Mark 1:9

Mar_1:9-10

Jesus came from Nazareth.

Nazareth of Galilee: The fitness of the spot

1. Its seclusion. It lies in a narrow cleft in the limestone hills which form the boundary of Zabulon, entirely out of the ordinary roads of commerce, so that none could say that our Lord had learnt either from Gentiles or from rabbis.

2. Its beauty and peacefulness. The flowers of Nazareth are famous, and the appearance of its inhabitants shows its healthiness. It was a home of humble peace and plenty. The fields of its green valley are fruitful, and the view from the hill which over shadows it is one of the loveliest and most historically striking in all Palestine. (F. W. Farrar, D. D.)

Nazareth

The village of Nazareth is reached by a narrow, steep, and rough mountain path. But the distant view of the village itself, in spring, is beautiful. Its streets rise in terraces on the hill slopes toward the northwest. The hills rise above it in an amphitheatre around to a height of five hundred feet, and shut it in from the bleak winds of winter. The flat-roofed houses, built of yellowish-white limestone of the neighbourhood, shine in the sun with a dazzling brightness, from among gardens and fig trees, olives, cypresses, and the white and scarlet blossoms of the orange and pomegranate. (C. Geikie, D. D.)

Hidden worth

Oh how much hidden worth is there, which, in this world, is either lost in the dust of contempt and cannot be known, or wrapt up in the veil of humility and will not be known! But sooner or later it shall be known, as Christs was. (M. Henry.)

Jesus Christs early youth and baptism

I. There is here an intimation of the fact, that Christ had hitherto resided in the city of Nazareth, in lower Galilee.

1. The name of this city attached itself to Jesus Christ as a term of reproach.

2. In this city Christ lived thirty years in seclusion, etc.

discharging the humble and homely duties of His station-thus obeyed the law in all its precepts.

II. When Christ was about to show Himself to Israel, He came to John to be baptized. He thus acknowledged the appointment of John, and honoured his office. He was made subject to the law. He thus dedicated Himself to the service of God.

III. The baptism of Christ was signalized by several miraculous and striking accompaniments.

1. The heavens were opened.

2. The Spirit descended.

3. There was a voice from heaven. (Expository Outlines.)

And was baptized of John in Jordan.-

Our Lords baptism

It is not possible for us to understand the whole mystery of this act, but we may reverently consider some of the motives which prompted the amazing condescension.

1. It may have been to consecrate water for the remission of sins. Just as the brooding of the Spirit of God upon the face of the waters at the first creation reduced order out of chaos, and prepared that element for all the purifications of the first dispensation; so when the moral re-creation of the world was inaugurated the operation of the same Blessed Agent, descending upon our Lord in the river Jordan, sanctified water to the mystical washing away of sin.

2. It may also have been that He designed thereby to be made one with His brethren, or to taste for their sakes at the outset of His ministry that curse of sin which He felt in all its intolerable burden at the close, before His cry of desolation.

3. Another motive He has expressly revealed. When the Baptist shrank back from an act that must have seemed profane, He pointed out that it was incumbent on Him to show an example of perfect obedience to His Fathers will.

4. Underlying this resolution of obedience was the consciousness of a deep humiliation. His self-abasement reached its lowest depth in His baptism. To be misinterpreted and misunderstood at every step was bad enough; but to be told that by His own confession He was a sinner, one with publicans and harlots, and that by His own act and deed He admitted His guilt and sought to have it removed-such self-abasement is more than man can either measure or conceive. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)

The public commencement of a great life

I. That it emerged from comparative obscurity. From Nazareth of Galilee. Christs coming from Nazareth would tend-

1. To correct the proud nations of those to whom He came.

2. It would be a means of self-discipline.

II. That it was characterized by true humility.

1. Humility was shown in appreciating the worth of another mans work.

2. By giving preeminence to a man of inferior moral worth.

3. By submitting to the ceremonialisms of life.

III. That it was favoured with happy visions-He saw the heavens opened.

1. Christ was favoured with a revelation of the unseen world.

2. This revelation was given in the performance of a comparatively trivial duty.

IV. Christ was honoured by a Divine commendation. This is my beloved son, etc.

1. This commendation was paternal.

2. It was sympathetic.

Learn:

1. Comparative solitude is the best preparation for a life of public usefulness.

2. That men are not to be judged by the surroundings of their childhood.

3. That humility is the true adornment of a young man about to commence public life.

4. The happy interchange of sympathy between heaven and a truly pious soul. (Joseph S. Exell, M. A.)

The baptism of Christ

Note,

I. The time of it-In those days, A.D. 28, Jesus thirty years of age, the age at which the Levites began their ministry.

II. The place of it. Either the ancient ford at Succoth or near Jericho.

III. The manner of it. Of John. In Jordan. To fulfil all righteousness.

IV. The blessing that followed it. Credentials of Messiahship. Anointing for ministry with power (Cf. Rom_1:4; Act_10:38). Tranquility (Dove; see Isa_6:6). Expression of Divine favour. (H. Thorne.)

The baptism of Christ: Its significance

Jesus was baptized by His forerunner, who was both the representative of the old economy and the preacher of repentance for the new.

I. In the former relation the Baptist performed on the person of the Christian High Priest the washing which preceded His anointing with the Holy Spirit. The typical high priests were washed before their anointing.

II. In the latter relation the preacher of repentance administered the pledge of penitent washing for the Messiah to One who was also the representative of sinful man. Two ends were thus accomplished.

1. Christ was baptized as the Head and Surety of the human race; assuming in its symbol the transgression of mankind.

2. He was designated as the Messiah, in whom were combined all the offices to which His types were of old anointed. In the former sense, His baptism represented a sin assumed but not shared; He was numbered with the transgressors, and came by water before He came by blood. In the latter it represented the perfect purity which His preeminent ministry required; the water represented not the cleansing, but the absense of the need of purification. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)

The Baptism of Jesus

If we can distinguish between the important and the unimportant in this scene, between the transient and the permanent, we shall not study it in vain. Essential truths do not grow old.

1. Applying this test we find that one of the unessential truths concerning Christs baptism is its mode. The exact mode could not be reproduced; none of us can have the Jordan ford for our baptismal font.

2. The heavenly phenomena accompanying the baptism are not among its essential features. The accessories cannot, from their very nature, be universal What then were the essential features?

I. Christ our Lord there set for us a perfect example of perfect obedience. Baptism was an ordinance of God; Christ will not exempt Himself from any duty. Why should I be baptized? Because God commands it. Have you less need than Christ? The King of Glory did not despise it as a mere form of the Church. He received baptism as ratifying the mission of His great forerunner, and He also received it as the beautiful symbol of moral purification and the humble inauguration of a ministry which came not to destroy the law but to fulfil.

II. That it was his way of publicly renouncing sin and publicly professing religion. Christ is our Example as well as Redeemer. Every true follower of Christ must publicly renounce his sins and confess his faith.

III. The evident approval of the Father in heaven. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)

The baptism of Jesus

I. The baptism of Jesus was the sign of the close of Johns commission as the forerunner. Every ministry has its culmination. Well if it be borne with Johns self-abnegation and humility!

II. The baptism of Jesus was the sign of the opening of Christs commission as the Redeemer.

III. The baptism of Jesus was the sign of a new era of spiritual influence. This gift now was the prelude and foretoken of that great pentecostal bestowment.

IV. The baptism of Jesus was the sign of the speedy fulfilment of the Fathers great design of redeeming love.

V. Practical lessons.

1. It should enhance our love to Jesus to see Him identifying Himself with all His sinful people.

2. We have an example of reverance for all Gods ordinances.

3. Baptism significant in connection with Christs own baptism. When it is more than a mere ceremony it is our burial with Christ into His death, pledges us to fulfil all righteousness.

4. Christ kept His baptismal vow. He has fulfilled all righteousness, not for Himself alone, but for His people also. (Anon.)

The Saviours consecration to His work

I. Our Lord was consecrated to his work by His baptism by the forerunner. The inferior started the superior on His public work. Many a man has received the first open recognition of his mission from one mentally and spiritually lower than himself.

II. Our Lord was consecrated to His work by prayer. St. Luke, who calls attention frequently to the prayers of Jesus, alone mentions this important fact. No great work should be entered on without prayer, especially no work connected with Gods kingdom.

III. Our Lord was consecrated to His work by the gift of the spirit. Outward ordinances, as the laying on of hands, etc., are for this end, etc.

IV. Our Lord was consecrated to His work by the approval of the Father. The approval and blessing of God are essential to a true work. (Anon.)

The coronation of the King

The baptism was, on His part, the assumption of His Messianic office; and on Gods, His anointing or coronation as the King. There are three stages in this lesson: The preliminary dialogue, which explains the paradox of the baptism of the sinless by and with the sinful, the Divine anointing of the King, and the Divine proclamation.

I. The becomingness of the apparently unbecoming baptism. The stern preacher bows in lowliest abasement before his carpenter cousin, and feels that his own character shows black against that lustrous whiteness. Who would have thought, when John was flashing and thundering against sin, that such sense of his own evil underlay his boldness? He clearly feels that Jesus is his superior, and needs no baptism of repentance. How had he come to this conviction? Difficulties have been raised as to the consistency of these words with his declaration that he knew Him not. But, not to dwell on the fact that anticipations and expectations are not knowledge, why should this insight into the character of Jesus not have then been granted to him by prophetic intuition, as he gazed on the gentle face? Why should not the Divine voice have then for the first time sounded in Johns heart, Arise, anoint Him: for this is He? It is a pure assumption that John had previous knowledge of Jesus. The city in the hill country of Judaea where his boyhood had possibly been passed, was far from Nazareth, and he had very early betaken himself to the desert and its isolation. The circumstances of the nativity may, or may not, have been known to him; but there is no reason to explain this conviction of the inappropriateness of his baptism of Jesus by previous knowledge. The other explanation seems to me both more probable and more accordant with his prophetic office. Christ accepts without demur the place which John gives Him. He always accepted the highest place which any man put Him in, and never rebuked any estimate of Himself as enthusiastic or too lofty. If Jesus had not up till that moment lived a perfectly sinless life, He committed a black sin in tacitly endorsing this estimate of Him. If He had lived such a life, on what theory of His nature is it explicable? A sinless man must be more than man. The same consciousness of blamelessness is put into plain words in His answer to John, which is Jesus own explanation of His baptism. It was an act of obedience to a Divine appointment, and therefore it became Him. It was the fulfilment of righteousness; that is to say, Jesus did not confess sin, but professed sinlessness in His baptism, and submitted to it, not because He needed cleansing, but because it was appointed as the duty for the nation of which He was a member. Why, then, was He baptized? For the same reason for which He was found in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and submitted to other requirements of the law from which as Son He was free, and bore the sorrows which were not the issue of His own sins, and went down at last to the other baptism with which He had to be baptized, though His pure life had for itself no need to pass through that awful submersion beneath the black, cold waters of death. The whole mystery of His identification of Himself with sinful men, and of His being made sin … for us, who knew no sin, lies in germ in His baptism by John. No other conception of its meaning does justice to the facts.

II. We have next the Divine anointing or coronation. The symbol of the dove seems to carry allusions to the grand image which represents the Spirit of God as brooding over chaos, and quickening life, as a bird in its nest by the warmth of its own soft breast; to the dove which bore the olive branch, first messenger of hope to the prisoners in the ark; to the use of the dove as clean, in sacrifice; to the poetical attribution to it, common to many nations, of meek gentleness and faithful love. Set side by side with that, Johns thought of the Holy Spirit as fire, and we get all the beauty of both emblems increased, and understand hew much the stern ascetic, whose words burned and blistered, had to learn. He knew what manner of spirit the King possessed and bestowed Meekness is throned now. Gentleness is stronger than force. The dove conquers Romes eagles and every strong-taloned, sharp-beaked bird of prey. The Prince of the kings of the earth is anointed by the descending dove, and His second coronation is with thorns, and a reed is His sceptre; for His kingdom is based on purity and meekness, is won by suffering, and wielded in gentleness. As is the King, so are His subjects, whose only weapons He has assigned when He bids them be harmless as doves. The purpose of this descent of the Spirit on Jesus was twofold. In Johns Gospel it is represented as principally meant to certify the Baptist of the identity of the Messiah. But we cannot exclude its effect on Jesus. For Him it was the Divine anointing for His mediatorial work. A king is king before he is anointed or crowned. These are but the signs of what we may call the official assumption of His royalty. We are not to conceive that Jesus then began to be filled with the Spirit, or that absolutely new powers were given to Him then. No doubt the anointing did mark a stage in His human development, and the accession to His manhood of all that was needed to equip it for His work. But the Spirit of God had formed His pure manhood ere He was born, and had dwelt in growing measure in His growing spirit, through all His sinless thirty years. Since He was a man, He needed the Divine Spirit. Since He was a sinless man, He was capable of receiving it in perfect measure and unbroken continuity. Since His baptism began His public career, He needed then, and then received, the anointing which at once designated and fitted Him for His work of witnessing and atonement.

