Matthew 3:13

BAPTISM OF CHRIST AND DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT UPON HIM IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER. ( = Mar 1:9-11; Luk 3:21-22; Joh 1:31-34). (Mat 3:13-17)

Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him--Moses rashly anticipated the divine call to deliver his people, and for this was fain to flee the house of bondage, and wait in obscurity for forty years more (Exo 2:11, &c.). Not so this greater than Moses. All but thirty years had He now spent in privacy at Nazareth, gradually ripening for His public work, and calmly awaiting the time appointed of the Father. Now it had arrived; and this movement from Galilee to Jordan is the step, doubtless, of deepest interest to all heaven since that first one which brought Him into the world. Luke (Luk 3:21) has this important addition--"Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus being baptized," &c.--implying that Jesus waited till all other applicants for baptism that day had been disposed of, ere He stepped forward, that He might not seem to be merely one of the crowd. Thus, as He rode into Jerusalem upon an ass "whereon yet never man sat" (Luk 19:30), and lay in a sepulchre "wherein was never man yet laid" (Joh 19:41), so in His baptism, too. He would be "separate from sinners."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat_3:13

Baptized of him.

The baptism of our Saviour

I. The circumstance of title.

1. Seasonable. Men were at this time being baptized and confessing their sins. People were expecting the Christ (Joh_1:19). Let man be diminished, but let God arise. The truth is revealed that the servant may not rob the Master of His honour.

2. This adverb of time points to the age of Christ. Mature age. He taught the need of well-seasoned timber to make pillars for the Church of God. As Christ attained perfect age in nature, His servants should be perfect in grace and glory.

II. After what manner he would be baptized.

1. Upon what ground did John begin this new ceremony: It betokened the end of the old ceremonies. Superstitions turned into a blessing. Heathen used washings. Turned into an immortal laver.

2. The dignity of Johns baptism. It was the baptism of repentance. It did not lack grace. But Christs ministry is better than mans.

Distinctions between the two baptisms.

1. John baptized in the name of the Messiah. Christ bade His disciples use another form.

2. They differ in extent-John baptized in the regions of Judaea, Christ bade His disciples to except none.

3. Christs baptism transcends Johns in the variety of persons.

4. Christs baptism is more operative since He has gone to His Father.

5. Johns baptism was good, Christs is necessary to the end of the world. (Hacket.)

1. John was jealous of our Saviours honour.

2. He confesses his vileness and inferiority. (Hacket.)

Faith is nothing else but a long-continued astonishment, which knows not how to utter itself, because the Lord hath done such marvellous things for us. (Hacket.)

Christ baptized

What so Divine an instigation to press us all to come unto the flood of living waters, to thirst for that immortal spring of grace than this, that the Son of God Himself did not decline to be partaker of the baptism of repentance. To make the sacrament virtuous and powerful for them that should take it after Him. That by His example, to undergo a new rite and ordinance, men might be drawn from old customs to newness of life. (Hacket.)

The baptism of Christ no degradation

As Caesar did not lessen his own dignity, because he would both command as General, and yet work in the trenches like the meanest pioneer, Dux confilio, miles exemplo; and as Helen, the mother of Constantine, was not under the honour of a princess, because she would dress the blains and ulcers of poor cripples in the hospital; so the mighty Son of God was not diminished in His glory, because He put Himself into the rank of abject ones by His own yielding and accord, not by compulsive necessity. (Hacket.)

I. We should sincerely feel the want of a divine redeemer. When Jesus demands baptism of John, the latter -publicly declares: I have need to be baptized of Thee.

II. We should acknowledge the wise counsels of God.

III. We should admire the grandeur and majesty with which jesus was encompassed. We beheld our Saviour encompassed by a glory which transcends the most enchanting pageantry of nature. (From the Danish of Dr. Balle.)

The baptism of Jesus by John

I. The office of John was to awaken the conscience of mankind.

II. John had a ministry of separation.

III. John was a forerunner in pointing to Christ.

IV. John was to identify Christ. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)

The significance of our Saviours baptism

We can only allude to meanings which have been discovered in it; all of them, it may be, parts of its largest import. It was to ratify the mission of John; it was to purify the water of baptism. Christ was ceremonially unclean, as representing sinners. St. Bernard sees in the baptism the exhibition of perfect humility; and Meyer, of perfect obedience. Still others look upon the baptism as an inaugural announcement, a formal identification, of His Person as the Messiah-an inauguration of His Messianic ministry. It is important to notice certain respects in which the baptism was unlike that of the people.

1. It was at the close of the day. He waited until all the penitents of that day had been baptized; in this, as in all else involving sin, separate from sinners.

2. John did not treat Christ as a sinner. He gave Him the remarkable testimony, I have need to be baptized of Thee.

3. At Jesus baptism there was no confession of sin. In the place of confession was a prayer.

4. The promised token, the descent of the Spirit as a dove, which abode upon Him, while a voice from heaven said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)

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

Mat 3:13. Then cometh Jesus — Who was now about thirty years of age, from Galilee — Where he had long lived, in a retired manner, unto John, to be baptized of him — Not in testimony of his repentance, or for the remission of sins, for, being without sin, he neither needed repentance nor remission; but that he might honour John’s ministry, and acknowledge his commission to baptize, and might confirm the institution of baptism by water. He thus, also, offered himself to receive that testimony which he knew his heavenly Father would give him, and conformed himself to what he appointed for his followers; for which last reason he drank likewise of the sacramental cup. Thus the apostolical constitutions inform us that Christ was baptized, not that he needed any purgation, but to testify the truth of John’s baptism, and to be an example to us. We may consider this as a plain argument that baptism may be rightly administered to, and received by those that are incapable of many of the chief ends of it, provided they be capable of some other end for which it also was designed. For Christ, being without sin, could neither repent nor promise amendment of life; being the wisdom of the Father, he could be taught nothing; being the Christ, he could not profess he would believe on him that should come after him, that is, on himself. He, therefore, was baptized, 1st, to testify that he owned the Baptist as one commissioned by God to perform this office; 2d, that by this rite he might profess his willingness to fulfil all righteousness; and, 3d, that by this he might be initiated into his prophetical office, and consecrated to the service of God. Therefore, though infants can neither be taught, nor believe, nor give the answer of a good conscience, at baptism, yet they may be baptized; 1st, that by this ceremony they may be obliged to observe the laws of that Jesus, into whose name they are baptized, even as, under the Mosaic dispensation, the infant, by virtue of circumcision, became a debtor to observe the whole law of Moses, Act 15:5; Gal 5:3; Galatians 2 dly, that by this rite they may enter into covenant with God, of which they are declared capable by Moses, Deu 29:11.

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, Mat_3:13-17.

13. Then cometh Jesus — We have already remarked (Mat_3:1) on the unacquaintance of John with Jesus, according to Joh_1:31-33.

Though the visible descent of the dove-form Spirit was to be a complete token to John alone, that does not prove that the descent was visible to John alone, or that the scene itself of the baptism was (as some commentators think) secret. A similar testimony to his Divine Sonship (Joh_12:28-29) was certainly not secret.

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

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat_3:13. Jesus … baptised.—He received the rite as ratifying the mission of the 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 (Farrar).

Mat_3:14. Forbad, διεκώλυεν is emphatic, and implies that John interposed strenuously to hinder Him. The Baptist’s words imply that he had some definite knowledge of the character of Jesus. Joh_1:33 seems to mean that he did not know for certain, by Divine intimation or revelation, that Jesus was the Messiah, until the event referred to occurred (Morison).

Mat_3:15. Now = for the present. “The future will make abundantly manifest what we respectively are.” Fulfil all righteousness.—To leave nothing undone which would be honouring to the seemly and significant ordinances of God (Morison).

Mat_3:16. Heavens … opened.—This and the resultant manifestations were granted probably to John and Jesus only (Joh_1:32-34). Dove.—Suggesting the idea of completeness and, at the same time, of beauty, gentleness, peace, and love (J. M. Gibson).

Mat_3:17. This is My beloved Son.—This revelation awakened the Messianic consciousness of Jesus (Wendt). The titles, “Son of God” and “beloved,” or well-pleasing to the Father, according to the Old Testament promises, belonged to the Messiah (cf. Psa_2:7; Isa_42:1). No doubt Jesus was previously conscious that He was the Son of God and an object of the Divine complacency; but through this revelation was awakened the consciousness of a unique pre-eminence of sonship in relation to God, and of the unique significance which, in virtue of this pre-eminence, He should have for the establishment of the kingdom of God and the Messianic dispensation (ibid.).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_3:13-17

Messiah Himself.—“Mightier than I.” So the Baptist, in the preceding verses, had predicted of Christ. What he foretold in those verses is accomplished in these. “Jesus of Nazareth” Himself here appears on the scene. “Jesus of Nazareth” is here openly acknowledged to be all that the Baptist had just declared about “Christ.” This is shown us, partly, by what is related here of the actions of men; and partly by what is related here of the action of God.

I. Of the actions of men.—We say of “men” because of the representative character of the “man” shown to us here. “The law and the prophets were until John” (Luk_16:16). He excelled all before him partly because of the fact that he summarised all. What he does here, therefore, is done in effect by the whole “column” he leads. Hence its significance, in the first place, in the way of remonstrance. Whilst engaged in his work of baptising sinners and bringing them to repentance, Jesus of Nazareth appears amongst them, and asks for baptism at his hands. Such a request, to John the Baptist, seems to put everything wrong. So far from seeing any need of “repentance” in Jesus, His very presence there only makes him the more conscious of the evil to be found in himself. “I have need to be baptised of Thee, and comest Thou to me?” (Mat_3:14). What a testimony this is (if we think of it) to the character for holiness which this Jesus possessed in the eyes of John, even before the latter appears to have known Him fully as the Messiah (cf. Joh_1:33). What a testimony from one so holy himself! So discerning! So faithful! So connected, as we have just seen, with all the holiness of the past! Virtually, it was all that holiness effacing itself before Christ’s. In the way of submission. The answer of Jesus to this remonstrance of John says in effect, “As things are now, I ask you to allow this to be done. If it does not seem so at first, it is yet, in reality, in fullest harmony with what I am here to accomplish; the very object I have come for being that of occupying the place of the unrighteous and fulfilling ‘all righteousness’ in his stead.” Convinced by this language, John opposes no more (Mat_3:15). It is not for him to undertake to deny what this sinless One says. Jesus of Nazareth is not only far holier, He is also far wiser than he. So he confesses by thus “giving way.” So, also, there confesses with him all the true enlightenment of the past.

II. Of the action of God.—As soon as the baptism thus conceded is over, we are in the presence of this. It follows immediately on the coming up of Jesus “out of the water” (Mat_3:16). It is manifested, on the one hand, in the way of vision or sight. From the “opened heavens” above Him “the Spirit of God” was seen by the Baptist “descending like a dove” upon Jesus, “and lighting upon Him” (Mat_3:16). Thus, as it were, was the Messiahship of Jesus set forth to the world. The very sign of that Messiahship which John was taught to expect (Joh_1:33) has come upon Jesus. That sign, as it were, therefore, is the “laying of hands” upon Him as the man called to this work—a gift at once separating and preparing Him for what that “Anointed One” had to do. On the other hand, we see the action of God here in the way of hearing and speech. From the same opened “heaven” there comes, next, the sign of a “voice.” Needless to say, coming thence, from Whom it proceeds. It is the “voice” of that Father whom we are taught to call upon as “Our Father in heaven” (Mat_6:9). This sign is a testimony, therefore, to the unique dignity of the Messiah. Whatever the Messiah was to be in this respect, that this Holy One—this Jesus of Nazareth—is hereby acknowledged as being. “This”—this same one, this just baptised one—“is” truly “My Son.” “With Him,” also—as being such—I am always “well pleased.” Even John’s greatness, as the greatest of servants, is nothing to this.

This combination of testimonies, as well from earth as from heaven, brings before us, in conclusion:

1. The greatest of Teachers.—Who can be better qualified as a teacher than One on whom the Spirit of truth (1Co_2:11) thus descends and remains? In thus altering the decision of John, also, do we not see Him instructing one who had surpassed all teachers before? Well, therefore, may He be accepted as the Teacher of all teachers to come!

2. The completest of Saviours.—What He undertakes here to do is just that which sinners most of all need, viz. to provide them with that which shall secure them acceptance with God. How striking to find this thus spoken of on His first appearance in public! How equally striking to find that the Father sets His seal on this from the first!

3. The profoundest of mysteries.—How plainly we seem taught here that there are three persons in One! How nothing short of this seems to satisfy all that is shown to us here! How fully this does satisfy all that is shown to us here! No other key cart turn this lock with its multitudinous wards!

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat_3:13-17. The coronation of the King.—

I. The becomingness of the apparently unbecoming baptism.—The whole mystery of Christ’s 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. 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 John’s thought of the Holy Spirit as fire, and we get all the beauty of both emblems increased, and understand how much the stern ascetic, whose words burned and blistered, had to learn. Meekness is throned now.

III. The Divine proclamation.—

1. The coronation ends with the solemn recitation of the style and title of the King.

2. The voice attests the Divine complacency in Him.

3.The Father’s delight in the Son is through the Son extended to all who love and trust the Son.—A. Maclaren, D.D.

Mat_3:13-15. Christ coming to be baptised.—The mighty impulse of the Spirit leading Christ to Jordan. Appears from the circumstance:

1. That He came from a great distance.

2. That He came alone.

3. That He came fully decided on the course before Him.—J. P. Lange, D.D.

Mat_3:15. Christ in His humiliation.—

1. Some things were necessary to be done by Christ in the time of His humiliation, which otherwise would not have become the dignity of His person.

2. It is a thing both right and comely for each man to do what his calling requireth.

3. When the Lord makes His will clear unto us, we should renounce our will and follow His. “Then he suffered Him.”—David Dickson.

The mode of Christ’s baptism.—As to the baptism, there has been great discussion about it. It is very curious to me that when the great moral lesson of this incident has stood confronting the church, instead of considering what is the real meaning of Christ’s baptism, it has gone discussing what Professor Swing has so well characterised as a question whether the water should be applied to the man or the man to the water. We do not know which was done in this case. An ancient picture, dating, I think, from about the fourth century, rude and rough, in the catacombs of Rome, represents Jesus and John standing in the water, and John pouring the water from a shell on Jesus’ head. We know that in early times water was poured on the heads of priests to anoint them. I think myself it most probable that the baptism of Jesus by John was neither that which the Baptist sect nor that which the other sects have generally pursued, but one which, so far as I know, no considerable denomination of Christendom has ever used, the method of pouring.—L. Abbott, D.D.

Mat_3:16. Like a dove.—

I. In His purity like a dove. Hence He finds at first only one resting-place—the head and heart of Jesus.

II. In His gentleness like a dove. Hence addressing Himself to man.

III. In His harmlessness like a dove. Hence conquering the wicked one.

IV. In His love as a dove. Hence imparting life to the church.—Lange.

The baptism of Jesus.—Even the pure offspring of the Spirit needed the anointing of the Spirit; and it was only when His human nature had grown strong enough for the support of the fulness of the Spirit that it remained stationary and fully endowed with power from above.—Olshausen.

Mat_3:16-17. The Holy Trinity.—Here, in the baptism of our blessed Head, we find ourselves in the presence at once of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, into whose adorable name we are baptised (Mat_28:19). The early Fathers of the church were struck with this, and often advert to it. “Go to Jordan,” said Augustine to the heretic Marcion, “and thou shalt see the Trinity.” Nor is it to be overlooked, as Lange remarks, that, as it is at Christ’s own baptism that we have the first distinct revelation of the doctrine of the Trinity, so it is at the institution of baptism for His church that the doctrine brightens into full glory.—D. Brown, D.D.

