never even find him at Jerusalem. His clothing even speaks of the desert, being of camel’s hair, and with a leathern girdle about his loins. His food is locusts and wild honey. He acts in thorough consistency with the word to Jeremiah, "Let them return unto thee, but return not thou to them" (Jer 15:19).
His baptism confirms his preaching. He baptizes unto repentance, and in Jordan, the river of death: baptizes thus unto death; as it is also, according to the apostle (Rom 6:3-4), with Christian baptism. But here we have to distinguish: Christian baptism is to Christ’s death, for Christ has come and has died; but this is not true of John’s baptism. His disciples simply take the place for themselves, "confessing their sins," of which death was the just due: as it is indeed, the stamp upon a fallen creature, as well as the penalty denounced by the law. In the history of the past, the waters of Jordan had been dried up, to give Israel entrance into the land which God had given them. Now that history is traced back to Jordan itself, but this is dried up no longer: they do not pass through it, they are buried in it; their victory, then obtained, has after all ended in shameful defeat.
Here, then, we see the repentance that John preaches: not a vain promise of reform, not the reform itself, but what is primary and antecedent to all this, the taking true ground before God as hopeless and undone, with such a man as Job even, who, if the best man of his day, and so pronounced by God, found his place here in self-abhorrence.
Were repentance the same as reformation, or "doing better," as is more vaguely said, we might well despair, if the best man on earth had yet to repent in this sense. On the other hand, it is not hard to realize how the very perfection, comparatively, of his life and ways might hinder the apprehension of the evil in him, till he had measured himself fairly in the presence of God. This is his own account of it, as is evident. He had found in such light, deeper than his outward life, a self from which he turned in shame and loathing. Repentance was, in him, not doing in any shape, but turning from all that he had done and been, to cast himself upon mere mercy. And this mercy in God met him there and then with full deliverance and lifting up out of all his sorrows.
Thus, then, was the way of the Lord to be prepared into His Kingdom. As Isaiah states it - though the quotation is to be found in Luke, not here, the mountain was to be leveled, the valley filled, pride abased and lowliness exalted, grace in God realized as needed alike by all, sufficient for any. So would He have His way.
John preached, and his word was with power to break through the hollow crust of things and bring men to reality. This man with his strange garment and rough fare, was at all events real. Multitudes from all the country round about poured out to listen to him, and submitted to his baptism. The conditions of it were within easy reach: every convicted sinner had in this his title.
2. But we soon find the opposition of the heart to God revealing itself, even under apparent conformity to such humbling requirements, and John emphasizes therefore the division that would be made among men when the King should come. For now, among the multitude, whether merely to be in the fashion, or else moved by a power to which they would not wholly yield themselves, many Pharisees and Sadducees came to his baptism. They were the religious leaders of the people, though far enough apart from one another, types of the two directions in which men turn away from God. As the Pharisee was the legalist and formalist, so the Sadducee was the rationalist and semi-infidel of his day. Apart as they were from one another, they could yet show their essential oneness by the way in which they could combine against the followers of the Lord; and John treats them as one, essentially. "O brood of vipers," he exclaims, "who has shown you that ye should flee from the coming wrath?" He could not credit them with having felt the sting of such an incentive. They must prove, then, the reality of it - must bring forth fruit worthy of repentance. And here self-judgment would show itself first of all, in giving up the false and futile pretensions which they based upon their descent from Abraham, for all the promises to him God could fulfil to a seed raised up to him from what might be to them as it were from the very stones.
These pretensions were indeed enormous. "The common notion of the time," says Edersheim, was that "the vials of wrath were to be poured out only on the Gentiles, while they, as Abraham’s children, were sure of escape - in the words of the Talmud, that the ’night’ (Isa 21:12) was ’only to the nations of the world, but the morning to Israel.’ For no principle was more fully established in the popular conviction, than that all Israel had part in the world to come, and this specifically because of their connection with Abraham. This appears not only from the New Testament, from Philo and Josephus, but from many Rabbinic passages. ’The merits of the fathers’ is one of the commonest phrases in the mouths of the Rabbis. Abraham was represented as sitting at the gate of Gehenna, to deliver any Israelites who might have been otherwise consigned to its terrors. In fact, by their descent from Abraham, all the children of Israel were nobles, infinitely higher than any proselytes. ’What,’ exclaims the Talmud, ’shall the born Israelite stand upon the earth, and the proselyte be in heaven?’ In fact, the ships on the sea were preserved through the merit of Abraham; the rain descended on account of it. For his sake alone had Moses been allowed to ascend into heaven, and to receive the law; for his sake the sin of the golden calf had been forgiven; his righteousness had on many occasions been the support of Israel’s cause; Daniel had been heard for the sake of Abraham; nay, his merit availed even for the wicked. In its extravagance the Midrash thus apostrophizes Abraham: ’If thy children were even (morally) dead bodies, without blood vessels or bones, thy merits would avail for them.’"
So thoroughly had Israel missed the lesson which in Abraham himself God had kept constantly before their eyes, that he was a man justified by faith, and that the circumcision of which they boasted was, in fact but the sign of righteousness by faith (Rom 4:2-5; Rom 4:11). Alas, natural birth, mere outward participation with the people of God, or ceremonial engrafting among them, - it is possible for men even yet, and under a very different dispensation, to attribute to such things an extraordinary importance. For the Jew, it is plain that John’s language assailed his most cherished hopes. It was possible, then, that all upon which he had built should fail him, and God could bring in, in his stead, those who had no natural claim, or birth-relationship at all! To us who enjoy, in fact, a place so given, this is simple; for the Jew it would be an overwhelming thought. It did indeed show that the axe was being laid at the root of the trees. All depended upon the fruit that manifested the tree. If the fruit was bad, what matter though it should be of the finest stock?
The sinner, as such, wherever he was, was under the wrath of God. If once the limit of forbearance were reached, the tree cut down was destined for the fire. Very simple truth indeed; but no man loves it. Because he does not love it, he will invent every possible way of escape; or rather, hide from his own eyes that from which there is none. How terrible is the power of self-deceit in all of us; and how great need for the plainest possible speaking, where this is the case! For, thank God, there is a way of escape - not indeed from the need of repentance, but by its means. For repentance is only the backside of faith: he who turns his back on himself finds grace from the One to whom he turns, - who has thus become visible to him.
All John’s aim therefore is to bring men to repentance. For this he baptizes "with water:" laying stress upon the "water," expressly to free them from the idea that there was anything in this, apart from the significance which it had as a baptism to repentance. Water is only water - can only produce a material effect, and not a spiritual. Nor does God ordain it to a magical use, perverting the nature of what He has created. On the contrary, He takes up what is in itself, and manifestly, nothing, in order that men should not lose sight of the spiritual meaning by what might seem to have some inherent virtues. Baptism, with John as with Paul, is simple burial of the dead, not life, not resurrection, but the contrary of this: the confession of need, of sin and death, that Another may be seen and known and trusted in.
He turns therefore now to speak of that Other and His baptism, and to put himself in the lowliest attitude at the feet of the One of whom he is but the herald, and unworthy even to bear His sandals - to perform the office of the meanest slave: a strong testimony from one to whom all the nation seemed looking at this time; but what John announces Him as to do speaks more strongly yet: for what must He be who baptizes with the Holy Spirit? No doubt, the Jews were far from having any proper intelligence with regard to the Holy Spirit; yet they knew it was a divine influence that was here spoken of. We ought to have clear knowledge; and yet of few things, perhaps, in Christianity has there been more misunderstanding than of the baptism of the Spirit. Indeed, the very thing with which John contrasts it here, the baptism of water, has been and is by many, nay, by the large number of professing Christians, confounded with it; and as a necessary consequence it has been degraded to mere unreality, subjected to man’s will, made to inflate the pride of a pretentious ecclesiasticism, and to deceive the credulous victims of superstition to their ruin. While, on the other hand, many who have truer knowledge of spiritual things yet reduce the baptism of the Spirit to a temporary, oft-repeated influence, whose significance is in reverse proportion to its ready repetition.
It is evident that our Lord is but applying the words here, when He says to the disciples after His resurrection: John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence" (Act 1:5). Here is the same contrast of water with Spirit, yet the same term, "baptism," applied to each; while the Spirit on the day of Pentecost when these words were fulfilled, did not connect itself with water, nor were those to whom they were spoken baptized with water at that time at all. It is certain, also, that these disciples were born again before Pentecost, and that this baptism, therefore, was not their new birth. Scripture, if we pay the least real heed to it, easily delivers us thus from such strange delusions.
On the other hand, clearly at Pentecost the Christian Church began, and this is the "Church which is Christ’s body" (Eph 1:22-23); while, in exact agreement with this we are told (1Co 12:13), that "by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." Thus the baptism of the Spirit is not that by which men are new-born, but that by which those already new-born become members of the body of Christ. It is not the beginning of the Spirit’s work in souls, but a further, and yet in an important sense an initial work.
It does not follow, however, from the way in which Christianity has fulfilled this prophecy of John, that he knew anything of the Church as the body of Christ. It is certain that this was a revelation of later date, and necessarily hidden from him (Eph 3:3-6). It is certain, because Scripture declares it (1Pe 1:10-12), that prophets might be led of the Spirit to utter what was quite beyond their own intelligence. But more than this, it does not follow, because Christianity has fulfilled this in a certain way, that there may not be another fulfilment of it, Israelitish and not Christian, in those days to which the Baptist seems to point on, when Israel will be God’s threshing-floor and finally purged, according to the Lord’s own prophecy at an after-time. There does not seem, at least, any reason why the outpouring of the Spirit upon Israel and the nations in millennial times, of which Joel and others plainly speak, should not be called a "baptism," as initiating for them that state of blessing which will then be theirs. Such double accomplishments of prophecy are by no means rare.
It agrees with this thought that John puts alongside of this baptism of the Spirit the baptism of fire; which finds its explanation in what directly follows: "He shall burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Many would point us rather to the "cloven tongues like as of fire," on the day of Pentecost, - a thought natural enough if Christianity were the complete fulfilment of what is here, and such an idea has become fully attached to the expression, a "baptism of fire." But the tongues of fire convey a different idea - that of a word that shall act upon others, while that of baptism is of something into which the subjects of it are themselves introduced. These things may have easy connection, but they are not the same. Moreover the going forth of the gospel among men of divers tongues does not seem at all in the line of the Baptist’s message here, which is an exhortation to Israel in view of the coming Kingdom and their unpreparedness for it. There would be alternate consequences, according as they repented and received, or else rejected, the coming King: they would either be separated to God by the action of the Spirit of God, or separated to judgment, if they rejected Him.
He had just been speaking of the burning of the fruitless tree; he goes on now to speak of the coming of the King under the figure of one who winnows wheat in his threshing-floor. He fans away the chaff to get the wheat, which alone he values; and this is exactly what is necessary for the blessing of Israel, who are to be blessed upon earth. For this the wicked must be severed from among the just, as we find in one of the parables of the Kingdom afterwards (Mat 13:49): the earth must be freed from the destroyers of it. The saints of the present time are, on the other hand, taken to heaven; and for their blessing no such judgment of the earth is needed.
We see that the Baptist goes on to a judgment which is even yet future, and says nothing about the present delay of it in the Lord’s long-suffering. This is quite in the manner of Old Testament prophecy, as in that of Isaiah which the Saviour quoted and appealed to in the synagogue at Nazareth. There He quotes "the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me," and as far as "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." There He stops, though the sentence goes on without a break to "the day of judgment of our God" (Luk 4:19; Isa 61:1-2); just as in John’s words also, in connection with the blessing and restoration of Israel, which in Isaiah are then described in glowing terms.
We find this as a principle all the way through the Old Testament. Christianity, with all belonging to it, is a "mystery hid in God," - abundantly spoken of in types and figures throughout, but of course needing the light of the New Testament for its discovery. Even John is not given to see behind the veil, although being brought face to face with Christ, he is "much more than a prophet" of the Old Testament.
But John is not at his highest in any of the so-called "synoptic" gospels. It is John the Evangelist who records for us his fullest utterances. In Matthew the herald of the Kingdom has nearly completed his testimony, and is about to pass away. But before doing so he is privileged to baptize the One whose coming he anticipates and welcomes with such fullness of delight; and we are now to stand with him in the presence of the KING.
3. The third section gives us now therefore, in brief but all important words, the manifestation and anointing of the King, who is also, as we have seen, even in that character the Saviour. He now comes forth from His private into His public life, to take up the wondrous work for which He alone is competent. Although not historically so, yet in its significance here, the mission of the Baptist ends where Christ begins His public ministry.
"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him." There is definite purpose and meaning then, in this baptism; and yet, from what we have seen of its character as John proclaims it, it is the last thing that we should have imagined possible for the Lord, to be baptized of John. John himself thinks so: he is startled, even to refusing it: "but John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" In fact there has been the widest misunderstanding among Christians of this act ever since; and we need to look at it earnestly and reverently, in order (if it may be) to find the track where so many have gone astray. We shall not need, however, to discuss the conflicting views that have been taken. It will be more profitable to enquire directly for ourselves what Scripture may give us with regard to it. There is, it is true, no direct explanation; the Lord’s words in reply to John, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," require themselves to be set in the light of related facts, before, as it seems, we shall be able to apprehend them. Let us start with some of the plainest of these, and see what light they may throw upon the matter.
It is clear that this baptism of Christ by John lies at the entrance of His public ministry. Before this, with the exception of the notices of His birth, and the one incident of His youth which Luke recalls, the silence of the Gospels with regard to His life up to this time, when He is about thirty years of age, is absolute and profound. So strange has it seemed that this should be, that, as is well-known, the gap has been sought to be filled by apocryphal statements, in which miraculous deeds, as unlike the soberness of Scripture as possible, and as far removed from the character of the "signs" which bore testimony to His divine nature, fill the pages with transparent falsehood. They only have their use in showing us what our Gospels would have been, had they been left merely to human wisdom to provide for us. We have not really a scrap of this apocryphal work which is otherwise worth preserving. The denial of all this invention of the miraculous is found where the turning of water into wine at Cana of Galilee is stated to be the "beginning of miracles" which He did, and which showed forth His glory (Joh 2:11). And the silence of Scripture otherwise as to all these years of His life regarding which there were, of course, so many witnesses ready to utter all they knew, and so many eager, as we should be, to take it in - this silence can only be accounted for by a Hand controlling, and a divine design.
When He comes forth, it is to be proclaimed by John as "the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world" (Joh 1:29); and in such a view of Him we shall find the speech of this mysterious silence. The passover lamb was to be "taken" on the tenth day of the first month, and "kept up" until the fourteenth day before being sacrificed. Yet the whole year was changed evidently in view of this, which was in fact the primal deliverance upon which the after-deliverance from Egypt was really based. Why then these unnoticed ten days?