III. We have finally the Divine proclamation. God Himself takes the heralds office. The coronation ends with the solemn recitation of the style and title of the King. Two Old Testament passages seem to be melted together in it: that in the second Psalm, which says to the Messianic King, Thou art My Son; that in Isa_42:1, which calls on the nations to behold … Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth. God speaks from heaven, and quotes a psalm and a prophet. Why should He not speak from heaven an illuminating word, which interprets whole regions of the Old Testament? This Divine testimony touches first the mystery of our Lords nature. Son of God is not merely a synonym of Messiah, but it includes the distinct conception of Divine origin and of consequent Divine nature. The name implies that the relation between Him and the Father is unique. The voice attests the Divine complacency in Him. The form of the verb in the Greek implies a definite past delight of the Father in the Son, and carries back our thoughts to that wonderful intercourse of which Jesus lets us catch some faint glimpse when He says, Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. From eternity the mysterious depths of the Divine nature moved in soft waves of love, and in its solitude there was society. Nor can we leave out of view the thought that the Fathers delight in the Son is through the Son extended to all who love and trust the Son. In Jesus, God is well pleased towards us. That complacent delight embraces us too, if we become sons through faith in the only begotten Son. The dove that rested on His head will come and nestle in our hearts, and brood there, over their chaos, if we have faith in Christ. (A. McLaren, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 1:9-11. It came to pass in those days — Of John’s baptism at the river Jordan; that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee — Where he lived for many years in a retired manner, with his parents; and was baptized of John in Jordan — Near Bethabara. Joh 1:28. See on Mat 3:13-17.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 16. — BAPTISM OF JESUS, Mar_1:9-11.

9. In those days — The days in which John was baptizing.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Mar_1:10. Straightway.—εὐθέως. Mark’s constant use of this word of transition shows how full his heart was of his subject. It would appeal to the prompt, energetic spirit of his Roman readers. He (i.e. Jesus) saw.—The Baptism over, He was engaged in prayer (Luk_3:21), and then the vision was vouchsafed. The heavens opened.—Rending. Same word used of rending of veil of temple and rocks at the Crucifixion (Mat_27:51). The Spirit like a dove descending.—This was seen also by the Baptist (Joh_1:32-33), and was the sign by which he recognised in Jesus the Lamb of God. It was His solemn inauguration as the Messiah (Act_10:38). A dove.—Fit emblem of His gentle rule.

Mar_1:11. A voice from heaven.—Heard again at the Transfiguration (Mar_9:7), and in the temple court (Joh_12:28). In whom I am well pleased.—In whom I decreed for good, the “good” being man’s redemption purposed by God in Christ from all eternity. In Mar_1:10-11, we behold all Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity working together to accomplish man’s salvation.

Mar_1:12. The Spirit driveth Him.—The human soul of Jesus, which shrank from the cup in Gethsemane, would naturally shrink also from close contact with the prince of evil. But, abhorrent as such an encounter was to His pure and holy nature, it could not be avoided. Nay, it must needs be the first act of His official life. The Second Adam must triumph where the first Adam fell.

Mar_1:13. With the wild beasts.—Far from human habitation and companionship. Nothing was wanting to complete the loneliness of our Divine Champion in His first combat with the enemy of souls. The angels ministered.—Doubtless both to His bodily and spiritual wants. “He who would not turn stones into bread was now fed; He who would not call upon angels to uphold Him in rash confidence was now sustained by them; He who demanded worship for God alone received homage from these servants of God.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mar_1:9-13

(PARALLELS: Mat_3:13 to Mat_4:11; Luk_3:21 to Luk_4:13; Joh_1:29-42.)

Christ’s preparation for ministry—“The beginning of the gospel” advances here another stage. “The Coming One” has come. The Son of God takes His place in history as Son of Man, and proceeds to “fulfil all righteousness,” identifying Himself in every possible way with the race He has come to redeem and save.

I. Christ is prepared for ministry by baptism.—

1. He was about thirty years of age at the time (Luk_3:23)—the age at which the Levites entered upon their work (Num_4:3). Hitherto—with the exception of an occasional visit to the capital—His life had been passed in seclusion at Nazareth, the Scriptures His daily study, the deep problems of human sin and misery His constant thought. Now He prepares to stand forth as the Champion of humanity by confessing their sins and expressing their repentance.

2. The place—on the eastern bank of the Jordan, near Jericho—to which Jesus came from Nazareth to be baptised was full of historic memories, carrying the mind back to the greatest of the judges, and one of the greatest of the prophets. There the Israelites crossed the Jordan dryshod, and entered with Joshua the promised land (Joshua 3); there Elijah, accompanied by Elisha, smote the stream with his mantle and opened a passage through its rapid waters (2Ki_2:8).

3. But why should Jesus submit to the baptism of John? If we could answer this question fully, we should be well on the way to solve the mystery of the Incarnation. We can only dimly perceive some of the motives for this amazing condescension.

(1) Although the Sinless One, Christ was baptised with the baptism of repentance, because He chose—for us men and for our salvation—to be reckoned amongst sinners as if He were one Himself, and to receive the outward sign of the cleansing away of that evil and defiling thing in which He had no part.

(2) Although John’s superior in nature, Christ received baptism from him as if He had been inferior in office, for He was now dedicating Himself to His great work as the Second Adam and New Head of the race.

(3) Although King, Messiah, and not merely a subject in the heavenly kingdom, it was yet fit that He should be anointed for His own place in that kingdom; and who was so fit to perform that office as he who had prepared the way before Him?

(4) Moreover, by Himself receiving baptism, He “sanctified water to the mystical washing away of sin.” This was the beginning of that sacramental system which naturally flows from, and is the extension of, the Incarnation. Hitherto baptism had been but a sign, a figure, an emblem; henceforth it was to be a means, a channel, for the conveyance of Divine grace: hitherto God had been conceived of as far away in heaven; now He was to be regarded as having come down to make His abode amongst men.

4. Here, for a brief moment, the veil was drawn aside which shrouds the mystery of the Holy Trinity. The voice of God the Father is heard from heaven, God the Holy Spirit is seen descending through the opened heaven to earth, and God the Son is incarnate on earth in the likeness of our humanity, as the link between it and heaven.

II. Christ is prepared for ministry by temptation.—

1. A special interest belongs to this chapter of Christ’s life, because the narrative can only have been derived from His own lips, no human eye having witnessed His contest with the powers of evil.

2. From the waters of baptism He proceeds at once into the fires of temptation. This was no accident in His life, but part of the Divine plan for His equipment as our Representative and Head. Just when Satan’s fury was at its height—the heavenly attestation of Christ’s Sonship ringing in his ears—the Holy Spirit urges Jesus forward to the battle. Both the combatants realise that it is a matter of life and death—that if Satan be worsted now, it is the beginning of the end of his rule over men. He lays his plans accordingly, with the utmost skill and craft.

3. The scene of the encounter, if tradition may be trusted, was the wilderness of Jericho, the Quarantania of later days; a region full of rocks and caverns, to which hermits have often resorted, and whither pious pilgrims still wend their way, believing that a vivid realisation of their Saviour’s victory will be helpful to themselves. Some suppose, however, that Christ was carried by the Spirit into the more distant desert of Arabia, to the place where Moses and Elijah had fasted and held communion with God (Exo_34:28; 1Ki_19:8-18), and where afterwards St. Paul passed a season of seclusion and prayer (Gal_1:17).

4. How far was it possible for Christ to be tempted? The following answer, condensed mainly from Dr. Liddon’s Divinity of our Lord, may help to place this matter in a true light.

(1) We must here distinguish between (a) direct temptation to moral evil, i.e. an appeal to a capacity of self-will which might be quickened into active disobedience to the will of God; and (b) what may be termed indirect temptation, i.e. an appeal to instincts per se innocent, as belonging to man in his unfallen state, which can make obedience wear the form of a painful effort or sacrifice.

(2) Jesus was—(a) Emmanuel (Mat_1:23), Himself God the Saviour; (b) Son of God (Luk_1:35), implying a pre-existent superhuman personality in Him.

(3) This union of the Divine and human natures in Christ was not fatal to the perfection of either. But it was inconsistent with the presence of anything in Christ’s manhood that could contradict the essence of the perfect moral Being, i.e. the holiness of God. If He could have sinned, the Incarnation would have been a phantom. The sharpest arrows of the tempter struck Him, but, like darts lighting upon a hard polished surface, they glanced aside. Moreover, as it would seem, the personal union of the two natures in Christ involved, at least, the sight of the Beatific Vision by His humanity; and if we cannot conceive of the blessed as sinning while they worship around the throne, much less can we conceive it in One in whom “dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

(4) But the union of Christ’s manhood with His Godhead did not exempt it from simple human instincts, such as, e.g., a shrinking from bodily pain. See Hooker, E. P., Luk_1:48. Upon Christ’s human will in its inchoate or rudimentary stage of desire, uninformed by reason, an approaching trial might so far act as a temptation, as, e.g., to produce a wish that obedience might be compatible with escape from suffering. But it could not produce, even for one moment, any wish to be free from the law of obedience itself.

(5) Questions: (a) Is this statement consistent with Heb_2:17; Heb_4:15; Heb_5:7? Yes: see Heb_7:26; 1Jn_3:5. Scripture denies the existence, not merely of any sinful thinking or acting, but of any ultimate roots and sources of sin, of any propensities or inclinations, however latent and rudimentary, towards sin, in Christ. When therefore Scripture speaks of His perfect assimilation to us, it must be understood of physical and mental pain in all their forms, not of any moral assimilation. (b) Is this account consistent with the exigencies of Christ’s redemptive work? Certainly. He is not less truly representative of our race, because in Him it has recovered its perfection. His victory is none the less real and precious, because, morally speaking, it was inevitable. Nay, He could not have been the Sinless Victim, offered freely for a sinful world (1Pe_3:18), unless He had been thus superior to the moral infirmities of His brethren. (c) Does not such an account impair the full form of Christ’s example? We gain in the perfection of the moral Ideal thus placed before us, to say nothing of the perfection of the Mediator between God and man, more than we can lose in moral vigour, upon discovering that His obedience was wrought out in a nature unlike our own in the one point of absolute purity. (d) But does not such an account reflect upon Christ’s moral greatness, and practically deny His moral liberty? No. The highest liberty does not imply the moral capacity of doing wrong. God is the one perfectly free Being; yet God cannot sin. The real temptation of a sinless Christ is not less precious to us than the temptation of a Christ who could have sinned would be. It forms a much truer and more perfect contrast to the failure of our first parent. It occupies a chief place in that long series of acts of condescension which begins with the Nativity and ends on the Cross. It is a lesson for all times as to the true method of resisting the tempter. Finally, it is the source of that strength whereby all later victories over Satan have been won: Christ, the Sinless One, has conquered the enemy in His sin-stained members.

Lessons.—

1. Seasons of special grace are often succeeded by seasons of special difficulty and trial; therefore, “be not high-minded, but fear.”

2. Solitude and separation from the world are no more free from spiritual danger than a state of intercourse with one’s fellow-men.

3. While ever praying, “Lead us not into temptation,” and being careful not to run into it of one’s own accord, the Christian must remember that when he is tempted it is his duty to fight, and by God’s grace overcome.

4. Christ fought the battle, and gained the victory, with the very weapons that are in the hands of all Christians; and He now waits to succour all them that are tempted.

OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Mar_1:9. The Jordan, says Dr. Otts, has so many peculiarities that it cannot be compared with any other river on the face of the globe. It is the one sacred river of Scripture—the only one. It has never been navigated, and it empties itself into a sea that has never had a port. It springs out of the snows that rest upon the lofty tops of the heaven-aspiring mountains, and it rushes madly through its narrow and ever-descending valley until it empties itself in a sea that is far below the level of all other seas. It is full of life, but after running its short career it suddenly dies away in the lap of death. At its sources, and for a long way down its course, its waters are as clear as crystal; and flashing in the sunbeams, they look like a flowing stream of molten silver; but before losing itself in the sea of death, its waters become muddy, as if filled with the filth of earth. Flowing into a sea in which no life can live, and which its unceasing flow never fills, it is a fit symbol of human life, ever descending and becoming corrupt, and finally plunging into the gulf of death which swallows up all streams flowing into it, and is never filled. In this stream was Jesus baptised, symbolising the glorious fact that He has entered the stream of our human life to redeem our souls from the sea of death into which all human life flows.

Mar_1:9-10. The baptism of our Lord.—

1. By His own conduct and example Christ here teaches us to “fulfil all righteousness.” He would have us ready and eager in our work for God—doing not as little but as much as we possibly can, determined to exceed rather than fall short.

2. By His own submission to baptism at the commencement of His ministry, He teaches us that this is the manner in which we also must begin to be His disciples.

3. As it was on His coming up out of the water that the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, so He teaches us to believe that in the sacrament of regeneration the babe baptised with water is baptised also with the Holy Spirit, who then cleanses the soul and makes it partaker of a new, even a Divine nature, by incorporation in the body of which Christ is the Head.

Christ’s baptism an epoch in His own consciousness.—We must not imagine that every day was the same to Christ, or Christ the same on every day. He had His great moments, as we have. We call the supreme moment when the soul awakens to God, and the man realises manhood, conversion. What this experience signifies to us, the moment symbolised by the baptism signified to Jesus, only with a difference in degree which His pre-eminence alone can measure. It marked His awakening to all that was involved in Messiahship; and such an awakening could not come without utmost tumult of spirit—tumult that only the solitude and struggle of tht wilderness could calm. The outward expresses the inward change. Before this moment no miracle; after it the miracles begin and go on multiplying. Before it no speech, no claim of extraordinary mission, only Divine and golden silence; after it the teaching with authority, the founding of the kingdom, the creating of the world’s light. Before it the carpenter of Nazareth, the son of Joseph and Mary, doing, in beautiful meekness, the common duties of the common day; after it the Christ of God, the Revealer of the Father, the Life and the Light of men. Now He who became so different to others had first become as different to Himself. What was soon to be revealed to the world was then made manifest to His own soul.—A. M. Fairbairn, D. D.