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

B. Mat_3:13-17

(Second Pericope on Sunday after the Feast of Circumcision or New Year)

Contents.—He who baptizes with the Spirit, and with fire, humbles Himself to submit to the baptism of water, administered to a sinful community. From this communion with sinners the Father exalts Him into communion with the blessed Trinity. The Baptist points Him out to the people as the Messiah promised to the fathers.

13Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to [the] Jordan unto John, to be baptized of [by] him. 14But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of [by] thee, and comest thou to me? 15And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so11 now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. 16And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of [from] the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, 17 and lighting [coming] upon him: And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_3:13. Then (τότε).—In contrast with the baptism of the Pharisees and Sadducees, we have here the baptism of Jesus. At that time Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan, to be baptized of him. Meyer suggests the following as the object of Christ’s baptism (p. 91):—”Jesus did not come to be baptized from a feeling of personal sinfulness (Bruno Bauer, comp. Strauss); nor because, according to the Levitical law, His personal connection with an impure people rendered Him impure (Lange); nor for the purpose of showing that there was no incompatibility between His σὰρξ ἀσθενείας and life in the Spirit (Hoffmann, Weissagung und Erfüllung, vol. ii. 82); nor because baptism implied a declaration of being subject to the penalty of death (Ebrard); nor in order to elicit the Divine declaration that He was the Messiah (Paulus); nor to confirm the faith of His followers, inasmuch as baptism was a symbol of the regeneration of His disciples (Ammon, L. J. vol i. 268); nor to sanction the baptism of John by His example (Kuinoel, Kern); nor to indicate His obligation to obey the law (Hoffmann, Krabbe, Osiander); nor, lastly, because, before the descent of the Spirit, He acted like any other ordinary Israelite (Hess, Kuhn, comp. Olshausen). The true explanation of this act, as furnished in Mat_3:15, is, that, as the Messiah, He felt that, according to the Divine will, He had to submit to the baptism of His forerunner in order to receive the Divine declaration of His Messianic dignity ( Mat_3:16-17). It was not in baptism that He first became conscious of His dignity as the Messiah, as if by that act He had been inwardly transformed into the Messiah; the expression, πρέπον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν ( Mat_3:15), implies that He was conscious of being the Messiah, and of the relation in which, as such, John stood towards Him.”—We thankfully admit the value of the comprehensive summary furnished by Meyer of the various views propounded on the subject of Christ’s baptism. But his own explanation does not make it any clearer, either on what grounds Jesus submitted to a baptism unto repentance, or in what sense we are to understand the words of the Saviour, “Thus it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness,”—an expression which must evidently refer to Old Testament righteousness. With this remark we return to our own explanation. In strict application of the law of Moses as expounded by Haggai (Mat_2:14), John had pronounced the whole people of Israel impure. Jesus Himself, although sinless and holy, was included in this general declaration; His connection with His people rendering Him levitically unclean. This implied that, from His connection with the people, He must needs suffer, or that He, being innocent, must suffer for the people. And thus he fulfilled all righteousness. Meyer is, of course, right in suggesting, that when the Saviour thus freely yet obediently submitted Himself to the judgment resting upon His people, He was preparing for His own glory, and hence, also, for “the declaration of His Messianic dignity.” But this formed the second or last element in the baptism of Christ, not its basis or fundamental idea. It is scarcely necessary to add, that our explanation includes that of Ebrard; only that, in our view, the idea of consecration unto death was not yet fully expressed in the baptism of John, which only implied sufferings similar to death.

Mat_3:14. But John forbade Him [sought to hinder him].—According to Strauss and de Wette, this passage is inconsistent with the statement in Joh_1:23, “I knew Him not.” But this passage refers only to the prophetic or divine certitude of the Baptist concerning the Messiahship of Jesus. Such certitude could neither be the result of what his mother Elisabeth would tell him, nor of his previous acquaintanceship with Jesus: it could only be obtained by a distinct sign from on high. Still he was sufficiently impressed with the religious and moral exaltation of Jesus to feel that He required not baptism at His hands (Hoffmann). Add to this the wonderful impression produced by the personal appearance of the Lord, and by the increasing conviction of John that what his parents had formerly told him would now prove to be true. Accordingly, he felt as the less in presence of the greater—as a sinner in presence of the Holy One. The obvious inference from the baptism which He administered, and to which Jesus was about to submit, seemed so strange to the Baptist, that he shrunk from it. Hence the expression he forbade Him, διεκώλυεν—the composite being stronger than the simple verb. Jesus removed these objections by simply referring to the requirements of righteousness; by which our Lord must have meant the Levitical consequences of John’s prophetic mission, and not that John would see what miraculous sign should accompany the rite. The great object was simple obedience. How to own and glorify the obedience of His dear Son, God reserved to Himself. Any confession of sin was, of course, out of the question: there was only a profession on the part of Jesus, that as an Israelite He became subject to the law, and that He was connected with humanity by the ties of blood, of history, of suffering, and of love. The apocryphal Prœdicatio Pauli (see Credner, Beiträge i. p. 360) first set forth the false notion that Jesus made a confession of sin; while in the Evang. sec. Hebr. (see Hieronymus, Contr. Pel. iii. 2), Jesus replies to the solicitations of His mother and brethren to be baptized along with them: “Quid peccavi, ut vadam et baptizer ab eo? nisi forte hoc ipsum quod dixi, ignorantia est.” On the discussion between John and Jesus in the Evang. sec. Hebr., see Meyer, p. 92.

Mat_3:15. Thus it becomes us.—The baptism of Jesus was a duty, not only on the part of the Lord, but also on the part of the Baptist.

Mat_3:16. Went up straightway.—A special meaning attaches to the word εὐθύς, as if He had flown upwards from out of the water. This miraculous ascent from the deep was connected with the equally miraculous descent of the Spirit of God from on high.

Lo, the heavens were opened unto Him; ἀνεῴχθησαν.—The contradictory [rationalistic] explanations of Paulus, who speaks of a clearing up of the sky, and of Kuinoel and Amnion, who speak of a thunder-storm, may neutralize each other. Meyer maintains that it must not be considered as a poetic description of what took place, but that the heavens were literally opened, and the Holy Spirit descended through this opening. It is difficult to understand the exact meaning of Meyer, as this view implies that the event itself was mythical, and hence also poetical. In another place (Leben Jesu, ii. 1, p. 183), we have ventured to suggest that even the outward phenomena attending this great event were unique, the stars making their appearance on the occasion. In this way it would seem to bear analogy with the darkening of the sun at midday during the crucifixion, even as Christ’s baptism was analogous, and formed a prelude to, His final sufferings But there was also undoubtedly a vision, in which, although mainly designed for the Saviour, the Baptist had also a part (comp. Joh_12:28; Act_9:7; Act_22:9). For the Baptist must evidently have heard the voice by which Jesus was designated as the “beloved Son.” Although the word εἰδε refers primarily to Jesus Himself, we conclude that John also participated in the vision,—1. from his having heard the voice; 2. from the account given by Luke and by John. Thus, while the vision was primarily designed for Christ, it must have been beheld by both.

Like a dove (Luke: σωματικῷ ἔιδει ὡσεὶπεριστεράν).—The expression cannot be meant as symbolical simply of the manner in which the Spirit descended—rapid (Fritzsche), quiet (Neander), pure (Olshausen), creative (Baumgarten-Crusius). Meyer very appropriately calls attention to the parallel passage in Luke; nor must we lose sight of the import of the term εἶδε. The Gospel of the Hebrews, as quoted by Epiph. 30:13, correctly interprets the phrase as implying that he saw the Holy Spirit of God descending in the form (or rather in the visionary form, εἴδει) of a dove. It was not a real dove; but, to his vision, it appeared as the form of a dove descending. A symbol this of perfect gentleness, purity, fulness of life, and of the power of communicating it.

Mat_3:17. And lo a voice.—Comp. Luk_5:12; Luk_19:20; Act_8:27; Rev_4:1; Rev_6:2; Rev_7:9. Along with the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son also now manifest themselves. The term Son is applied to the Messiah (Psa_2:7; Isa_42:1), not merely in reference to His official character, but more especially to His Divine nature. There is evidently an allusion here to the miraculous origin of Christ by the Holy Ghost (Mat_1:20; Luk_1:35). The expression, ὁ ἀγαπητός, is neither equivalent to our “most beloved” (in the superlative degree), nor to “only one,” but means “only beloved“ or beloved in a unique sense.—Ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα, In whom I am well pleased.—The verb is put in the Aorist to denote the eternal act of loving contemplation with which the Father regards the Son. There is a rhythmical connection between this event, the testimony to the Son heard in the temple, and, lastly, the voice from heaven heard on the Mount of Transfiguration. Nor must we omit noticing the peculiar demonstrative form of the expression, in Matthew, “This is My beloved Son,“ not, “Thou art My Son:” implying, 1. that this voice was specially designed as a revelation to John 2. that it was granted to him for the purpose of his mission, which was to introduce Jesus as the Messiah to the people. In the Gospels of Mark and Luke, there is a more particular reference to Jesus Himself as the source and spring of the vision, “Thou art My beloved Son;” while John lays special stress upon the part which the Baptist sustained in the vision.

General Notes on the Whole Section.—The objections raised by modern criticism against the historical character of this narrative fall to the ground the moment we acknowledge the supernatural element in the life of our Saviour. We cannot even admit with Meyer that there is a real difference between the account as gives by John and the other Evangelists; far less can we agree with him in reducing the fact in the case to the vision of a dove. The fact, that this was a vision, does not exclude the objective reality of this miraculous event; on the contrary, It is in perfect accordance with it. The question, whether before that time the dove was regarded as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, is one of considerable interest. Among the Syrians, the dove was held sacred, as the symbol of the fructifying power of nature (Creuzer, Symbolik, ii. 80). This throws fresh light upon the expression in Gen_1:2, that “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters:” the Talmud has it, that He moved over it like a dove. But the symbol is not further carried out in the Old Testament, though there is much significance in the dove of Noah’s ark, and the dove in the Song of Solomon. Our Lord also alludes to it in Mat_10:16. Taking a general survey of these emblems, we gather the impression, that the symbol of a dove referred more particularly to the Church, as indeed the Holy Spirit manifests Himself, and, so to speak, assumes shape in the Church. On the Talmudical and rabbinical interpretations of this symbol, comp. Meyer, p. 98.

According to Strauss, the statement of the Evangelist, that “Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost,” cannot be reconciled with the narrative in the text, that at His baptism He was baptized with the Holy Ghost. Critics of his school have attempted to connect this baptism with the Holy Ghost, with the view of some of the Gnostics (Cerinthus, Basilides, Valentinus, etc.), that the man Jesus received at His baptism the heavenly Logos. But all these assertions ignore the truth of the human development of our Lord. At His birth, He was filled and actuated by the Holy Spirit, so far at His talent and disposition was concerned. This implied His perfect sinlessness. But at His baptism, He attained the full consciousness of His nature and mission at the God-Man and Saviour. From that moment He became the organ of the Holy Spirit, not merely so far as He was personally concerned, but also as fully realizing His mediatorial character and work, and its relation to the salvation of mankind. He now received the Holy Ghost in His capacity as founder of the spiritual community about to be instituted. But this fulness of the Spirit remained still concealed under the form of a servant, and in the lowliness of His walk and work. It was only after the work had been finished and accepted, that the Spirit was poured out in all His fulness upon His believing people; and the dove, which had erst descended into His heart, now issued forth to move and to brood over the waters of the nations of the earth.

In the passive baptism of Jesus (that by John), we have the first glimmer of a distinct revelation of the mystery of the Holy Trinity. It brightens into full glory at the active baptism of Jesus, or the institution of Holy Baptism in Matthew 28, which is in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.—The connection between the two events is manifest.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Jesus cometh from Galilee to the lower Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. From this we draw the following inferences: 1. The influence of the baptism of John had extended over the whole people of Israel. 2. Jesus came under the direct and irresistible impulse of the Holy Spirit. This was His first act after attaining manhood, since the time when, at twelve years of age, He manifested Himself in the temple, and again retired to the obscurity of Nazareth. Yet this act, so enigmatic to many of our modem theologians, was performed without any doubt or hesitation on the part of our Lord. The Divine call had reached Him, that He, the Holy One, should, according to the demands of the law, submit to the judgment of sinners. And this constituted, so to speak, the consecration for His work, to which He submitted, in anticipation both of the sufferings and the glory which were to come.

2. John was surprised when he saw Jesus coming to be baptized. The Baptist, no doubt, knew the prophecies which his parents had uttered concerning Jesus; probably, he was even personally acquainted with Him. Add to this the impression produced by the appearance of Jesus Himself. But all this was not sufficient to warrant him in presenting Jesus as the Messiah to the people: He had yet to await a distinct revelation to that effect. But it was more than sufficient to make him feel that baptism for purification was entirely inapplicable to the Lord, viewing Him in His personal character and dignity. Hence he could not but shrink, for the moment, from the tremendous consequences of his baptism; all the more, that in the presence of Jesus he felt more deeply than ever his own unworthiness and sinfulness: hence his refusal and his confession: “I have need to be baptized of Thee.” But Jesus judged otherwise. The inference from the baptism of John was none other than that from the law itself, which again only reflected the sacred and solemn object of His incarnation and life. There is a historical connection between the Holy One and His sinful brethren; therefore must he suffer with and for them. Thus the baptism of John was not only applicable to Jesus, but attained its real meaning and object only by the baptism of Jesus. Thus it became the symbol of His consecration unto death, for the salvation of the world. Hence the exclamation of John, after the baptism of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

It seems as if, in this controversy between Jesus and John, the Old and the New Testament had, for the time being, changed sides. John appears almost the representative of the liberty of the New, Christ that of the legal rigor of the Old Testament. “Thus the rods of Old Testament and of New Testament righteousness are here joined into a cross” (Leb. Jesu, ii. 1, p. 177). But the connection and unity between the two dispensations appears in this intertwining of its ultimate links.—Jesus conquers in this contest. More than ever before does the Baptist now humble himself, under a sense of the deep responsibility of his office. The Lord also humbles Himself under the law, to which he now formally becomes obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2).

3. This is the only instance in which there is neither confession of sin on the part of Him who is baptized, nor reproof and exhortation on the part of the Baptist. The baptismal address comes from heaven itself; but the blessings of the baptism descend upon all mankind. Heaven once again opened at the baptism of Jesus—primarily for Him, and, through Him, for all mankind. The blessing which flowed from this baptism—the prophetic import of which attained its fulfilment in the death on the cross—appeared at the close of Christ’s mission on earth, in the institution of holy baptism for His people, with the gracious blessing of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—attaching to it. For this purpose did the Father reveal Himself on this occasion; for this purpose did Jesus obtain without measure the anointing of the Spirit; for this purpose did He as the Son throw open the portals of heaven, and offer himself by the Holy Ghost to the Father, for the salvation of the world.

4. The germs of the doctrine of the Trinity which occur in the Old Testament, are taken up in the commencement of the Gospel history, where the miraculous conception of Jesus through the Holy Ghost is announced (Matthew 1; Luke 1). This mystery is more clearly brought out in the narrative of Christ’s baptism, and is more fully developed in the progress of the Gospel history. This shows that what is called the Trinity of revelation depends on the Trinity of essence For the relation between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as here revealed, is preëminently that of nature or essence (ontological); while afterwards, in Mat_28:19, it appears more especially as a relation of manifestation or of revelation.