Notice, that we are in the midst of the typical shadows of the Old Testament and, according to the symbolic language which these types speak throughout, the number ten is the number of responsibility, as derived from those ten commandments which are its perfect measure according to the law. The lamb was, as we know, to be without blemish - and this means as to the true Lamb a spiritual state. Putting these things together, it is plain that they have connected meaning, and that the ten days of silence, yet of responsibility, answer in fact to the thirty years of silence - a three times ten - in which He was living for Himself His individual life before the eye of God, after this to come forward and be approved of Him as "without blemish and without spot." In fact, He is then so approved, the Father’s voice giving testimony publicly to Him as His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased.
The typical "four days" of public testing - the meaning again given by the numeral - were still to come before the actual sacrifice should take place. He is immediately led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, for the express purpose of being "tempted by the devil." And His life afterwards, how different is it from that quiet life at Nazareth in which He had been so long in communion with His own thoughts and with God! This was the fulfilment of His own individual responsibility, having its divine necessity in order that He should be able to give Himself for others, yet on that very account private, and not public. Miracles, as we see at once, would have been quite out of place here. For Himself He never used them, as He had come down to the common lot of men, and was for Himself far beyond need of them. Only God could be the competent witness of such a life, and He it is who must give witness, as He does.
It is plain that if it is as the unblemished Lamb He is presenting Himself here, the Lord’s baptism by John at once becomes unmistakable in its significance. In the Gospel of Mark He speaks of His baptism,* with evident reference to His sufferings (Mar 10:38). Christian baptism is also spoken of as "baptism unto death," and in it we are "baptized unto His death" (Rom 6:3-4). With this John’s baptism in Jordan - the river of death - is in full agreement. The words, "so it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," receive also in this way their simplest interpretation. For those who were "confessing their sins" in such a manner, the first step in righteousness of which they were capable was to take openly their place in death, as that which was their due. This is alone the principle according to which He can unite the other recipients of John’s baptism, so different as they were, with Himself: for, for Him also, who having no sins of His own, was yet there for the sins of others, the place of death which it prefigured was no less the requirement of righteousness: the blessed Substitute for sinners had of necessity to take the sinners, place.
{*In the common version, also in the present one (Mat 20:22), but all editors agree that it is an interpolation.}
Thus all is clear throughout, while as the King we have already seen that the Lord acts as the Representative of His people, who is to save His people from their sins. No Kingdom, such as prophecy had pointed out, apart from this. No possibility could there be of men being "His people," apart from it. Men are sinners, and a holy God cannot for a moment ignore this. When Israel came of old into relationship with Him, it could be only by the blood of the lamb: redemption could not be by power only, but (and first of all) by blood. He, therefore, who is to be King of God’s Kingdom cannot without preliminary take the throne. He must suffer that He may be glorified: He must come to the throne by the way of the Cross.
And so, when the throne is taken, the effect of this and the character it manifests abide. "He shall be a priest upon his throne" (Zec 6:13). He still stands before God for the people over whom He reigns; and while He is the true Melchizedek, "king of righteousness," He is also the true King of Salem, "King of peace." In Him "righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Psa 85:10). For His throne, like the mercy-seat of old, is blood-sprinkled. and the cherubim of judgment gaze upon it from between their covering wings, and are at rest.
Here, therefore, the Lord enters not yet upon His Kingship. He is anointed, but not crowned. It is priesthood that must first act and prepare the way. Thus, rising up out of the water, the Spirit of God descends upon Him as a dove: He becomes not simply in title but in fact, the Christ, the "Anointed." As Aaron of old had by himself received the typical anointing without blood, in order to his exercising the priesthood, so is He now declared fit for and consecrated to His sacrificial work, Priest and Sacrifice as He is in one. His perfection is as needful to the one as to the other. The white linen garments of the day of atonement, and not the robes of glory and beauty, are those in which alone the sacrifice is offered that enters the sanctuary, and in which he enters it to sprinkle the blood before God. It is what He Himself was that prevailed, in the day of unequaled agony, when Aaron’s Antitype offered up to God the only acceptable offering, and was accepted in that glorious "obedience unto death," by which "the many" for whom He stood "are constituted righteous" (Rom 5:19).
What the Father’s voice proclaimed the Spirit seals (Joh 6:27). He comes to rest where there is a heart - at last, a human heart - in perfect sympathy with His own, to give Him lodgment. Thus, appearing as a dove, He manifests exactly the character of Him upon whom He comes. The dove was one of the sacrificial birds - the symbol of Christ, therefore, in the very attitude in which we find Him here; and all is still in perfection and divine harmony. Father, Son, and Spirit are indeed for the first time openly manifested together in the work of redemption, while it is Christ, in the perfection of manhood reconstituted, and in Him brought nigh to God, to which Father and Spirit witness.
The dove, or pigeon, - and the two were almost one, - was in fact the only bird explicitly named for sacrifice. As the "bird of heaven" it has, undoubtedly, its first significance. Heaven itself provides the offering by which heaven is to be appeased and opened over man. The Second Man is from heaven" (1Co 15:47). He who has sinned, as all mere men have, cannot by that fact provide the unblemished offering that will alone avail. It is God, therefore, who Himself provides it and in this way manifests Himself in unspeakable goodness to win man’s heart to Himself. This is the divine power of the gospel in reconciliation. He who requires has fulfilled the requirement. He who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity has yet devised the wondrous means whereby His banished should be restored to Him. Not only so, but for this restoration the bird of heaven shows us God become man - no temporary condescension, but eternal love made known for eternity, eternally to be enjoyed.
Christ is divine love come down, and the dove is the bird of love and sorrow united. The love explains the sorrow: the sorrow the depth of the love. What a world to welcome the Son of God! and what a welcome the world gave Him! "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief! and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him: He was despised, and we esteemed Him not."
But Scripture is more definite than this as to the dove, for it points us to "its wings covered with silver, and its feathers with yellow gold." (Psa 68:13.) And here the reference will be plain to those that are acquainted with the symbolism. "Silver" gets its significance from the money of atonement, and its meaning is well illustrated in passages familiar to us. The wings are silver, for it is in redemption that the activity of divine love has been displayed; while in the feathers is the gleam of gold, the display of divine glory. This is how nature witnesses to Christ.
The Father proclaims the Son. The apostle tells us that "no man taketh this honor unto himself" - that of the high priesthood - "but He that was called of God, even as Aaron. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made a High-priest, but He that said unto Him, "Thou art my Son" (Heb 5:4-5). This, then, was the Lord’s induction into His office, as having the relationship which is acknowledged here. Yet it is not as the Only-begotten Son, or in His Deity that He is addressed; for, in that case, it could not be added, as in Hebrews, "today have I begotten Thee." Nor could His divine glory be the foundation of a priesthood which, of necessity, is human. It must be, therefore, as born into the world by the power of the Holy Ghost, as the angel says to Mary, "therefore that Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Here he is Son of God in His human nature, - Man, but a unique Man. And the connection of this with His priesthood is not hard to trace. True Man He is, without taint of the fall - the Son of God, as coming (like Adam, but another Adam) fresh from the inspiration of God. Thus He begins another creation, though out of the ruins of the old. In this way He is the Representative Head of a new race of men, standing for them before God, with God, the true Mediator-Priest of the new humanity.
No wonder that heaven opens to own and induct into His place this glorious Person! "Therefore doth my Father love Me," He says elsewhere, "because I lay down my life that I might take it again." And here, where He is, as it were, pledging Himself to that death for men, the Father’s voice breaks out in all its fullness of joy in Him: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."
Let us notice before we pass on, how in the meat-offering view of His Person the distinction between His birth of the Spirit and His anointing is kept before us. (See notes on Lev 2:1-16.) In the first general view of Christ as given in it, the anointing of the Spirit is what is emphasized, because it is the seal set upon Him, - the Father’s approbation. In the meat-offering bakers in the oven (the sufferings from the mere fact of what the world was, without open persecution) both things are represented but apart; and here the "wafers anointed with oil" show fuller, readier exposure to it after His public coming forward. In that upon the pan (the open persecution) it is the Man born and anointed that brings forth the world’s enmity. His public testimony fanning the necessary opposition to Him into flame.
In the meat-offering of the priest on the day of his anointing (Lev 6:19-23, see notes) we have, distinctly and necessarily, what He was as presented to God at the very time to which we have reached in the Gospel. Here, therefore, it is prepared with oil, but not anointed. And it all goes up to God as a sweet savor, man having no part in it. It is Christ in the period of His life which closes with His baptism, the years lived to God in retirement, of the sweet savor of which to God He Himself gives testimony.
4. The fourth section follows the third here, as the story of the wilderness in the book of Numbers follows the priestly anointing in the book of Leviticus. The Israelites had forty years of trial in the wilderness, and all through showed how little they had learned the lessons they were placed there to learn. The Lord is there forty days, and tested to the full, approving Himself ever perfect, and beyond the need of learning, - Master and not disciple.
He has fulfilled, as we have seen, in the thirty years of His private life at Nazareth, His own responsibility as Man before God. He has now come forth from that retirement to take His public place as Mediator for others. He has been accepted as perfectly pleasing to the Father, the unblemished Lamb of sacrifice, as well as the Priest, able to offer for the sins of men. To this office He is consecrated by the descent of the Spirit upon Him, and is now fully the Christ, the Anointed, openly declared to be this.
He is now to be tested as to His ability for the path upon which He has entered. The book of Job shows us Satan allowed of God for this purpose to be the sifter of God’s wheat - the "accuser of the brethren." He who is to be the First-born among these pleads for Himself no exemption from this trial. He is expressly led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil: designated thus according to the meaning of the term as "the false accuser."
But God has pronounced: is not that enough? Alas, with sin has come in distrust of God Himself: He also is upon trial; and Satan’s reasoning in Job’s case almost openly takes that ground. God pronounces as to Job, and he takes exception to it. "Hast Thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house?" he says; and that means to say, "This sentence is not given upon proper trial." And God in His very mercy to man, who to his undoing has accepted Satan’s malignity as truth, does not retreat behind His privilege. If He is, and must be, sovereign in His doing, so that "none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" yet will He suffer question, and let all be brought into the fullest light. Job’s hedge is taken away, and Satan is allowed large limits within which to deal with him, - the end being, of course, blessing to the sufferer and full vindication of God’s perfect ways.
And here now is His own Beloved, and there is no remnant of a hedge about the person of the Christ of God; nor will He use the power that is in His hand against the adversary. In conflict between good and evil, power cannot decide: the good must manifest itself as that, and stand by its own virtue against all odds. The glorious Wrestler is stripped, therefore, for the wrestling. Son of God though He be, He comes into the poverty of the creature, the conditions of humanity, and these in their utmost straitness. Man in Adam in his original perfection had been tempted in a garden specially prepared and furnished for him. But one thing was denied him, and in the denial was contained a blessing, among the chief of all the blessings there. Real want there was none, and need was in such sort ministered to as to be itself, in every way, the occasion of new delight. The weakness of the creature was owned, but tenderly provided for, so as to witness to the tender arms of love that were about him: he had but to shrink into them to be in perfect safety, beyond all possible reach of harm.
But not so sheltered, not so provided for, is the new Adam, the Son of man. The garden is gone; in its stead is the wilderness; nor is there nurture for Him now from nature’s barren breast. For forty days He fasts, and then with the hunger of that forty days upon Him, the tempter comes. It marks the contrast between Him and other men that, whereas a Moses or Elias fasted to meet God, He fasts to meet the devil.
There are three forms of the temptation: though, with the first broken we see that victory is gained over them all. Yet for our instruction it is that we are permitted to have all before us, that we may realise the points in which the subtlety perfected by ages of experience finds man to be above all accessible, and learn how Satan is to be resisted still. We shall do well to consider them closely, therefore, and with the closest application to ourselves. The battle-field here may seem to be a narrow one; the points of attack few; the weapons employed against the enemy a scanty armory: but here lies one of the excellences of Scripture, that its principles, while simple, have in them all the depths of divine wisdom, and far-reaching application to the most diverse needs.
(1) And when the tempter came unto Him, he said, If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."
Satan would thus act upon Him by the conviction of what He was, and make Him assert Himself, in circumstances which were so unsuited to what He was. The Son of God, the Beloved of the Father, at the extreme point of starvation in a desert! But then this was surely in His own power to set right: He needed not circumstances to be adjusted to Him, who was able so easily to adjust them to Himself. The power surely was His, the need real, the hunger sinless: why, then; should He not put forth His power, and make the stones of the ground minister to His necessities? So simple and plausible is the suggestion, so well it seems to recognize the truth of what He was, so natural is it with us to minister with what power we have to our own requirements, that to any of us naturally, it might seem to be no evil suggestion at all, - no temptation. But it was such; and the Lord’s answer will show us, better than any reasoning of our own; why it was such.
It has been noticed by all, - it could hardly escape notice, - that the Lord answers ever by the word of God. This is the sword of the Spirit, the only weapon we have with which to encounter the adversary; but it is striking, and speaks powerfully to us, to find the Lord who could surely have answered from His own mind, using always, and with distinct reference to it as such, the written Word. We see that He takes absolutely the same ground as ourselves, answers as man; is subject, as we are, to the authority of God. And this the passage which He quotes fully proves, - going, indeed, beyond it: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
This is from Deuteronomy (Deu 8:3), the book that sums up the lessons of the wilderness, for those who had been through the wilderness. And the passage shows that the dealings of God with His people had been directly designed to teach them this: "And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that He might make thee to know that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." How important, - how supremely important, therefore, is this principle!
Man lives by the word of God, - in obedience to it. The true life of man is nourished and sustained alone by this. Bread will not sustain it: the life of obedience is that which alone is life. In this way we see that though, because of inherent sin everywhere, the legal covenant had no life in it, yet there is another sense wherein "which, if a man do he shall even live in them" is to be understood. There is really a path of life, though grace alone can put us in it or maintain us there. Eternal life and disobedience are in fact opposites. The gospel does not alter this: grace fully affirms it: "Sin shall not have dominion over you, because ye are not under law, but under grace."
All this is in the passage quoted by the Lord; but in His application of it we are made to go further than naturally we should carry it. What principle of disobedience, we might ask, could be contained in the simple suggestion to use power that He really had, to minister to need that was as really His also, and in which, therefore, there could be no evil?
Notice, then; that it is as man He speaks: it is of man these things are written. Son of God He was - adoringly we own it; it is this that makes the path we are thinking of so wonderful an one; but it is not in the open glory of the Godhead that He is come to walk upon earth, but to learn obedience in humiliation, - nay, by the things that He suffers. He is come as man to work out redemption for men; and for this to learn all that is proper to man, apart from sin. Thus He cannot put forth divine power to save Himself out of this condition. What He can use freely for others, for Himself He cannot use. It is He of whom it is written in the volume of the book," Lo, I come to do Thy will O God . . . I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart." Thus He is here simply subject, and subject in satisfaction and delight, to the will of Another. He has, for His whole course on earth, no other motive. Need may press, appetite may crave: He feels this as other men; did He not feel it, the glory of His humiliation would be dimmed. But while He feels it, it is no motive to Him: there is but one motive - the will of God. To make Himself a motive would destroy that perfection; come to do that will, and nothing else.