Mar_1:10. The Holy Ghost at the baptism of our Lord.—In pictures of Christ’s baptism one sees Jesus standing in the shallow water of the river, John from a shell or vessel pouring water on His head, and the Dove hovering over Him. The impression conveyed is that the Holy Ghost descended from heaven and lighted upon Christ during the performance of the rite, corresponding to, and a visible token of, the regenerating influence of the Spirit in Christian baptism. Yet the language of the Gospels gives no support to this idea. They all agree that the descent of the Spirit occurred after Jesus had been baptised, and when He had come up out of the river. St. Luke adds that the Holy Ghost assumed a bodily form, and that it was while Christ prayed that the descent took place. We may account for the general mistake in the artistic representation of this transaction by the prevailing notion which from primitive times has connected the Holy Spirit with the grace of baptism, and which saw in the details of the baptism of Christ a plain proof of this connexion. Of course there is a great truth in this idea, but it is not necessarily conveyed by the fact of Christ’s baptism; and if we hold this truth, we derive our belief from other sources, and not from this incident properly regarded. The general opinion is given, e.g., by Hilary: the Dove settles on the head of Jesus, in order that we might know that at our own baptism the Holy Spirit descends on us, and that we are bedewed with the unction of celestial glory, and are made the sons of God by adoption in Christ. But Jesus did not come to John’s baptism that He might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism did not impart grace. It was merely a formal ceremony, witnessing to the inward desire and striving of the heart. The water was a sign, and nothing more; it carried no inward and spiritual grace. Had the Holy Ghost descended as is represented in popular pictures, it would have indicated that what is true of Christian baptism was also true of John’s rite; and this we know is not the case. The baptism of John was from heaven; it was a preparation for entrance into the new kingdom; emptying Himself of, or voluntarily obscuring, His Divinity, Jesus constrained John to perform the initiatory rite, thus fulfilling all righteousness. His private life, so to speak, ended in Jordan; the consecration to His mission was to follow. So issuing from the river, He stopped upon its bank, and prayed, and the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in a bodily shape, and rested upon Him, and the heavenly voice proclaimed Him Son of God, in whom the Father was well pleased. Thus was He announced as Messiah; thus did He receive the fulness of the Spirit for His Messianic work; thus by the unction of the Spirit was He consecrated Messiah-King. One naturally sees here a lesson concerning the Christian ministry. Not natural endowments, not the ordinary grace that accompanies baptism, equip a man to exercise the office of minister in the Church of God, but the special gift of the Holy Ghost bestowed and received for this end. I would submit a further thought concerning the spiritual life and well-being of individual Christians. As Christ was not prepared and commissioned for His work without the additional effusion of the Holy Ghost, so the Christian needs the added gifts of the Spirit to fit him for his duty as the servant of Christ. If we look to the early records of the Church, we find that apostolic teachers were not satisfied with leaving to their converts only the grace which they obtained by baptism; they supplemented this by conferring upon them further good things. A practical comment on our passage in the Gospel is afforded by a transaction mentioned in Act_19:2-6. Surely they are not to be contemned who see here a cogent argument for the practice of confirmation. To fit the neophyte for the battle of life, to enable him to play his part as Christ’s faithful soldier and servant, he needs a fresh outpouring of the Spirit with His sevenfold gifts.—W. J. Deane, M. A.

Christ comes in the strength of gentleness.—Through the ages Christ’s strength has been the strength of gentleness, and His coming has been like that of Noah’s dove with the olive branch in its beak, and the tidings of an abated flood and of a safe home on its return. The ascetic preacher of repentance was strong to shake and purge men’s hearts by terror; but the stronger Son comes to conquer by meekness, and reign by the omnipotence of love. The beginning of the gospel was the anticipation and the proclamation of strength like the eagle’s, swift of flight, and powerful to strike and destroy. The gospel, when it became a fact, and not a hope, was found in the meek Jesus, with the Dove of God, the gentle Spirit, which is mightier than all, nestling in His heart, and uttering soft notes of invitation through His lips.—A. Maclaren, D. D.

The Holy Spirit came as a dove,—a gentle, joyous creature, with no bitterness of gall, no fierceness of bite, no violence of rending claws; loving human houses, associating within one home; nurturing their young together; when they fly abroad, hanging in their flight side by side; leading their life in mutual intercourse; giving in concord the kiss of peace with the bill; in every way fulfilling the law of unanimity. This is the singleness of heart that ought to be in the Church; this is the habit of love that must be obtained.—Cyprian.

Mar_1:12-13. Lessons.—

1. We in entering upon our Christian vocation ought so to behave ourselves as Christ did in entering upon His mediatorial office. He retreated from the world, and by that retreat He virtually declared that He had nothing to do with the world. Those therefore who are called to the preaching of the gospel, or to any other the like duty, are by this example taught to wean themselves from the things of this world, and to renounce whatever may hinder them from the performance of that duty, to which they are called.

2. Christ willingly follows whither the Spirit leads Him; and what His Father commands Him that He undertakes with all alacrity: we in the like manner ought cheerfully in all things to comply with God’s will and pleasure; nothing ought to deter us from a steady performance of our duty; nor hunger, nor thirst, nor deserts, nor devils ought to be terrible to us, whilst we are safe under the conduct of Christ and His Spirit.

3. Christ soon after He was baptised was led into the wilderness to be tempted. After we have listed ourselves amongst Christ’s soldiers, we must not expect to be idle, but must prepare ourselves for battle. Christ armed Himself against the assaults of the devil by fasting; this armour He Himself did not want, but He therefore put it on, that we might learn how to arm ourselves against our spritual enemies.—Bishop Smalridge.

Mar_1:13. Jesus was tempted.—

I. That He might sympathise with us in our trials, and assist us in our times of need.—The mariner who has once been cast on an inhospitable shore hastens with greater ardour to the relief of a shipwrecked crew than the callous inhabitant of the land who has never known the dangers of the deep. The orphan knows best how to mourn with his friend the loss of a parent; the bereaved parent most tenderly sympathises in the death of a brother’s child. As we feel in ourselves, so we judge of others; and it is a consolation to us, not only that our Saviour was of the same nature and constitution as ourselves, but that hardships, miseries, and temptations of the same kind were suffered by Him, and in a manner more severe than human nature is generally called to endure. We trust that He has learned to sympathise with us, and that His sympathy will teach Him to relieve.

II. That we might learn from His example how to resist temptation and to conquer.—The only weapon that He used was the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, which is equally available for us to wield. It furnishes us with the plainest directions for holiness of life, and the most powerful motives to obey them; it shows us clearly the pitfalls in our path, and how to avoid them; it animates us with visions of heavenly things, and wondrous promises to such as overcome.

III. That we might be convinced that this is God’s appointed path to perfection.—God has had one Son without sin, but no son without temptation. Christ’s trial consisted in the invitation to accept a lower ideal than the highest, to be content with a dazzling carnal glory instead of winning His way through divinely appointed sufferings to eternal renown. He was shown how He might turn out of the steep and stony path of sacrifice into the smooth and easy road of earthly pomp and grandeur—how with the world’s weapons He might win the victory. But He sternly and emphatically refused to entertain the tempter’s suggestion; and His refusal is a clarion call to us to remain loyal to our better selves, to trust implicitly the high convictions of our souls, to take up the cross and in it find the crown. It is not he that shirks the battle, but “he that endureth to the end,” who shall be “saved”: i.e. completely emancipated from all evil around and within, and presented faultless—unimpeached—before the throne.

Three prominent points in our Lord’s temptation.—

1. The relation of the supernatural to the natural in Himself; or, on the other side, His relation to God as His ideal human Song of Solomon 2. The relation of God to the supernatural in His person, and the official in His mission.

3. The nature of the kingdom He had come to found, and the agencies by which it was to live and extend.—A. M. Fairbairn, D. D.

Jesus the representative Man.—Jesus is here the representative Man, the Source and Head of the new humanity, the Founder of the kingdom that is to be. When He triumphs, it triumphs. When He is victorious, all are victorious that live in and by Him. And His victory, as it was for humanity, was by humanity. The supernatural energies that were in Him He did not use for Himself. In our nature, as in our name, He stood, fought, conquered. How perfectly, then, is He qualified to be at once our Saviour and Example!—Ibid.

Christ with wild beasts and angels.—

I. The companionship of the wild beasts.—

1. Not only a graphic indication that the place was wild and desolate, but also a reminder of the dominion over the lower creatures given originally to man, and doubtless exercised by our first parents unfearing and unfeared.

2. Nor can we doubt that the fiercest denizens of the wilds would become tame and gentle in the presence of “the Second Adam, the Lord from heaven”—the dumb animals rebuking the madness of all who recognise Him not!

II. The ministrations of the angels.—

1. The connexion between the three worlds—Earth, Heaven, Hell—is closer than we think.

2. Let the thought of our invisible friends banish all fear of our spiritual foes.

Christ manifested as Monarch of all.—

1. Of hell’s minions, whose assaults He triumphantly repels.

2. Of earth’s fiercest inhabitants, whose wild passions are subdued in His presence.

3. Of heaven’s angels, whose delight it is to minister to Him.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1

Mar_1:9-11. Christ the rainbow of the new covenant.—The baptism of our Saviour stands us under the gospel, instead of the same comfort, which the rainbow afforded unto the old world. The rainbow is a reflexion of the sunbeams in a watery cloud, and was ordained as a sign of pacification (Gen_9:13) that God’s anger should no more strive with man. Such a rainbow was Jesus Christ (Rev_4:3). Look upon Him, not standing majestically in a cloud above, but wading, like a humble servant, into the waters of Jordan beneath; look upon Him, how He sanctifies that element, which was once a means to drown the world, and now is made a means to save it; look upon Him in that posture, as a rainbow in the water, and you may read God’s sure covenant with His whole Church, that His anger is pacified in His well-beloved Son, and that He will be gracious with His inheritance (Joh_1:29; Eph_2:14; 1Pe_3:21).—Bishop Hacket.

A further revelation of the Godhead.—There are some of our ancient cathedrals, such as York and Lincoln, crowned with triple towers; yet when seen afar off in the blue distance, only a single mass of building can be discerned; but when advancing on our journey nearer, we nerceive that there are towers, though perhaps we cannot clearly trace their form or number—but when we arrive yet closer, we can see and admire the grand central tower, and the two western campaniles in all their grace and majesty. So the old world was taught first to recognise the Unity of God; then as the ages passed away the Second and the Third Persons of the Trinity were revealed; and at last in the fulness of time we behold the glory of the Most Sacred Trinity made manifest to men! When the Incarnate Redeemer went down into Jordan, the heavenly light of the Divine Spirit descended “as a dove,” whilst the Father’s voice proclaimed His almighty sanction!

Mar_1:9. The fellowship of penitence.—A strange thing happened a few years ago in an American court of justice. A young man was asked if he had aught to say why the extreme penalty should not be passed upon him. At that moment a grey-haired man, his face furrowed with sorrow, stepped into the prisoner’s box unhindered, placed his hand affectionately upon the culprit’s shoulder, and said, “Your honour, we have nothing to say. The verdict which has been found against us is just. We have only to ask for mercy.” “We”!—there was nothing against the old father; yet in that moment he lost himself, and identified his very being with that of his wayward boy. So in His baptism Christ pushes His way to a place beside us, lays His hand upon the sinner’s shoulder, and bears the shame and sorrow with him.

Mar_1:12-13. Quarantania.—This wilderness has been identified, by the voice of tradition, in the Greek and Latin Churches, as that wild and lonely region between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, called in modern geography Quarantania. It is an extensive plateau, elevated to a considerable height above the plain of Jericho and the west bank of the Jordan; and hence the literal accuracy of the expression in St. Matthew, that Jesus was “led up” into the wilderness. Travellers have described it as a barren, sterile waste of painful whiteness, shut in on the west by a ridge of grey limestone hills, moulded into every conceivable shape; while on the east the view is closed by the gigantic wall of the Moab mountains, appearing very near at hand, but in reality a long way off, the deception being caused by the nature of the intervening ground, which possesses no marked features, no difference of colour on which to fix the eye for the purpose of forming an estimate of distance. Over this vast expanse of upland country there are signs of vegetation only in two or three places, where winter torrents have scooped out a channel for themselves, and stimulate year after year into brief existence narrow strips of verdure along their banks. The monotony of the landscape and the uniformity of its colouring are varied only when the glaring afternoon sun projects the shadows of the ghostly rocks across the plain, or, at rare intervals, when a snowy cloud, that seems as if born of the hills themselves, sails across the deep-blue sky and casts down on the desolate scene the cool, dark mantle of its shade. A more dreary and lonely scene it is impossible to imagine.—H. Macmillan, D.D.

Great temptations.—The story of the Temptation is peculiar, but not wholly unique. It is not without its parallel in human experience, not without its analogue in literature and history. The great heroes whom the world reveres have passed through similar experiences of test and trial. Thus, in the legends of the East, there is brought to us the story of the temptation of Buddha on that night when all the powers of evil gathered around about him to assail him by violence or to entice him by wiles.

“Nor knoweth one,

Not even the wisest, how those fiends of hell

Battled that night to keep the truth from Buddh:

Sometimes with terrors of the tempest, blasts

Of demon-armies clouding all the wind

With thunder, and with blinding lightning flung

In jagged javelins of purple wrath

From splitting skies; sometimes with wiles and words

Fair-sounding, ’mid hushed leaves and softened airs

From shapes of witching beauty; wanton songs,

Whispers of love; sometimes with royal allures

Of proffered rule; sometimes with mocking doubts,

Making truth vain.”