5. The glorification of Jesus by the voice from heaven, heard at his baptism, may be regarded as the second stage in the miraculous events attending His life, by which he was gradually and increasingly manifested as the absolute Wonder, and hence as the Wonderful or Wonder-worker. The first of these heavenly attestations was His miraculous birth, and with it the star and the angels’ hymn. Then followed the manifestation of Jesus at His baptism, when, instead of the voice of angels, that from heaven is heard, and which, from its utterance, we recognize as the voice of the Father. Instead of the star standing over Bethlehem, we have now the vision of a dove descending upon the Lord. This glorious manifestation becomes still brighter at the transfiguration of Jesus on the Mount. Here also the voice of the Father descends in the cloud upon the Mount—it is heard close by; while the fulness of the Spirit resting on Jesus shines forth in His personal appearance, as He stands transfigured before His disciples. Once more is the same voice heard: this time in the Temple, and in the midst of His people; and although it only conveys to Him personally the assurance that the name of the Father shall be glorified in Him, it appears to his followers to be the voice of an angel, to the people—the sound of thunder. This is the third occasion on which the voice from heaven is heard. Lastly, on the Mount of Olives He is carried upward to the Father in a cloud of glory, and by the power of the Spirit. The various stages of this direct attestation from heaven may thus be marked:—1. The miraculous origin of Christ from heaven; 2. the consecration, among His chosen ones, for His appearance in the form of a servant upon earth; 3. the prelude of the transformation of His earthly appearance as a servant, celebrated among His disciples; 4. the same as celebrated among the people; 5. the resurrection-glory, and the final transfiguration.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The mighty impulse of the Spirit leading Christ to Jordan. This appears from the circumstance, 1. that He came from a great distance; 2. that He came alone; 3. that He came fully decided on the course before Him.—Christ resolved on submitting to baptism.—Jesus does not shrink from the same baptismal bath which the “generation of vipers” had received.—The various humiliations to which Jesus submitted during His youthful course: 1. from Bethlehem to Egypt; 2. from the temple to Nazareth; 3. from His sacred retirement to the baptism of sinners.—How the Lord owned the Divine institution of baptism.—How He honored the sacred office.—The twofold difficulty of John’s work: 1. He was obliged to baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees; 2. he had to baptize the Lord.—John himself required the grace of the Lord.—How the Baptist confessed that he stood in need of the baptism of Jesus.—How the holy office entrusted to ministers must tend to humble those who are in earnest, but how it also elevates them.—The greatness of John as appearing most fully in his humility.—He who was baptized greater than he who baptized.—“Suffer it to be so now.” The infinite import of the word now: 1. A summing up of eternity in time, and of time in “today,” and of “today” in the moment which claims our decision; 2. an enigma propounded by the past and solved by the future; 3. an altar on which our obedience is claimed, and a blessing promised; 4. a passing phase of earth, which may be transformed into a revelation of heaven.—“Suffer it to be so now. 1. Suffer it at last to be Song of Solomon 2. suffer it quickly to be Song of Solomon 3. suffer it to be so for a moment; 4. suffer it to be so once for all.—The baptism of Jesus the fulfilment of all righteousness, 1. so far as the mission of John was concerned; 2. so far as the demands of the law were concerned; 3. so far as the dealings of God with men, according to the fundamental principles of His administration, were concerned.—Import of the fact that the Holy One submitted to the baptism of sinners: 1. Sinners must be immersed in the waters of judgment. 2. The Sinless One is immersed along with them, in order to give them courage for the judgment. 3. He must be immersed for them to change that judgment, so far as they are concerned, into salvation.—The glory of the Lord in this great act of His humiliation.—The manifestation of the Messiah.—The manifestation of the Messiah in the glorious light of the Trinity.—“Out of the water,” a watchword of life. 1. The earth out of water; 2. Noah and his race out of the water; 3. Moses and his people out of the water; 4. Christ and His Church out of the water.—Heaven opened on the occasion of baptism. 1. Heaven is opened, a. for all the blessings which come down from above; b. for all the prayers which ascend from below. 2. It is opened over him who is baptized: a. over the Lord Himself; b. over all who are baptized in His name.—Heaven opened: the heart of the Father opened.—“The Spirit of God descending like a dove:” 1. In His purity like a dove; hence He finds at first only one resting-place—the head and heart of Jesus. 2. In His gentleness like a dove; hence addressing Himself to man. 3. In His harmlessness like the dove; hence conquering the wicked one. 4. In His love as the dove; hence imparting life to the Church.—The voice from heaven in the manifestation of Christ, and its echo in the justification of the sinner.—How the three tokens accompanying the baptism of Christ are spiritually repeated in every baptism. 1. Heaven is opened to the child which is now placed by the side of the Song of Solomon 2. The dovelike mind of the Holy Spirit is imparted by the Son to the child. 3. In the testimony to the Son the child hears the testimony of sonship, and of the Father’s good pleasure.—The baptism of Jesus as the sealing of His name.—The baptism of Jesus the manifestation of His humiliation and exaltation: 1. As His first actual and personal humiliation and exaltation; 2. as throwing light upon the humiliation and exaltation of His childhood; 3. as the token of His future humiliation and exaltation; 4. as the act deciding the future humiliation and exaltation of His whole life.—Jesus undertaking His work in full consciousness of what awaited Him, and being attested by the Father and the Holy Ghost.—The blessedness springing from certitude of the Divine call.

Starke:—God has in His wisdom fixed for every one of us the proper time when we are to come forth.—However highly placed a man may be, he should pay all becoming reverence to the Divine institution of the word and sacraments.—Humility a precious gem.—Christ has consecrated the washing of regeneration.—Let us be careful to know what “becometh us” at every time.—Heaven, which was closed by the first Adam, is opened again over the second.—To us also has heaven again been opened by Christ, the Lord from heaven.

Gossner:—As soon as the sinner opens his heart to God in repentance, God opens the heavens and owns him as His child.

Footnotes:

[11] Mat_3:15.—[The words to be so, are unnecessary. Suffer it now, is sufficient for ἄφες ἄρτι.—P.S.]

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

Mat 3:13-17.

Baptism Of Jesus

The baptism of Jesus forms the transition from the ministry of John to that of Jesus himself. It is less fully described by Mark, (Mar 1:9-11) and Luke. (Luk 3:21-22) John’s Gospel gives no immediate account of it, but perhaps alludes to it afterwards. (Joh 3:26)

Mat 3:13. Then is a connective frequently employed by Matthew (e. g., Mat 3:5, Mat 3:15, Mat 4:1, Mat 4:5, Mat 4:10-11). In some cases it is used strictly, in others loosely, designating a period of considerable extent, like the phrase ’in those days’ in Mat 3:1, which is here used by Mark (Mar 1:9) Matthew does not here mean that Jesus appeared at the moment when John was speaking the preceding words, but in general, at the time when John was engaged in baptizing and preaching, as just described. We have no means of ascertaining how long he had been thus engaged before Jesus appeared. We learn from Luke, (Luk 3:23. Rev. Ver.) that Jesus, when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age; and supposing that John began at the same age, his ministry had already been exercised some six months. (Luk 1:26) But it is a mistake to say that John must have begun at the age of thirty, for the age fixed by the law as to Levites, (Num 4:3, Num 4:33) was shortly afterwards lowered to twenty-five, (Num 8:24) and by David was for a special reason further reduced to twenty; (1Ch 23:24-27) and so continued under Hezekiah, (2Ch 31:17) and after the captivity, (Ezr 3:8) and most likely in the time of Christ, when David’s courses of priests were certainly maintained, and probably also his general arrangement as to Levites. Luke says it was ’when all the people were baptized’ (of course a general expression, not strictly universal), which implies the lapse of at least several months, if we consider the journeys necessary. As Galilee is not mentioned in Mat 3:5, we may suppose that the people of Galilee in general came later than those of Judea, and we should thus have an external reason also for Jesus’ late arrival, besides his internal reasons. (Keim). Others from Galilee are soon after mentioned (Joh 1:35-47) as disciples of John. The traditional day of our Lord’s baptism is 6 January (’Epipbany,’ manifestation), but that is unlikely. More probably John began in spring, and Jesus was baptized the following autumn, of A. D. 26; but no exact determination is made.

Cometh, arrives, makes his appearance, as in Mat 3:1. From Galilee, i. e., Nazareth (Mat 2:22 f.), as Mark here expressly states. At Nazareth, Jesus has been living since his infancy (see above at close of Matthew 2). As to Galilee, see on Mat 4:12. To Jordan. The traditional place is nearly opposite Jericho. (See on Mat 3:6.) But the place cannot be determined. John’s testimony to Jesus, apparently a few weeks later, was given at Bethany beyond Jordan Joh 1:28. Bethabara is a false reading, but we do not know where this Bethany was, besides that John may have moved in the meantime, as he certainly moved once (Joh 3:23), and probably more than once. (Joh 10:40) Conder and Geikie (compare Stanley) think the place of our Lord’s baptism was far up the river, near Bethlehem, where Conder found a ford now called Abarah, ’crossing.’ This locality would suit the circumstances, but the reading Bethabara, must unquestionably be rejected. Bethany might (Kohler) very well mean ’ship-town’ (aniyah, ’ship’), as Bethabara means ’ford-town’ or ’ferry town.’ A village supported by boating on the river might perish after the desolation of the country by the Romans, and so Origen could not bear of it, and avowedly changed Bethany to Bethabara. The similar name of the village near Jerusalem probably signified ’date-town,’ or ’poor-town.’ To be baptized. The construction of the original distinctly implies, what the connection also would indicate, that he came with that design. Of him, where modern English would say ’by.’ (See on Mat 1:22.)

Mat 3:14 f. The reluctance of John to baptize Jesus, with what was said by them on the subject, is recorded by Matthew alone.[1]

[1] B, à and the Sahidic version, followed by Tisch. and W. H., omit ’John,’ and then the Greek signifies ’but he.’ It is easier to explain this subsequent insertion of ’John’ than its omission, and so the shorter reading is very likely correct; but the question can hardly be settled, and is practically unimportant.

But John forbade—literally, was hindering him. The imperfect tense is occasionally thus used to denote an attempted action, since some actions, if engaged in but not completed, must be afterwards regarded as only attempted. This sense, in all cases, grows out of the nature of the action and the circumstances, the tense itself having the same meaning as elsewhere.[1] The verb rendered ’hinder’ is compounded with a preposition, which increases its force, ’was completely hindering,’ ’earnestly sought to hinder.’ In the next clause, all the pronouns are emphatic: ’I have need to be baptized by thee, and thou comest to me !’ or, ’and comest thou to me?’ an expression of surprise, whether it be understood as an exclamation (Euthym.), or as a question. (Compare Joh 13:6) In like manner, John’s mother had felt unworthy of a visit from the mother of her Lord. (Luk 1:43) It may be (Lutteroth) that as John received the confession of others, and administered to them the symbol of purification, he often remembered that he too had sins to confess and turn away from, and therefore felt on this occasion that he would gladly receive baptism from his recognized superior. There is no sufficient ground for supposing that he distinctly expected to receive this, but he felt the ’need’ of confession, repentance, and symbolical purification. And the idea of Jesus administering baptism would not be strange, for he did afterwards baptize many, by the hands of his disciples. (Joh 3:22; Joh 4:1 f.) The notion of some Fathers (as Chrys.) that John was afterwards actually baptized by Jesus, is not only without warrant, but seems excluded by the language of Joh 3:26-28; for John’s followers would in that case have expressed no surprise, and John would have settled the matter at once. (A Lapide). To understand John as here indicating the expectation that Jesus will baptize him in the Holy Spirit (Gill, others), is strangely to confound the literal and the figurative, as wild allegorizing often leads men to do. Suffer it to be so now, or, perhaps, ’suffer me now,’ as indicated by the last clause, ’then he suffers him.’ Suffer now that I take the position of inferiority to thee by receiving baptism at thy hands; the time has not yet come for me to assume my destined position. Becometh us. Some understand ’us’ of Jesus alone, but against all probability, since in the preceding verse persons were emphatic, both made and since the reference to John as well as himself suits the connection. John thought it would be presumption in him, and unworthy condescension in this superior personage, if he should baptize Jesus; but Jesus declares it quite appropriate, becoming, for them both—putting the declaration, however, in the form of a general statement: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness, ’every (kind of) righteousness.’ Fulfil, see on "Mat 1:22", here signifies to perform fully. Baptism was divinely commanded (see Mat 21:25), and though coupled with the confession of sin and avowal of repentance, was at the welcome the approach of the reign of heaven, and of a desire to share therein. It wan therefore right for all good men to be baptized; and Jesus, as a man, was under obligations to do whatever was incumbent on other good men. The remarkable relation which he and John sustained to each other and to the kingdom of heaven, did not prevent its being proper for each of them fully to perform everything that was righteous; and so i in this case did not prevent its being proper that he should be baptized, and that John should baptize him. (Compare Gill). Such seems to be the obvious and simple meaning of this expression.

[1] The rendering of Rev. Ver., ’would have hindered him,’ gives the idea with tolerable success. But to call this (Bishop Lightfoot on Revision) a "conditional sense of the imperfect " is quite unwarranted and unwise, for it is merely carrying back into the Greek a conception suggested by the approximate translation into English. It is instructive to observe how often able grammarians fall into this mistake of first translating, and then supposing the original to contain the same forms of conception as the conjectural translation.

But many theories have been presented as to the significance and propriety of our Lord’s baptism. (1) Some hold that Jesus was baptized as a consecration to the office and work of Messiah. But was purification a consecration? It was sometimes preliminary to consecration, but the latter was effected by laying on the altar. And if the Messiah, ’the anointed,’ was to be consecrated by any ceremony, it would naturally have been by anointing. (2) Others say that in baptism he was consecrated as priest. But Jesus wan not literally a priest. He had no connection whatever with the priestly line, and he did not do the work of a Jewish priest. As "a priest after the order of Melchizedek " he had nothing to do with ceremonies. (3) Many have adopted the view given already by Justin Martyr ("Tryph. "88): "Jesus did not come to the river as himself needing to be baptized, or needing the Spirit’s descent upon him; but just as he was born and crucified not as needing them but for the benefit of the human race, so".... while men thought of him as a carpenter, "the Holy Spirit for the sake of mankind flew down upon him in the form of a dove," and a voice declared him the Son of God. (So in substance Chrys., Euthym). This view, as developed and expressed in modern theological phrase, is that he was baptized vicariously. (Compare Joh 1:29) But what Christ did for men vicariously he did because men could not do it and that they might escape the penalty of their failure; was that in any sense true of baptism? Justin’s statement is in a general sense true, but the vicarious theory cannot be sustained. In general, we ought to beware of forcing the ideas of vicarious action and imputed righteousness upon those portions of Scripture which do not clearly present them. (4) A recent writer (Kirtley on "Design of Baptism") says that the chief object of the baptism of Jesus was to symbolize at the beginning the crowning acts of his work; that our Lord" did ’fulfil all righteousness,’ actually in his work, symbolically in his baptism"; and that he "associates his followers with himself in this matter," saying, "In this ordinance it is fitting that I and my followers should fulfil all righteousness." This fancy is ingenious but far-fetched, and the latter part quite baseless, (5) The simple and natural view, for all who do not insist on carrying back the Pauline doctrine of imputed righteousness, is the one already stated. It was proper for all devout Jews to be baptized; therefore it was proper for Jesus. If one so deeply, though hitherto quietly devout, had stayed away from the ministry and baptism of the new prophet, it would have been setting a very bad example, unless explained; and explanation of his future position and work could not then be given, even if it was then entirely plain to his own mind. Notwithstanding the peculiar mission of John and Jesus, it was becoming that they should fully perform everything righteous. (So in substance, Meyer, Ewald, Bleek, Farrar, Geikie, Edersh.; Grotius already, and compare Calvin. Davidson translates ’every duty.’ Hase, Keim, and others, regard baptism in the case of Jesus as simply a vow of devotion to the approaching Messianic reign, which is part of the truth).. A somewhat similar case occurs in Mat 17:24 ff. Jesus there intimates that he might, as the Son of God, claim exemption from the payment of the temple contributions, but that the rulers might make his refusal an excuse for rejecting him, and so he will do as all devout Jews do, and pay it.