This is the spirit in which He goes forth to service: the close of it on earth, closing with the deepest humiliation and dreadest shadow of all, affords so beautiful an example of this principle, (even while at first sight it might seem at conflict with it), that one cannot forbear to speak of it here. One of the physical distresses of the agony of the cross is the great thirst produced by it. Almost the last words of the Lord there had reference to this, and gave it expression. His words, "I thirst" are answered by the sponge filled with vinegar, of which He tasted: and they were such as naturally to call forth such an answer. Was this, then; really any seeking of relief in His extremity, even from the hands that had nailed Him there? No: we are carefully guarded from such a thought. There was one Scripture, we are told, that remained to be fulfilled; and of this it was, in all the agony of that hour, that He was thinking: "Jesus, that the
Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst." This leads to what had been predicted: "in my thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink." Thus the glorious obedience shines here without a cloud upon it, nay, in surpassing lustre. "Lo, I come to do Thy will" is the principle of His life.
But here we are made to realize the wondrous privilege that is ours, - the solemn responsibility that lies upon us. For we are "sanctified unto the obedience of Christ," and "He has left us an example that we should follow in His steps" (1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 2:21). This principle of His life must be, then; the principle of our lives. If with Him the governing motive was to do the will of God, - if He rejected every motive that could be urged from His own necessities - how simple is it that, for us also, the will of God must be our motive for action; apart from this there is no right motive possible.
What a world then, is this, in which the mass of men around us have no thought of God, no knowledge of His will, no desire to know it, - men with whom life is little else than the instinctive animal life; disturbed, more or less, by conscience, that is, by the apprehension of God! And as to Christians themselves, how easily are they persuaded, that, with certain exceptions at important crises of their lives, the simple rule of right and wrong - often determined by custom of some kind, rather than the word of God - is sufficient to indicate for them the will of God; their own wills being thus left free within a variously limited area!
The law in fact drew such a circle round man; and in mercy, as a sheepfold is the limit for the sheep. A class of actions is defined as evil, and forbidden; within these limits one may please oneself. Nor could law do other than this: for it the rigidity of a fixed code is necessary. But Christ came into the sheepfold to make His sheep hear His voice, and to lead them out: free, but where freedom would be safe as well as blessed, following the living guidance of the Shepherd Himself (Joh 10:1-42). The rule is at the same time stricter and freer. And the reality transcends the figure, even as the Good Shepherd Himself transcends every other shepherd. To a love like His, united to a wisdom absolutely perfect, no detail of our lives can be unimportant, as (in the connection of these throughout, and of one life with another, none can be insignificant. Could it be imagined that any were so, yet which of us is competent to discern this, in any instance? "Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth" is but the utterance of the common experience. Who, then; that has learned to distrust himself at all, but must welcome deliverance from such an uncertainty, and find it joy to be guided at all times by a higher wisdom?
Nothing makes this appear severe, nothing difficult, except the love of our own way, and the unbelief which, having given up confidence in God, first sent man out from the bountiful garden, to toil and strive for himself in the world outside. But the divine love which has purchased us here, and given us Bethlehem for our "house of bread," should suffice to heal that insane suspicion, and close up the fountain of self-will within us. "He who spared not His own Son; but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him also, freely gives us all things?" The path ordained for us has, no doubt, its roughness, and the cloud hangs over it; but He makes the cloud. His tabernacle, and just in the very night it brightens into manifest glory. All differences are in the interests of the journey itself, as was said of Israel, that they might "go by, day and by night." The record of experience adds to this the assurance, they go from strength to strength."
No wonder! if "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live." What a sustenance of the true life within us to be thus, day by day, receiving the messages of His will, guided by that wondrous Voice, learning continually more the tenderness of His love for us: "He wakeneth morning by morning; He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learner" (Isa 50:4). This is the utterance prophetically of the Lord Himself: how blessed to be able to make it our own, and thus to have the fulfilment of those words: "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way in which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye."
So then the first temptation is met and conquered; and with this, in fact, is conquered every after-one; for he who, walking with God, waits upon God, what shall ensnare him? what enemy shall prevail against him? It is plain that Satan has been hinting again here the lie with which of old he seduced the woman. And that, as in her case "the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye and the pride of life" came in through the door so opened, they were now effectually shut out. Satan might repeat and vary his efforts; but to one cleaving fast to God, God will be a shield against which every shaft shall be broken to pieces. How great, then; the importance for us of such a lesson!
(2) But if we are to listen for the word of God, and our lives are to be shaped by it, we are called next to guard against the misuse of the Word itself. This is Satan’s next attempt: "Then the devil taketh Him into the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee; and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest haply Thou dash Thy foot against a stone."
How careful should we be as to quotations from Scripture! how little in fact we often are! Scripture twisted but a little awry, the authority of God is put upon a lie, and our very faith in it may betray us to the enemy.
How important, too, in this view of it, becomes the complete verbal inspiration of Scripture. If only the thought meant to be conveyed is guaranteed to us, but the wording left to the choice of imperfect wisdom, then (unless words mean nothing) we can never settle what the thought precisely is. If the words are possibly faulty, who can assure me of the exact truth hid under this faulty expression?
Satan does but leave out two or three words of the original: "to keep Thee in all Thy ways" (Psa 91:1-16: The "ways" of Him who in the same psalm says of Jehovah, "In Him will I trust" will be God’s ways, and He will wait upon God for the fulfilment of His word, and not impatiently grasp at it before the time. This is evidently Satan’s effort now; and since the Lord will not move without the word of God, here is now the word to lead Him in that path of the miraculous which He has just refused. The psalm surely refers to Messiah: would it not be simply becoming confidence in God, boldly to claim and act on it?
The place was favorable for such a venture. The miracle would be right before the eyes of the many worshipers - of a people always seeking after signs, and who, having shown themselves ready to go after impostors, would be brought now to the feet of the true Messiah. The word could not fail: was it not for Him to answer the desire of the people, stop with the right hand of power the confusion and misrule, and fulfil the glowing pictures which the prophets had drawn; and take the Kingdom already proclaimed to be at hand by one whose call of God he had Himself acknowledged?
This seems to be the line and power of the temptation here. It appeals to Jesus as the Messiah, as the former one had done to Him as Man. It takes advantage of the Lord’s answer given to that, and would with devilish cunning turn that victory into a defeat. How would He refuse to take His predestined place, when the word of God itself beckoned Him into it?
But the "ways" of the blessed "Author and Finisher of faith" lie elsewhere than in this direction. Of these Satan has not dared to remind Him. He has come into the wilderness from Jordan; from the place of death, to which He had freely stooped as what "righteousness" required from the Representative of His people, and has been consecrated as the Priest to offer the needed sacrifice. Power could be found for men only in the path of humiliation; and out of this He could not raise Himself, nor put forth a hand to lay hold of that which must come to Him from God alone, vindicated and glorified. He would not be slow to put forth power, when this was accomplished, and in this alone all blessing lay. He that believed could not anticipate this: we see that it is the Lord’s first answer which has essentially answered all, and which reveals the secret of victory over all temptation. He has come to do the will of God and not His own. In Him patience will have its perfect work, and thus He will be perfect and entire, living by His word, suffering only, putting forth no hand in His own behalf. Anything else would really be to tempt God," - to question as they questioned at Massah (Deu 6:16), where in their need He seemed not to come forward. They "tempted," tried Him by His providences, found Him to come short. This question still connects in this way with the first temptation; but Israel had no power in themselves to fall back upon as He had: would He use it? Nay, when God had pledged Himself to Him in His word, would He not put it to the proof, let it be seen openly that God was with Him? Nay, He will not; nor take the short road, as if God’s way were too long.
This is to tempt Him then: to try Him by our thoughts, - alas, by our impatience, that cannot wait for His due time, nor take the path of humiliation He prescribes; that will in self-will reach out its hand and take, as Christ would not. He to whom all power belonged moved on as if in weakness, leaving it for God to vindicate and appear for Him, as and where and when He would.
(3) In the third temptation Satan shifts his ground completely. He is seeking the same thing of course; and shows himself more openly than he has done before; but he could not say, "If Thou be the Son of God, fall down and worship me!" He suddenly seems to realize so the truth of His humanity, that he will adventure fully upon it. If this be indeed One who is Son of man; shut off as it were from the claims and conditions of Deity; - if He has come in; in the very weakness of manhood itself to work the work committed to Him, then he will boldly test Him as mere man. All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, can they have no attraction for this poor Nazarene? It is a desperate game indeed, and to us cannot but seem like the mere raving of insanity to propose to Christ to do homage to him for their possession! But, however it may seem to be no longer temptation; but a mere awful insult to the divine glory veiled in humanity before him, it does not seem to be given us as this. The Lord answers it, as He does the rest, from Scripture, though with an indignation which He has not shown before. Satan has disclosed himself, and can be called by his name and bidden to be off. Yet the whole reads as if he had as much confidence in this attack as in the other. The change of address, no longer "If Thou be the Son of God," with the boldness of his proposition; seems to say that he has now discovered and accepts the fact that his conflict is with One who, whatever He may be more than this, had indeed come to meet him as man only. And man - what had he not proved as to him? From Adam in the beauty of his Maker’s handiwork, through the many generations since - he had not encountered yet a second man.
And he, the prince of this world, had he not wrested from man the sovereignty of earth, the inheritance for which God had destined him, God not interfering? might it not seem to him as if evil were stronger than good, as he realized the 4,000 years of his triumph, the generations of men that had conspired to lift him to his throne, - surely, an easy thing to do him homage!
In result, he has disclosed himself and is defeated. He has met, at last, the second Man. It is truly so: there is no display of deity, no outburst of divine judgment or of power he is answered, still and always by the Word its sufficiency as a divine weapon is seen all through: how great an encouragement for us in the irrepressible conflict which we all have to maintain. Through all He is the perfect example of faith, the Man Christ Jesus. We hear throughout the One who in the 16th psalm declares as the principle of His life: "the Lord is the measure of my portion and of my cup: . . . I have set the Lord always before me because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved."
The devil leaves Him now and angels come and minister to Him.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Appearance of the Baptist. Baptism of Jesus
Appearance of the Baptist. Baptism of Jesus
1-12. John the Baptist's ministry. The circumstances of John's birth are detailed in Luke 1 (see notes there). He was sanctified from birth to be the forerunner of the Messiah (Luk_1:13-17, Luk_1:76.), and received a special revelation to enable him to recognise the Expected One when He appeared (Joh_1:33). His mother Elisabeth was a cousin of the virgin, and he was born about six months before Jesus. Knowing what his work in life was to be, he devoted himself from his earliest years to a life of strict asceticism. 'He was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel,' imitating the austerities of the OT. prophets, especially Elijah, whom he greatly resembled. Some earnest Jews seem to have followed his example, and adopted the hermit life. For instance, one of the instructors of Josephus, a man called Banus, 'lived in the desert, and had no other food than that which grew of its own accord, and bathed himself in cold water frequently both by night and day'. Josephus adopted his practices and stayed with him three years. The ascetic and unsocial life of John contrasted strangely with the genial and social habits of Jesus, who came 'eating and drinking,' and mingling freely with people of all classes. Yet our Lord had the greatest esteem for John, and spoke of him as greater than the greatest of the prophets (Mat_1:17-19).
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The public appearance of the Baptist marked a new era. He came forward in the twofold capacity of a prophet and the forerunner of the Messiah. As prophecy had been silent for 400 years, and all patriotic Jews were longing for the coming of the Messiah to deliver them from the Roman yoke, it is not surprising that he was welcomed with enthusiasm, and that those who ventured to doubt his mission found it expedient to dissemble (Mat_21:26). He might undoubtedly have claimed the allegiance of Israel as their promised king (Luk_3:15), but, true to his mission, he declared himself only the forerunner of that greater One, whose ministry was about to begin. The testimony of John to the Messiahship of Jesus is undoubtedly a historical fact, and an important one. To it our Lord owed His first and most capable followers (Joh_1:35.), and much of His early success.
The teaching of John was confined within the limits of OT. ideas, and his aim was to make his converts pious Jews of the orthodox type. At the same time, his views were of a far more spiritual kind than those generally current. In his teaching he laid the main stress not upon the ceremonial law, but upon righteousness. He did not regard the Messiah's kingdom as—in its main aspect, at any rate—a temporal monarchy. It was a kingdom not of this world, a kingdom of righteousness. Not descent from Abraham, but righteousness entitled a man to be a member of it. Hence above all things repentance and amendment of life were necessary. Those who repented and received the Messiah, would be admitted into the kingdom, to whatever nation they might belong, but Israelites who refused to repent and believe would be rejected. John foresaw the difficulties with which Jesus would have to contend, and even predicted for Him a death like his own (Joh_1:36.). In his preaching John appealed largely to the emotion of fear. He declared that the Messianic age would be ushered in by a terrible act of judgment. The Messiah would hew down every unfruitful tree with the axe of retribution. With the fan of judgment he would winnow the wheat, casting the useless chaff into unquenchable fire. Let hypocrites, especially Pharisees and Sadducees, beware, for only by true repentance could they flee from the wrath to come. Let all men practise charity, sharing their goods with their neighbours. Let publicans collect no more than the taxes due. Let soldiers, avoid all violence, and be content with their wages. So and so only could they enter into the kingdom: see Luk_3:10-14. Josephus alludes to John, but in a brief and guarded manner, as 'a good man, who commanded the Jews to exercise virtue both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism.' St. Matthew and St. Luke both supplement St. Mark's brief account of John from other sources.
1. In those days] i.e. 26 a.d. The wilderness of Judaea] a desert tract about 10 m. wide to the W. of the Dead Sea, including also the W. bank of the Jordan near its mouth. The chief towns in it were Engedi and Tekoa.
2. Repent ye] Repentance is not mere sorrow for sin, but a real change of life. It includes, (1) contrition, i.e. sorrow for sin, regarded as an offence against God; (2) confession of sin, always to God, and, where man has been injured, also to man; (3) amendment of life. The kingdom of heaven] St. Matthew nearly always employs this rabbinical phrase instead of 'the kingdom of God.' 'Heaven' so used is a reverential substitute for 'God.' 'The kingdom of heaven' is, of course, the kingdom of Christ, which the Baptist certainly regarded as spiritual. On the precise meaning of the phrase in this Gospel see the Intro., also the notes on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), and on the parables.