So, in the mythology of Greece, we have the story of the temptation of Hercules. Pleasure comes to him in wanton but bewitching form, and bids him follow her, and promises him the cup of pleasure and that he shall drink of it. She will strew his path with flowers all the way, and accompany him with song and dancing. Wisdom comes to him with sterner voice—with beauty, indeed, but with solemn and almost forbidding beauty—and calls him to combat and to battle that he may win manhood. So in the later history of the Church is the strange, mystical story of the temptation of St. Anthony, with its wiles and its enticements, with its demons inviting to sin by smiles, and its demons tormenting with red-hot pincers. In human history we find the same or like record. We have like temptations in the lives of John Wesley, of Luther, of Xavier, of Loyola. Open the page of history where you will, and you can hardly find the story of any great, noble, prophetic soul that has not had its hour of battle with the powers of darkness. As in the story of Napoleon the Great, concerning whom history tells us that for two long months he struggled over the question whether he should divorce his faithful wife and take another that he might build up a European dynasty, and came out from his chamber after the last night of battle with a face so pallid, so wrought upon by the struggle, that it was as no face he ever shewed after the hottest battlefield of Europe. But love went down before the hope of ambition in that battle; and the devil won.

Tempted like as we are.—It is recorded of the great soldier, the gallant Montrose, that finding his followers ill provided with armour, he stripped off breastplate, and steel cap, with his stout leathern coat, and rode into battle in his bared shirtsleeves, at the head of his men, to show them that he scorned to use defences of which they could not avail themselves. Even so our Great Captain laid aside the panoply of heaven, and as a man entered into the conflict.

Temptation following on privileges.—Pirates, when they see a ship set sail for a rich cargo to foreign parts, keep away, and take no notice of her; they let her go by in peace; but when she is coming back from that foreign port, laden with rich goods, the case is very different. Then the pirate uses all his efforts to take that ship, and leaves no means untried. So with us; after Holy Communion the devil knows that we are very dear to God, and have received Christ.

Satan vanquished.—There is in Tintern churchyard, not far from the grand ruins of the abbey, a defaced and broken tombstone, grass-grown, and whereon only one sentence can be read; it consists of these striking words—“I tread Satan under my feet,” not a word more; it is the record of an unknown fight, and a nameless victory over the wiles of the devil. Such may, through Christ’s help, be one day the triumphant exclamation of us all.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

SECOND SECTION

CHRIST

______

Mar_1:9-13

(Parallels: Mat_3:13 to Mat_4:11; Luk_3:21 to Luk_4:13; Joh_1:29-42)

9And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of [by] John in Jordan. 10And straightway coming up out of [from, απο 4] the water, he saw the heavens opened [parted], and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. 11And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom5 I am well pleased. 12And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 13And he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mar_1:10. Straightway, εὐθέως.—Mark’s watchword, constantly recurring from this time onwards. But here it means that Jesus only in a formal sense submitted to the act, and therefore did not linger in it. Much in the same way as Luke hastily passes over the circumcision of our Lord.—He saw the heavens.—Not John (as Erasmus and others), but Jesus is the subject of the seeing (Meyer): yet the concurrent and mediate beholding of the Baptist is not excluded; see John 1. That the occurrence should not have been only an external one, but also an internal (Leben Jesu, ii. 1, S. 182), Meyer calls “fantasy.” But it is certain that without the fantasy of theological spiritual insight we cannot penetrate the internal meaning of the text, and must fall now into mere dogmatism, and now into rationalistic perversions.

Mar_1:12. And immediately the Spirit driveth Him.—’Εκβάλλει is stronger than the ἀνήχθη of Matthew and the ἤγετο of Luke.

Mar_1:13. And He was there forty days tempted of Satan.—According to Meyer and others, Mark (with Luke) is here out of harmony with Matthew. This difficulty springs from neglecting to distinguish, 1. between real difference and less exactitude, and 2. between the being tempted generally of Satan, and the being tempted in a specifically pregnant and decisive manner. But it is evident that Mark places the crisis of Christ’s victory already in the baptism. That act of victory over self, and humiliation under the baptism of John, had already assured Him the victory over the now impotent assaults of Satan.—With the wild beasts.—The older expositors find hi this circumstance a counterpart of the serpent in paradise. Starke:—The wilderness was probably the great Arabian desert, and Satan attacked Him also through the beasts. Usteri and others:—Christ as the restorer of paradise, and conqueror of the beasts. De Wette:—This is a mere pictorial embellishment. Meyer:—He is threatened in a twofold manner: Satan tempts Him, and the beasts surround Him. But this is a misleading view. A threefold relation of Jesus is here depicted, 1. to Satan, 2. to the beasts, 3. to the angels; and it is arbitrary to separate the second from the third, and make it the antithesis of the first. There is nothing in the μετά to justify this.—The angels.—Not merely fortuitous individual angels. By the individuals which minister to Him, the angel-world is represented. Meyer:—By the ministering we are not to understand a serving with food, but a sustaining support against Satan and the beasts. This is more than fantasy.—The theory concerning the various forms of the history of the temptation, of which Mark is supposed to have used the earliest and simplest, we pass over, as flowing from the well-known scholastic misapprehension of this Evangelist’s original view and exhibition of the Gospel.—Ex ungue leonem! This holds good of Christ, as He is introduced by Mark; and in another sense it holds good of the beginning of the Gospel itself. Remark the expressions: οἱ ‘Ιεροσολυμῖται πάντες—κύψας λῦσαι—εἶδε σχιζομένους τοὺς οὐρανούς, etc.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The self-denial and self-renunciation with which Christ, the Son of God, had lived in the seclusion of Nazareth, was the condition and source of that strength in which He subjected Himself to the baptism of John in the Jordan. This act of subjection sealed His submission under the law, His historical fellowship of suffering with His people, and His passion. The baptism of Christ was consequently the pledge of His perfect self-sacrifice. Hence it was in principle the decision of His conflict and His victory; and therefore it was crowned with His glorification. In this one act there was a consummation of His consciousness as God, of His consciousness as Redeemer, and His consciousness as Victor.

2. Christ really decided, in His baptism, His victory over Satan. He went into the wilderness and made it a paradise. The serpent in this paradise assaults Him, but cannot hurt Him; the wild beasts sink peaceably under His majesty; and the angels of heaven surround and serve Him.

3. John is in the wilderness, and Satan tempts him not. Jesus is led up from the wilderness into the wilderness,—that is, into the deepest wildness of the wilderness (this being the residence of the demons, see Com. on Matthew 4),—and Satan comes down to assault Him there. But the Evangelist deems it superfluous to remark that Jesus overcame Satan. After what had just preceded, this was self-understood. Moreover, it is in the casting-out of the devils, that Mark presents to us Christ’s concrete victories over Satan. Yet this victory is intimated in the fact that He maintained His abode in the wilderness for forty days in spite of all the assaults of the devil, and that in that very wilderness the angels ministered to Him. The incarnate Son of God could hold His heavenly court in the place which Satan preëminently arrogated for himself. The Lord’s relation to His surroundings is threefold. 1. It is a sovereign and inimical one towards Satan, whose temptations appear only as impotent assaults. 2. It is a sovereign and peaceful one towards the beasts: they dare not hunt the Lord of creation, nor do they flee before Him. Jesus takes away the curse also from the irrational creation (Romans 8). According to the same Mark, who places this circumstance at the outset of his Gospel, Jesus commanded at its close that His Gospel should be preached to every creature. See Daniel in the den of lions. Comp. Gœthe’s Das Kind und der Löwe. 3. A sovereign and friendly one towards the angel-world. The world of the angels is subjected to the dominion of Christ: Eph_1:21; Col_2:10; Hebrews 1.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The abode of Jesus in Nazareth, or His self-humiliation, the foundation of all the Divine victories in His life, Php_2:6 seq.—The greatness of Christ by the side of the greatness of John.—Even in humiliation Christ is above John, in that He voluntarily submits to his baptism.—With the submission of Christ to the baptism of John, and what it signified, the whole course of His life, and also His victory over Satan in the wilderness, were decided. Hence His tarrying in the wilderness was the festival before a new career.—The perfected unfolding of the consciousness of Christ at His baptism, in its eternal significance.—With the self-consciousness of Christ was perfected the consciousness of the Son of God and of the Son of man at one and the same time: Thus, 1. the consciousness of His eternity in His Godhead, and 2. of His redeeming vocation in His humanity.—The significance of perfect self-knowledge in self-consciousness: 1. Finding self, 2. gaining self, 3. deciding and dedicating self in God.—The kindredness and difference between the development of the Redeemer’s consciousness and that of the sinner: 1. Kindredness: humiliation, exaltation. 2. Difference: a. Christ’s humiliation under the judgment of His brethren; b. the sinner’s under his own judgment;—a. Christ’s exaltation through the contemplation of the communion of the Trinity; b. the sinner’s exaltation through faith in the fellowship of the Redeemer.—As our consciousness, so our history: This holds good, a. of our true consciousness, b. of our false.—The abode of the Baptist and of the Lord in the wilderness, a token of the destruction of the satanic kingdom.—The inseparable connection between the divine dignity and the redeeming vocation of Christ: 1. He is Christ, and submits to John’s baptism of repentance; 2. He sees the heavens open upon Him, and enters into the depths of the wilderness to contend with Satan.—The connection between the Lord’s baptism and His temptation.—The connection between the humiliations and the exaltations of our Lord, an encouraging sign to all who are His.—The connection between the invigorations and the new conflicts of Jesus, an admonitory sign to all who are His.—Christ takes possession again of the wilderness (the world), without asking leave of Satan whose dwelling it is.—Christ in the wilderness Ruler of all: 1. Of the abyss, whose assaults He regards not; 2. of the earth, whose wild beasts and passions sink to rest at His feet; 3. of the heavenly world, whose angels minister to Him.—Wherefore the Lion of Judah, according to Mark, so often goes into the wilderness.—How the Holy Spirit opens, with the manifestation of Christ, the decisive conflict with the spirit of apostasy.—How the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of might, drives the Lord into the decisive conflict. Even Christ did not go led by self into the contest.—Christ changing the wilderness, despite Satan, into a paradise.—Adam in paradise, and Christ among the beasts in the wilderness.

Starke:—Humility the best adornment of teachers.—Jesus of Nazareth (despised): So little does the great God make Himself, and thus at the same time constructs a ladder by which we may go up.—Jesus sanctifies through His baptism the laver of regeneration in the word.—Rejoice, O soul, in that God is well pleased with His Son, and with thee also, who through Him art reconciled to God! But thou must in faith be made one with Him, Eph_1:5-6.—As soon as we become God’s children, the Holy Ghost leads us; but the cross and temptation come forth-with.—What the first Adam lost among and under the beasts, the Second Adam has asserted and regained among the beasts.—A pious man has nothing to fear, among either wild beasts or bestial men.

Gerlach:—How infinitely high does Christ stand above all human teachers, even those inspired by God.—Schleiermacher:—The legal excitement which John occasioned, and the excitement which Jesus enkindled.—Gossner:—Solitude and the wilderness have their temptations equally with the world.—Baur:—No one is near to celebrate this victory, yet God’s angels are there to glorify Him.

Footnotes:

[4][Mar_1:10.—The reading of the Received Text is ἀπό, which is also adopted by Scholz, and agrees, moreover, with Mat_3:16. But Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Meyer, following B., D., L., and the Gothic Version, read ἐκ. Griesbach also favored this reading. The English Version “out of” accords with the latter reading, but not with the former. The use of the two prepositions is seen m Luk_2:4 : “And Joseph also went up from (ἀπό) Galilee, out of (ἐκ) the city of Nazareth,” &c. “Beyond doubt,” remarks Winer, “ἐκ indicates the closest connection; ὑπό one less strict; παρά and more especially ἀπό, one still more distant.”—Ed.]

[5]Mar_1:11.—After B., D., &c., Lachmann and Tischendorf read ἐν σοί, “in Thee.”

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS

Mat 3:13-17; Mar 1:9-11; Luk 3:21-23. “Then Jesus comes from Galilee unto Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.” Our Lord was six months younger than John, and hence He awaits the arrival of His majority — thirty years — before He will enter upon His official Messiahship. As John was sent from God to introduce Him to the world he is the man to inaugurate Him into His ministry. “John continued to decline Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou unto me?” John was no exception to the human race, born with a depraved heart, which must be sanctified with a baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Of course, I am satisfied that John already enjoyed the sanctified experience, like his prophetical predecessors, in advance of his dispensation. We are to understand this, as a statement of a great generic truth, that not only John, but every other human being, needs the baptism of Jesus to sanctify him for heaven. “And Jesus responding, said, Permit it now; for thus it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness; then he permits Him.” Our Savior is Prophet, Priest, and King. The Levitical law positively required the high priest to have the anointing oil poured on his head, as Moses in the case of Aaron, before he is permitted to enter upon the duties and privileges of his office. This is the righteousness here pertinent; as our Savior never needed righteousness in the sense of justification, we are only permitted to give the word a ceremonial signification, complying with Old Testament law. “And Jesus, having been baptized, came up immediately from the water;” E.V., “out of the water,”

is corrected in R.V., rendering it “from the water,” as apo does not mean “out of,” but only “from.” “And, behold, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and coming upon Him.” The Holy Ghost here assumes His symbolic form of a dove, becoming visible to mortal eyes. The cooing of the dove thrills the heart with melancholy, reminding us of the Holy Spirit, grieved over the wickedness of the world, and bewailing the hardness of the human heart. It is a significant fact, as is positively affirmed, that you can not make the dove angry; but you can grieve him so he will leave you and never return. “Behold, a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am delighted.” O what a popular sensation is aroused when John, on tiptoe, cries aloud, “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!” thus boldly notifying the multitude that the wonderful Shiloh of prophecy, Redeemer of Israel, whom he has all the time been preaching to them, is already on the ground. All eyes are turned in utter bewilderment, looking about, and many shouting, “Where is He?” The multitude spontaneously crowd together, as if moved by sacred awe, forming a long aisle, through which the Prince of glory, walking down, meets their preacher, demanding baptism at his hands. Ten thousand eyes are now centered on this wonderful scene, the Prince of glory meeting the prophet of the wilderness at the baptismal waters. Luke says, “Jesus, having been baptized, and while praying, the heaven is opened;” simultaneously the Divine voice roaring out from the blue dome of heaven, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” O what a stir throughout the multitude! Some say, “It is thunder, ringing down from a cloudless sky.” Others say, “That is impossible; but an angel spoke to Him.” Now, all eyes are strained and looking after Him. But He is gone, led by the Spirit away into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XVIII. Jesus Baptized].