Mat 3:16. Straightway, or, immediately. The stress laid on his going up immediately might possibly be understood as meaning that whereas in that warm climate the newly baptized often stood some time in the river, waiting till others had been baptized and many could ascend together, Jesus was alone in this matter and ascended without delay. Euthymius mentions the view that others were detained by John in the water till they confessed their sins, and Jesus went up immediately because he had no sins to confess; but it would seem much more likely that the confession was made before than after the baptism. The true explanation seems to be furnished by Mark, who says (Mar 1:10), ’and straightway, coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened.’ This makes it likely that in Matthew also the real thought is that the opening of the heavens and descent of the dove followed immediately upon the baptism. Events followed each other quickly-baptized, ascended, saw. (Keim.) The sense is brought out by putting only a comma after ’water,’ and reading right on. Luk 3:21 has not the word ’immediately,’ but what he says is to the same effect. Out of, or, from. This preposition does not in itself show whether he had been in the water. The correct text in Mar 1:10 is ’out of,’ and does show that he had been in the water; and so in Act 8:39. When we say that a person has just come ’from the house,’ ’from the town,’ we regard the house or town, so far as this expression is concerned, as the point of departure; the circumstances will usually indicate whether he was in the house or town before coming;. (e.g., Act 13:13, Act 16:11, Act 25:1) So the same action is frequently described by ’from’ and ’out of,’ the latter expressly stating what the former leaves to be understood. Thus in Mat 7:4, Rev. Ver.: ’Let me cast out the mote from thine eye,’ (most MSS.); and in Mat 3:5, ’out of thine eye.’ In Mat 17:18, departed, or came forth from him, while Mar 9:25 has ’out of him.’ Compare on Mat 24:1. So in Tob 6:8. ’A fish leaped up from the river, and wished to devour the lad.’ Certainly the fish had been in the river. Here in Matthew the connection and circumstances make it plain that Jesus had been in the water, and so Tyndale translated ’out of,’ followed by other English versions down to the common version. Even the Rheims, abandoning Wyclif’s ’fro,’ and taking liberties with the Vulgate de, renders ’out of.’ The correct translation in Matthew is however ’from,’ and so all recent versions. But the rendering of the older versions shows that they plainly saw what the facts were. (Tyndale and his followers render similarly in Mat 14:13 and Luk 12:54. Textus Receptus) As to the exact force of the expression ’out of’ (Mark and Acts) in such a case, compare below on Mat 17:9, literally, ’out of the mountain.’ This means that they had been in, within, the limits represented by the mountain, though not under its soil. And so it is conceivable that ’out of the river,’ if that were the expression here, might under peculiar circumstances be used where one had only been amid the reeds on the shore, or under the steep bank—anywhere within the space denoted by the river (compare on Mat 3:6). Such an expression would be possible in such a sense, however unlikely to be used. But ’out of the water’ must signify that the person had been within the limits denoted by the water; and the bank, though in some sense a part of the river, is in no sense a part of the water. Of course these expressions do not of themselves show that the person has been enveloped in the water; we may speak of a man as ’in the water’ when he is simply standing in it. It would thus be possible—however improbable and unnatural if we had no guide here but the preposition ’out of’ in Mark and the circumstances in Matthew, to understand that Jesus merely stood in the stream and had water put upon his head. But when these expressions stand in connection with baptize, which everybody agrees primarily and commonly meant ’immerse’, then the inference is inevitable.

The heavens were opened unto him,[1] not merely signifying so that he could see into the heavens, but for him, for his benefit, so as to affect or concern him. ’Him’ is naturally understood as referring to Jesus, the subject of the preceding clause. Some writers urge that John is the subject of the preceding verses, and thus of the whole connection; but Mat 3:16 introduces a distinct subdivision of the narrative.—Luke mentions (Luk 3:21) that Jesus was at the time praying.—The opening of the heavens was doubtless an actual miraculous appearance, such as is frequently mentioned elsewhere. (Eze 1:1 Isa 64:1 Act 7:56 Rev 4:1) Mark, in his vivid way has, literally, ’he saw the heavens splitting,’ in the act of parting asunder. And he saw, i. e., Jesus saw. Mark (Mar 1:10) unmistakably refers the seeing to Jesus, and it is natural so to understand here. Some say that, if so, ’him’ at the end of the sentence would have to be ’himself,’ but this is a mistake (Winer, 151 189. Compare Joh 1:48). We learn from Joh 1:32 that the Baptizer also saw, as it had been promised he should. Luke merely states the objective fact that the heaven opened and the Spirit descended, without saying who saw. We cannot decide whether any one else than Jesus and John saw and heard, but probably not. On the occasion spoken of in Joh 12:28 if., the people heard a sound from heaven, which they thought was thunder, but did not distinguish words. At the appearance of Jesus to Saul, (Act 9:7, Act 22:9) they that were with him saw the light and heard a sound, but did not distinguish the words. So probably here. True, the testimony as given by Matthew, ’This is,’ etc., was addressed to some other than Jesus himself, but it is enough to understand that it was addressed to John, as in Joh 17:5 to but a few persons. John shortly afterwards (Joh 1:32-34) testified to what he had seen. Descending like a dove, literally, as if. The expression leaves it doubtful whether the comparison is with the form of a dove, or with a dove’s manner of descending. Precisely the same expression ’as if’ is employed by Mark, Luke, and John. (Joh 1:32) Luke says, ’descended in bodily shape, like (as if) a dove,’ which naturally, though not necessarily, indicates that it was in the shape of a dove. Expositors are here greatly divided. But it is certain that some bodily form was assumed. That of the gentle and guileless dove (compare Mat 10:16) would be natural and suggestive, while a dove’s manner of descending is hardly so peculiar and striking that a mere resemblance to it in movement would have been carefully recorded by each of the Evangelists. It seems therefore reasonable to adhere to the ancient opinion (Justin Martyr, Origen, Chrys., and others), that the Spirit descended in the form of a dove. It has been often repeated that a Rabbinical interpretation of Gen 1:2, likens the Spirit of God ’brooding upon the face of the waters’ to a dove. But Edersheim, Vol I., p. 287, quite explains this away, and also states that the Targum on Son 2:12, which declares ’the voice of the turtle’ to be the voice of the Holy Spirit, dates considerably later than the Talmud. So there seems to be no ground for the Jewish claim, that this appearance of a dove has earlier Rabbinical parallels. Yet if the claim were well supported, it would not be surprising. We recognize it as one of the excellencies of the Scriptures, that the form of the revelation is constantly in accordance with the modes of conception natural to man, and even sometimes conformed to the peculiar ways of thinking of the people chosen to receive it. Compare on Mat 7:3-5. Morison quotes Varenius as saying,"It was not as an eagle, but as a dove; an animal corresponding among birds to the lamb among beasts." And lighting, or coming, upon him. It was idle to translate the plain ’coming’ by ’lighting.’ The Baptizer afterwards testified (Joh 1:32) that it ’abode,’ or ’remained, on him,’ i. e., probably for some time, thus symbolizing the great fact that the Mediator was to be henceforth permanently and peculiarly in union with and under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Accordingly we find immediately after (Mat 4:1) that Jesus is said to be ’led up by the Spirit,’ etc. (Compare Joh 3:34) The coming of the Spirit upon our Lord was so very peculiar in its relation to his office, that we are scarcely warranted in taking it as the ground of a petition that the Spirit would bless any ordinary baptismal occasion. Such a blessing should be fervently sought, but hardly on this ground.

[1] ’Unto him’ is wanting in several of the earliest and best authorities, and not found in Luk 3:21. It might have seemed to some copyists and translators out of place, as appearing to confine the view to him. The question is difficult, and unimportant, but the expression is mast probably genuine.

Mat 3:17. And lo! a voice from[1]—out of—heaven—rather, the heavens, plural, as in the preceding verse (see on Mat 3:2). So Mark, while Luke uses the singular. We also often say ’heaven’ and ’the heavens’ indifferently. The Talmud has many stories of a voice from heaven, coming to decide questions, to commend certain teachers, etc., and calls it Bath kol, ’daughter of a voice,’ perhaps meaning a faint sound as if coming from a great distance. See Lf., Gill, Wunsche. Edersh. insists that there is no real analogy between the Bath kol and this voice from heaven. There is no intrinsic objection to the idea of a resemblance. Here also, as in Mat 3:16, we see that revelation adapts its choice of a form to the popular mind. Other instances of a voice from heaven, see in Joh 12:28; and to a certain extent in Mat 17:5; Act 9:4; Rev 1:10. Compare Act 2:2. This is. Mar 1:11 (according to the best authorities for the text) and Luk 3:22, have ’Thou art my beloved son, in thee,’ etc. Of course, it cannot be that both of these are the words actually spoken. As to the authenticity of the narrative, such slight and wholly unimportant variations really confirm it, being precisely such as always occur in the independent testimony of different witnesses. As to the complete inspiration of the Scriptures, we must accept it as one of the facts of the case that the inspired writers not infrequently report merely the substance of what was said, without aiming to give the exact words. So, for example, at the institution of the Supper (Mat 26:26 ff.), in Gethsemane (Mat 26:39 ff.), in the inscription on the cross (Mat 27:37), etc. In some instances of such variation we may suppose that the exact expressions given by the different writers were all employed in the connection, but in other cases that hypothesis is unwarranted. While such facts as these should make us cautious in theorizing as to verbal inspiration, they do not require us to lay aside the belief that the inspiration of Scripture is complete, that the inspired writers have everywhere told us just what God would have us know.

[1] Tyndale and followers translated apo by ’out of’ in Mat 3:16, and ek by ’from’ in Mat 3:17.

The words spoken are the same that were uttered on the Mount of Transfiguration. (Mat 17:5; 2Pe 1:17.) The person referred to was known in that case by the transfigured appearance, and here by the descent of the dove upon him. The Greek is more emphatic: ’this is my son, the beloved.’—There is no propriety in saying, with some expositors, that ’beloved’ signifies ’only begotten.’ As applied to our Lord, the two terms are to a certain extent equivalent, and they are sometimes confounded by the Sept. translators, but there is of course, a distinction between them. In whom I am—or, was—well pleased, or, ’in whom I delighted.’ The tense of the verb may be understood as denoting what took place at some indefinite past time, and from the nature of the case still holds good; as in Mat 23:2, literally, ’The Scribes and the Pharisees sat down in Moses’ seat,’ and j so are sitting there now—where in English we should say, ’have sat down.’ (So Winer, 278 347, Buttm., 198.) If this view be l adopted, the rendering of the Common Version expresses the substantial meaning pretty well. But the Greek tense more naturally denotes some past time, to be determined from the connection, from the nature of the case, or from other teachings of Scripture. The time here referred to might be that indicated by Psa 2:7; by Isa 42:1 (which is perhaps alluded to here, and is quoted below in Mat 12:18); also by Joh 17:24 Eph 1:4. In the depths of eternity, before creation began, God loved, delighted in, his Eternal Son; and now at the baptism and the transfiguration, he bears witness to him, alluding to such declarations as the above, and saying: ’This is my Son, the beloved, in whom my soul delighted.’ This latter explanation is perhaps preferable, but it is hard to decide; and both agree as to the main resulting sense, that the Father delights in him now. This declaration might make more real to the human mind of Jesus that peculiar sonship to God of which he had in childhood already indicated consciousness. (Luk 2:49) Such a view connects itself (Calvin) with the fact that he was praying (Luk 3:21-22) when the voice came. It was also a commendation of him to John, who soon after bore witness before all (Joh 1:34) ’that this is the Son of God’; just as at the transfiguration the voice came to the three disciples also, who were to testify at the proper time. (Mat 17:9.)—Apocryphal writers in the second and third centuries make fanciful additions to this account, as that a great light shone round the place, that a fire was kindled in the Jordan (perhaps a fancy wrought out of Mat 3:11), and that the voice added, ’I to-day have begotten thee.’

Homiletical And Practical

Keil: "The baptism of Jesus the culmination of John’s ministry, and the beginning of that of Jesus." Ewald: "The birth-hour of Christianity." Unknown in Aquinas: "As when the morning star has risen, the sun does not wait for that star to set, but rising as it goes forward, gradually obscures its brightness; so Christ waited not for John to finish his course, but appeared while he yet taught."

Mat 3:13. Importance of Baptism: Not as carrying with it regeneration, or procuring remission, but (1) an imitation of Christ’s example; (2) an act of Christ’s own appointment Mat 28:19; (3) an oath of allegiance to Christ, ’in the name’; (4) a symbol of purification from sin through Christ, Act 22:16 (5) a symbol of burial and resurrection in union with Christ, Rom 6:4.

Rom 6:14. How often are well-meant but utterly mistaken efforts made to dissuade persons from what is entirely right. Such efforts frequently proceed, as here, from the misapplication of something that is true.—John’s twofold difficulty (compare Lange); (1) to baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees, who were unworthy of his baptism; (2) To baptize Jesus, of whom his baptism was unworthy.—John’s baptism highly honoured: (1) It was of divine appointment, Joh 1:33; (2) It gave name to his whole work, ’the baptism of John’ (Mat 21:25), John the Baptizer; (3) It was received by great multitudes; (4) Even the Saviour submitted to it; (5) Jesus baptized on like conditions, (Joh 3:22, Joh 4:1-2; Mar 1:14).

Joh 1:15. Here for the first time in this Gospel our Lord presents an example to us. Let us be careful in all that follows to seek his footsteps and learn to walk in them. (1Pe 2:21; 1Jn 2:6; 1Co 11:1)—A regard for what is becoming requires us not merely to consider the opinions of mankind, but our own real character and relations. To consider in this high sense what becomes us, is an exalted and inspiring view of life. Compare Heb 2:10.—Our Lord’s baptism as an example: (1) It is right for those who wish to take part in the Messiah’s reign to be baptized. (Jesus regarded this as a part of righteousness.) (2) The most extraordinary character and circumstances do not make it becoming to neglect this duty. (3) The mistaken opposition of devout friends should not prevent our performing it. (4) Loving obedience is apt to be followed by an approving testimony. Henry: "They who are of greatest attainments in gifts and graces should yet in their place bear their testimony to instituted ordinances by a humble and diligent attendance on them, that they may give a good example to others." Ambrose: "Also like a wise master inculcating his doctrines as much by his own practice as by word of mouth, he did that which he commanded his disciples to do. The Roman Cato said, ’Submit to the law which thou thyself hast enacted.’ "

Heb 2:16. Griffith: "Just as the ’veil of the temple was rent in twain’ to symbolize the perfect access of all men to God, (Heb 10:19-20) so here the heavens are ’rent asunder’ (same Greek word), to show how near God is to Jesus and Jesus is to God. So in Joh 1:51, Rev. Ver., ’Ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels ascending and descending’ (to and fro between me and God), that is, You shall see that I am living in uninterrupted communication with the Father." —Luther: "Highest things. (1) The highest preacher, God. (2) The highest pulpit, the heavens. (3) The highest sermon: ’This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ "

John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (American Baptist Publication Society, 1886) — 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.

Chapter 4

His Baptism - Mat_3:13-17.

"THE baptism of John, was it from Heaven or of men?" This question must have been asked throughout the length and breadth of the land in the days of his mission. We know how it was answered; for even after the excitement had died away, we are told that "all men counted John for a prophet." This conviction would of course prevail in Nazareth as well as everywhere else. When, therefore, the Baptist removed from the wilderness of Judea and the lower reaches of the Jordan to the ford of Bethany, or Bethabara, -now identified with a point much farther north, within a single days journey of Nazareth, -the people of Galilee would flock to him, as before the people of Judea and Jerusalem had done. Among the rest, as might naturally be expected, Jesus came. It was enough for Him to know that the baptism of John was of Divine appointment. He was in all things guided by His Fathers will, to whom He would day by day commit His way. Accordingly, just as day by day He had been subject to His parents, and just as He had seen it to be right to go up to the Temple in accordance with the Law, so He recognised it to be His duty to present Himself, as His countrymen in such large numbers were doing, to receive baptism from John. The manner of the narrative implies that He came, not as if He were some great person demanding special recognition, but as simply and naturally as any of the rest: "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptised of him."