3. For this is he, etc.] words of the evangelist, not of the Baptist. Isa_40:3 is quoted according to LXX. In Isaiah the words are a summons to make level the roads before Jehovah, who is leading home His people from the Babylonian captivity. St. Matthew typically applies them to the entry of Israel, after their long period of waiting, into the Messianic kingdom.
4. Camel's hair] i.e. either a camel's skin, or cloth woven from camel's hair. John's dress was a protest against the luxurious robes of soft wool, which were fashionable at the time. Locusts] They are still eaten in the East, especially by the poor. After being thrown into boiling water their wings and legs are torn off; they are then sprinkled with salt, and either boiled or roasted. Sometimes they are fried in butter or oil. Wild honey] still plentiful in the wilderness, where it flows from combs built in the crevices of the rocks. Certain trees also exude a juice called treemanna, or honey, and some suppose that this is meant.
6. Were baptized] The Baptism of John was specifically a baptism of repentance, of which public confession was the pledge and evidence. Its significance can be best described in the words of Isaiah: 'Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment' (justice), 'relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow' (Isa_1:16 cp. Zec_13:1). It has points of contact with the baptism of proselytes or converts from heathenism. John required circumcised Jews of the seed of Abraham to submit to his baptism, and thereby to declare themselves outside the Messianic kingdom, and unfit to enter into it without a moral purification. This was distasteful to the pride of the Pharisees, who took offence at being treated as proselytes (Luk_7:30). From Joh_1:26 it may be gathered that there was a general expectation that the Messiah and those closely associated with Him would baptise, so that John's action was in accordance with Jewish ideas. John's Baptism differed from that of Jesus in being of a preparatory character. It did not confer the Spirit, and was not recognised as equivalent to Christian baptism (Act_18:25; Act_19:3). Confessing their sins] The Gk. word generally, but not always, means a public confession, and that seems to be the sense here. For an example of public confession and repudiation of past sins in connexion with Christian baptism, see Act_19:18.
7. Pharisees and Sadducees] The Pharisees were the strictest, the most active, and the most influential of the Jewish parties or sects. They were zealously attached to the Law, and still more to 'the traditions of the elders.' By the length of their prayers, the frequency of their fasts, and their devotion to ceremonialism, they sought to win honour with men and merit with God. They were hostile to foreign rule, intensely national and patriotic in spirit, and ready to suffer persecution even unto death for their religion. They believed in angels and spirits (also in revelations made by them), in eternal retribution in the next world, and in the resurrection of the dead. They also cherished with especial fervour the Messianic hope. They were closely allied with the scribes or lawyers, with whom they formed practically one party.
The views of the Sadducees were in most respects the opposite of those of the Pharisees. They made no special pretensions to piety. They acknowledged the Law of Moses as alone authoritative, and rejected the traditions of the elders. They were hostile to the aspirations of the national party, and leaned for support on Rome. Sceptical, or semisceptical, in their religious views, they rejected the popular beliefs in angels and spirits, in a future life, and in the resurrection of the dead. They were a worldly, wealthy, and selfishly ambitious party, and their adherents were chiefly found among the chief priests. Their opinions were so unpopular, that they often hesitated to express them publicly. In the Sanhedrin, although the leading Sadducees had seats, Pharisaic views were decidedly in the ascendant.
Come to his baptism] In consequence of John's severe denunciation of their conduct, most of the Pharisees and Sadducees who had come for baptism departed without it: see Luk_7:30. Generation (RV 'offspring') of vipers] This peculiar term of condemnation is also applied by Christ to the scribes and Pharisees (Mat_12:34; Mat_23:33) Probably the allusion is to their poisonous opinions and corrupt influence: see Psa_58:4; Isa_14:29. Who hath warned you] Are you, too, conscious of your danger? To flee] The picture is that of vipers fleeing before the flames when the stubble in the fields is set on fire. The wrath to come] the great judgment with which it was generally believed that the age of the Messiah would open. The Jews regarded it mainly as a judgment upon the Gentiles, but John declared that it would be a judgment upon every hypocritical Jew.
8. Fruits meet for repentance] RV 'fruit worthy of repentance.' Fruit is a frequent metaphor for works, and a very suitable one. Fruit is not loosely attached to a tree, but is part of it. It derives its character from the tree on which it grows. So a man's works, i.e. his words and actions, are part of him, and express his true character.
9. We have Abraham to (for) our father] cp. Joh_8:33, Joh_8:39, Joh_8:53. This insolent spirit is best illustrated by a quotation from the rabbis: 'The fire of hell (Gehenna) has no power to consume even the sinners of Israel, but they go down only to be frightened and slightly singed for their bad actions. Then comes Abraham, who kept all the precepts of the Law, and through his own merit brings them up again.' Of these stones] a hint, not an express statement of the calling of the Gentiles: cp. Romans 4, Rom_9:6; Gal_4:28; Joh_8:39.
10. Ax] a frequent and expressive type of imminent judgment (Mat_7:19; Luk_13:7 : cp. Rom_11:17). The trees] i.e. individual Jews, not the nation, though, as a matter of fact, judgment overtook the nation also for its rejection of Christ: cp. Joh_7:19. The fire] see on Mat_3:12.
11, 12. Here is emphatic testimony of John to the Messiahship of Jesus. Jesus is so great that John is unworthy to perform for Him the function of the meanest slave. Jesus is the dispenser of divine sanctification (the Holy Ghost). Jesus is the absolute judge of the human race, with power to reward the good in heaven and to punish the guilty in hell (Mat_3:12). Nothing of importance is really added to this testimony in the Fourth Gospel. There, indeed, the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God and the Son of God, and is aware of His prëexistence; but these things follow naturally from the tremendous prerogatives which even in the Synoptics John assigns to Him. If it be remembered that the synoptic testimony is given before, and the testimony in the Fourth Gospel after Christ's Baptism, all difficulty disappears: see Joh_1:6, Joh_1:15, Joh_1:19; Joh_3:27.
11. Whose shoes, etc.] the office of the meanest slave. 'A slave unlooses his master's shoe, and carries it after him; does what he needs for the bath, undresses, washes, anoints, rubs, redresses him, and puts on his shoes.'
With the Holy Ghost, and with fire] St. Mark omits 'and with fire.' John says, in effect, 'I can bring you to repentance, but no further. My baptism gives no grace. It only symbolises the greater baptism which Jesus will give. His baptism will give you “the Holy Ghost,” i.e. new spiritual life, and inward sanctification, and “Fire,” i.e. holy fervour and zeal in God's service': cp. Act_2:3. John here refers directly to Christian Baptism, the spiritual efficacy of which he contrasts with the inefficacy of his own.
12. St. Mark omits this v. Whose fan (or, 'shovel')] Jesus holds in His hand the winnowing fan of judgment, for He is the judge of quick and dead. Here John passes far beyond Jewish ideas about the Messiah. His floor] RV 'threshing-floor': not merely Palestine, but the universe. His wheat] i.e. good persons. The garner] heaven. The chaff] the wicked. Unquenchable fire] i.e. Gehenna, hell.
13-17. Baptism of Jesus (Mar_1:9; Luk_3:21; Joh_1:32). The Baptism of Jesus has more than one aspect and significance. To John it was with its miraculous accompaniments a sign that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the Son of God (Joh_1:32-34). To Israel it was 'the showing to the people' of the promised monarch, and His consecration by the unction of the Holy Spirit to the threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. To the Christian Church it is the type and first example of all true baptism—the baptism, that is, of water and the Spirit. So far all is clear. But when we come to speak of its significance to Jesus Himself we are in a region of mystery, and both prudence and reverence teach us not to dogmatise. Yet we may venture to say this, that the vision at the Baptism was intended primarily for Jesus Himself, and neither for John nor for the multitudes who were present. It was Jesus to whom the heavens were opened, Jesus who saw the Spirit descending as a dove, and Jesus to whom the momentous words were spoken, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' This is expressly testified by St. Matthew and St. Mark, and is not contradicted by St. Luke and St. John, although the last states what St. Luke perhaps also implies in the words 'in a bodily form,' that the vision was also intended for the Baptist. If we take the most natural and obvious interpretation of the incident, we shall hold that our Lord's baptism marked the point in His career when there first awoke in Him the complete consciousness of His divine sonship, and of all the tremendous consequences which this unique relationship to God and man involved. There must have been a time when this consciousness first became fully explicit. He cannot have had it in unconscious infancy, or as a young child. Even as a boy (we are speaking, of course, of His human knowledge) He cannot have possessed it complete. He grew in knowledge of things human and divine (Luk_2:40-52), and one of the things in knowledge of which He grew was the awful mystery of His own Divine-Human Personality. He must, of course, have been always conscious, after attaining the use of reason, of the difference between Himself and other men, of the unique character of His communion with God, and of the greatness of the mission which lay before Him, but He need not have known all. It is possible that full self-knowledge might have hindered rather than helped Him during the thirty years of obscurity which preceded His public ministry. But however that may be, before the ministry began the veil that concealed the mystery of His nature was drawn aside by an inward revelation, and soon the outward testimony of miracles confirmed what the inward voice had declared.
14. I have need] not inconsistent with Joh_1:33 ('I knew him not'). As Jesus approaches, a prophetic presentiment passes through the mind of John that this is the Messiah. The descent of the Spirit makes it a certainty. It is possible, even likely, that as John and Jesus were cousins, they were already acquainted, although John 'knew him not' as the Messiah. As John's baptism was unto remission of sins, it seemed to him strange that Jesus should have consented to such a baptism. But, though sinless, Jesus came to identify himself with sinners. He would be 'under the law that he might redeem those that were under the law' (Gal_4:4-5).
15. To fulfil all righteousness] i.e. to fulfil, all the ordinances of the old covenant among which our Lord reckoned John's baptism.
16. 17. One of the leading Trinitarian passages in the NT. The voice of the Father is heard proclaiming the essential divinity of the Son, and upon the Son, as He rises from the baptismal waters, the Holy Ghost, the living bond of love and unity in the Godhead, descends. The appearance of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove was a symbolical vision, and, as spiritual things are spiritually discerned, the vision was probably seen only by our Lord and the Baptist. The dove is a type of the Spirit, because of its innocence, gentleness, and affection; cp. Mat_10:16, 'Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.' The voice from heaven may be paralleled by the voice at Sinai (Exodus 20), to Nebuchadnezzar (Dan_4:31), at the Transfiguration (Mat_17:5), before the Passion (Joh_12:28), to St. Paul (Act_9:4), and to St. Peter (Act_11:7). The idea that a revelation might be communicated by a supernatural voice, was familiar to the Jews of our Lord's time. The rabbis taught that after the cessation of prophecy, God continued to make revelations to His people by means of the Bath-kol, or heavenly voice. At Jericho, for example, the Bath-kol declared the Rabbi Hillel to be worthy to have the Spirit of God abide upon him, and at Jamnia decided the dispute between the schools of Hillel and Shammai in favour of the former.
16. And he saw] i.e. Jesus saw, though John saw it also.
17. This is] This represents the form in which the Baptist heard the words. 'Thou art' (Mk, Lk) represent the form in which Jesus heard them. My beloved Son] cp. Mat_17:5. The highest sense is to be given to these words. The Father bears witness, not only to Christ's Messiahship, butto His eternal and divine Sonship, in virtue of which He is from all eternity 'in the bosom of the Father,' loving and beloved. In whom I am well pleased] cp. Isa_42:1; Mat_12:18. Lest the Baptism of Christ should be thought to indicate that He was a sinner like ourselves, the Father was pleased to pronounce Him absolutely sinless. The tense of the Gk. is difficult. The Revisers (also Plummer) regard it as a timeless aorist. But it may be an ordinary historical aorist, and thus point to Christ's preëxistence—'in whom I was well pleased,' viz. before the Incarnation and before the creation of the world. The words are also a message full of grace to mankind. As the Son is ever well pleasing and acceptable to the Father, so also are all those who are found in Him.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv1, 13 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XVII. John the…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XVII. John the Baptist].
P A R T S E C O N D. BEGINNING OF THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST, THE FOREUNNER.
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XVII. JOHN THE BAPTIST'S PERSON AND PREACHING. (In the wilderness of Judæa, and on the banks of the Jordan, occupying several months, probably A. D. 25 or 26.) aMATT. III. 1-12; bMARK I. 1-8; cLUKE III. 1-18.