P A R T T H I R D. BEGINNING OF OUR LORD'S MINISTRY.

XVIII. JESUS BAPTIZED BY JOHN IN THE JORDAN. (Jordan east of Jericho, Spring of A. D. 27.) aMATT. III. 13-17; bMARK I. 9-11; cLUKE III. 21-23.

b9 And a13 Then bit came to pass in those days, that Jesus came acometh bfrom Nazareth of Galilee, ato the Jordan [Tradition fixes upon a ford of Jordan east of Jericho as the place where Jesus was baptized. It is the same section of the river which opened for the passage of Israel under Joshua, and later for Elijah and Elisha. This ford is seventy or eighty miles from Nazareth] unto John, to be baptized of him [He set out from Nazareth, intending to be baptized. Such was his intention before he heard John preach, and he was therefore not persuaded to do it by the preaching. His righteousness was not the result of human persuasion.] band was baptized of John in [Greek "into." The body of Jesus was immersed or plunged into the river] 14; aBut John would have hindered him [It seemed to John too great an honor for him to baptize Jesus, and too great a humiliation for Jesus to be baptized. There is some dispute as to how John came to know this righteousness of Christ, which prompted his protest. The one natural explanation is, that the intimacy of the two families indicated at the beginning of Luke's account had been kept up, and John knew the history of his kinsman], saying, I have need to be baptized of thee [those are most fit to administer an ordinance who have themselves deeply experienced the need [82] of it], and comest thou to me? [John felt that he needed Jesus' baptism, but could not think that Jesus needed his. The words "I," "thee," "thou," and "me," show that John contrasted the baptizers as well as the baptisms. As a human being he marveled that the Son of God should come to him to be immersed. The comings of Jesus and the purposes for which he comes are still the greatest marvels which confront the minds of men. Moreover, it should be noted that this protest of John's needed to be made, for it saved Jesus from being baptized without explanation, as if he were a sinner. Baptism without such explanation might have compromised our Lord's claim as the sinless one.] 15 But Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer i it now [Permit me for this moment to appear as your inferior. The future will make plain and clear the difference between us, both as to our missions and our natures. The words show a Messianic consciousness on the part of Jesus]: for thus it becometh us [Some take the word "us" as referring to Jesus and John, but the clause "to fulfil all righteousness" shows that "us" refers to Jesus, and he uses the plural to show that it also becometh all of us] to fulfil all righteousness [Jesus came not only to fulfill all the requirements of the law, but also all that wider range of righteousness of which the law was only a part. 1. Though John's baptism was no part of the Mosaic ritual, it was, nevertheless, a precept of God, given by his prophet ( Joh_1:33). Had Jesus neglected or refused to obey this precept he would have lacked a portion of the full armor of righteousness, and the Pharisees would have hastened to strike him at this loose joint of his harness ( Mat_21:23-27). 2. It was the divinely appointed method by which the Messiahship of Jesus was to be revealed to the witness John ( Joh_1:33, Joh_1:34). We should note here that those who fail to obey God's ordinance of baptism fail (1) to follow the example of Jesus in fulfilling the divine will and precepts; (2) to obey one of the positive commands of almighty God spoken by his own Son.] Then he suffereth him. [John's humility [83] caused him to shrink from this duty, but did not make him willfully persist in declining it. Humility ceases to be a virtue when it keeps us from performing our allotted tasks.] c21 Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized [This may mean that, on the day of his baptism, Jesus was the last candidate, and hence his baptism was the most conspicuous of all; but it more probably means that Jesus was baptized in the midst of John's work--at the period when his baptism was in greatest favor], that, Jesus also having been { a16 And Jesus, when he was cbaptized, and praying [All divine ordinances should be accompanied with prayer. Luke frequently notes the times when Jesus prayed. Here, at the entrance of his ministry, he prayed, and at the last moment of it he also prayed ( Luk_23:46). In his highest exultation at the transfiguration ( Luk_9:29), and in the lowest depths of humiliation in Gethsemane ( Luk_22:41), he prayed. He prayed for his apostles whom he chose ( Luk_6:12), and for his murderers by whom he was rejected ( Luk_23:34). He prayed before Peter confessed him ( Luk_9:18), and also before Peter denied him-- Luk_22:32], b10 And straightway coming up out of awent up straightway from bthe water [the two prepositions, "out of" and "from," show that Jesus was not yet fully out of the river, and that the vision and the voice were immediately associated with his baptism], aand lo, bhe saw [The statement that he saw the Spirit descending, which is also the language of Matthew, has been taken by some as implying that the Spirit was invisible to the multitude. But we know from John's narrative that it was also seen by John the Baptist ( Joh_1:33, Joh_1:34), and if it was visible to him and to Jesus, and it descended, as Luke affirms, in a bodily shape like a dove ( Luk_3:22), it would have required a miracle to hide it from the multitude. Moreover, the object of the Spirit's visible appearance was to point Jesus out, not to himself, but to others; and to point him out as the person concerning whom the voice from heaven was uttered. No doubt, then, the Spirit was visible and audible to all who [84] were present Luk_4:14] as a dove [That is, like a dove. All four evangelists are careful to inform us that it was not an actual dove], and coming upon him; c22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form [Lightfoot suggests that the Spirit thus descended that he might be revealed to be a personal substance and not merely an operation of the Godhead, and might thus make a sensible demonstration as to his proper place in the Trinity], as a dove [The descent of the Spirit upon Jesus was in accordance with prophecy ( Isa_11:2, Isa_41:1). The dove shape suggests purity, gentleness, peace, etc. Jesus makes the dove a symbol of harmlessness ( Mat_10:15). In fact, the nature of this bird makes it a fit emblem of the Spirit, for it comports well with the fruits of the Spirit ( Gal_5:22, Gal_5:23). The nations of the earth emblazon eagles upon their banners and lions upon their shields, but He who shall gather all nations into his kingdom, appeared as a Lamb, and his Spirit appeared under the symbol of a dove. Verily his kingdom is not of this world. It [85] is a kingdom of peace and love, not of bloodshed and ambition. Noah's dove bore the olive branch, the symbol of peace, and the Holy Spirit manifested Jesus, God's olive branch of peace sent into this world-- Psa_72:7, Luk_2:14, Joh_14:27, Eph_2:11-18], upon him, a17 and lo, a voice ccame aout of the heavens, cheaven [Voices from heaven acknowledged the person of Christ at his birth, his baptism, his transfiguration and during the concluding days of his ministry. At his baptism Jesus was honored by the attestation of both the Spirit and the Father. But the ordinance itself was honored by the sensible manifestation of each several personality of the Deity--that the three into whose name we ourselves are also baptized], asaying, This is bthou art [The "this is," etc. of Matthew are probably the words as John the Baptist reported them; the "thou art," etc., of Mark and Luke are the words as Jesus actually heard them. The testimony of the Father is in unreserved support of the fundamental proposition of Christianity on which the church of Christ is founded ( Mat_16:15-18). On this point no witness in the universe was so well qualified to speak as the Father, and no other fact was so well worthy the honor of being sanctioned by his audible utterance as this. The testimony of Christ's life, of his works, of the Baptist, and of the Scriptures might have been sufficient; but when the Father himself speaks, who shall doubt the adequacy of the proof?] amy beloved Son [See also Mat_17:5. The Father himself states that relationship of which the apostle John so often spoke ( Joh_1:1). Adam was made ( Gen_1:26), but Jesus was begotten ( Psa_2:7). Both were sons of God, but in far different senses. The baptism of Jesus bears many marked relationships to our own: 1. At his baptism Jesus was manifested as the Son of God. At our baptism we are likewise manifested as God's children, for we are baptized into the name of the Father, and are thereby permitted to take upon ourselves his name. 2. At his baptism Jesus was fully commissioned as the Christ. Not anointed with material oil, but divinely consecrated and qualified by the Spirit and accredited by the Father. At baptism we also [86] received the Spirit ( Joh_3:5, Act_2:38, Act_19:1-6), who commissions and empowers us to Christian ministry-- Act_1:8, 1Jo_3:24], in whom { cin thee [Some make the phrases "in whom" and "in thee" to mean more than simply a declaration that God is pleased with Jesus. They see in it also the statement that the Father will be pleased with all who are "in Christ Jesus"-- Eph_1:6] aI am well pleased [It is no slight condemnation to be well pleasing to God ( Job_4:18). It is the Christian's joy that his Saviour had this commendation of the Father at the entrance upon his ministry.] c23 And Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age. [The age when a Levite entered upon God's service ( Num_4:3, Num_4:47); at which Joseph stood before Pharaoh ( Gen_41:46); at which David began to reign ( 2Sa_5:4). Canon Cook fixes the date of Christ's baptism in the spring A. U. C. 780. Wiseler in the summer of that year, and Ellicott in the winter of that year.]

* Recognizing the weight of Bro. McGarvey's argument, I nevertheless contend that the multitude only shared partially in such a vision, if they shared it at all; for 1. There is no Scripture which even hints that the vision was seen by more than the two "inspired" parties, Jesus and John; and, on the contrary, the words of Jesus at Joh_5:37, though not addressed to the specific audience present at his baptism, were addressed to the Jews generally. 2. Jesus was to be manifested by his character and teaching rather than by heavenly sights and sounds ( Mat_12:39), and the mysteries of the kingdom ( Mat_13:11), and the opened heavens ( Joh_1:50, Joh_1:51), with many other manifestations, were reserved for believers ( Joh_12:28-30, Mat_17:1, Mat_17:2, Mat_17:9, Act_1:9, Act_7:55, Act_7:59, Act_10:40, Act_10:41), and are still so reserved ( 1Co_2:14). As to the arguments given above, we suggest that "bodily shape" does not insure universal sight. Baalam did not see what the ass saw ( Num_22:21-31). Again, it may be true that Jesus did not need to see the vision to "point him out to himself," but he must have needed it for some purpose, for it is twice asserted that he saw it, and the temptations which immediately follow show that assurances of his divinity at this particular time were by no means misplaced.

[FFG 82-87]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1:9 Jesus’ home at this time was in Nazareth, a small town in lower Galilee (Matt 2:19-23; Luke 2:39). Jesus soon left Nazareth for Capernaum, a city on the Sea of Galilee (Matt 4:13). • John baptized him: Jesus’ reason for receiving the baptism of repentance is explained in Matt 3:14-15.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 1:9. Εἰς τὸν) in the river.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar_1:9-11. See on Mat_3:13-17; Luk_3:21 f.

εἰς τὸν Ἰορδάνην] Conception of immersion. Not so elsewhere in the N. T.

εὐθύς] usual form in Mark; we must, with Tischendorf, read it here also. It belongs to ἀναβ.: immediately (after He was baptized) coming up. A hyperbaton (Fritzsche refers εὐθ. to εἶδε) just as little occurs here as at Mat_3:16.

εἶδε] Jesus, to whom also ἐπʼ αὐτόν refers (see on Matt. l.c.). Mark harmonizes with Matthew (in opposition to Strauss, Weisse, de Wette), who gives a further development of the history of the baptism, but whose ἀνεῴχθησαν αὐτῷ οἱ οὐρ. presents itself in Mark under a more directly definite form. In opposition to the context, Erasmus, Beza, Heumann, Ebrard, and others hold that John is the subject.

σχιζομένους, conveying a more vivid sensuous impression than Matthew and Luke.

Langes poetically naturalizing process of explaining (L. J. II. 1, p. 182 ff.) the phenomena at the baptism of Jesus is pure fancy when confronted with the clearness and simplicity of the text. He transforms the voice into the sense of God on Christs part; with which all the chords of His life, even of His life of hearing, had sounded in unison, and the voice had communicated itself sympathetically to John also. The dove which John saw is held to have been the hovering of a mysterious splendour, namely, a now manifested adjustment of the life of Christ with the higher world of light; the stars withal came forth in the dark blue sky, festally wreathing the earth (the opened heaven). All the more jejune is the naturalizing of Schenkel: that at the Jordan for the first time the divine destiny of Jesus dawned before His soul like a silver gleam from above, etc. See, moreover, the Remark subjoined to Mat_3:17.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 1:9-11 . The baptism of Jesus (Mat 3:13-17 ; Luk 3:21-22 ).