John looks at Him. Does he know Him at all? Perhaps not; for though they are cousins, their lives have been lived quite apart. Before their birth their mothers met; but it is doubtful if they themselves have seen each other before, and even if they have, in earlier years, they may both be so changed that recognition is uncertain. The one has had his home in the South; the other in the North. Besides, the elder of the two has spent his life mostly in the desert, so that probably he is a stranger now even to his own townspeople, and his father and mother, both very old when he was born, must be dead and gone long ago. Perhaps, then, John did not know Jesus at all; certainly he did not yet know Him as the Messiah. But he sees something in Him that draws forth the homage of his soul, Or possibly he gathers his impressions rather from what Jesus says. All the rest have confessed sin; He has no sin of His own to confess. But words would no doubt be spoken that would convey to the Baptist how this disciple looked on sin, how the very thought of it filled Him with horror, how His whole soul longed for the righteousness of God, how it was a sacred passion with Him that sin should perish from the hearts of men, and righteousness reign in its place. Whether then, it was by His appearance, the clear eye, the calm face, - an open window for the prophet to look through into His soul, - or whether it was by the words He spoke as He claimed a share in the baptism, or both combined, John was taken aback-surprised a second time, though in just the opposite way to that in which he had been surprised before. The same eagle eye that saw through the mask of Pharisee and Sadducee could penetrate the veil of humility and obscurity; so he said: "I have need to be baptised of Thee, and comest Thou to me?"

Think of the majesty of this John. Remember how he bore himself in presence of the Pharisees and Sadducees; and how he faced Herod, telling him plainly, at the risk of his life, as it afterwards proved, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brothers wife." Remember that all Judea, and Jerusalem, and Galilee had been bowing down in his presence; and now, when an obscure nameless One of Nazareth comes to him, only as yet distinguished from others by the holiness of His life and the purity of His soul, John would not have Him bow in his presence, but would himself bend low before Him: "I have need to be baptised of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" Oh, for more of that grand combination of lofty courage and lowly reverence! Verily, "among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist."

But Jesus answering said unto him, "Suffer it now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" (R.V.). Though about to enter on His Messianic work, He has not yet taken its burden on Him; accordingly He comes, not as Messiah, but in the simplest and most unassuming way; content still, as He has been all along till now, to be reckoned simply as of Israel. This is what we take to be the force of the plural pronoun "us."

On the other hand, it should be remembered that Jesus must have recognised in the summons to the Jordan a call to commence His work as Messiah. He would certainly have heard from His mother of the prophetic words which had been spoken concerning His cousin and Himself; and would, therefore, as soon as He heard of the mission of John, know well what it meant-He could not but know that John was preparing the way before Him, and therefore that His time was close at hand. Of this, too, we have an indication in His answer to the expostulation of John. "Suffer it now," He says; as if to say, I am as yet only one of Israel; My time is at hand, when I must take the position to which I am called, but meantime I come as the rest come: "Suffer it now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."

While then Jesus came simply in obedience to the will of God, He must have come with a very heavy burden. His study of the Scriptures must have made Him painfully familiar with the dark prospects before Him. Well did He know that the path of the Messiah must be one of suffering, that He must be despised and rejected, that He must be wounded for the peoples transgressions and bruised for their iniquity; that, in a word, He must be the suffering Priest before He can be the reigning King, This thought of His priesthood must have been especially borne in upon Him now that He had just reached the priestly age. In His thirteenth year-the Temple age-He had gone to the Temple, and now at the age when the priest is consecrated to his office, He is summoned to the Jordan, to be baptised by one whom He knows to be sent of God to prepare the way before Him. Those Scriptures, then, which speak of the priestly office the Messiah must fill, must have been very much in His mind as He came to John and offered Himself to be baptised. And of all these Scriptures none would seem more appropriate at the moment than those words of the fortieth Psalm: "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God."

At this point we can readily see the appropriateness of His baptism, and also an element in common between it and that of the people. They had come professing to be willing to do the will of God by turning from sin to righteousness. He had no need to turn from sin to do the will of God: but He had to turn from the quiet and peaceful home life at Nazareth, that He might take up the burden laid upon Him as Messiah. So He as well as they had to leave the old life and begin a new one; and in this we can see how fitting it was that He as well as they should be baptised. Then, just as by baptism-the symbol, in their case, of separation from sin and consecration to God-John made "ready a people prepared for the Lord"; so by baptism-the symbol, in His case, of separation from private life and consecration to God in the office of Messiah, -the Lord was made ready for the people. By baptism John opened the door of the new Kingdom. From the wilderness of sin the people entered it as subjects; from the seclusion of private life Jesus entered it as King and Priest. They came under a vow of obedience unto Him; He came under a vow of obedience unto death, even the death of the Cross.

This, then, is the moment of His taking up the Cross. It is indeed the assumption of His royalty as Messiah-King; but then He knew that He must suffer and die before He could enter on His glory; therefore, as the first great duty before Him, He takes up the Cross. In this we can see a still further appropriateness in the words already quoted, as is suggested in the well-known passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God." Ah, who can understand the love in the heart of Jesus, who can measure the sacrifice He makes, as He bends before John, and is baptised into the name of "the Christ," the Saviour of mankind!

The act of solemn consecration is over. He comes up out of the water. And lo, the heavens are opened, and the Spirit of God descends upon Him, and a voice from heaven calls, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased."

"The heavens were opened." What was the precise natural phenomenon witnessed we can only conjecture, but whatever it was, it was but a symbol of the spiritual opening of the heavens. The heaven of Gods love and of all holy Angels, shut from man by sin, was opened again by the Christ of God. Nothing could be more appropriate, therefore, than that just at the moment when the Holy One of Israel had bowed Himself to take up His heavy burden, when for the first time it was possible to say, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!" the heavens should open to welcome Him, and in welcoming Him, the Sin-bearer, to welcome all whose sins He came to take away.

"And He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him." This was His anointing for the work He had come to do. The priests of the line of Aaron had been anointed with oil: He was anointed with that of which the oil was but a symbol, -the Holy-Spirit descending from the open heaven. From His birth, indeed, He had been guided by the Spirit of God. But up to this time He had, as we have seen, nothing more than was needed to minister to that growth in wisdom which had been going on in private life these thirty years, nothing more than was necessary to guide Him day by day in His quiet, unexacting duties at home. Now He needs far more. Now He must receive the Spirit without measure, in the fulness of His grace and power; hence the organic form of the symbol. The emblem used when the apostles were baptised with the Holy Ghost was tongues of fire, indicating the partial nature of the endowment; here it is the dove, suggesting the idea of completeness and, at the same time, as every one sees, of beauty, gentleness, peace, and love. Again let it be remembered that it is on Him as our representative that the Spirit descends, that His baptism with the Holy Ghost is in order that He may be ready to fulfil the word of John, "He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Heaven opened above Him means all heavenly blessings prepared for those who follow Him into the new Kingdom. The descent of the Spirit means the bestowment on Him and His of heavens best gift as an earnest of all the rest.

Last of all there is the voice, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," spoken not merely to Himself individually, -all along, in the personal sense, He was Gods beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased, -but to the Messiah, as the Representative and Head of a new redeemed humanity, as the First-born among many brethren, as One who at the very moment was undertaking suretyship on behalf of all who had already received Him or should in the ages to come receive Him as their Priest and King-"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual and heavenly blessings in Him: with an open heaven, a present Spirit, a reconciled Fathers voice. Blessed be our loving Lord and Saviour that He came so humbly to the Jordan, stooped so bravely to the yoke, took up our heavy Cross, and carried it through these sorrowful years to the bitter, bitter end. And blessed be the Holy Spirit of all grace, that He abode on Him, and abides with us. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us all!

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

Mat_3:13. Τότε] at that time, when John thus preached the advent of the Messiah, and baptized the people, Mat_3:1-12.

ἀπὸ τ. Γαλιλ.] See Mat_2:23. It belongs to παραγ. The position is different in Mat_2:1.

τοῦ βαπτισθ. ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ] Jesus wished to be baptized by John (genitive, as in Mat_2:13), but not in the personal feeling of sinfulness (B. Bauer, Strauss, Pécaut), or as the bearer of the guilt of others (Riggenbach, Krafft); not even because He, through His connection of responsibility with the unclean people, was unclean according to the Levitical law (Lange), or because He believed that He was obliged to regard the collective guilt of the nation as His guilt (Schenkel); just as little in order to separate Himself inwardly from the sins of the nation (Baumgarten), or make it certain that His σὰρξ ἀσθενείας should not be opposed to the life of the Spirit (Hofrnann, Weissag. und Erfüll. II. p. 82), or because the meaning of the baptism is: the declaration that He is subjected to death for the human race (Ebrard); not even to bring in here the divine decision as to His Messiahship (Paulus), or to lay the foundation for the faith of others in Him, so far as baptism is a symbol of the regeneration of those who confess Him (Ammon, L. J. I. p. 268), or in order to honour the baptism of John by His example (Calvin, Kuinoel, Keim), or to bind Himself to the observance of the law (Hofmann, Krabbe, Osiander); or because He had to conduct Himself, before the descent of the Spirit, merely as an Israelite in general. The opinion also of Schleiermacher, that the baptism of Jesus was the symbolical beginning of His announcement of Himself, and, at the same time, a recognition of Johns mission, is foreign to the text. The true meaning appears from Mat_3:15, namely, because Jesus was consciously certain that He must, agreeably to Gods will, subject Himself to the baptism of His forerunner, in order (Mat_3:16-17) to receive the Messianic consecration; that is, the divine declaration that He was the Messiah (ἵνα ἀναδειχθῇ τῷ λαῷ, Euth. Zigabenus), and thereby to belong from that moment solely and entirely to this great vocation. The Messianic consciousness is not to be regarded as first commencing in Him at the baptism, so that He would be inwardly born, by means of baptism, to be the Messiah, and would become conscious of His divine destination, to full purification and regeneration as the new duty of His life; but the πρέπον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν, Mat_3:15, presupposes a clear certainty regarding His vocation; and Johns relation to the same, as in general the existence of that consciousness, must have been the necessary result of His own consciousness, which had attained the maturity of human development, that He was the Son of God. But that baptism, to which He felt certain that He must submit Himself, was to be for Him the divine ordination to the Messiahship. It is clear, according to this, that His baptism was quite different from that of others, so far as in Him, as a sinless being, there could be no confession of sin; but the lustrative character of the baptism could only have the meaning, that from that moment He was taken away from all His previous relations of life which belonged to the earthly sphere, and became, altogether and exclusively, the Holy One of God, whom the Father consecrated by the Spirit. Although He was this God-sanctified One from the beginning, yet now, as He was aware that this was the will of God, He has, by the assumption of baptism, solemnly bound and devoted Himself to the full execution of His unique destiny,a devotion which was already more than a vow (Keim), because it was the actual entrance into the Messianic path of life, which was to receive at the very threshold its divine legitimation for all future time. In so doing, He could, without any consciousness of guilt (Mat_11:29), associate Himself, in all humility (Mat_11:29), with the multitude of those whom the feeling of guilt impelled to baptism; because in His own consciousness there was still the negation of absolute moral goodness, to which He, long afterwards, expressly gave so decided expression (Mat_19:17).

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.

Mat 3:13-17 . Jesus appears, His baptism and its accompaniments (Mar 1:9-11 ; Luk 3:21-22 ).

Mat 3:13 . Τότε παρα . ο Ἰ .… Γαλιλαίας : then , after John had described the Messiah, appears on the scene ( παραγίνεται , the historical present again, as in Mat 3:1 , with dramatic effect) from Galilee , where He has lived since childhood, Jesus , the real Christ; how widely different from the Christ conceived by the Baptist we know from the whole evangelic history. But shutting off knowledge gathered from other sources, we may obtain significant hints concerning the stranger from Galilee from the present narrative. He comes ἐπὶ τὸν Ι . πρὸς τὸν Ἰωαν ., τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ . These words at once suggest a contrast between Jesus and the Pharisees and Sadducees. They came to the baptism as a phenomenon to be critically observed. Jesus comes to the Jordan ( ἐπὶ ), towards the Baptist ( πρὸς ) to enter into personal friendly relations with him ( vide Joh 1:1 , πρὸς τὸν θεόν ), in order to be baptised by him (genitive of the infinitive expressing purpose). Jesus comes thoroughly in sympathy with John’s movement, sharing his passion for righteousness, fully appreciating the symbolic significance of his baptism, and not only willing, but eager to be baptised; the Jordan in His mind from the day He leaves home. A very different person this from the leaders of Israel, Pharisaic or Sadducaic. But the sequel suggests a contrast also between Him and John himself.

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

Christ sanctified our baptism in himself.

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

Our Lord Jesus, from his childhood till now, when he was almost thirty years of age, had lain hid in Galilee, as it were, buried alive; but now, after a long and dark night, behold, the Sun of righteousness rises in glory. The fulness of time was come that Christ should enter upon his prophetical office; and he chooses to do it, not at Jerusalem (though it is probable that he went thither at the three yearly feasts, as others did), but there where John was baptizing; for to him resorted those who waited for the consolation of Israel, to whom alone he would be welcome. John the Baptist was six months older than our Saviour, and it is supposed that he began to preach and baptize about six months before Christ appeared; so long he was employed in preparing his way, in the region round about Jordan; and more was done towards it in these six months than had been done in several ages before. Christ's coming from Galilee to Jordan, to be baptized, teaches us not the shrink from pain and toil, that we may have an opportunity of drawing nigh to God in ordinance. We should be willing to go far, rather than come short of communion with God. Those who will find must seek.

Now in this story of Christ's baptism we may observe,

I. How hardly John was persuaded to admit of it, Mat 3:14, Mat 3:15. It was an instance of Christ's great humility, that he would offer himself to be baptized of John; that he who knew no sin would submit to the baptism of repentance. Note, As soon as ever Christ began to preach, he preached humility, preached it by his example, preached it to all, especially the young ministers. Christ was designed for the highest honours, yet in his first step he thus abases himself. Note, Those who would rise high must begin low. Before honour is humility. It was a great piece of respect done to John, for Christ thus to come to him; and it was a return for the service he did him, in giving notice of his approach. Note, Those that honour God he will honour. Now here we have,

1. The objection that John made against baptizing Jesus, Mat 3:14. John forbade him, as Peter did, when Christ went about to wash his feet, Joh 13:6, Joh 13:8. Note, Christ's gracious condescensions are so surprising, as to appear at first incredible to the strongest believers; so deep and mysterious, that even they who know his mind well cannot soon find out the meaning of them, but, by reason of darkness, start objections against the will of Christ. John's modesty thinks this an honour too great for him to receive, and he expresses himself to Christ, just as his mother had done to Christ's mother (Luk 1:43); Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? John had now obtained a great name, and was universally respected: yet see how humble he is still! Note, God has further honours in reserve for those whose spirits continue low when their reputation rises.