b1 The beginning of the gospel [John begins his Gospel from eternity, where the Word is found coexistent with God. Matthew begins with Jesus, the humanly generated son of Abraham and David, born in the days of Herod the king. Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist, the Messiah's herald; and Mark begins with the ministry of John the Baptist. While the three other evangelists take a brief survey of the preparation of the gospel, Mark looks particularly to the period when it began to be preached. Gospel means good news, and news is not news until it is proclaimed. The gospel began to be preached or proclaimed with the ministry of John the Baptist ( Luk_16:16). His ministry was the dawn of that gospel of which Christ's preaching was the sunrise] of Jesus [Our Lord's name as a human being; it means "Saviour"] Christ [Though this is also sometimes used as a name, it is in reality our Lord's title. It means "the Anointed," and is equivalent to saying that Jesus is our Prophet, Priest and King] the Son of God. [This indicates our Lord's eternal nature; it was divine. Mark's gospel was written to establish that fact, which is the foundation of the church ( Mat_16:18). John's Gospel was written for a like purpose ( Joh_20:31). John uses the phrase "Son of [62] God" twenty-nine times, and Mark seven times. As these two evangelists wrote chiefly for Gentile readers, they emphasized the divinity of Jesus, and paid less attention to his Jewish ancestry. But Matthew, writing for Hebrews, prefers the title "Son of David," which he applies to Jesus some nine times, that he may identify him as the Messiah promised in the seed of David-- 2Sa_7:12, Psa_72:1-17, Psa_89:3, Psa_89:4, Psa_132:11, Psa_132:12.] c1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign [Tiberius Cæsar, stepson of and successor to Augustus, began to reign as joint ruler with Augustus in August, A. U. C. 765 (A. D. 11). On Aug. 19, 767, Augustus died and Tiberius became sole ruler. Luke counts from the beginning of the joint rule, and his fifteen years bring us to 779. In August, 779, Tiberius began his fifteenth year, and about December of that year Jesus would have completed his thirtieth year] of Tiberius Cæsar [He was born B. C. 41, died March 16, A. D. 37. As a citizen he distinguished himself as orator, soldier and public official. But as emperor he was slothful, self-indulgent, indescribably licentious, vindictive and cruel. He was a master of dissimulation and cunning, and was a veritable scourge to his people. But he still found flatterers even in Palestine, Cæsarea Philippi, and the town Tiberias being named for him], Pontius Pilate [see mention of him in account of our Lord's trial] being governor of Judæa [The province of Judæa was subdued by Pompey and brought under Roman control in B. C. 63. Its history from that date till the governorship of Pilate can be found in Josephus], and Herod [Also called Antipas. The ruler who murdered John the Baptist and who assisted at the trial of Jesus] being tetrarch [this word means properly the ruler of a fourth part of a country, but was used loosely for any petty tributary prince] of Galilee [This province lay north of Samaria, and measured about twenty-five miles from north to south, and twenty-seven miles from east to west. It was a rich and fertile country], and his brother [half-brother] Philip [He was distinguished by justice and moderation, the one decent man in the Herodian family. He married Salome, [63] who obtained John the Baptist's head for a dance. He built Cæsarea Philippi, and transformed Bethsaida Julius from a village to a city, and died there A. D. 44. After his death his domains became part of the Roman province of Syria] tetrarch of the region of Ituræa [A district thirty miles long by twenty-five broad, lying north of Batanæa, east of Mt. Hermon, west of Trachonitis. It received its name from Jetur, son of Ishmael ( Gen_25:15). Its Ishmaelite inhabitants were conquered by Aristobulus, king of Judæa, B. C. 100, and forced by him to accept the Jewish faith. They were marauders, and famous for the use of the bow] and Trachonitis [A district about twenty-two miles from north to south by fourteen from east to west. Its name means "rough" or "stony," and it amply deserves it. It lies between Ituræa and the desert, and has been infested with robbers from the earliest ages. It is called the Argob in the Old Testament, "an ocean of basaltic rock and boulders, tossed about in the wildest confusion, and intermingled with fissures and crevices in every direction"], and Lysanias [Profane history gives us no account of this man. It tells of a Lysanias, king of Chalcis, under Mt. Lebanon, who was put to death by Mark Antony, B. C. 36, or sixty-odd years before this, and another who was tetrarch of Abilene in the reigns of Caligula and Claudius twenty years after this. He probably was son of the first and father of the second] tetrarch of Abilene [The city of Abila (which comes from the Hebrew word "abel," meaning "meadow") is eighteen miles from Damascus and thirty-eight from Baalbec. The province laying about it is mentioned because it subsequently formed part of the Jewish territory, being given to Herod Agrippa I. by Emperor Claudius about A. D. 41], 2; in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas [Annas had been high priest 7-14 A. D., when he was deposed by the procurator, Gratus. Caiaphas was son-in-law of and successor to Annas. Luke gives both names, one as the rightful and the other as the acting high priest. Compare Act_4:6. Gentile innovations had made sad havoc with the Jewish law as to this office. In the last one [64] hundred and seven years of the temple's existence there were no less than twenty-eight high priests. Luke is the only one who fixes the time when Jesus began his ministry. He locates it by emperor and governor, tetrarch and high priest, as an event of world-wide importance, and of concern to all the kingdoms of men. He conceives of it as Paul did-- Act_26:26], the word of God [The divine commission which bade John enter his career as a prophet ( Jer_1:2, Eze_6:1). Prophets gave temporary and limited manifestations of God's will ( Heb_1:1, Heb_1:2). Jesus is the everlasting and unlimited manifestation of the divine purpose and of the very Godhead-- Joh_14:9, Joh_12:45, Col_1:15, Heb_1:3, 2Co_4:6] came unto John the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. [The wilderness of Judæa is that almost uninhabitable mass of barren ridges extending the whole length of the Dead Sea, and a few miles further north. It is from five to ten miles wide.] a1 And in those days [Some take this expression as referring to the years when Jesus dwelt at Nazareth. But it is better to regard it as a Hebraism equivalent to "that age" or "that era" ( Exo_2:11). It contrasts the era when the Baptist lived with the era when Matthew wrote his Gospel, just as we say "in these days of enlightenment" when we wish to contrast the present time with the days of the American Revolution] cometh John [he was cousin to Jesus] the Baptist [So called because God first gave through him the ordinance of baptism. It has been erroneously thought by some that John borrowed this ordinance from the Jewish practice of proselyte baptism. This could not be, for John baptized his converts, but Jewish proselytes baptized themselves. The law required such self-baptism of all persons who were unclean ( Lev_14:9, Num_19:19, Num_8:7, Lev_1-16:34.). More than twenty distinct cases are specified in which the law required bathing or self-baptism, and it is to these Paul refers when he states that the law consisted in part "of divers baptisms" ( Heb_9:10). But the law did not require this of proselytes, and proselyte baptism was a human appendage to the divinely given Jewish [65] ritual, just as infant baptism is to the true Christian ritual. Proselyte baptism is not mentioned in history till the third century of the Christian era. Neither Josephus, nor Philo, nor the Apocrypha, nor the Targums say anything about it, though they all mention proselytes. In fact, the oldest mention of it in Jewish writings is in the Babylonian Gemara, which was completed about five hundred years years after Christ. The New Testament implies the non-existence of proselyte baptism ( Mat_21:25, Joh_1:25, Joh_1:33). John could hardly have been called the Baptist, had he used an old-time rite in the accustomed manner. The Baptist was a link between the Old and New Testament. Belonging to the Old, he announced the New], preaching [Not sermonizing, but crying out a message as a king's herald making a proclamation, or a policeman crying "Fire!" in a slumbering town. His discourse was brief and unembellished. Its force lay in the importance of the truth announced. It promised to the Hebrew the fulfillment of two thousand years of longing. It demanded repentance, but for a new reason. The old call to repentance had wooed with the promise of earthly blessings, and warned with the threat of earthly judgments; but John's repentance had to do with the kingdom of heaven and things eternal. It suggested the Holy Spirit as a reward, and unquenchable fire as the punishment] in the wilderness of Judæa [that part of the wilderness which John chose for the scene of his ministry is a desert plain, lying along the western bank of the Jordan, between Jericho and the Dead Sea], saying, 2 Repent ye [to repent is to change the will in reference to sin, resolving to sin no more] for [John sets forth the motive for repentance. Repentance is the duty, and the approach of the kingdom is the motive inciting to it. Only by repentance could the people be prepared for the kingdom. Those who are indifferent to the obligations of an old revelation would be ill-prepared to receive a new one] the kingdom of heaven is at hand [ Dan_2:44. "Kingdom of heaven" is peculiar to Matthew, who uses it thirty-one times. He also joins with the other evangelists in calling it the kingdom of God. We know not why [66] he preferred the expression, "kingdom of heaven."] 3 For this is he that was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, c3 And he came [he made his public appearance, and, like that of Elijah, it was a sudden one-- 1Ki_17:1] into all the region about the Jordan [The Jordan valley is called in the old Testament the Arabah, and by the modern Arabs the Ghor. It is the deepest valley in the world, its lowest part being about thirteen hundred feet below the level of the ocean] preaching the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins [as a change leading to remission or forgiveness of sins] beven c4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet [Isaiah flourished from about 759 to 699 B. C.], asaying, bBehold [The clause beginning with "Behold," and ending with "way," is taken from Mal_3:1. The Revised Version makes Mark quote this passage as if it were from Isaiah, the reading being "written in Isaiah the prophet," but the King James' version gives the reading "written in the prophets." Following the reasoning of Canon Cook, we hold that the latter was the original reading--see Speaker's Commentary, note at the end of Mark i.] I send my messenger [John the Baptist was that messenger] before thy face [Malachi says, "my face." "Thy" and "my" are used interchangeably, because of the unity of the Deity-- Joh_10:30], who shall prepare thy way [Mark says little about the prophets, but at the outset of his Gospel he calls attention to the fact that the entire pathway of Jesus was the subject of prophetical prediction]; cThe voice [ Isa_40:3, Isa_40:4, quoted from the LXX. The words were God's, the voice was John's. So Paul also spake ( 1Th_2:1-13). It was prophesied before he was born that John should be a preparing messenger for Christ-- Luk_1:17] of one crying in the wilderness [This prophecy of Isaiah's could relate to none but John, for no other prophet ever made the wilderness the scene of his preaching. But John always preached there, and instead of going to the people, he compelled the people to come out to him. John was the second Elijah. The claims of all who in these days profess to be reincarnations of Elijah [67] may be tested and condemned by this prophecy, for none of them frequent the wilderness], Make ye ready the way [See also Isa_35:8-10. Isaiah's language is highly figurative. It represents a band of engineers and workmen preparing the road for their king through a rough, mountainous district. The figure was familiar to the people of the East, and nearly every generation there witnessed such road-making. The haughty Seriramis leveled the mountains before her. Josephus, describing the march of Vespasian, says that there went before him such as were to make the road even and straight, and if it were anywhere rough and hard, to smooth it over, to plane it, and to cut down woods that hindered the march, that the army might not be tired. Some have thought that Isaiah's prophecy referred primarily to the return of the Jewish captives from Babylon. But it refers far more directly to the ministry of the Baptist; for it is not said that the way was to be prepared for the people, but for Jehovah himself. It is a beautiful figure, but the real preparation was the more beautiful transformation of repentance. By inducing repentance, John was to prepare the people to receive Jesus and his apostles, and to hearken to their preaching] of the Lord, Make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, And every mountain and hill shall be brought low; And the crooked shall become straight, And the rough way smooth [The literal meaning of this passage is expressed at Isa_2:12-17. See also Zec_4:7. Commentators give detailed application of this prophecy, and, following their example, we may regard the Pharisees and Sadducees as mountains of self-righteousness, needing to be thrown down, and thereby brought to meekness and humility; the outcasts and harlots as valleys of humiliation, needing to be exalted and filled with hope; and the publicans and soldiers as crooked and rough byways, needing to be straightened and smoothed with proper details of righteousness. But the application is general, and not to be limited to such details. However, civil tyranny, and ecclesiastical pride must be leveled, and the rights of the common people must be exalted before for kingdom of God can [68] enter in]; 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God [This last clause of the prophecy is added by Luke alone. He loves to dwell upon the universality of Christ's gospel.] b4 John came, who baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins. [Pardoning mercy was to be found in Christ, and all rites then looked forward to the cleansing effected by the shedding of his blood, as all rites now look back to it. But in popular estimation John's baptism was no doubt regarded as consummating an immediate forgiveness] a4 Now John himself [Himself indicates that John's manner of life differed from that of his disciples. He did not oblige them to practice the full measure of his abstinence] had his raiment of [John's dress and food preached in harmony with his voice. His clothing and fare rendered him independent of the rich and great, so that he could more freely and plainly rebuke their sins. Calling others to repentance, he himself set an example of austere self-denial. So much so that the Pharisees said he had a demon-- Mat_11:18] b6 And was clothed with acamel's hair [Camels were plentiful in the East. Their finer hair was woven into elegant cloths; but that which was coarser and shaggier was made into a fabric like our druggets, and used for the coats of shepherds and camel-drivers, and for the covering of tents. Prophets often wore such cloth ( Zec_13:4), and no doubt it was the habitual garb of John's prototype ( Mal_4:5), the prophet Elijah ( 2Ki_1:8). In Elijah's day there was demand for protest against the sad havoc which Phoenician luxury and licentiousness were making with the purer morals of Israel; and in John's day a like protest was needed against a like contamination wrought by Greek manners and customs. Both prophets, by their austerity, rebuked such apostasy, and Jezebel answered the rebuke by attempting Elijah's life, while Herodias actually took the life of John. As a herald, John was suited to the King whose appearing he was to announce, for Jesus was meek and lowly ( Zec_9:9), and had no form nor comeliness that he should be desired-- Isa_53:2], [69] and a leathern girdle about his loins [The loose skirts worn in the East required a girdle to bind them to the body. This was usually made of linen or silk, but was frequently more costly, being wrought with silver and gold. John's girdle was plain, undressed leather]; And his food was { band did eat alocusts [Locusts, like Western grasshoppers, were extremely plentiful ( Joe_1:4, Isa_33:4, Isa_33:5). The law declared them clean, and thus permitted the people to eat them for food ( Lev_11:22). Arabs still eat them, and in some Oriental cities they are found for sale in the market. But they are regarded as fit only for the poor. They are frequently seasoned with camel's milk and honey] and wild honey. [Canaan was promised as a land flowing with milk and honey ( Exo_2:8-17, Exo_13:15, 1Sa_14:26). Many of the trees in the plains of Jericho, such as the palm, fig, manna, ash and tamarisk, exuded sweet gums, which went by the name of tree honey, but there is no need to suppose, as some do, that this was what John ate. The country once abounded in wild bees, and their honey was very plentiful. We have on the record an instance of the speed with which they could fill the place which they selected for their hives ( Jdg_14:5-9). The diet of the Baptist was very light, and Jesus so speaks of it ( Mat_11:18). He probably had no set time for his meals, and all days were more or less fast-days. Thus John gave himself wholly to his ministry, and became a voice--all voice. John took the wilderness for a church, and filled it. He courted no honors, but no Jew of his time received more of them, and by some he was even regarded as Messiah-- Luk_3:15.] b5 And there a5 Then went out unto him ball [A hyperbole common with Hebrew writers and such as we use when we say, "the whole town turned out," "everybody was there," etc. Both Matthew and Luke show that some did not accept John's baptism ( Mat_21:23-25, Luk_7:30). But from the language of the evangelist we might infer that, first and last, something like a million people may have attended John's ministry] the country of Judæa, and all they of Jerusalem; aall [70] the region round about the Jordan [The last phrase includes the entire river valley. On both sides of the river between the lake of Galilee and Jericho, there were many important cities, any one of which would be more apt to send its citizens to John's baptism than the proud capital of Jerusalem]; 6 and they were baptized of him [Literally, immersed by him. In every stage of the Greek language this has been the unquestioned meaning of the verb baptizo, and it still retains this meaning in modern Greek. In accordance with this meaning, the Greek Church, in all its branches, has uniformly practiced immersion from the earliest period to the present time. Greek Christians never speak of other denominations as "baptizing by sprinkling," but they say, "they baptize instead of baptizing." John's baptism was instituted of God ( Joh_1:33), just as Christian baptism was instituted by Christ ( Mat_28:19). The Pharisees recognized John's rite as so important as to require divine authority, and even then they underestimated it, regarding it as a mere purification--Josephus Ant. xviii. 5, 2] in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. [As John's baptism was for the remission of sins, it was very proper that it should be preceded by a confession. The context indicates that the confession was public and general. There is no hint of such auricular confession as is practiced by the Catholics. See also Act_19:18. John, writing to baptized Christians, bids them to confess their sins, that Jesus may forgive them ( 1Jo_1:9). Christian baptism is also for the remission of sins ( Act_2:38), the ordinance itself a very potent confession that the one baptized has sins to be remitted, and it seems to be a sufficient pubic expression of confession as to sins; for while John's baptism called for a confession sins, Christian baptism calls only for a confession of faith in Christ-- Act_22:16, Rom_10:9, Rom_10:10, Mar_16:16.] 