Mar 1:9 . ἐν ἐκείναις τ . ἡ . = in those days; an indefinite note of time = while John was carrying on his ministry of preaching and baptising. ῆλθεν Ἰησοῦς , came Jesus, with what feelings, as compared with Pharisees and Sadducees, vide notes on Mt. ἀπὸ Ναζ . τ . Γαλ ., from Nazareth , presumably His home; of Galilee , to define the part of the country for outsiders; only Galilee mentioned in Mt. εἰς τὸν Ἰ .: ἐν with dative in Mar 1:5 . The expression is pregnant, the idea of descending into the river being latent in εἰς . ὑπὸ Ἰωάν ., by John; no hesitation indicated; cf. remarks on three synoptical narratives on this point in Mt. It does not even appear whether John had any suspicion that the visitor from Nazareth was ὁ ἰσχυρότερος , of whom he had spoken. The manner in which the baptism of Jesus is reported is the first instance of the realism of this Gospel, facts about Jesus stated in a naked manner as compared, e.g. , with Lk., who is influenced by religious decorum.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ doth consecrate our baptism in himself.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

We have here a brief account of Christ's baptism and temptation, which were largely related Mt. 3 and 4.

I. His baptism, which was his first public appearance, after he had long lived obscurely in Nazareth. O how much hidden worth is there, which in this world is either lost in the dust of contempt and cannot be known, or wrapped up in the veil of humility and will not be known! But sooner or later it shall be known, as Christ's was.

1. See how humbly he owned God, by coming to be baptized of John; and thus it became him to fulfil all righteousness. Thus he took upon him the likeness of sinful flesh, that, though he was perfectly pure and unspotted, yet he was washed as if he had been polluted; and thus for our sakes he sanctified himself, that we also might be sanctified, and be baptized with him, Joh 17:19.

2. See how honourably God owned him, when he submitted to John's baptism. Those who justify God, and they are said to do, who were baptized with the baptism of John, he will glorify, Luk 7:29, Luk 7:30.

(1.) He saw the heavens opened; thus he was owned to be the Lord from heaven, and had a glimpse of the glory and joy that were set before him, and secured to him, as the recompence of his undertaking. Matthew saith, The heavens were opened to him. Mark saith, He saw them opened. Many have the heavens opened to receive them, but they do not see it; Christ had not only a clear foresight of his sufferings, but of his glory too.

(2.) He saw the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. Note, Then we may see heaven opened to us, when we perceive the Spirit descending and working upon us. God's good work in us is the surest evidence of his good will towards us, and his preparations for us. Justin Martyr says, that when Christ was baptized, a fire was kindled in Jordan: and it is an ancient tradition, that a great light shone round the place; for the Spirit brings both light and heat.

(3.) He heard a voice which was intended for his encouragement to proceed in his undertaking, and therefore it is here expressed as directed to him, Thou art my beloved Son. God lets him know, [1.] That he loved him never the less for that low and mean estate to which he had now humbled himself; "Though thus emptied and made of no reputation, yet he is my beloved Son still." [2.] That he loved him much the more for that glorious and kind undertaking in which he had now engaged himself. God is well pleased in him, as referee of all matters in controversy between him and man; and so well pleased in him, as to be well pleased with us in him.

II. His temptation. The good Spirit that descended upon him, led him into the wilderness, Mar 1:12. Paul mentions it as a proof that he had his doctrine from God, and not from man - that, as soon as he was called, he went not to Jerusalem, but went into Arabia, Gal 1:17. Retirement from the world is an opportunity of more free converse with God, and therefore must sometimes be chosen, for a while, even by those that are called to the greatest business. Mark observes this circumstance of his being in the wilderness - that he was with the wild beasts. It was an instance of his Father's care of him, that he was preserved from being torn in pieces by the wild beasts, which encouraged him the more that his Father would provide for him when he was hungry. Special protections are earnests of seasonable supplies. It was likewise an intimation to him of the inhumanity of the men of that generation, whom he was to live among - no better than wild beasts in the wilderness, nay abundantly worse. In that wilderness,

1. The evil spirits were busy with him; he was tempted of Satan; not by any inward injections (the prince of this world had nothing in him to fasten upon), but by outward solicitations. Solicitude often gives advantages to the tempter, therefore two are better than one. Christ himself was tempted, not only to teach us, that it is no sin to be tempted, but to direct us whither to go for succour when we are tempted, even to him that suffered, being tempted; that he might experimentally sympathize with us when we are tempted.

2. The good spirits were busy about him; the angels ministered to him, supplied him with what he needed, and dutifully attended him. Note, The ministration of the good angels about us, is matter of great comfort in reference to the malicious designs of the evil angels against us; but much more doth it befriend us, to have the indwelling of the spirit in our hearts, which they that have, are so born of God, that, as far as they are so, the evil one toucheth them not, much less shall be triumph over them.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. - 11. See the subject of these verses which contain the account of our Lord's baptism, explained. Mt 3:13-17.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9) And it came to pass.—See Note on Mat_3:13. St. Mark adds “from Nazareth” to St. Matthew’s more general statement, “from Galilee.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9–11. The Baptism of Jesus

9. in those days] i. e. towards the close of the year a. u. c. 781, or a. d. 28, when our Lord was thirty years of age (Luk_3:23), the time appointed for the Levite’s entrance on “the service of the ministry” (Num_4:3).

came from Nazareth] where He had grown up in peaceful seclusion, “increasing in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man” (Luk_2:52), in a town unknown and unnamed in the Old Testament, situated among the hills which constitute the southern ridges of Lebanon, just before they sink down into the Plain of Esdraelon.

baptized of] i. e. by John. Comp. Luk_14:8, “when thou art bidden of (=by) any man;” Php_3:12, “I am apprehended of (= by) Christ;” Collect for 25th Sunday after Trinity, “may of (=by) Thee be plenteously rewarded.”

in Jordan] Either (i) at the ancient ford near Succoth, which some have identified with the Bethabara or rather Bethany of St John (Joh_1:28); or (ii) at a more southern ford not far from Jericho, whither the multitudes that flocked from Judæa and Jerusalem (Mar_1:5) would have found a speedier and more convenient access. From St Matthew we learn that (i) the purport of the Saviour’s journey from Galilee was that He might be thus baptized (Mat_3:13); that (ii) His Forerunner instantly recognised His superhuman and stainless nature; that (iii) he tried earnestly to prevent Him; that (iv) his objections were overruled by the reply that thus it became Him to “fulfil all righteousness,” i. e. every requirement of the Law. St Luke tells us that the Baptism of our Lord did not take place till “all the people had been baptized” (Luk_3:21).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And it came to pass in those days,.... Whilst John was preaching and baptizing in the wilderness, and had large crowds of people flocking to him, to see his person, hear his doctrine, and to be baptized by him; some for one thing, and some another;

Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee; the place where he had been brought up, and lived, and dwelt in from his infancy, to this time:

and was baptized of John in Jordan; which was the reason of his coming from Nazareth to him; see Mat 3:13, where this is observed; and in some verses following, an account is given of what passed between Christ and John, on this occasion.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

Ver. 9. In those days] When the people flocked so fast to John, that they might not mistake him for the Messiah, and that his baptism might be the more famous.

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.

See the notes at Mat 3:13-17.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

See notes on our Saviour’s baptism, Matthew iii. --- That Christ was baptized by immersion, is clear from the text; for he who ascended out of the water must first have descended into it. And this method was of general use in the Church for 1300 years, as appears from the acts of councils and ancient rituals. It is imagined by some, that in the very spot of the river Jordan, where the ark stood whilst the Israelites passed over, our Lord (the ark of the covenant of grace) was baptized by St. John.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Christ, who, Luk 2:51, went with his parents to Nazareth, and was subject to them, after he had been disputing with the doctors in the temple, now goes from Nazareth, a city in Galilee, to that part of Galilee near Jordan, or rather to Bethabara, where John was baptizing, and was baptized: See Poole on "Mat 3:13". "Mat 3:16". "Mat 3:17". "Joh 1:28", where this piece of history is more fully related. Luke addeth, that Christ was now about thirty years of age.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 9-11. The baptism of Christ.

As this evangelist commences his treatise with what he terms "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ," it is natural that our Lord should first be introduced by him as devoted to his ministry of benevolence in the rite of baptism; for this incident in our Saviour"s life is justly held to have inaugurated his public work. What a hold the event has taken upon the Christian mind may be seen from the vast number of pictures in which the religious artists of all Christian countries have depicted the baptism. A striking scene for a painter, and a delightful theme for the preacher!

I The baptism of our Saviour exhibits HIS RELATION TO THE FORERUNNER. The ministry of the herald preceded that of the King. Jesus was yet in the seclusion of Nazareth when John was attracting multitudes of all classes, and from all parts of the land, to his teaching and baptism in the Jordan valley. When Jesus came to John it seemed, to ordinary judgments, that the less came to the greater, the obscure to the famous. But it was not so. To all around the relation between the two was unknown. Nevertheless, to the two it was clear enough. The forerunner knew that his mission was temporary and introductory, and that "the coming One" should eclipse his light as the sun extinguishes the bright morning star. Hence the reluctance of the Baptist to do anything which might seem to militate against the just dimity of the Being in whom he recognized the Messiah. "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" This was the Person whose shoe"s latchet he had declared himself unworthy to unloose. A slave would untie the thong of his master"s sandals and bear them in his hand; John deemed even such an office too honorable for himself to discharge for the anointed King of mankind. It was not only in the presence of Jesus that John felt thus; the constant conviction of his mind was this, "I must decrease, but he must increase." But the witness was not all on one side. Jesus also bore testimony to John.

In the very act of submitting to the baptism of the prophet, he acknowledged that prophet"s greatness and ratified his claims. And he, in express words, testified to John"s unique position, as predicted by the ancient prophets, and of the man himself and his character and work declared, "Of men born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.

II The baptism of our Saviour exhibits his relation to the human race. There seems to be no way of explaining and justifying this historical fact except by admitting that Jesus was specially the representative man. In endeavoring to explain, to account for, the baptism of our Divine Saviour, we are met with a serious difficulty. The baptism of John was unto repentance and with a view to the remission of sins. Men came, and were invited to come, to receive the symbol of a cleansing which, being spiritual, could only be wrought by a spiritual process. The publicans, harlots, and soldiers, whose conscience accused them of sin, in coming to John"s baptism, confessed their wrong doing and ill desert, and professed their desire, by repentance and reformation, to escape from the trammels of evil and to live a holier life. They were warned that mere feeling, mere conformity, mere profession, mere water baptism, were all insufficient, and, if alone, worthless; and they were directed to bring forth fruit meet for repentance. Now, in the case of such persons, and, we may add, in the case of all the members of a sinful, guilty, race, a moral purification was and is indispensably necessary. But what reason, what appropriateness, what meaning, could there be in the reception of a baptism such as this by the sinless Saviour of the world, the holy and faultless and beloved Son of God? What need had he to confess and to ask pardon for sin? He had no sin to confess, no repentance to work out. If he required no spiritual purifying, to what purpose should he undergo the rite of lustration? The only answer seems to be that Jesus did this, not as a personal, but as an official and representative act. The circumstances of Christ"s life and death are not to be understood unless we bear in mind that he acted and suffered as the second Adam, as the federal head and representative of humanity, as the Son of man. So regarded, we can to some extent understand the answer of our Lord to the remonstrance of the baptizer. It became him, as our Mediator, "to fulfill all righteousness." He had mixed with the sinful population; he was to live among and to minister unto the victims of sin; he was to be betrayed into the hand of sinners; he was to be numbered, in his death, with the transgressors; he was, in a word, made sin for us, though he knew no sin. As, then, he had in infancy been circumcised, though there was no sinful nature to be put away; as he was to be put to death as a malefactor, though no fault was found in him; so he was baptized, though he had personally no need of purification, no sins to wash away. He was our Representative in his birth and ministry, in his death and burial, and, none the less, in his baptism by John in Jordan.

III The baptism of our Saviour exhibits HIS RELATION TO THE DIVINE FATHER. At the commencement of the ministry of Jesus it was appropriate that an attestation of his mission should be given from above not only for his own sake, but rather for the sake, first of John, and then of those to whom in consequence John should bear witness. Thus the forerunner was able to declare, "I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." There were probably no spectators of our Lord"s baptism, and we are indebted to John himself for the record of what happened and of what became the accepted tradition among the early Christians.

1. Observe what was seen. It was as Jesus went up out of the river, and whilst he was praying, that the marvellous sign was given. The heavens were rent asunder and opened, indicating the interest taken in the Redeemer"s career by the great God of heaven himself, and the Spirit, in the form and with the swift, gentle, hovering movement of a dove, descends upon Jesus. How beautiful an emblem of the Divine power of the ministry which was thus inaugurated, and solemnly, sacredly blessed from above! Surely it is significant that Christ should be represented as the Lamb of God, and the Holy Spirit as the Dove from heaven. A lesson as to the gentleness and grace characteristic of Christ"s gospel.

2. Observe, further, what was heard. Language proceeded from the opened heavens, indicative of the Divine approval and complacency. Notice

(1) the statement of relation and dignity, "Thou art my beloved Son;" and

(2) the statement of satisfaction and approbation, "In thee I am well pleased.

APPLICATION.

1. Learn hence the Divine dignity of Emmanuel.

2. And, at the same time, his humility and condescension.

3. Let this marvellous combination of all mediatorial qualifications in the person of Christ encourage your faith in him and your devotion to his cause.

Vers. 9-11. The baptism of Jesus.