(1.) John thinks it necessary that he should be baptized of Christ; I have need to be baptized of thee with the baptism of the Holy Ghost, as of fire, for that was Christ's baptism, Mat 3:11. [1.] Though John was filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb (Luk 1:15), yet he acknowledges he had need to be baptized with that baptism. Note, They who have much of the Spirit of God, yet, while here, in this imperfect state, see that they have need of more, and need to apply themselves to Christ for more. [2.] John has need to be baptized, though he was the greatest that ever was born of woman; yet, being born of a woman, he is polluted, as others of Adam's seed are, and owns he had need of cleansing. Note, The purest souls are most sensible of their own remaining impurity, and seek most earnestly for spiritual washing. [3.] He has need to be baptized of Christ, who can do that for us, which no one else can, and which must be done for us, or we are undone. Note, The best and holiest of men have need of Christ, and the better they are, the more they see of that need. [4.] This was said before the multitude, who had a great veneration for John, and were ready to embrace him for the Messiah; yet he publicly owns that he had need to be baptized of Christ. Note, It is no disparagement to the greatest of men, to confess that they are undone without Christ and his grace. [5.] John was Christ's forerunner, and yet owns that he had need to be baptized of him. Note, Even they who were born before Christ in time depended on him, received from him, and had an eye to him. [6.] While John was dealing with others about their souls, observe how feelingly he speaks of the case of his own soul, I have need to be baptized of thee. Note, Ministers, who preach to others, and baptize others, are concerned to look to it that they preach to themselves, and be themselves baptized with the Holy Ghost. Take heed to thyself first; save thyself, Ti1 4:16.

(2.) He therefore thinks it very preposterous and absurd, that Christ should be baptized by him; Comest thou to me? Does the holy Jesus, that is separated from sinners, come to be baptized by a sinner, as a sinner, and among sinners? How can this be? Or what account can we give of it? Note, Christ's coming to us may well be wondered at.

2. The overruling of this objection (Mat 3:15); Jesus said, Suffer it to be so now. Christ accepted his humility, but not his refusal; he will have the thing done; and it is fit that Christ should take his own method, though we do not understand it, nor can give a reason for it. See,

(1.) How Christ insisted upon it; It must be so now. He does not deny that John had need to be baptized of him, yet he will now be baptized of John. Aphes arti - Let it be yet so; suffer it to be so now. Note, Every thing is beautiful in its season. But why now? Why yet? [1.] Christ is now in a state of humiliation: he has emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation. He is not only found in fashion as a man, but is made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and therefore now let him be baptized of John; as if he needed to be washed, though perfectly pure; and thus he was made sin for us, though he knew no sin. [2.] John's baptism is now in reputation, it is that by which God is now doing his work; that is the present dispensation, and therefore Jesus will now be baptized with water; but his baptizing with the Holy Ghost is reserved for hereafter, many days hence, Act 1:5. John's baptism has now its day, and therefore honour must now be put upon that, and they who attend upon it must be encouraged. Note, They who are of greatest attainments in gifts and graces, should yet, in their place, bear their testimony to instituted ordinances, by a humble and diligent attendance on them, that they may give a good example to others. What we see God owns, and while we see he does so, we must own. John was now increasing, and therefore it must be thus yet; shortly he will decrease, and then it will be otherwise. [3.] It must be so now, because now is the time for Christ's appearing in public, and this will be a fair opportunity for it, See Joh 1:31-34. Thus he must be made manifest to Israel, and be signalized by wonders from heaven, in that act of his own, which was most condescending and self-abasing.

(2.) The reason he gives for it; Thus it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness. Note, [1.] There was a propriety in every thing that Christ did for us; it was all graceful (Heb 2:10; Heb 7:26); and we must study to do not only that which behoves us, but that which becomes us; not only that which is indispensably necessary, but that which is lovely, and of good report. [2.] Our Lord Jesus looked upon it as a thing well becoming him, to fulfil all righteousness, that is (as Dr. Whitby explains it), to own every divine institution, and to show his readiness to comply with all God's righteous precepts. Thus it becomes him to justify God, and approve his wisdom, in sending John to prepare his way by the baptism of repentance. Thus it becomes us to countenance and encourage every thing that is good, by pattern as well as precept. Christ often mentioned John and his baptism with honour, which that he might do the better, he was himself baptized. Thus Jesus began first to do, and then to teach; and his ministers must take the same method. Thus Christ filled up the righteousness of the ceremonial law, which consisted in divers washings; thus he recommended the gospel-ordinance of baptism to his church, put honour upon it, and showed what virtue he designed to put into it. It became Christ to submit to John's washing with water, because it was a divine appointment; but it became him to oppose the Pharisees' washing with water, because it was a human invention and imposition; and he justified his disciples in refusing to comply with it.

With the will of Christ, and this reason for it, John was entirely satisfied, and then he suffered him. The same modesty which made him at first decline the honour Christ offered him, now made him do the service Christ enjoined him. Note, No pretence of humility must make us decline our duty.

II. How solemnly Heaven was pleased to grace the baptism of Christ with a special display of glory (Mat 3:16, Mat 3:17); Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. Others that were baptized staid to confess their sins (Mat 3:6); but Christ, having no sins to confess, went up immediately out of the water; so we read it, but not right: for it is apo tou hudatos - from the water; from the brink of the river, to which he went down to be washed with water, that is, to have his head or face washed (Joh 13:9); for here is no mention of the putting off, or putting on, of his clothes, which circumstance would not have omitted, if he had been baptized naked. He went up straightway, as one that entered upon his work with the utmost cheerfulness and resolution; he would lose no time. How was he straitened till it was accomplished!

Now, when he was coming up out of the water, and all the company had their eye upon him,

1. Lo! the heavens were opened unto him, so as to discover something above and beyond the starry firmament, at least, to him. This was, (1.) To encourage him to go on in his undertaking, with the prospect of the glory and joy that were set before him. Heaven is opened to receive him, when he has finished the work he is now entering upon. (2.) To encourage us to receive him, and submit to him. Note, In and through Jesus Christ, the heavens are opened to the children of men. Sin shut up heaven, put a stop to all friendly intercourse between God and man; but now Christ has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Divine light and love are darted down upon the children of men, and we have boldness to enter into the holiest. We have receipts of mercy from God, we make returns of duty to God, and all by Jesus Christ, who is the ladder that had its foot on earth and its top in heaven, by whom alone it is that we have any comfortable correspondence with God, or any hope of getting to heaven at last. The heavens were opened when Christ was baptized, to teach us, that when we duly attend on God's ordinances, we may expect communion with him, and communications from him.

2. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, or as a dove, and coming or lighting upon him. Christ saw it (Mar 1:10), and John saw it (Joh 1:33, Joh 1:34), and it is probable that all the standers-by saw it; for this was intended to be his public inauguration. Observe,

(1.) He saw the Spirit of God descended, and lighted on him. In the beginning of the old world, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (Gen 1:2), hovered as a bird upon the nest. So here, in the beginning of this new world, Christ, as God, needed not to receive the Holy Ghost, but it was foretold that the Spirit of the Lord should rest upon him (Isa 11:2; Isa 61:1), and here he did so; for, [1.] He was to be a Prophet; and prophets always spoke by the Spirit of God, who came upon them. Christ was to execute the prophetic office, not by his divine nature (says Dr. Whitby), but by the afflatus of the Holy Spirit. [2.] He was to be the Head of the church; and the Spirit descended upon him, by him to be derived to all believers, in his gifts, graces, and comforts. The ointment on the head ran down to the skirts; Christ received gifts for men, that he might give gifts to men.

(2.) He descended on him like a dove; whether it was a real, living dove, or, as was usual in visions, the representation or similitude of a dove, is uncertain. If there must be a bodily shape (Luk 3:22), it must not be that of a man, for the being seen in fashion as a man was peculiar to the second person: none therefore was more fit than the shape of one of the fowls of heaven (heaven being now opened), and of all fowl none was so significant as the dove. [1.] The Spirit of Christ is a dove-like spirit; not like a silly dove, without heart (Hos 7:11), but like an innocent dove, without gall. The Spirit descended, not in the shape of an eagle, which is, though a royal bird, yet a bird of prey, but in the shape of a dove, than which no creature is more harmless and inoffensive. Such was the Spirit of Christ: He shall not strive, nor cry; such must Christians be, harmless as doves. The dove is remarkable for her eyes; we find that both the eyes of Christ (Sol 5:12), and the eyes of the church (Sol 1:15; Sol 4:1), are compared to doves' eyes, for they have the same spirit. The dove mourns much (Isa 38:14). Christ wept oft; and penitent souls are compared to doves of the valleys. [2.] The dove was the only fowl that was offered in sacrifice (Lev 1:14), and Christ by the Spirit, the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God. [3.] The tidings of the decrease of Noah's flood were brought by a dove, with an olive-leaf in her mouth; fitly therefore are the glad tidings of peace with God brought by the Spirit as a dove. It speaks God's good will towards men; that his thoughts towards us are thoughts of good, and not evil. By the voice of the turtle heard in our land (Sol 2:12), the Chaldee paraphrase understands, the voice of the Holy Spirit. That God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, is a joyful message, which comes to us upon the wing, the wings of a dove.

3. To explain and complete this solemnity, there came a voice from heaven, which, we have reason to think, was heard by all that were present. The Holy Spirit manifested himself in the likeness of a dove, but God the Father by a voice; for when the law was given they saw no manner of similitude, only they heard a voice (Deu 4:12); and so this gospel came, and gospel indeed it is, the best news that ever came from heaven to earth; for it speaks plainly and fully God's favour to Christ, and us in him.

(1.) See here how God owns our Lord Jesus; This is my beloved Son. Observe, [1.] The relation he stood in to him; He is my Son. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, by eternal generation, as he was begotten of the Father before all the worlds (Col 1:15; Heb 1:3); and by supernatural conception; he was therefore called the Son of God, because he was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost (Luk 1:35); yet this is not all; he is the Son of God by special designation to the work and office of the world's Redeemer. He was sanctified and sealed, and sent upon that errand, brought up with the Father for it (Pro 8:30), appointed to it; I will make him my First-born, Psa 89:27. [2.] The affection the Father had for him; He is my beloved Son; his dear Son, the Son of his love (Col 1:13); he has lain in his bosom from all eternity (Joh 1:18), had been always his delight (Pro 8:30), but particularly as Mediator, and in undertaking the work of man's salvation, he was his beloved Son. He is my Elect, in whom my soul delights. See Isa 42:1. Because he consented to the covenant of redemption, and delighted to do that will of God, therefore the Father loved him. Joh 10:17; Joh 3:35. Behold, then, behold, and wonder, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that he should deliver up him that was the Son of his love, to suffer and die for those that were the generation of his wrath; nay, and that he therefore loved him, because he laid down his life for the sheep! Now know we that he loved us, seeing he has not withheld his Son, his only Son, his Isaac whom he loved, but gave him to be a sacrifice for our sin.

(2.) See here how ready he is to own us in him: He is my beloved Son, not only with whom, but in whom, I am well pleased. He is pleased with all that are in him, and are united to him by faith. Hitherto God had been displeased with the children of men, but now his anger is turned away, and he has made us accepted in the Beloved, Eph 1:6. Let all the world take notice, that this is the Peace-maker, the Days-man, who has laid his hand upon us both, and that there is no coming to God as a Father, but by him as Mediator, Joh 14:6. In him our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable, for his the Altar that sanctifies every gift, Pe1 2:5. Out of Christ, God is a consuming Fire, but, in Christ, a reconciled Father. This is the sum of the whole gospel; it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that God has declared, by a voice from heaven, that Jesus Christ is his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased, with which we must by faith cheerfully concur, and say, that he is our beloved Saviour, in whom we are well pleased.

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

(13) Then cometh Jesus.—We are brought here face to face with the question which the legend just quoted sought to answer, and cannot altogether turn aside from it: Why did the Lord Jesus come to the baptism of John? The Sinless One had no sin to confess, no need of repentance. We cannot even ascribe to Him that consciousness of evil which weighs upon the hearts of the saints of God almost in exact proportion to their holiness; yet we must believe that His righteousness was essentially human, and therefore capable of increase, even as He increased in wisdom and stature. Holy as He was at every stage of life in proportion to its capacities, there yet rose before Him height upon height of holiness as yet unattained, and after which we may say with reverence He “hungered and thirsted.” And for that attainment the baptism, which to others was a stepping-stone out of the slough of despond, might well seem a means, if not a condition. It was meet that He should fill up the full measure of righteousness in all its forms by accepting a divine ordinance, even, perhaps, because it seemed to place Him in fellowship with sinners.

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

13. Then cometh Jesus … to be baptized of him] Jesus who is the pattern of the New life submits to the baptism which is a symbol of the New life (Metanoia). He who has power to forgive sins seems to seek through baptism forgiveness of sins. But in truth by submitting to baptism Jesus shows the true efficacy of the rite. He who is most truly man declares what man may become through baptism—clothed and endued with the Holy Spirit, and touched by the fire of zeal and purity.

There is no hint in the gospel narrative of that beautiful companionship and intercourse in childhood between Jesus and the Baptist with which Art has familiarized us. See Joh_1:31, a passage which tends to an opposite conclusion.

to Jordan] Probably at “Ænon near to Salim” (Joh_3:23), a day’s journey from Nazareth, “close to the passage of the Jordan near Succoth and far away from that near Jericho.” Sinai and Palestine, p. 311.

13–17. Jesus comes to be baptized of John. Mar_1:9-11; Luk_3:21-22; Joh_1:32-34

St Luke adds two particulars: that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus (1) “in a bodily shape,” and (2) “while He was praying.”

In the fourth gospel, where John Baptist’s own words are quoted, the act of baptism is not named; a touch of the Baptist’s characteristic humility.

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.

Then cometh Jesus,.... That is, when John had been some time preaching the doctrine of repentance, and administering the ordinance of baptism; for which, time must be allowed, since he went into all the country about Jordan, and preached unto them, and baptized such large numbers: very probably it might be six months from his first entrance on his ministry; since there was this difference in their age, and so might be in their baptism and preaching. Now when John had given notice of the Messiah's coming, and so had prepared his way; had declared the excellency of his person, the nature of his work, and office, and had raised in the people an expectation of him,

then cometh Jesus from Galilee; from Nazareth of Galilee, Mar 1:9 where he had lived for many years, as the Jews (q) themselves own; in great obscurity, in all obedience to God, in subjection to his parents, exercising a conscience void of offence towards God and man, and employing his time in devotion and business: from hence he came to Jordan to John, who was baptizing there; which shows the great humility of Christ, who comes to John, and does not send for him, though John was his servant, and he was his Lord and Master; and also his cheerful and voluntary subjection to the ordinance of baptism, since of himself, of his own accord, he took this long and fatiguing journey; for Nazareth, according to David de Pomis (r), was three days journey from Jerusalem, though somewhat nearer Jordan; the end and design of his coming was

to be baptized of him. It may reasonably be inquired what should be Christ's view in desiring to be baptized; it could not be to take away original or actual sin, since he had neither; nor has baptism any such efficacy to do this, in those who have either or both: but, it was to show his approbation of John's baptism, and to bear a testimony of it, that it was from heaven; and also that he himself might receive a testimony both from heaven, and from John, that he was the Son of God and true Messiah, before he entered upon his public ministry, into which he was in some measure initiated and installed hereby; and moreover, to set an example to his followers, and thereby engage their attention and subjection to this ordinance; and, in a word, as he himself says, to fulfil all righteousness.

(q) Toldos Jesu, p. 6. (r) Tzemach David, fol. 141. 2.

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

13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

Ver. 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee] Our Saviour came far to seek his baptism. Let not us think much of any pains taken, that we may partake of the ordinances. The Shunammite went (ordinarily) every sabbath and new moon, on horseback, to hear the prophet, 2Ki 4:23. The good people in David’s time "passed through the valley of Baca," Psa 84:6, from strength to strength, to see the face of God in Sion, though but in that dark glass of the ceremonies. And in Daniel’s time they ran to and fro "to increase knowledge," Dan 12:4. In Zechariah’s days the inhabitants of one city went to another, saying, "Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also," Zec 8:21. Our Saviour took it ill that men came not as far to hear him as the queen of Sheba did to hear Solomon, Mat 12:42. The eunuch came as far to worship in the temple, Act 8:27. And of our forefathers in King Henry VIII’s time Mr Foxe saith thus: "To see their travels, earnest seeking, burning zeal, readings, watchings, sweet assemblies, love, concord, godly living, faithful marrying with the faithful, may make us now in these our days of free profession to blush for shame. George Eagles, martyr in Queen Mary’s days, for his great pains in travelling from place to place to confirm the brethren, was surnamed, ‘Trudge over the world.’" (Acts and Mon.)