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees [Josephus tells us that these two leading sects of the Jews started about the same time in the days of Jonathan, the high priest, or B. C. 159-144. But the sentiments which at that time divided the [71] people into two rival parties entered the minds and hearts of the Jews immediately after the return from the Babylonian captivity. These returned Jews differed as to the attitude and policy which Israel should manifest toward the neighboring heathen. Some contended for a strict separation between the Jews and all pagan peoples. These eventually formed the Pharisee party, and the name Pharisee means "the separate." Originally these men were genuine patriots and reformers, but afterwards the majority of them became mere formalists. As theologians the Pharisees represented the orthodox party, and were followed by the vast majority of the people. They believed (1) in the resurrection of the dead; (2) a future state with rewards and punishments; (3) angels and spirits; and (4) a special providence of God carried out by angels and spirits. As a sect they are said to have numbered six thousand at the time of Herod's death. They were the patriotic party, and the zealots were their extreme section. They covered an extremely selfish spirit with a pious formalism, and by parading their virtues they obtained an almost unbounded influence over the people. By exposing their hypocrisy, Jesus sought to destroy their power over the multitude, and incurred that bitter enmity with which they pursued him to his death. But certain other of the captives who returned from Babylon desired a freer intercourse with the pagans, and sought to break away from every restraint which debarred therefrom. These became Sadducees. They consented to no other restraint than the Scriptures themselves imposed, and they interpreted these as laxly as possible. Some take their name to means "the party of 'righteousness,'" but more think it comes from their founder, Zadok, and is a corruption of the word Zadokite. Zadok flourished 260 B. C. His teacher, Antigonus Sochæus, taught him to serve God disinterestedly--that is, without hope of reward or punishment. From his teaching Zadok inferred that there was no future state of rewards or punishment, and on this belief founded his sect. From this fundamental doctrine sprang the other tenets of the Sadducees. They denied all the four points held by the Pharisees, [72] asserting that there was no resurrection; no rewards and punishments hereafter; no angels, no spirits. They believed there was a God, but denied that he had any special supervision of human affairs ( Mat_22:23, Act_23:8). They were the materialists of that day. Considering all God's promises as referring to this world, they looked upon poverty and distress as evidence of God's curse. Hence to relieve the poor was to sin against God in interfering with his mode of government. Far fewer than the Pharisees, they were their rivals in power; for they were the aristocratic party, and held the high-priesthood, with all its glories. Their high political position, their great wealth, and the Roman favor which they courted by consenting to foreign rule and pagan customs, made them a body to be respected and feared] coming to his baptism, he said { ctherefore to the multitudes that went out to be baptized on him aunto them [John spoke principally to the leaders, but his denunciation indirectly included the multitude who followed their leadership], Ye offspring of vipers [A metaphor for their likeness to vipers--as like them as if they had been begotten of them. The viper was a species of serpent from two to five feet in length, and about one inch thick. Its head is flat, and its body a yellowish color, speckled with long brown spots. It is extremely poisonous ( Act_28:6). John here uses the word figuratively, and probably borrows the figure from Isa_59:5. It means that the Jewish rulers were full of guile and malice, cunning and venom. With these words John gave them a vigorous shaking, for only thus could he hope to waken their slumbering consciences. But only one who has had a vision of "the King in his beauty," should presume thus to address his fellow-men. The serpent is an emblem of the devil ( Gen_3:1, Rev_12:9, Rev_12:14, Rev_12:15), and Jesus not only repeated John's words ( Mat_12:35, Mat_23:23, Mat_23:33), but he interpreted the words, and told them plainly that they were "the children of the devil" ( Joh_8:44). The Jewish rulers well deserved this name, for they poisoned the religious principles of the nation, and accomplished the crucifixion of the Son of God], who warned [73] you to flee [John's baptism, like that of Moses at the Red Sea ( 1Co_10:2), was a way of escape from destruction, of rightly used. Christian baptism is also such a way, and whosoever will may enter thereby into the safety of the kingdom of Christ, but baptism can not be used as an easy bit of ritual to charm away evil. It must be accompanied by all the spiritual changes which the ordinance implies] from the wrath to come? [Prophecy foretold that Messiah's times would be accompanied with wrath ( Isa_63:3-6, Dan_7:10-26); but the Jews were all of the opinion that this wrath would be meted out upon the Gentiles and were not prepared to hear John apply the prophecy to themselves. To all his hearers John preached the coming kingdom; to the impenitent, he preached the coming wrath. Thus he prepared the way for the first coming of the Messiah, and those who would prepare the people for his second coming would do well to follow his example. The Bible has a voice of warning and denunciation, as well as words of invitation and love. Whosoever omits the warning of the judgment, speaks but half the message which God would have him deliver. God's wrath is his resentment against sin-- Mat_18:34, Mat_22:7, Mar_3:5.] 8 Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance [John had demanded repentance, he now demands the fruits of it. By "fruit" or "fruits," as Luke has it, he means the manner of life which shows a real repentance]: 9 and think not { cbegin not [John nips their self-excuse in the bud] ato say within yourselves [speaking to your conscience to quiet it], We have Abraham to our father [The Jews thought that Messiah would rule over them as a nation, and that all Jews would, therefore, be by birthright citizens of his kingdom. They thought that descent from Abraham was all that would be necessary to bring them into that kingdom. John's words must have been very surprising to them. The Talmud is full of expressions showing the extravagant value which Jews of a later age attached to Abrahamic descent. "Abraham," it says, "sits next the gates of hell, and doth not permit any wicked Israelite to go [74] down into it." Again, it represents God as saying to Abraham, "If thy children were like dead bodies without sinews or bones, thy merit would avail for them." Again, "A single Israelite is worth more before God than all the people who have been or shall be." Again, "The world was made for their [Israel's] sake." This pride was the more inexcusable because the Jews were clearly warned by their prophets that their privileges were not exclusive, and that they would by no means escape just punishment for their sins ( Jer_7:3, Jer_7:4, Mic_3:11, Isa_48:2). John repeated this message, and Jesus reiterated it ( Mat_8:11, Mat_8:12, Luk_16:23). We should note that in this preparation for the gospel a blow was struck at confidence and trust in carnal descent. Birth gives no man any privileges in the kingdom of God, for all are born outside of it, and all must be born again into it ( Joh_1:13, Joh_3:3); yet many still claim peculiar rights from Christian parentage, and infant baptism rests on this false conception. The New Testament teaches us that we are children of Abraham by faith, and not by blood; by spiritual and not carnal descent ( Rom_4:12-16, Gal_3:26, Gal_6:15, Joh_8:39). It had been better for the Jews never to have heard of Abraham, than to have thus falsely viewed the rights which they inherited from him]: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham [John meant that their being children of Abraham by natural descent gave them no more merit than children of Abraham made out of stone would have. He pointed to the stones along the bank of Jordan as he spoke.] 10 And even now the axe calso alieth at the root of the trees: every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down [The threatened cutting down means the end of the probation of each hearer, when, if found fruitless, he would be cast into the fire mentioned below], and cast into the fire. [Used as fuel.] c10 And the multitudes asked him, saying, What then must we do? [This is the cry of the awakened conscience ( Act_2:37, Act_16:30, Act_22:10). John answered it by recommending them to do the very reverse of what they [75] were doing, which, in their case, was true fruit of repentance.] 11 And he answered and said unto them, He that hath two coats [By coat is meant the tunic, or inner garment, worn next to the skin. It reached to the knees, and sometimes to the ankles, and generally had sleeves. Two tunics were a luxury in a land where thousands were too poor to own even one. Wrath was coming, and he that would obtain mercy from it must show mercy-- Mat_5:7], let him impart to him that hath none [For a like precept given to Christians, see 2Co_8:13-15, Jam_2:15-17, 1Jo_3:17]; and he that hath food, let him do likewise. 12 And there came also publicans [The Roman Government did not collect its own taxes. Instead of doing so, it divided the empire into districts, and sold the privilege of collecting the taxes in these districts to certain capitalists and men of rank. The capitalists employed agents to do the actual collecting. These agents were usually natives of the districts in which they lived, and those in Palestine were called publicans. Their masters urged and encouraged them to make the most fraudulent and vexatious exactions. They systematically overcharged the people and often brought false accusation to obtain money by blackmail. These publicans were justly regarded by the Jews as apostates and traitors, and were classed with the lowest and most abandoned characters. The system was bad, but its practitioners were worse. The Greeks regarded the word "publican" as synonymous with "plunderer." Suidas pictures the life of a publican as "unrestrained plunder, unblushing greed, unreasonable pettifogging, shameless business." The Turks to-day collect by this Roman method. Being publicly condemned, and therefore continually kept conscious of their sin, the publicans repented more readily than the self-righteous Pharisees. Conscience is one of God's greatest gifts, and he that destroys it must answer for it] to be baptized, and they said unto him, Teacher [The publicans, though lowest down, gave John the highest title. Self-abnegation is full of the virtue of reverence, but self-righteousness utterly lacks it], what must we do? 13 And he [76] said unto them, Extort no more than that which is appointed you. [Such was their habitual, universal sin. No man should make his calling an excuse for evil-doing.] 14 And soldiers [These soldiers were probably Jewish troops in the employ of Herod. Had they been Romans, John would doubtless have told them to worship God] also asked him, saying, And we, what must we do? And he said unto them, Extort from no man by violence [The soldiers, poorly paid, often found it convenient to extort money by intimidation. Strong in their organization, they terrified the weak and enforced gratuities by acts of violence], neither accuse i any one wrongfully [John here condemns the custom of blackmailing the rich by acting as informers and false accusers against them]; and be content with your wages. [The term wages included rations and money. The soldiers were not to add to their receipts by pillage or extortion. Soldiers' wages were about three cents a day, so they were exposed to strong temptation. Yet John did not bid them abandon their profession, and become ascetics like himself. His teachings was practical. He allowed war as an act of government. Whether Christianity sanctions it or not, is another question.] 15 And as the people were in expectation [Expecting the Christ--see Joh_1:19-28], and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether haply he were the Christ [Prophecy induced a Messianic expectation. The scepter had departed from Judah, and Cæsar's deputies ruled. Tetrarchs and procurators held the whole civil government. In their hands lay the power of life and death from which only Roman citizens could appeal ( Act_25:11). The power of the Jewish courts was limited to excommunication or scourging. The seventy weeks of Daniel were now expiring, and other prophecies indicated the fullness of time. But distress, rather than prophecy, enhanced their expectation. Tiberius, the most infamous of men, governed the world. Pontius Pilate, insolent, cruel, was making life irksome and maddening the people. Herod Antipas, by a course of reckless apostasy and unbridled lust, [77] grieved even the religious sense of the hypocrite. Annas and Caiaphas, impersonators of materialism, sat in the chief seat of spiritual power. Men might well look for a deliverer, and hasten with joy to hear of a coming King. But, nevertheless, we could have no more forceful statement of the deep impression made by John's ministry than that the people were disposed to take him for the Christ]; 16 John answered, saying unto them all, b7 And he preached, saying, a11 I indeed baptize bbaptized ayou in cwith water unto repentance [That is, unto the completion of your repentance. Repentance had to begin before the baptism was administered. After the sinner repented, baptism consummated his repentance, being the symbolic washing away of that from which he had repented and the bringing of the candidate into the blessings granted to the repentant-- Mar_1:4, Luk_3:3]: cBut there ahe that [John preached repentance because of a coming King; he now announces who the King is. He pictures this King as, first, administering a different baptism from his own; second, as a judge who would separate the righteous from the wicked, just as a husbandman sifts the wheat from the chaff] bcometh after me [Subsequent to me in ministry. But John indicates that the coming of Christ would be closely coupled with his own appearing. One event was to immediately follow the other. So Malachi binds together in one time the appearing of both forerunner and judge-- Mal_3:1-3] he that is mightier than I [mightier both to save and to punish], awhose shoes [The sandal then worn was a piece of wood or leather bound to the sole of the foot to protect it from the burning sand or the sharp stones. It was the forerunner of our modern shoe] I am not worthy to bear [To untie or carry away the shoe of the master or his guest was the work of the lowest slave of the household. As a figure of speech, the shoe is always associated with subjugation and slavery ( Psa_60:8). John means, "I am not worthy to be his servant." John was simply the forerunner of Jesus; the higher office and honor of being Jesus' attendants was reserved for others-- Mat_11:11]: bthe latchet [the lace or strap] of whose shoes I am [78] not worthy to stoop down and unloose. che shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit [That which is here referred to was foretold by the prophets ( Isa_44:3, Joe_2:28). In the early church there was an abundant outpouring of the Spirit of God ( Tit_3:5, Tit_3:6, Act_2:3, Act_2:4, Act_2:17, Act_10:44). This prophecy began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost ( Act_1:5, Act_2:4). In the choice of the word "baptize" God indicated through his prophet how full this flooding of the Spirit would be] and i in fire [Many learned commentators regard the expression "in fire" as a mere amplification of the spiritual baptism added to express the purging and purifying effects of that baptism, but the context forbids this, for, in Mat_3:10, casting the unfruitful trees into the fire represents the punishment of the wicked, and, in Mat_3:12, the burning of the chaff with fire does the same, and consequently the baptizing in fire of the intervening verse must, according to the force of the context have the same reference. True, the expression "he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire," does not separate the persons addressed into two parties, and, if the context is disregarded, might be understood as meaning that the same persons were to be baptized in both; yet the context must not be disregarded, and it clearly separates them]: 17 whose fan [Winnowing shovel. In the days of John the Baptist, and in that country at the present day, wheat and other grain was not threshed by machinery. It was beaten out by flails, or trodden out by oxen on some smooth, hard plot of ground called the threshing-floor. These threshing-floors were usually on elevations where the wind blew freely. When the grain was trodden out, it was winnowed or separated from the chaff by being tossed into the air with a fan or winnowing shovel. When so tossed, the wind blew the chaff away, and the clean grain fell upon the threshing-floor] is in his hand [Ready for immediate work. Both John and Malachi, who foretold John, are disposed to picture Jesus as the judge ( Mal_3:2-5). Of all the pictures of God which the Bible gives, that of a judge is the most common and frequent], thoroughly to { aand he will thoroughly ccleanse his threshing-floor [Removing the [79] chaff is called purging the floor. Humanity is a mixture of good and bad, and to separate this mixture, save the good and destroy the bad, is the work of Christ. He partially purges the floor in this present time by gathering his saints into the church and leaving the unrepentant in the world. But hereafter on the day of judgment he will make a complete and final separation between the just and the unjust by sending the evil from his presence and gathering his own into the garner of heaven ( Mat_25:32, Mat_25:33). He shall also winnow our individual characters, and remove all evil from us-- Luk_22:31, Luk_22:32, Rom_7:21-25], and to { aand he will cgather the ahis cwheat into his athe cgarner [Eastern garners or granaries were usually subterranean vaults or caves. Garnered grain rested in safety. It was removed from peril of birds, storms, blight and mildew. Christians are now on God's threshing-floor; hereafter they will be gathered into the security of his garner]; but the chaff [when the Bible wishes to show the worthlessness and the doom of the ungodly, chaff is one of its favorite figures-- Job_21:18, Psa_1:4, Isa_17:13, Jer_15:7, Hos_13:3, Mal_4:1] he will burn up [To prevent chaff from being blown back and mixed again with the wheat, it was burned up. All the chaff in the church shall be consumed on the day of judgment ( 1Co_3:12, 1Co_3:13), and there shall be no mixing of good and bad after death-- Luk_16:26] with unquenchable fire [In this and in other places ( 2Th_1:8, 2Th_1:9, Mar_9:48, Mat_25:41), the future suffering of the wicked is taught in the Bible. He shows no kindness to his neighbor, no friendship toward mankind, who conceals the terrors of the Lord. These terrors are set forth in no uncertain terms. Many believe that God will restore the wicked and eventually save all the human race. Others hold that God will annihilate the wicked, and thus end their torment. This passage and the one cited in Mark would be hard to reconcile with either of these views; they indicate that there will be no arrest of judgment nor stay of punishment when once God begins to execute his condemnation. God purged the world with water [80] at the time of the flood; he will again purge it with fire on the day of judgment-- 2Pe_3:7-10.] 18 With many other exhortations [The sermon here given is in the nature of a summary. It embodies the substance of John's preaching. Afterwards John preached Christ more directly-- Joh_1:29-36] therefore preached he good tidings unto the people. [but, like the good tidings of the angel at Bethlehem, it was good only to those who, by repentance, made themselves well pleasing to God.] [81]
[FFG 62-81]
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 7, 15, 16 He shall be called
He shall be called
Probably referring to Isa 11:1 where Christ is spoken of as "a netzer (or, ’rod’) out of the stem of Jesse."