One of many proofs of the wide influence of the Baptist"s ministry. He came from Nazareth of Galilee. The multitudinous baptism of John was a fit occasion and background for the special and peculiar baptism of Jesus. The awakened national conscience represented for the nonce the general confession of sin by the individuals of mankind saved through the gospel. Christ"s baptism was

I A FULFILMENT OF LEGAL RIGHTEOUSNESS. It was one ceremony of the Law taken as representative of the spirit and essence of the whole ceremonial system. Inasmuch as it involved a confession of sin, he by undergoing it

(1) humiliated himself; and

(2) identified himself with the sinful nature of the race.

Whilst condemning in his pure spirit the sin of man, he yet takes his place with sinners, as one with them in their penalty and their hope.

II A FULFILMENT OF SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS.

1. Through plenary reception of the Holy Spirit. This was the same Spirit in which he had already been living, but given now "without measure." Inspiration ensues upon conscious acts of obedience and righteousness; true spiritual baptism is given to those who submit willingly to the positive requirements of God"s Law. This was

(1) the completion of the Divine-human consciousness; and

(2) the communion of God and man, of heaven and earth. The (violently and suddenly) rent heaven symbolized this.

2. Through Divine attestation. It was a voice to John, but much more to Jesus himself. Through this experience he realized that the attitude he had assumed, and the career upon which he was about to enter, were approved of his Father. The favor and acceptance therein declared were also, by implication, a recognition of his perfect personal purity. It was not as a sinner that he submitted to baptism, bat as the sinner"s Friend and intending Saviour. M.

Vers. 9-13. The consecration of Jesus.

I THE GOOD OF CUSTOM. Honoured by his submission to baptism. This is an example. Custom is the sacred link between past and present. Old customs, sacred rites, should be kept up; only abandoned when. they no longer teach truth, but more falsehood than truth. Rebellion against custom for rebellion"s sake is vicious individualism. Compliance with the beauty of order is the mark of a loyal and loving spirit.

II THE SYMBOL IS PRECIOUS, NOT FOR ITS FORM, BUT ITS CONTENTS. We speak of a "beautiful word," but it is the thought conveyed by it that shines. So of a" sacred rite;" but the one sacred thing is the spiritual belief signified, the real union of the soul with God. Upon the meek spirit the gentleness of Heaven descends. The "meekness and gentleness" of Christ is the grace of the lowly and obedient heart. The delight of God is in those human traits which resemble and reflect Jesus.

III TRIAL FOLLOWS CONSECRATION. The Spirit of God is given to prepare for service; and the call to this is not long delayed. All trial is for good. There is no needless torment of the spirit in God"s school. Only in conflict do we really learn reality. "When the fight begins within himself, A man"s worth something. God stoops o"er his head, Satan looks up between his feet. Both try. He"s left himself in the middle; the soul wakes And grows. Prolong that battle through his life Never leave growing till the life to come!

Solitude is a necessary element in trial. (See Robertson"s sermon on the "Loneliness of Christ.") Life is a drama on which angels and demons look with intensest interest. Evil is ever near; succor never far off. J.

Vers. 9-13. The official preparation.

"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ" embraces yet another element. The preparation of "the way" of the Lord is followed by the preparation of the Lord himself. This we must name The preparation of the Messiah, the Christ.

I The first step in this preparation is THE ASSUMPTION OF THE HUMAN NATURE. "The Word became flesh." "It behoved him," who" took hold of the seed of Abraham," with a view to raise it up, "to be made like unto" them whom he would call "his brethren." And" since they are sharers of flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same." Never will the world exhaust the mystery of the Incarnation. No event in human history can equal the grandeur or significance of this. "He was made man" is a greater truth than "he suffered and was buried." It was an infinitely greater condescension to become man than to pass through the lowly shades of human history. The humble home, the toilsome endurance, the poverty, the suffering, all fall below "Jesus was born in Bethlehem." This event is the most stupendous of all events in the history of the human race.

II The second step in this preparation is THE PASSING THROUGH THE LOWLY CONDITIONS OF THE HUMAN LIFE. The words of the ninth verse turn our thoughts back to silent days of preparation going forward in the house of the carpenter at Nazareth of Galilee, wherein he passed into and passed through and honored all the stages of human life from infancy to manhood, and where he sanctified the condition of helpless weakness, of ignorance, of submission, of toil, and of honest labour; sanctified the home and the workshop, and the relationships and intercourse of common village life; exalted the lowly lot, and thereby every lot. This was another element of that likeness to "his brethren " which it behoved him to assume. During this period the glory of his person was shrouded. Men had not yet been permitted to behold "the glory as of the only begotten from the Father," in which he was unlike his brethren. Yet he dwelt among men, the Incarnate Word, "full of grace and truth," though not yet "made manifest to Israel." In that tabernacle the true Shechinah was hidden. "He was in the world, and the world knew him not." A few who, with Simeon, "were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem," by prophetic intuition, saw in him the salvation "prepared before the face of all people; a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." In Nazareth "he was subject unto" father and mother, the honored mother keeping "all the sayings in her heart" that concerned him.

III A third step in this preparation is THE SUBMITTING TO ALL, THE ORDINANCES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. Righteousness does not consist in an attendance upon ordinances, but consists not without it. John, who probably knew the character of Jesus better than any saving only Mary, hesitates when he presents himself for baptism; he even "hinders him" with the words, have need to be baptized of thee," so much better art thou, so much higher; and yet "comest thou to me? He who though "separated from sinners," had daily mingled with them; who had submitted to every ordinance of the Lord for man"s sake, "was circumcised the eighth day," was presented in the temple, that they might "do concerning him after the custom of the Law;" who at twelve years of age, and doubtless in succeeding years, "went up after the custom of the feast," would now "fulfill" this "righteousness" also. He passed through all in fellowship with the sinful, and for sinful ones, paying his tribute of duteous attendance on the Divine ordinance, leaving here "an example" that we should do as he had done. As one has said, "He who now comes to this baptism is not a sinner, but a righteous man, who needs neither repentance nor pardon. It is he who for us fulfils all righteousness, who, born of a woman and made under the Law which was given to the unrighteous, has already hitherto observed and performed all the commandments of the Lord to Israel, and for that very reason now subjects himself to that baptism which was ordained of God as the concluding commandment of the old covenant, through which is the transition to the new.

IV The fourth step in this preparation is THE PUBLIC AND OFFICIAL DESIGNATION OF MESSIAH. Yes, truly the transition; for now is the manifestation to Israel to be made, and the open, authoritative designation of him "who from the foundation of the world" bad been in Heaven"s counsels designated. When so suitable a time as when fulfilling all righteousness? Then, "coming up out of the water, he and, as we learn from St. John, the Baptist also the heavens rent asunder, and the Spirit as a dove descending upon him;" while a voice from heaven proclaims to him, and proclaims through him to all, "Thou art my beloved Son." Now is "Jesus of Nazareth anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power," officially called and set apart. Now the mystery of the Divine Name, in the historical development to the world of the trinity of the Godhead, is more fully than ever before disclosed. John, having seen, bears his "witness that this is the Son of God." Presently his works also will bear witness of him, that the Father hath sent him.

V But meanwhile a yet further step in this preparation is needed. To this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." Therefore must he be TEMPTED OF THE DEVIL. The devil is man"s great adversary, Satan. All evil embodies itself in him. The Redeemer of men must taste drink this bitter cup; to a pure nature perhaps of all the bitterest. Full forty days he must needs fast in the wilderness. Oh, the buffetings of those days, of which three examples stand out prominently before us; when, lo! he is so bowed down that angels are sent to "minister to him." Then, "having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the Author of eternal salvation.

From all may be learnt:

1. The perfectness of his human nature, with its experiences, its sympathy, and its example.

2. His perfect Divine nature.

3. His perfect fitness to be the Mediator, the Comforter, the Saviour of the world. G.

Vers. 9-11. Parallel passages: Mat_3:13-17 Luk_3:21-23. The baptism of our Lord.

I DIFFICULTY. There is something singular, to say the least, in the baptism of our Lord. In that solemn inauguration of the Saviour, as he entered on his public ministry, a difficulty is encountered. That difficulty respects the significance of the rite in relation to the spotless Son of God. Water, when applied to the person or used in the way of ablution, is employed as an element of cleansing. But the idea of cleansing necessarily carries along with it the notion of defilement. The thought of pollution, from whatever source derived, or in whatever way contracted, or in whatever it may consist, is inseparably connected with it. Cleansing has as its natural and necessary correlative uncleanness either expressed or implied.

II INAPPLICABLE TO OUR LORD. Yet the Saviour was not only holy, harmless, and undefiled in life; but at his birth and in the very nature of his humanity, he was free from every taint and unsullied by the least stain of sin, as it is written, "Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God," or more literally, Therefore also that which is born of thee, being holy, shall be called the Son of God." It is probable that the Baptist felt at once the awkwardness of his own position, and the incongruity of administering to One so perfectly pure and undefiled a rite which, as the symbol of cleansing, implied a previous condition or natural state of impurity and defilement.

III THE BAPTIST"S RELUCTANCE. In view of the circumstance just mentioned, as well as of the overwhelming superiority of the Divine applicant, John expressed such extreme lothness to administer the rite. Nay more, that reluctance took the form of a somewhat firm refusal: "But John," we read, "forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" The imperfect diekwluen may imply the commencement, that is, began to prevent, or be used de conatu of the endeavor to prevent, while the prepositional element imports activity and earnestness in the effort. It was only after a remonstrance on the part of the Saviour, and after he had pointed out to John the propriety of the course, that the Baptist yielded. The reason alleged by our Lord, while it was sufficient to overcome the scruples of the Baptist, is serviceable to us in inquiring into the nature of the ordinance then administered. True, that reason is expressed in somewhat general terms, as follows: it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness;" but wherein this righteousness consisted, and holy it was fulfilled, we proceed briefly to investigate.

IV PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST. It will be borne in mind that our Lord, though a priest after the order of Melchisedec, and superior to that of Aaron, was nevertheless the great Antitype of the Aaronic priesthood. The priest of the Aaronic order was typical of the great High Priest of our profession. The rites of consecration in the one case may, therefore, be regarded as helpful in elucidating the mode of inauguration in the other.

V CEREMONIAL OF CONSECRATIONS. At the ceremonial of consecrating the Aaronic priest, there was

(1) anointing with oil, and

(2) washing with water.

The oil was emblematical of the Spirit, the water of separation from all that would unfit for the service of the Holy One; the anointing with oil signified the bestowal of the needful endowments, the washing with water the impartation of the necessary moral qualities; the one has reference to the gifts, the other to the graces, required for the proper and efficient discharge of the priestly functions. It was thus with the type, while, in the case of the Antitype, the figure was realized in the fact; the sign gave place to the thing signified. In other words, the unction of the Spirit took the place of the anointing with oil; the washing with water, which in reference to the Levitical priest denoted the necessity for purity in the service of God, and entire separation from anything that would defile, implied, in relation to the Redeemer, the actual possession of that purity in its highest perfection, and of that separation from all possibility of defiling or contaminating influence.

VI REFERENCE TO PRIESTLY CHARACTER.

1. Accordingly, the baptism of our Lord had respect to the priestly character he sustained, not to any human imperfection that required to be repented of, or impurity that needed to be removed; so that the righteousness which it behoved to fulfill was conformity to the rite of priestly consecration; while the type merged in the antitype, and the figure gave place to fact. He was now about thirty years of age (the Levitical period) when he began his ministry.

2. Another explanation solves the difficulty by giving prominence to the representative character of Christ. He came as the representative of a people guilty in God"s sight, and morally unclean; and as he afterwards bore their sins in his own body on the tree in order to expiate their guilt, so now he was baptized vicariously because of their uncleanness, in token of his purpose to purge away their filth. "He was baptized," not as though in need of it himself, but on behalf of the human race; and such is the opinion of Justin Martyr. He was made in the likeness of sinful flesh made sin for us, and so numbered with and treated as a transgressor.

3. Other explanations of the matter, still less probable, have been given, as for example

(1) that it was the perfection and proof of humility; and

(2) that it was for the purpose of being made manifest to the people, and that in presence of so great a concourse the Baptist might bear testimony to his Messiahship; which appears to be the view of Theophylact.

VII THE PRESENCE OF THE TRINITY. At the baptism of our Lord the three Persons of the blessed Trinity were present or represented. The voice of the eternal Father came ringing down out of the cleaving heavens as they were rending asunder; the Holy Spirit in dove-like form descended; the beloved Sou was the subject of the former, and the recipient of the latter. Thus Father, Son, and Holy Spirit inaugurated the Christian dispensation at its commencement; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit impart the grace and bestow the blessings of this dispensation during its continuance; while Father, Son, and Holy Spirit shall share the glory at its close. And so in the beautiful words of the TeDeum "The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee; The Father of an infinite majesty; Thine honorable, true, and only Son Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

VIII THREEFOLD TESTIMONY. Thrice during our Lord"s public ministry a voice from heaven testified to his Messiahship once at his baptism as just noticed; once on the Mount of Transfiguration; and once during Passion week, in the courts of the temple, as we read in the Gospel of St. Joh_12:28, "Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

IX TRIPLE RECORD. Again this acknowledgment of the Father puts honor on the Divine Word, for, from the three leading divisions of it the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms that acknowledgment is taken. The words, "Thou art my Son," are taken from the second Psalm; from Genesis, the first book of the Law, Gen_22:23, we have the expression, "My beloved Son;" while in the Prophets, namely, Isa_42:1, we find the remaining clause, "In whom I am well pleased.