To be baptized of him] Not for any need he had (for he was a Lamb without blemish of natural corruption, and without spot of actual transgression, 1Pe 1:19), but merely for our benefit, to sanctify baptism to us, and to grace his own ordinance for us.

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.

Then cometh Jesus - The Saviour is now introduced as about to enter on his work, or as about to be solemnly set apart to his great office of Messiah and Redeemer. The expression “cometh” implies that the act was voluntary on his part; that he went for that purpose and for no other. He left the part of Galilee - Nazareth - where he had lived for nearly 30 years, and went to the vicinity of the Jordan, where John was baptizing the people in great numbers, that he might be set apart to his work. The occasion was doubtless chosen in order that it might be as public and solemn as possible. It is to be remembered, also, that it was the main purpose of John’s appointment to introduce the Messiah to the world, Mat 3:3.

To be baptized of him - By him. Baptism was not in his case a symbol of personal reformation and repentance, for he was sinless; but it was a solemn rite by which he was set apart to his great office. It is true, also, that although he was personally holy, and that the baptism in his case had a different signification, in this respect, from that which is implied when it is administered now, yet that even in his case the great idea always implied in the ordinance of baptism had a place; for it was a symbol of holiness or purity in that great system of religion which he was about to set up in the world.

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

Christ, who now was about thirty years of age, Luk 3:23, cometh from Nazareth, a city in Galilee, where Joseph lived, Luk 2:4, and whither he went with, Joseph and Mary, Luk 2:39, and again after he had disputed with the doctors at twelve years of age, Luk 2:46; cometh from thence to Jordan, the great river, where John was baptizing disciples, offering himself to be baptized of him. He showed his humility by going to him, and also made the action public. If any ask to what end Christ, who had no sin, was baptized, himself gives us an account, Mat 3:15, to fulfil all righteousness (of which more in its place). He thus owned John’s ministry and mission to baptize, and confirmed the institution of baptism by water, and offered himself to that testimony which he knew his Father would give of him. He thus initiated himself in the Christian church, as by circumcision he had made himself of the Jewish church, and so was the Head both of the believing Jews and Gentiles. He was not (as others) baptized in testimony of his repentance, or for the remission of sins, for he was without sin.

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

Vers. 13-17. THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. (Parallel passages: Mar_1:9-11 Luk_3:21, Luk_3:22)

Then; temporal (ver. 5, note). When John was preaching and baptizing. Cometh (ver. 1, note). From Galilee. Mark adds, "from Nazareth of Galilee" (for this is his first historical mention of our Lord), thereby implying that our Lord had lived in Nazareth since our Mat_2:22, etc. In contrast to the representative teachers from Jerusalem, and the crowds both from there and from the Jordan valley (ver. 5), this Stranger came from Galilee. To Jordan . It is hard to see why the Revised Version inserts "the" here and leaves the Authorized Version unaltered in ver. 5. To be baptized (tou baptisyhnai); Mat_2:13, note. By him; and no other. Not mere baptism, but baptism at the hands of John, was our Lord"s motive for coming. He would link his own work on to that of John (vide infra).

Vers. 13-17. The baptism of Jesus.

I ITS REASON.

1. He was made sin for us, though he was without sin. He came to be baptized; it was the purpose of his coming He would not have come that long journey from Galilee to Bethany beyond Jordan unless there had been some grave reason, some necessity, some deep meaning in his baptism. It was the baptism of repentance; he needed no repentance. It was accompanied with confession of sin; he could not confess, for he had no sin. But God had sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh; in some deep, mysterious sense "he was made sin for us." He bore the sin that was not his own. Therefore, as he submitted in his infancy to the rite of circumcision; as his mother, after the birth of the sinless Child, went through the ordinary purification; so now when he was about to begin his ministry, the Most Holy One came to the baptism of repentance. It seemed to John strange, unsuitable. He felt his own unworthiness in the presence of the Saviour. He himself, he knelt, needed the baptism of the Holy Ghost; the Lord needed not the baptism of repentance. And so he would have hindered him. He had hindered, it seems most probable, the Pharisees and Sadducees. The reasons were very different. The Pharisees and Sadducees were not fit for his baptism; his baptism was not fit for Jesus. But the Lord who, in his ineffable condescension, had taken upon him the form of a servant, in that same condescension submitted to the rites which told of sin and uncleanness. He was baptized, not that he might be cleansed by the baptism of repentance, but rather, as Ignatius says in his "Epistle to the Ephesians" (sect. 18), that he might by his baptism cleanse water and sanctify it to the mystical washing away of sin.

2. It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. God had sent John to baptize with water. (Joh_1:33) The Son of God, now in the form of man, comes to the baptism which God had commanded. It is an example to us. It is our duty to fulfil all righteousness, all God"s ordinances alike. We may not dare to neglect things external, things which some men call unimportant. If God has commanded them, that commandment gives them at once a deep and real importance; it makes them duties of righteousness. The principle of obedience is no less involved in things that seem to some small and trivial, than in the highest duties of religion. The Lord Jesus came to the baptism of John; no Christian man may dare to neglect the baptism of Jesus. For these reasons the Lord offered himself to be baptized. John knew him not at first. He must have heard of him from his parents; he must have known something of the wondrous birth at Bethlehem, and of his own destination to go before the face of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias. But the two cousins had been long separated from each other; they had grown up far apart; John had lived a solitary life in the wilderness of Judea; Jesus had lived unknown and unregarded in the quiet town of Nazareth. John did not recognize him at first; but he felt the power of his presence. Holy himself, he reverenced that majesty of unearthly holiness which beamed from the calm, sad, gracious eyes of the Saviour of the world. His heart told him that it was a most sacred Person who sought his baptism a sinless, a Divine Presence that stood before him. His hopes were kindled, his soul filled with intense, eager anticipations. Surely it must be he that should come, the long-expected One. The descent of the Holy Ghost revealed the Messiah. (Joh_1:33) But now a strange feeling of unworthiness came over him. A deep instinct prompted him to say, like Peter," Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" It is ever so with his saints. The nearer we draw to Christ, the more fully the Lord manifests himself to us, the more we feel our own utter sinfulness and weakness. But the Lord, who in his gracious lowliness came to John the Baptist, comes to his people still. John shrank from his awful purity at first; he suffered him when he heard his reassuring words. It is a parable of the experience of many an awakened soul. He seems so awful in his majesty, in his spotless holiness, and we so feeble, defiled with so many sins; but he allures us with his tender pity, he speaks comfortably to our souls, till we welcome the Lord into our heart, seeking henceforth to live always in that blessed fellowship which is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

II THE DIVINE MANIFESTATION.

1. He went up straightway out of the water. There seems to be meaning in these words. His baptism was a consecration for his great and blessed office. Son of God though he was, he had, in the mysterious union of the human and Divine, increased in wisdom from childhood to manhood; and now, it may be, the full consciousness of his Divine mission, the full clear knowledge of the awful, the most blessed, work which lay before him, dawned upon his holy human soul. He went up straightway; immediately, as he emerged from the baptismal waters, he went up prepared for his work; immediately he arose in the strength of holy purpose and self-sacrificing love. He had lived hitherto in the quiet life of lowly obedience; now he was manifested as the great High Priest, the Messiah, the Anointed One. Priests under the Law received at their consecration the baptismal purification and the anointing of the holy oil. The Lord Jesus, now about to enter upon his three years" ministry, submitted to the baptism of repentance, and was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power.

2. The heavens were opened. Paradise was closed to Adam; heaven is opened to Christ. The sin of Adam closed the way to Paradise; the obedience of the incarnate Son opens heaven to all who follow him. As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. "He hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus;" "Our citizenship is in heaven." Our treasure must be there, our heart must be in that heaven which wan opened at the baptism of Jesus to all his true disciples. Heaven was opened over him at his baptism. It is opened over those who are baptized by his commandment into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. For holy baptism admits us into covenant with God: "In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body the mystical body of Christ. The members of that body are bound by their baptism to obey the laws of the kingdom of heaven, and to live as citizens of the heavenly commonwealth. "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth." They who, by his grace, abide in spiritual union with Christ snail one day, like the holy martyr Stephen, see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

3. The descent of the Holy Spirit. The Lord was conceived by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was with him always; for in the indissoluble union of the Divine Persons, the Holy Three are One. But this was a consecration of the incarnate Son, God and Man, to his sacred office a grand and heavenly anointing, visible to himself and to the Baptist. "I saw the Spirit," said John, "descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him." God anointed him with the Holy Ghost. (Act_10:38) God the Father consecrated his incarnate Son by this Divine anointing. Now he was revealed as the Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek; the King to whom the Lord God would give the throne of his father David; the Prophet who would declare to the faithful all that we need to know, all that we can know while we are in the flesh, of that God whom no man hath seen at any time. "The Spirit descended like a dove;" it descended on him who was dove-like, holy, harmless, undefiled. It found a resting-place in the holy heart of Jesus. Stilt the blessed Spirit is brooding, dove-like, over the face of the world; still he descends, another Comforter, sent by the Father at the prayer of him on whom he now descended, on those who are learning of the Lord Christ to be themselves pure in heart, gentle, harmless, holy. With such he abides for ever, a gracious, willing Guest. Such men he consecrates with a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

4. The voice from heaven. The Father"s voice was heard: "This is my beloved Son." How the heart of John the Baptist must have thrilled at the sound of the awful, holy words] It was the Christ indeed, the Only Begotten of the Father. John stood in the presence of the Most Holy One. So doth the Christian heart thrill now when the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to the soul; when the believer feels that he is in the presence of God, alone with God solus cure solo; when the heavenly voice is borne in upon his heart; when he knows that his Redeemer liveth. "This is my beloved Son," whom God the Father had loved before the beginning of the world, whom he loved now, always, with an eternal love; in whom he loves all those to whom the beloved Son hath given power to become the sons of God. In that beloved Son God was well pleased well pleased always, well pleased now in the mysterious self-sacrifice of his incarnation, of his perfect obedience. Those who trust that they, too, being led by the Spirit of God, are in a true, though infinitely lower sense, the sons of God, must try to please him; it must be their highest ambition, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing in his sight. As they draw nearer to him, serving him with a holier, humbler, obedience, the heavenly voice will grow clearer, more distinct, owning them to be his sons and daughters, the children of his love.

5. The revelation of the blessed Trinity. At the baptism of Jesus by the hand of John, the Holy Three were present God the Son manifest in the flesh; God the Holy Ghost descending in a dove-like form; God the Father speaking from heaven, recognizing in Jesus, God and Man, the only begotten Son of his love. It was a manifestation of the eternal mystery the mystery before which we bow in the lowliest adoration of loving faith. In Christian baptism, the sacrament which the Lord Jesus Christ himself ordained, the Name of the blessed Three is by the Lord"s commandment pronounced over the new disciple: "Baptizing them into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The Name is One, the Persons are Three. The doctrine of the blessed Trinity is enshrined in holy baptism.

LESSONS.

1. Imitate the Lord Jesus; use all the means of grace; observe all the ordinances of religion. It becometh us to do as he did.

2. Heaven is opened to the eye of faith; it was opened to the dying Stephen. Steadfastly look up to heaven. See God in all his ordinances.

3. Pray earnestly for fuller gifts of the Holy Ghost. The dove-like Spirit is given to the dove-like heart.

Vers. 13-17. The baptism of Jesus.

This is a narrative which authenticates itself. No Christian writer of a later generation would have invented a story of the baptism of Jesus by John; nor could any current ideas have started a myth in this form. The very difficulties of the story prove its historicity.

I LET US INQUIRE WHAT WAS THE MEANING OF THE BAPTISM OF JESUS.

1. Note some errors to be avoided.

(1) This was not a baptism of repentance. John saw that, and although lie did not yet know who Jesus was, the pure and spotless life of his mysterious Relative was evidently not unknown to him. He saw that Jesus did. not need the baptism as it was commonly understood.

(2) This was not a mere form. Christ continually contended against the hypocrisy of formalism. He could not have begun his public life with a purely formal action.

(3) This was not only intended as an example for others. In that case the action of Christ would have been simply a theatrical performance, unworthy of him, not to be countenanced by the serious Baptist. Moreover, the results of the baptism show that it had to do directly with the Person and work of Christ.

2. Consider the truths of the incident. Baptism has a double meaning. It looks forward as well as backward. As a rite in regard to the future it is a dedication, an act of self-consecration. Jesus had no sins of the past to wash out; but there was a great future to which he would dedicate himself in baptism. Then he was a Man, and he was humbling himself to the whole round of human duties. It was not in accordance with his mission that he should abandon the religious duties of his day. On the contrary, it was incumbent on him to "fulfil all righteousness" in connection with them. Thus the method of his self-consecration was an act of lowly obedience in connection with the deepest religious movement of the time.

II LET US LOOK AT THE RESULTS OF THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. There were a vision and a voice.

1. The vision.

(1) The heavens opened. Self-surrender brings us near to God. The heavens open over the head of the utterly unselfish and truly consecrated man.

(2) The descending Spirit. The Spirit comes to Christ, and is in him without measure. (Joh_3:34) The form was symbolical, but the fact was real. After this Christ displayed powers in miracle-working and teaching which he had never shown before. If Jesus needed this endowment of the Spirit, much more do we need it.

(3) The form of the dove. This is very significant. The Spirit takes many forms. On Jesus it appears in love and gentleness. "A bruised reed shall he not break." This form of the manifestation is peculiarly true to the nature of the Spirit. God is most of all present in "the still, small voice." By his gentleness he makes us great. (Psa_18:35)

2. The voice. The vision was especially for Christ"s benefit. The evangelist says that "he saw the Spirit of God," etc., as though the people did not see the dove descending. John also saw the vision, (Joh_1:32) and probably no one else. But the voice is not thus restricted. The spiritual grace is personal, for Christ himself; the revelation of the Son of God is for all who have ears to hear. W.F.A.

Vers. 13-17. Baptism of Jesus.

I ITS OCCASION. How long was Jesus to be known merely as the village carpenter of Nazareth? What is to transpire which shall show him that God"s time has come for his public ministry? Ambition makes opportunities. In general, kings have only to wait the demise of their predecessors. To our Lord came at last a summons he could not misunderstand nor resist. John"s hearers longed for that which only Jesus could give. He could no longer hide himself in Nazareth when a movement was afoot which he alone could guide, utilize, and prosper. When men truly seek Christ, he does not hide himself from them. He will not cause by his absence the defeat of any righteous movement.

II ITS MEANING. John did not recognize its meaning. He was taken aback when Jesus presented himself for baptism. This was a difficulty he had not foreseen. He had foreseen trouble with scrupulous consciences; that he would be abused, perhaps endangered; that he would be the repository of disagreeable secrets a nation"s confessor. But this he had not foreseen. How could he baptize One who had no sin? John"s refusal a strong testimony to the sinlessness of Jesus. He might not yet know he was the Messiah; it was his personal character and private conduct which had impressed him. He was abashed in his presence, and would have changed places with him. But Jesus demanded the performance of the rite, because, as one with a guilty race, he felt that baptism was for him. He was so truly one with us that he felt ashamed of our sins, grieved because of them, felt as if they were his. The father hangs his head, sickens and dies when the son is disgraced. The wife cannot persuade herself she need not be ashamed when the husband commits a fraud. Our Lord could not claim separation from those whom he more intensely loved than human heart has ever loved; nor could he help feeling a truer sorrow and a deeper shame for sin than the holiest of sinners or the most despairing has ever felt. The baptism may also be looked upon as an anticipation of his death; or, again, as the anointing of the King.