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 3. The Herald of the King; the Entrance upon…
3. The Herald of the King; the Entrance upon His Public Ministry.
1. The Herald of the King. (Mat 3:1-6.)
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2. His Message and His Baptism. (Mat 3:7-12.)
3. The King in Jordan’s Waters. (Mat 3:13-17.)
CHAPTER 3
The third chapter relates the ministry of the herald of the King, who announces that the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh, and the presence of the King Himself, who is to come after him; the baptism of the King, who comes from Galilee to the Jordan to John, and the events connected with it, are given in the second half of the chapter.
“Now in those days comes John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea , and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh. For this is He, who has been spoken of through Esaias the prophet saying, A voice of Him that crieth in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths. And John himself had his garments of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his nourishment was locusts and wild honey” (Mat 3:1-4).
The forerunner is John the Baptist, a typical Old Testament person, of whom the Lord says later in the Gospel, “Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet, this is he of whom it is written, Behold I send My messenger before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee. Verily I say to you, that there is not arisen among the born of women a greater than John the Baptist, but he who is a little one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he” (Mat 11:9-11). In the same discourse the Lord’ says, in vindication of John, who was then in prison: “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias who is to come.” In the first chapter of Luke the angel announces his birth and says: “For he shall be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine or strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the sons of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn hearts of fathers to children, and disobedient ones to the thoughts of just men, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people” (Luk 1:15-17). In these words, given through the Holy Spirit, the Lord Himself and an angel of the Lord, we have the three prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the forerunner quoted. These are: Isa 40:3-5; Mal 3:1; Mal 4:5-6. That he was sent in fulfillment of these prophecies is therefore unquestionable. To this comes the manner of his dress and the nourishment. It reminds us of the great prophet Elias, the Tishbite. “He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins” (2Ki 1:8).
John knew His personality and His mission, for he said: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias” (Joh 1:23). But when asked, Art thou Elias? he answered, I am not. The Jews expected Elijah, as the orthodox Jews expect him still, as the forerunner of King Messiah. At every passover ceremony a cup is reserved for the prophet Elijah, and at the circumcision of the child a chair is placed for that person, and many are the prayers which are said, that God may send soon the prophet Elijah, for his presence would indicate to them the nearness of the King. The character and preaching of Elijah were clearly reproduced in John. He was the Elias for his day. If they had received it, he would have been Elias. In this sense, Mat 17:12, is to be understood: “Elias cometh and restoreth all things; But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they did not recognize him, but did unto him whatever they would.” He was rejected, and his rejection foretold how things would go, that the King Himself would be rejected. We would only mention that before the King comes again there will be once more a forerunner. Once more the message will be heard, The kingdom of the heavens draweth nigh. It will be the Gospel of the Kingdom preached by the remnant during the great tribulation. All we have in Mal 4:5, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,” will then be fulfilled. In Rev 13:1-18 one of the two witnesses is, without question, one like Elijah. It is necessary to state, that no great and miracle-working preacher of repentance, in the spirit of Elijah, is promised to Christendom. We make this remark, because in our days persons stand up and declare that they are forerunners, or one of the witnesses or messengers of the covenant. These poor people err and know not the Scripture, and by their conceited claims work untold harm.
John the Baptist appears in the wilderness. He is not in the temple in the midst of the learned and the great. There was no room for him there. He is outside of the camp, and the people too have to leave Jerusalem and go out to him. This is once more significant. It shows what the end will be.
His preaching is, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh.”
The phrase, kingdom of the heavens, is mentioned thirty-two times in the Gospel of Matthew. Here it is for the first time. The strangest meaning has been put upon this term. Christendom at large is all at sea about the meaning of it. Heaven or the church are the general interpretations which are given. Both are wrong, and because the meaning of this term is so grossly misunderstood, there is no conception whatever of the thoughts and purposes of God. The kingdom of the heavens is an Old Testament term. It is to be in the earth and not in heaven. It is a kingdom in which the heavens rule (Dan 4:26). The setting up of that kingdom is spoken of in Dan 2:44, and in the seventh chapter, verse 14. It is in the hands of One who is the Son of Man, Messiah, the Son of David, who is to rule in righteousness. In that kingdom there will be universal peace, and the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the deep. His own people, the house of Judah and the house of Israel , will all be regathered into the land, Jerusalem built again and become the great center of blessing for the nations of the earth. In one word, the kingdom of the heavens is the literal fulfilment of all the prophecies and promises contained in the Old Testament, which the Lord gave to the seed of Abraham, and the blessings of the nations of the earth to come after this kingdom is set up. The Church is not known in the Old Testament, nor is it seen in the opening chapters of Matthew. _This _kingdom, the forerunner declares, now has drawn nigh, it is at hand. The King is in the earth, Emanuel, He whose name is Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and concerning whom it is said, “that of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.” Not alone did John preach this kingdom to its Jewish, earthly form, but the Lord Himself declared that it had drawn nigh, and when the King sent out His disciples He told them to preach, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh,” the special Messianic kingdom power was put upon them to heal the sick, to raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons (Mat 10:1-42).
But as the forerunner and his testimony is rejected, and the King Himself, the coming of that kingdom of the heavens is postponed. It is not set aside completely, but only postponed, and all the glories of that earthly Messianic Kingdom, which will reach from sea to sea, so minutely pictured in Old Testament prophecy, will yet be established in the earth with Jerusalem as the center, for the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. The kingdom of the heavens is not the church, and the church is not the kingdom. How great the confusion is on this point in all Christian denominations who read the “history of the church” in the establishment and glory of the kingdom predicted by the prophets.
The proper word for John to utter when appearing in the wilderness was, repent. That kingdom which had now drawn nigh was to bring judgment of all that is evil. Judgments upon all unrighteousness are associated with the coming of that kingdom. Every Jew was acquainted with that fact. It is true the earthly glories of the kingdom of the heavens had been announced by every prophet, but equally true is it that the coming judgments were announced, and at all times in past generations of the earthly people of God, the cry, “Return! Repent!” was heard. Now the greatest one of all the prophets has come, and the cry of the Law and the Prophets, Repent, sounds forth once more, so strong and clear as never before.
Before we take up the meaning of repentance here and the baptism unto repentance wherewith he baptized, and compare them with repentance and baptism which are connected with the Gospel of Grace, we must call attention to the quotation from Isaiah which follows. The words are taken from that sublime chapter which begins with, Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, the fortieth chapter. In comparing Matthew with Luke we find that the quotation in Luke is complete, in Matthew it is only in part. Luke, or rather the Holy Spirit through him, adds, “Every gorge shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places smooth ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God (Luk 3:5-7).” One would look to the Gospel of Matthew as the Jewish Gospel, to find such a complete quotation from the Old Testament. Why then, is it not all quoted in Matthew, and why does it stand in Luke? The reason is easily found. Luke’s Gospel is for the Gentiles, to show that salvation is to be indeed offered to all flesh. For this reason the full quotation is perfectly in order in that Gospel, while in Matthew, here in the beginning in its narrower scope, it would be out of order. It is likewise to be remarked that the testimony of John was not only the cry in the wilderness, the loud and continued “Repent!” Such is heard here, and when the kingdom hopes are not realized, we shall see him later sending from the prison to the Lord with his question. But John had a more perfect knowledge, which he imparted to his disciples. The proper place for that testimony is neither Matthew, Mark nor Luke, but the Gospel where the Holy Spirit shows us our Saviour and Lord as the only begotten of the Father, the Gospel of John. There John points to Him and says, Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. “I have seen and borne Him witness that He is the Son of God (Joh 1:29-34).” But clearer still is that wonderful address he delivers to his disciples when they came to him. “And John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it be given him out of heaven. Ye, yourselves, bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices in heart because of the voice of the bridegroom; this my joy then is fulfilled He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who has his origin in the earth is of the earth, and speaks as of the earth. He who comes out of heaven is above all, and what He has seen and what He has heard this He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He that has received His testimony has set to his seal that God is true; for He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives not the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things in His hand. He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him” (Joh 3:27-36).
Such a testimony then was given by John, he knew of life through Christ and that the bridegroom is the Son of God.
Repentance is his foremost message to the nation. Let us consider briefly what it means. Repentance as it is found in the Old Testament, is God’s request to His earthly people to return unto Him. This is the call of John the Baptist in this third chapter. It is the Gospel of the Kingdom which he preaches. The Gospel of Grace is something different. It was not known then, it could not be fully made known and preached till after the death, the resurrection, ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. To preach the Gospel of Grace from the words of John the Baptist, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh,” would be misleading. Still it is being done throughout Christendom. Not knowing what the kingdom of the heavens is, what the church is, and the differences between the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Gospel of Grace, there is a constant misapplication of the scriptures and preaching of a repentance which is Jewish. Theological systems, especially Arminianism, have produced a way of salvation, which is surely nothing less, than the new wine in old wineskins. There is the demand of a repentance, a certain form of penitence, a deep feeling of being lost, grief and despair, turning away from the world and worldly pleasures, seeking the Lord, perhaps for many weary months, then at last, after such a weird experience, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. After this the receiving of what is termed, the witness of the Spirit, a good feeling, by which it is claimed one alone can know that he is saved, a feeling which can be lost, after which the person is once more unsaved. That all this is not according to the Gospel of Grace, the teachings of Romans, as well as the other epistles is evident. One who has written on the subject of repentance has done it in such a scriptural and simple way that we desire to quote from his book:
“What then about repentance? Are faith and the Spirit’s work enough? Or is not repentance no less a necessity if men are to be saved? I meet this question boldly and at once by denouncing it as based, not so much on ignorance as on deep seated and systematic error. The repentance which thus obtrudes itself and claims notice in every sermon is not the friend of the Gospel but an enemy. It is like the officious guide, who forces himself upon the traveler only to mislead him. Faith and repentance are not successive stages on the road to life; they are not independent guides to direct the pilgrim’s path; they are not separate acts to be successively accomplished by the sinner as a condition of his salvation. But, in different phases of it, they represent the same Godward attitude of the soul, which the truth of God believed produces. “Salvation there cannot be without repentance any more than without faith, but the soundest and fullest Gospel preaching need not include any mention of the word. Neither as verb or noun does it occur in the Epistle to the Romans -- God’s great doctrinal treatise on redemption and righteousness -- save in the warnings of the second chapter. And the Gospel of John, pre-eminently the Gospel-book of the Bible -- will be searched in vain for a single mention of it. The beloved disciple wrote his Gospel that men might believe and live, and his Epistle followed to confirm believers in the simplicity and certainty of their faith; but yet from end to end of them the word ‘repent’ or ‘repentance’ never once occurs. It is to these writings before all others men have turned in every age to find words of peace and life, and yet some who profess to hold them inspired will cavil at a Gospel sermon because repentance is not mentioned in it -- a fault, if fault it be, that marks the testimony of the Apostle John and the preaching of our Lord Himself, as recorded by the fourth evangelist. The repentance of the Gospel is to be found in the Nicodemus discourse and in the gracious testimony to the woman at the well; and, I may add, any repentance that limits or jars upon those sacred words is wholly against the truth.” (The Gospel and its Ministry, By Robert Anderson.)
In Act 3:19 we hear Peter preaching, “Repent.” It is here still to the nation connected with a national hope: The restoring of all things of which God has spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets. After the calling out of people for His name is accomplished, and the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, there will be once more the call heard, “Repent!”
But the call to repentance is associated with baptism -- the baptism unto repentance. “Then went out to Him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country round the Jordan , and were baptized by Him in the Jordan , confessing their sins (Mat 3:5).” Concerning his baptism He said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance.” There was then a great stir, and large were the multitudes from the city who came out to hear and to follow the call to repent. Among them were many Pharisees and Sadducees, to whom He said, “Offspring of vipers, who has forewarned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce, therefore, fruit worthy of repentance. And do not think to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our Father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And already the axe is applied to the root of the trees; every tree therefore not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.” “And all the people when they heard it, and the publicans, justified God, having been baptized with John’s baptism; but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s counsel with regard to themselves, not being baptized by Him” (Luk 7:29-30).
The baptism of John shows clearly what repentance means. Jordan is always in the Word the type of death. Thus John baptized in the river of death, which would mean unto death. (Baptism in water was known and practiced among the Jews centuries before John. Proselytes were not only circumcised but also dipped in water.) The people came, confessed their sins, seeing then their true position, what they were and what they deserved; they went down into Jordan to be buried in water, thus typifying death. They heard, they believed, they confessed and witnessed to it outwardly. In this way they justified God, as recorded in the above passage from Luke. Christian baptism is, of course, something essentially different. It is not a baptism unto repentance of deserved death, but it is unto Christ’s death, who has taken our place and died for us. “Are you ignorant that we, as many as have been baptized unto Christ, have been baptized unto His death? We have been therefore buried with Him by baptism unto death, in order that even as Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3-5). Christian baptism is not taught in the third chapter of Matthew. How much confusion has resulted from giving it such a meaning, placing believers into a sad legalism.