X CHANGE IN THE BAPTIST"S PREACHING. The Galilean valley and the Judaean desert were far separate. Though closely allied by kinship, and more closely still by oneness of spirit, John and Jesus had grown up apart; their first actual contact was at the baptism of the latter. Personal acquaintance there had been none; or if there had, it did not contribute to the Baptist"s recognition of his Messiah. Either by a conversation of which we have no record, or by direct revelation immediately before the baptism, the important fact was made known to the Baptist. Be this as it may, one very remarkable effect resulted from it. The style, and indeed the subject, of the Baptist underwent an entire change. Previously his manner had been denunciatory; subsequently it became conciliatory. Before he had borrowed his imagery from the harsh features of the surrounding desert the rude rocks, the poisonous vipers, the barren tree; or from the rough ways and works of agricultural life, such as may have existed on the verge of the wilderness the threshing-floor, the winnowing implement and the worthless chaff. But now he tempers and softens his mode of speech with figures from the sanctuary and its service the lamb slain, the sin sacrifice, and the expiation. We hear no more of viperous broods vipers themselves and sprung from vipers; no more of fruitless trees, fit only for the fire; no more of stones taking the place of sons, that is, of abanim becoming banira; no more of the sifting and separating process by which the good groin would be garnered and the worthless residue gathered into heaps for burning. On the other hand, we read of the Lamb as the Sin-bearer, and salvation as the blessedness secured; in other words, we have the blessed truth first uttered by the Baptist"s lips, "Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!" The legal has given place to the evangelical. The first phase equally needful and equally useful, it is true of the Baptist"s preaching is exhibited by the synoptists; the second softer, sweeter, and superior in tone and tendency by the penman of the fourth Gospel, the evangelist and beloved apostle John.

XI THE BAPTIST"S FUNCTION THREEFOLD. The commission of the Baptist embraced three functions:

1. Herald-like, he was to prepare the way for the coming King by calling men to repentance.

2. He administered, on their full confession equivalent to making a clean breast of it), the rite which served as a pledge that their conviction of sin was real and their service sincere that, in fact, they wished to act in conformity with such a direction as that of the prophet, "Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes." In all this, however, they might merely have an eye to the penal consequences of sin, and to that sweeping storm of coming wrath to which sin exposed them; and thus proceed no further than legal repentance.

3. But a yet higher office was to announce the kingdom of heaven as comedown on earth, and point to the advent of its King; in other words, to direct the eye of faith to Messiah as the great Sin-sacrifice and the only Saviour. Repentance alone, especially of the legal kind referred to, could not merit the remission of sins; neither could baptism, nor yet the combination of both together: the real meritorious cause was the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God the Lamb slain; while faith, that faith from which true evangelical repentance is never separate, was the link of union between the soul of the penitent and his Saviour. Thus John virtually preached faith as well as repentance; for his repentance-baptism derived its whole meaning and validity from faith in Christ. Evangelical repentance commences with Christ, the cross, Calvary, and is "the tear in the eye of faith" directed thereto, for, looking to him whom we have pierced, we mourn. Of this we have tolerably plain proof in the words of St. Paul, (Act_19:4) "Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, in Christ Jesus. J.J.G.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matt. iii, 13; Luke iii, 21.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The Baptism of Christ and the Beginning of His Ministry.

v. 9. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

The Mode of Baptism

The Lutheran Church has always held that it is a matter of indifference, so far as the command of God is concerned, and therefore a point of Christian liberty, whether Baptism is performed by immersion or dipping, by sprinkling, by pouring, or by washing, the essential thing being the application of water, not the form of this application. Other church bodies are very narrow in this respect, the Greek Catholic Church maintaining that a threefold immersion is necessary, and the Baptist and Campbellite churches insisting that immersion it must be, at all costs.

In deciding this question, it would obviously be useless to refer to the New Testament passages in which the Sacrament of Baptism is instituted, for there we gain no explanation of the method used by Christ and the apostles, and experience has shown how foolish it is to draw conclusions from attending circumstances about which we know little or nothing. The historical accounts, however, have some value. For instance, the apostles, on the Day of Pentecost, would have had neither time nor the water necessary to immerse the three thousand that were converted by the sermon of Peter, Act 2:41. Also, the number of rivers in which the eunuch of Queen Candace of Ethiopia might have been immersed by Philip can easily be counted by an infant of a day, for there are none.

But a better method to get a clear under. standing of the form of Baptism is to take the use of the word baptize in Scriptures, in passages where it is used in its ordinary meaning, where the Sacrament is not spoken of. Verse 4, in the chapter above, is a passage illustrating such use. That cups and pots were immersed in ceremonial washing, might still be plausible, but that the couches of the dining-room were also dipped in water every day, is clearly out of the question. The prescribed form of ceremonial purification, which was the method in common use, was the sprinkling of consecrated water. The baptism of the children of Israel, 1Co 10:2, was not by immersion, as was that of the Egyptians, but by sprinkling. The Bible throughout prefers sprinkling to immersion as a symbol of cleansing, Isa 52:15; Eze 36:25. In Joe 2:28 pouring, not immersion, is the figure employed. In fulfillment of this prophecy, the apostles, on Pentecost Day, were baptized with the Holy Ghost, Act 1:5; Act 2:3. See Act 2:41; Act 10:44-48; Act 16:32-35; Act 8:38

The fact that the mode of Baptism was not fixed by Christ or by His apostles, but that this was left open to the Christian Church, is substantiated also by the testimony of history. In a book which is reckoned with those of the Apostolic Fathers, called The Teaching of the Twelve, which dates not later than the middle of the second century, the passage occurs: "If you have not living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot baptize in cold water, do so in warm; but if you have neither, then pour out water three times on the head in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. " Walafrid Strabo, a German monk and writer (808-, tells us that St. Lawrence, a Roman deacon who suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Valerian about 258, baptized one of his executioners with a pitcher of water, by pouring the water on the man’s head. The cases recorded in history might be multiplied indefinitely and brought forward to the time of the Reformation. But the conclusion which we must reach, after comparing all evidence, is that, while immersion was the rule for baptisms in the post-apostolic age, other modes of Baptism have always been in use in the Church, and anyone of them may be employed, so long as the application of water with the appropriate formula, as instituted by Christ, is made.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See the note on Mat 3:13.

Observe here, 1. The great condescension of Christ, in seeking and submitting to the baptism of John: Christ, though he was John’s Lord and Master, yea, Lord of heaven and earth, yet cometh to hear John preach, and will be baptized of his messenger.

Thence learn, That the greatest persons should neither think themselves too great, nor too good, to come unto the ministers of God, to hear the word from their mouth, or to receive the sacrament at their hand. Christ the Son of God was content to be baptized of John, a mean person in comparsion of himself. How dare then the greatest upon earth despise the ministry of man, being appointed by God?

Observe, 2. The solemn investing of Christ with the office of Mediator, by a threefold miracle; namely, the opening of the heavens, the descent of the Holy Ghost, and God the Father’s voice or testimony concerning his Son; the heavens were opened, to show, that heaven, which was closed and shut against us for our sins, is now opened to us by Christ’s undertaking for us. As Christ opened heaven by his meritorious passion, so he keeps it open by his prevailing intercession.

Next, the Holy Ghost descends like a dove upon our Saviour. Here we have a proof and evidence of the Blessed Trinity. The Father speaks from heaven, the Son comes out of the water, and the Holy Ghost descends in the likeness of a dove. But why did the Holy Ghost now descend upon Christ?

First, for the designation of his person, to show that he was the Person set apart for his word and office of a mediator.

Secondly, for the sanctification of his person for the performance of that office. This was Christ’s unction, the day on which he was anointed above his fellows to be the King, Priest, and Prophet, of his church: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he hath anointed me, Isa 61:1, &c.

Observe, 3. the voice of God the Father pronounced,

(1.) The nearness of Christ’s relation to himself: This is my Son.

(2.) The endearedness of his person: This is my beloved Son.

(3.) The fruit and benefit of his near and dear relation unto us: In whom I am well pleased.

Hence learn, That there is no possibility for a person to please God out of Christ; neither our persons nor our performances can find acceptance but through him, and for his sake;--that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Ground and Cause of all that love which God the Father showeth to the sons of men. In Christ, God is well pleased with us, as a reconciled Father; out of him, a consuming Fire.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. In those days. When John had been preaching and baptizing about six months. For the account of the baptism of Jesus see Matt. 3:13–17, and the notes.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

It happened in those days

This marks the beginning of a new event in the story line. (See: Introduction of a New Event)

he was baptized by John

This can be stated in active form. AT: "John baptized him" (See: Active or Passive)

the Spirit coming down on him like a dove

Possible meanings are 1) this is a simile, and the Spirit descended upon Jesus like a bird descends from the sky toward the ground or 2) the Spirit literally looked like a dove as he descended upon Jesus. (See: Simile)

A voice came out of the heavens

This represents God speaking. Sometimes people avoid referring directly to God because they respect him. AT: "God spoke from the heavens" (See: Metonymy and Euphemism)

beloved Son

This is an important title for Jesus. The Father calls Jesus his "beloved Son" because of his eternal love for him. (See: Translating Son and Father)

translationWords

Jesus

Nazareth

Galilee

baptize

John (the Baptist)

Jordan River

heaven

Holy Spirit

dove

beloved

Son of God

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

9–11. THE MESSIAH IS BAPTIZED BY JOHN

Mat 3:13-17. Luk 3:21-22. Cf. Joh 1:32-34

9. Καὶ ἐγένετο … ἦλθεν. A Hebraism, introducing a fact that is of importance. Burton, Moods and Tenses, § 357.

ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις. Sc. ἐν αἷς ἐκήρυσσε τὸ βάπτισμα τῆς μετανοίας ὁ Ἰωαν. (Euthym. Zig.). Another Hebraism (Mar 8:1, Mar 13:17; Mar 13:24). The date is very vague.

ἦλθεν Ἰησοῦς. The ἰσχυρότερος at once comes on the scene, and John decreases in significance.

Ναζαρέτ. This form occurs also in Mt., Lk. and Jn, but not in LXX. or Josephus. Mk does not use Ναζαρέθ (Mt., Acts) or Ναζαρά (Mt., Lk.). The addition of τῆς Γαλιλαίας indicates that the situation of Nazareth was not likely to be known to Mk’s readers; the insignificant town is not mentioned in O.T. But it was well known that the new Teacher came from Nazareth (Mar 1:24, Mar 14:67, Mar 16:6).

The surprise that the Messiah should submit to baptism is evident in Mt. (Mar 3:13-15); and Jerome (Adv. Pelag. iii. 2) tells us that it was met in the Gospel acc. to the Hebrews in a way which is an instructive contrast to the narrative in Mt. But it does not appear in Mk, and this is in harmony with the primitive simplicity of his narrative. That the first Christians felt this difficulty, and explained it in different ways, is evidence that the baptism of John is historical fact.

εἰς τὸν Ἰορδάνην. The εἰς, like the ἐκ in Mar 1:10, may point to actual immersion; but in this late Greek, as papyri show, the difference between εἰς and ἐν is becoming blurred.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9-11.] Jesus is baptized by him. Mat 3:13-17. Luk 3:21, Luk 3:22.

ἀπὸ Ναζ. is contained here only. The words with which this account is introduced, express indefiniteness as to time. It was (Luk 3:21) after all the people were baptized: see note there.

The commencement of this Gospel has no marks of an eye-witness: it is the compendium of generally current accounts.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9-11. Jesus is baptized by John. The Holy Spirit descends upon him, and the voice from heaven attests his Divine mission.

Among the rest, Jesus comes to John’s baptism. As he comes up out of the water, the Spirit descends on him in the form of a dove, preparing him for the work into which baptism has inaugurated him and signifying the gentleness of his reign; and a voice out of heaven proclaims him to be the Messianic Son of God who has won the special Divine favor.

With this paragraph begins the story of Jesus’ life, but as it treats of events preceding his public ministry, the story of the baptism and of the temptation conforms to Mk.’s plan outside of that ministry, and is given briefly. E.g. Mk. does not consider it necessary to explain the evident difficulty attending the baptism of Jesus, as Mt. does, but gives only the fact. The visible form taken by the Spirit in its descent upon Jesus is evidently intended to be, like the voice, a theophany, attesting his mission. But the Spirit itself is intended to prepare him for his work, and so descends upon him now at the beginning of that work; cf. v. 12.

9. καὶ ἐγένετο ἦλθεν1—ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις—in those days. This is a general designation of time, and denotes here the period of John’s ministry. Ναζαρὲτ τῆς Γαλιλαίας—Nazareth of Galilee. The explanatory τῆς Γαλιλαίας is for the information of the uninformed, and is a sign therefore, that this Gospel was written for Gentile readers. This is the only place in Mk. where Nazareth is mentioned, though Jesus is called a Nazarene in several places (1:24, 10:47, 16:6, 14:67). It was the home of Jesus during his private life.

According to Luk 1:26, Luk 1:2:4, Luk 1:39, Luk 1:51, Luk 1:4:16, this was owing to the previous residence of his parents in Nazareth. Mt., however, tells us that they took up their abode there after their return from Egypt, because they were turned aside from Bethlehem by the succession of Archelaus to his father’s throne, which made Judæa no longer a safe place for them (2:23).

Nazareth was in the interior about midway between the Lake of Galilee and the Mediterranean. It is at present a town of about 5000 inhabitants, going by the name of En Nazira.2

εἰς τὸν Ἰορδάνην—into the Jordan. The prep. here coincides with the proper meaning of the verb, indicating that the form of the rite was immersion into the stream. The prep. ἐκ in the next verse,—going up out of the water,—implies the same.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.