III OUTWARD SIGNS ACCOMPANYING THE BAPTISM. Outward signs were required to identify the Messiah. John tells us he did not know the Christ till these signs were given. The dove, used in scriptural language as symbol of guileless innocence, here represented the Spirit. It was only the form of a bird which would not have seemed grotesque descending from above; and the dove, which would not settle on anything unclean, was the most appropriate symbol now. Luke adds, "in a bodily form," to remind us that it was not by one attribute or influence the Holy Spirit came upon our Lord, but in his complete Personality. For though Jesus was Divine, he regularly ascribes his power to work miracles to the Holy Spirit. He prays, as if to receive from without the aid he required. His body was sustained by bread, and not by the energy of the Divinity with which it was joined. So his human soul was sanctified by the Spirit, and his human nature empowered to do wonderful works by the same Spirit.

IV RESULT OF THE BAPTISM. It was not only needful for the people that Jesus be proclaimed publicly as the Messiah, but he himself, when his consciousness of Messiah-ship was numbed by the contradiction of sinners, needed some sure word of God to fall back upon. The sign from heaven was given, no doubt mainly in order that John might be able to identify Jesus as the Messiah, but to Jesus himself it was a helpful sign on which, in times of outward discouragement, he could fall back. Compare instances in which our Lord needed such comfort; (Mat_11:27, etc.) and use to be made of our own baptism.

USES. The Spirit is given to Christ without measure, in a bodily form. The Father makes him Heir of all his treasure, and takes no account of all he takes. There is no gauge, no metre. The more that is used the better. This fulness he received as Man and for us. The head being anointed, refreshment is felt to the very skirts of the garments to the least and last and lowest of the members of Christ"s body. Claiming to be our King, it is this he claims to give us his Spirit. That very Spirit which enabled him to be what he was and to do what he did, he gives to us. Had Jesus lacked anything which he needed for his office, had he found himself helpless to heal the sick, bewildered by the arguments of clever men, outwearied by the wretched blindness of sinners, unmanned by danger and the approach of death, this could only have arisen from his being abandoned by the Spirit; and when we fail and stop short, when we are overcome by outward difficulties or inward weakness, it is because we are trying to live without the Spirit. The finishing of his work is the guarantee that ours shall be finished. And the indwelling of the Spirit in Christ in a bodily completeness is the guarantee that we shall enjoy, not merely one, but all of his influences, and that in every part of our life he will be sufficient for all our occasions. D.

Vers. 13-15. The baptism of Jesus by John.

The baptisms of Jesus at the Jordan were two, viz. that ministered by John and that ministered by the Holy Ghost. The former now claims attention. Jesus himself sought this baptism. Why?

I WHY DID JESUS COME TO THE JORDAN?

1. That the Scripture might be fulfilled.

(1) At the Jordan God "began to magnify Joshua in the sight of all Israel," that he might be the successor of Moses. (Jos_3:7)

(2) Therein Joshua was a type of Jesus. Jesus and his gospel replace Moses and his Law. How fitting, then, that Jesus should be authenticated at the same Jordan!

(3) Both authentications took place at the same spot. John baptized at Bethabara . (Joh_1:28) This place had its name, the "House of passage," from the passage of Israel under Joshua through the Jordan there. What a tissue of wonders is the providence of God!

2. That the mission of Jesus might be indicated.

(1) How expressive is the language of signs! To have described the mission of Jesus in words would have been to have written the Gospels by anticipation. This is done in prophecy. We see it in the typical history of Joshua. The sign of the baptism at Bethabara calls attention to this.

(2) In it we see that, as Joshua became the successor of Moses there, so now Jesus comes to abolish the Law and to introduce the better hope of his gospel.

(3) Further, that as Moses died in the wilderness and left the people there, so the Law can bring us into its entanglements and terrify us with trumpet-blasts and thunders, but is powerless to bring us out. But as Joshua brought the people out, so can Jesus do by his gospel what the Law never could effect.

(4) Also that as Joshua became a captain over Israel to fight their battles, vanquish giants, and settle them in Canaan, so is Jesus become "the Captain of our salvation.

II WHY DID JESUS COME TO JOHN?

1. John himself was astonished at this.

(1) Jesus was personally, immeasurably. John"s superior. John, though amongst the greatest of men, was but a man. Jesus was Immanuel. He was that "Jehovah" of whom John was but the herald.

(2) Jesus was officially, unanswerably, John"s superior. John baptized with "water." Jesus, with the "Holy Ghost.

(3) But how did John discover this? Previously, he only knew that Messiah had arrived. (see Joh_1:31-33) He was a prophet, and saw as a seer. (cf. 1Sa_9:15, 17 Luk_1:15 Luk_2:26) We see Jesus unto salvation when God opens the eyes of the soul.

(4) John had need of the baptism of Jesus. No man is so great as to be independent of him. The purest are most sensible of their remaining impurity, and seek the more earnestly the spiritual washing.

(5) But what need had Jesus of the baptism of John? It was the "baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Jesus had no sins to confess. Therefore he "went up straightway from the water.

2. He came to fulfil all righteousness.

(1) The dispensation of John was "from heaven" as truly as was that of Moses. (cf. Mar_11:30, 31 1Co_10:2) It was therefore as necessary that Jesus should respect it as that he should fulfil the Law of Moses.

(2) In this, as in other things, Jesus is our Exemplar; and he teaches us to yield exact obedience to positive precepts. Questionings of reason that would make us hesitate must have no place. And as the baptism of the Spirit followed, we are taught to expect special blessing Upon such obedience.

(3) Jesus submitted to the baptism of John as our Surety; and he shows us that he took our sin upon him that he might wash it away. And the voice of Divine approbation which followed assures us of the effectual manner in which he did this for us. So listen to that voice that it may carry the heavenly witness to your heart. Through Jesus becoming Righteousness we may become righteous. Hence the plural, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.

(4) "John forbade" Jesus, as Peter did when Jesus offered to wash his feet. (Joh_13:6-8; cf. Luk_1:43) "Suffer it to be so now." No pretence of humility must induce us to neglect a duty.

III WHY DID JESUS COME "THEN"?

1. He was then of the legal age to enter upon his ministry.

(1) (Cf. Num_4:3 Luk_3:28)

(2) John had commenced his ministry six months earlier; for there was that difference of age. God has an order as well as a law. Both should be respected.

2. The juncture was fitting.

(1) It was while John was in the midst of his ministry. He had already spent six months of it, and within another similar term that ministry was closed. As Moses the Levite testified to Joshua, and passed away; so John the Levite a representative of Moses testified to Jesus, and passed away. The end of every holy ministry is to testify to Christ.

(2) John"s reputation as a prophet was established. His testimony was conclusive. (see Mar_11:29-32) Our influence, at its best, should testify to Christ.

(3) Joshua prepared for the passage of the Jordan three days before that passage was effected. This testimony at the Jordan was three years before Jesus crossed the Jordan of death. He was in his passage through that river in judgment "three days." The baptism of Jesus at the Jordan, that river being viewed as an emblem of death, gives emphasis and illustration to those words of Paul, "Are ye ignorant that all ye who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?". (Rom_6:3) It is through the death of Christ that we live. J.A.M.

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

Mark i, 9; Luke iii, 21

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

Baptism of Jesus.

The time had now come for Jesus to enter upon His ministry, to be inducted into His office by a public ceremony:

v. 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

He now came forth from His concealment, while John was at the very height of his evangelistic career. He came down to John, not like the Pharisees and Sadducees, who really all the while rejected God’s counsel against themselves, Luk 7:30, but in an open, friendly manner, to enter into amicable relations with him, and incidentally to receive Baptism at his hands. So far as His coming in itself was concerned, there was no difference between His desire for Baptism and that of the multitudes.

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

Here we have our Savior’s solemn inauguration and public entrance upon this prophetic office, by baptism, or washing with water, according to the manner of the priests under the ceremonial law, Exo 29:4.

Where we have observable, 1. The circumstance of time: Then cometh Jesus: that is, after he had lain hid in Nazareth thirty years he comes abroad, and enters upon his public ministry.

Teaching us by his example, That when we are ripe and fit for public service, we should no less willingly leave our obscurity, than we took the benefit of it for our preparation.

Observe, 2. The action itself, Christ is baptized now, as he was circumcised before; not because there was any impurity in him, either filth, or foreskin, which wanted either the circumcising knife, or the baptismal water; yet purity itself condescends to be washed, Christ to be baptized; for these reasons:

1. That by this symbol he might enter himself into the society of Christians, as by circumcision he had done into the society of Jews; as a king condescends sometimes to be made a free man of a city or corporation.

2. That he might by his own baptism sanctify the ordinance of baptism unto his church.

3. That thereby he might fulfil the righteousness of the ceremonial law, which required the washing of the priests in water, when they entered upon their office as appears from Exo 29:4.

Observe, 3. The great condescension of Christ, in seeking and submitting to the baptism of John; Christ cometh to John, not John to Christ.

Behold! the Lord seeketh to his servant, Christ will be baptized of his messenger! Our Savior’s design hereby no doubt was, to put honour upon the ministry of John.

Oh! how dare the greatest upon earth despise the ministry of man being appointed by God, which Christ honoured in his own person, and graced with his own presence!

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — 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.

13. Then cometh Jesus. Not named by Matthew since he was taken to Nazareth in childhood. From Luke we learn that he was subject to his parents, at twelve years of age astonished the doctors in the temple by his wisdom, and was now thirty years of age. He had worked in Nazareth as a carpenter. Galilee. The northern part of Palestine, containing at this time, according at this time, according to Josephus, 240 towns and villages and an immense population. To be baptized. He came for this purpose. He sought the rite.

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.

Connecting Statement:

Here the scene shifts to a later time when John the Baptist baptizes Jesus.

to be baptized by John

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

I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?

John uses a question to show his surprise at Jesus' request. AT: "You are more important than I am. I should not baptize you. You should baptize me." (See: Rhetorical Question)

for us

Here "us" refers to Jesus and John. (See: Inclusive "We")

translationWords

Jesus

Galilee

Jordan River

baptize

John (the Baptist)

fulfill

righteous

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

13–17. JESUS COMES TO BE BAPTIZED OF JOHN

Mar 1:9-11; Luk 3:21-22; Joh 1:32-34.

St Luke adds two particulars: that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus (1) “in a bodily shape,” and (2) “while He was praying.”

In the fourth Gospel, where John Baptist’s own words are quoted, the act of baptism is not named; a touch of the Baptist’s characteristic humility.

13. ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰορδάνην. Probably at “Ænon near to Salim” (Joh 3:23), a day’s journey from Nazareth, ‘close to the passage of the Jordan near Succoth and far away from that near Jericho.’ Sinai and Palestine, p. 311. Cp. also Joh 1:28, where the correct reading is: ταῦτα ἐν Βηθανίᾳ ἐγένετο πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, ὅπου ἦν ὁ Ἰωάννης βαπτίζων. Lt. Conder (Tent Work in Palestine, II. 67) states that ‘Bathania was the well-known form used in the time of Christ of the old name Bashan.’ He adds that the name Abârah is given by the natives to one of the main fords ‘where the Jalûd river, flowing down the Valley of Jezreel, and by Beisân (Bethshean) debouches into the Jordan.’ This accounts for the reading ‘Bethabara,’ and probably fixes the site.

τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι. For construction see note, ch. Mat 2:13. Jesus who is the pattern of the New life submits to the baptism which is a symbol of the New life (μετάνοια). He who has power to forgive sins seems to seek through baptism forgiveness of sins. But in truth by submitting to baptism Jesus shows the true efficacy of the rite. He who is most truly man declares what man may become through baptism—clothed and endued with the Holy Spirit, and touched by the fire of zeal and purity.

There is no hint in the Gospel narratives of that beautiful companionship and intercourse in childhood between Jesus and the Baptist with which Art has familiarised us. See Joh 1:31, a passage which tends to an opposite conclusion.

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.

13-17.] Jesus Himself baptized by him. Mar 1:9-11.Luk 3:21Luk 3:21, Luk 3:22. It does not appear exactly when the baptism of our Lord took place. If the comparative age of the Baptist is taken into account, we should suppose it to have been about six months after this latter began his ministry. But this is no sure guide. The place was Bethany (the older reading), beyond Jordan; Joh 1:28.

13. τοῦ βαπτ.] Why should our Lord, who was without sin, have come to a baptism of repentance? Because He was made sin for us: for which reason also He suffered the curse of the law. It became Him, being in the likeness of sinful flesh, to go through those appointed rites and purifications which belonged to that flesh. There is no more strangeness in His having been baptized by John, than in His keeping the Passovers. The one rite, as the other, belonged to sinners—and among the transgressors He was numbered. The prophetic words in Psa 40:12, spoken in the person of our Lord, indicate, in the midst of sinlessness, the most profound apprehension of the sins of that nature which He took upon him. I cannot suppose the baptism to have been sought by our Lord merely to honour John (Kuinöel), or as knowing that it would be the occasion of a divine recognition of his Messiahship (Paulus), and thus preordained by God (Meyer): but bona fide, as bearing the infirmities and carrying the sorrows of mankind, and thus beginning here the triple baptism of water, fire, and blood, two parts of which were now accomplished, and of the third of which He himself speaks, Luk 12:50, and the beloved Apostle, 1Jn 5:8, where πνεῦμα = πῦρ.

His baptism, as it was our Lord’s closing act of obedience under the Law, in His hitherto concealed life of legal submission, His πληρῶσαι πᾶσ. δικ., so was His solemn inauguration and anointing for the higher official life of mediatorial satisfaction which was now opening upon Him. See Rom 1:3, Rom 1:4. We must not forget that the working out of perfect righteousness in our flesh by the entire and spotless keeping of God’s law (Deu 6:25), was, in the main, accomplished during the thirty years previous to our Lord’s official ministry.

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

13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized by him.] Mk. has: “And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized in the Jordan by John.” Mt. substitutes τότε (see on 2:7) for καὶ ἐγένετο. The latter connecting formula is common in Lk. Mk. has it rarely—1:9, 2:15 (καὶ γίνεται) 2:23, 4:4, 9:7? Mt. retains it only in 9:10 = Mar 2:15. Elsewhere he has it five times in the formula καὶ ἐγένετο ὄτε ἐτέλεσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, 7:28, 11:1, 13:53, 19:1, 26:1. ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις he omits here, having anticipated it in 3:1. For Mk.’s ἧλθεν he has παραγίνεται to assimilate to 3:1. ἀπὸ Ναζαρέτ he omits as needless after 2:23. For the substitution of “to be baptized” for “and was baptized,” cf. the similar change in 4:1 “to be tempted” for Mar 1:13 “and He was—tempted.” The editor has in mind the fulfilment of the divine purpose in the life of the Messiah. For τοῦ with the inf. (7 times in Mt.) expressing purpose, cf. Blass, p. 235 and 2:13. The aorist implies a definite and completed action.

(E)

13-17. Mt. and Lk. agree against Mk. in the following: ἠνεῴχθησαν, Mat_16 = ἀνεῳχθῆναι, Luk_21 for σχιζομένους, Mar_10; ὲπʼ αὐτόν, Mat_16, Luk_22 for εἰς αὐτόν, Mar_10.

M the Second Gospel.

LXX. The Septuagint Version.

1 ζώνην—αὐτοῦ. Cf. 2 K 1:8.

B. Babylonian Talmud.

latt. Manuscripts of the Old Latin Version.

E editorial passages.

al i.e. with other uncial MSS.

S Syriac version: Sinaitic MS.

S Syriac version: Curetonian.

X passages in which Mt. and Lk. agree closely, borrowed from an unknown source or sources.

Jub. jubilees.

1 A disciple of Akiba. See Baeher, Die Agada der Tannaiten, ii. 283.

Ps.-Sol. The Psalms of Solomon.

L the Matthæan Logia.

Iren. Irenæus.

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