Many then were baptized unto repentance by the forerunner. But now for the first time we meet with the two great religious classes and leaders among the Jews, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who came out to John. These two classes play an important role in the Gospel. The Pharisees were the strictly religious, orthodox-ritualistic class. [The name Pharisee means a Separatist. One who says: “I am holier than them.”] They were well versed in the traditions of the elders, and occupied themselves with creating new commandments and strange interpretations of the law. They are the fathers of the talmudical Jews of the present day and typical of ritualistic Christendom, having the form of godliness and not the power. The Sadducees were the rationalists, the unbelieving class. They were much given to reform. Their offspring today are the reformed Jews, who reject the greater part of the Word of God, and in Christendom they are remarkably reproduced in the unevangelical “Isms,” though they call themselves “Christian” (as the Sadducees called themselves Jews), who reject portions of the Word, who do not believe in the inspiration of the Bible.
“Offspring of vipers!” thus the Holy Spirit declared through the forerunner their true character. What a strong and cutting word it is, which applies not alone to the Pharisees and Sadducees, but to all ritualistic-religiousness and unbelieving criticism. They are the offspring not of God but of vipers. But still they were the proud boasters of being the seed of Abraham and as such entitled to the promised blessing. They believed that they were to be saved from the wrath of God connected with the establishment of the kingdom, and the wrath would fall entirely upon the Gentile nations. One only needs to peruse some of the tracts of the Talmud to find the reflection of their proud, self-righteous belief. When they came, they were far from taking that true position in repentance, in death. And so John demands of them that they are to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance. He uncovers their false pretensions, and shows that no natural birth, no religious attainment would deliver them in the day of wrath. This is followed by the announcement of the nearness of the judgment, the axe laid at the root of the trees, ready to fell the mighty trees void of fruit. All this finds an application in the day in which we live, when the axe is once more laid at the roots to cut off and cast into the fire that which has not brought fruit. (The conditions in nominal Christendom now, immediately before the Second Coming of Christ, are the same as the conditions in professing Judaism at the time of His first coming.)
From the words of condemnation upon the proud, self-righteous Pharisees and Sadducees, the herald of the King now turns to speak, as it became him in humility, of the glorious Person of the King Himself. And what a far reaching testimony it is we have in the eleventh and twelfth verses! “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He that comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not fit to bear; He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire; whose winnowing fan is in His hand, and He shall thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and shall gather His wheat into the garner, but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable.”
Here we have another passage which is of vital importance. Let us understand in the first place that the words spoken refer to the first and second coming of our Lord. Let this be clearly fixed in our minds, and all will be plain. The promise connected with the first coming is, He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit. The second coming of the Lord will bring the baptism with Fire, as it is seen at once in the words which follow, which speak clearly of judgment and fire unquenchable. It may appear strange at the first glance that John says in one breath: “He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” -- that the Holy Spirit should refer to His first coming and the fire to His second appearing, but let us take into consideration that John still belongs to the Old Testament, and he expresses himself in a way as many of the prophets did, who frequently spoke in one clause of the Lord’s first and second coming. However, the fifth verse in the first chapter of Acts puts into our hands the key. The Lord said then to His disciples, “John, indeed, baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.” That our Lord speaks of what John said in our passage here is evident, yet He does not mention baptism with fire. If He had added, and with fire, it would clearly prove that the baptism connected with His first coming is a baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire. But He leaves out the fire because it stands in connection with His second coming. Thus it is seen in the entire prophetic Word, which speaks of the day of wrath and vengeance as being a day of burning and fire. How could we even undertake to mention but half of the erroneous doctrines which are more or less emanating from this passage wrongly applied? The doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit, etc., has of late years been made very prominent. Conventions for baptisms, fillings with the Holy Spirit, the enduement of the Spirit for power in service, and many other topics in relation to the doctrine of the Spirit and for a so-called “second blessing” (a term which is nowhere found in the Word) are being held. But how sad it is to see the contortions of the Scriptures as well as the unscriptural, abnormal applications which have been made. A good deal comes from teaching that the believer is to be baptized not alone with the Spirit but also with fire. It is not enough to have believed, so they teach, and be saved by Grace, but there is to be a baptism with fire, a second experience which outshines all others. Hence we find the most extravagant terms which are used in connection with the Holy Spirit, such as Holy Ghost preachers and Holy Ghost fire.
The baptism with the Holy Spirit promised by the Lord took place on the day of Pentecost. By this one Spirit are we all baptized into the one body, which is the Church (1Co 12:13). We are not born again by the baptism of the Spirit, but those who are born again become by it the members of that one body. Every believer who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ hath the Holy Spirit. He the blessed Paraclete, is abiding in him. It is wrong for a believer to plead or pray for the Holy Spirit to come unto him, and equally unscriptural is it to pray for a baptism with fire, for there is no such baptism now, and no believer could pray for the flaming fire to fall upon him, for he is delivered from that wrath.
The Lord comes again, and then it will be with a baptism of fire. The wheat will be gathered into the garner, and then the chaff upon the threshing floor swept together, corresponding with the tares in the parables put together in bundles, will be given over to the fire unquenchable.
John unquestionably waited anxiously for the appearing of Him whose advent he had announced. God, who had sent him to baptize with water, had told him that upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptizes with the Spirit (Joh 1:32-34). At last the moment came. What a moment it was! It terminated the ministry of the forerunner. It was the beginning of the public ministry of the King Himself. He now steps to the front to go that path of obedience marked out for Him, to be presented as King to the nation, to be rejected, and to do that work which no Prophet, no John, no Angel or Archangel could do, but He alone.
“Then comes Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized of him.” The Lord, He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire, He who is greater than John, to whom the Baptist bowed in humility and worship, He who is the creator of all things, comes to the preacher of repentance and presents Himself to be baptized. What a scene! John stood amazed. “He forbade Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?” In other words, I am the sinner, I need repentance, I deserve to go into that river of death, but Thou art holy -- no evil in Thee, nothing worthy of death.
Thus in the very beginning of His public ministry we have the testimony of His holiness. He is the one who alone is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; He knew no sin, who could not sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. When at last the prince of this world came he had nothing in Him. But why then should He, the holy one, this spotless, pure being, present Himself to the preacher of repentance? Why should He go into the river of death and take His place in death? Where there is no sin there need be no confession. Where there is no sin there can be no death. How could He, the King, that holy thing born of the virgin, God manifested in the flesh, ever confess sin when there was no sin? Yet He not only came to be baptized, but He was baptized. The question has had many answers. We said above that His baptism marks the beginning of His public ministry, He enters upon His work, and there can be only one meaning to His baptism, which is in fullest harmony with that work He came to do. Baptism means death and resurrection. He had no sin, but came to be the substitute for sinners, and so He takes in the very beginning their place, the sinner’s place in death. He knew His work before. It is not to be understood as if now He had learned for the first time who He is and what His work is. But publicly He declares in presence of men, angels, demons, and in the presence of God that He is here to fulfill all righteousness. “Suffer it now, for it thus becometh us to fulfill all righteousness” (verse 13). No confessing or repenting on His part, He was fulfilling all righteousness. As one has said, “He saw His sheep struggling in the dark waters of the river of judgment, the meaning of the Jordan , and He must go in for their rescue. He must become identified with them, taking their place in judgment that they might be made the righteousness of God in Him, bringing in “the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ towards all and upon all those who believe” (Rom 3:22). He knew no sin, was made sin for us, and His baptism declares this. The details of His baptism are not given. Then he suffers Him. He placed Himself into the hands of John and went into the waters of Jordan . Later He said, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am strengthened until it shall have been accomplished! The man of sorrows and acquainted with grief soon reached that place, when He went into the deep waters of suffering and death, when all the billows broke over His head. His baptism was but a type of this.
“And Jesus, having been baptized, went straightway from the water, and lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon Him; and behold a voice out of the heavens saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I have found My delight (Mat 3:16-17).”
Here we have something which leads us still deeper. It is a glorious manifestation of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Son who has gone down comes out to be anointed by the Holy Spirit, and proclaimed as the beloved Son by the Father’s voice. He is anointed for the work He had to do. He was begotten by the Holy Spirit, filled with the Spirit, and through the eternal Spirit He offered Himself without spot to God. John learned now that He was the true One. The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove. The dove is the type of the Holy Spirit. We are reminded of the dove which flew across the dark waters of judgment, come from the ark, lifted above all judgment, finding no resting place and returned to the ark. And when sent out the second time the dove returns with an olive branch and the third time there was no return to the ark. This speaks of the sending forth of the Holy Spirit in the different dispensations. But here is the One upon whom the Holy Spirit came to abide. We are reminded of the prophet whose book and experience is a type of Christ, Jonah the son of Amittai, translated, the Dove, the Son of Truth. The dove is, as one of the sacrificial birds, a type of Christ. And through Him and in Him we have the Holy Spirit as the abiding one, the Paraclete. He was poured out after His death and resurrection.
The heavens were opened unto Him. This is a significant word which is often overlooked. For Him alone the heavens are open. No one has gone up into heaven save He who came down out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven (Joh 3:13). He came out of heaven. The heavens were opened unto Him and He has passed through the heavens. In Him the heavens are opened for us, and He has taken us all, who believe, into heaven, bringing many sons to glory. And now a voice is heard. It is not the voice of an Angel, but the voice of the Father. Wonderful fact, that now after He, who is eternally the Son of God, subsisting in the form of God, and who became Son of God incarnate, after He has thus taken the place in death for sinners, that the Father speaks to approve of Him. He had seen Him, His beloved Son, go down to fulfill all righteousness, and now He vindicates Him by declaring, This is My beloved Son in whom I have found My delight. This corresponds to the word in the second Psalm, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee. The Lord Jesus Christ is eternally the Son of God, but here in both passages we see Him as the Son of God incarnate. Never could it be said of Him as the Only begotten of the Father, This day have I begotten Thee. Equally true is it that eternally the Father’s delight has been in the Son. But Rom 1:3 speaks of Him as His Son, come of David’s seed according to flesh, marked out as Son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead Jesus Christ our Lord. He is the first begotten, and in Act 13:1-52 we have the true application of that word, Thou art My Son -- “having raised up Jesus;” as it is also written in the second Psalm, “Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee” -- it is then in resurrection, by the resurrection from the dead that He is marked out Son of God.
And thus we see it here. In going down into Jordan He typifies His own death, but His coming up straightway is the type of resurrection, and in this coming up the Father’s voice is heard declaring Him the well beloved. “Therefore doth My Father love Me -- because I lay down My life that I might take it again.” Well pleasing to the Father He was, and how else could it be with the Sinless One, who was made like unto His brethren. It is then seen from the baptism of our Lord that He is the Lamb of God for the sacrifice, even as John recognized it in pointing to Him, Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. He is perfectly pleasing to the Father, and by the Holy Spirit who came upon Him He is consecrated to the work before Him. It is also clear from these meditations that the baptism of the Lord is typical of His death and resurrection.
And now, after all this took place and He entered thus upon His official work -- then Jesus was carried up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted of the devil (Mat 4:1).
Many other teachings could be given in connection with the third chapter in which we tarried longer than we expected. How rich, how unfathomable is God’s Word! Divine from beginning to end, a living Word, energetic, and sharper than any two-edged sword. May we praise our God for His written Word, and for Him who is the living Word, who took our place in death, delivered for our offences, but raised from the dead on account of our justification. All honor and praise and glory to Him who loveth us and has washed us, to Him the Son who has made us sons, and in whom we hear the Father’s loving voice. “And because ye are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father” (Gal 4:6).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 The Ministry of John the Baptist.
The Ministry of John the Baptist.
v. 1. In those days came John the Baptist.
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The method here used by Matthew to introduce a new section in his history of the Savior is one employed by the holy writers to refer to a preceding date or occurrence, Exo 2:11-23; Isa 38:1. It was during the residence of Jesus in Nazareth, during the period of His obscurity, when He was quietly growing in wisdom and age, and in favor with God and man, Luk 2:52. Luke’s narrative is here characterized by a most careful fixing of time, Luk 3:1-2 as befits so exact an historian, but our present passage is dramatically most effective. Those were memorable days and years to which our wistful, Revelation rent gaze turns back, which the eyes of our spirit do not tire to behold. John, surnamed the Baptist, came in those days; he entered upon his ministry, for which he had been intended and prepared even before his birth, Luk 1:15-17. He is distinguished from John the Apostle and bears the name Baptist from the outstanding feature of his public work, since he baptized those that confessed their sins. It was necessary, to this end, that the hearts of the people be properly prepared, and therefore John came,
v. 1. preaching in the wilderness of Judea.
Not primarily as a teacher, but as a preacher and exhorter he came, solemnly proclaiming, heralding the approach of the kingdom of heaven. And this with all the greater impressiveness, since his abode was in the wilderness of Judea, away from the usual haunts of men, in the mountainous, rugged country toward the Dead Sea, and in the steppes, or pasture lands, sloping down from there to the valley of the Jordan. Interesting, because different!
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 vv1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 General Information:
General Information:
This is the beginning of a new part of the story where Matthew tells of the ministry of John the Baptist. In verse 3, Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah to show that John the Baptist was God's appointed messenger to prepare for Jesus' ministry.
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In those days
This is many years after Joseph and his family left Egypt and went to Nazareth. This is probably near the time that Jesus begins his ministry. AT: "Some time later" or "Some years later"
Repent
This is plural in form. John is speaking to the crowds. (See: Forms of You)
the kingdom of heaven is near
The phrase "kingdom of heaven" refers to God ruling as king. This phrase is only in the book of Matthew. If possible, use the word "heaven" in your translation. AT: "our God in heaven will soon show himself to be king" (See: Metonymy)
For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying
This can be stated in active form. AT: "For Isaiah the prophet was speaking of John the Baptist when he said" (See: Active or Passive)
The voice of one calling out in the wilderness
This can be expressed as a sentence. AT: "The voice of one calling out in the wilderness is heard" or "They hear the sound of someone calling out in the wilderness"
Make ready the way of the Lord ... make his paths straight
These two phrases mean the same thing. (See: Parallelism)
Make ready the way of the Lord
"Get the road ready for the Lord." Doing this represents being prepared to hear the Lord's message when he comes. People do this by repenting of their sins. AT: "Prepare to hear the Lord's message when he comes" or "Repent and be ready for the Lord to come" (See: Metaphor and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
John (the Baptist)
preach
desert
Judea
repent
kingdom of God
Isaiah
prophet
voice
lord
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 3:1 John the Baptist announced Jesus’ coming (see Mark…
3:1 John the Baptist announced Jesus’ coming (see Mark 1:1-11; Luke 3:1-22; John 1:6-8, 19-34) and prepared people to receive him (Matt 3:3). John attracted large crowds (3:5) and a group of disciples (9:14). This group continued for a short time as a movement, even as the Christian church emerged (see Acts 18:24-28). • John’s locale in the Judean wilderness had symbolic significance: The wilderness was associated with the giving of the law (see Exod 19:1) and with God’s final redemption of Israel at the end of history (see Isa 40:3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.