Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 3:21
Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
21 38. The Baptism of Jesus. The Genealogy
21. Now when all the people were baptized ] The expression (which is peculiar to St Luke) seems to imply that on this day Jesus was baptized last; and from the absence of any allusion to the multitude in this and the other narratives we are almost forced to conjecture that His baptism was in a measure private. St Luke’s narrative must be supplemented by particulars derived from St Matthew (Mat 3:13-17), who alone narrates the unwillingness of the Baptist, and the memorable conversation between him and Jesus; and St Mark (Mar 1:9-11) mentions that Jesus went into the river, and that it was He who first saw the cleaving heavens, and the Spirit descending.
Jesus also being baptized ] Our Lord Himself, in reply to the objection of the Baptist, stated it as a reason for His Baptism that “thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness;” i. e. that it was His will to observe all the requirements of the Mosaic law, which He came “not to destroy but to fulfil.” Other reasons have also been suggested, as (i) that He baptized (as it were) the water “to sanctify water to the mystical washing away of sin” (Ignat. ad Eph. 18; Maxim. Serm. 7, de Epiphan.; Ps.-Aug. Serm. 135. 4); or (ii) that He was baptized as it were vicariously, as Head of His body, the Church (Just. Mart. c. Tryph. 88); or (iii) as a consecration of Himself to His work, followed by the special consecration from the Father; or (iv) as a great act of humility (St Bernard, Serm. 47, in Cant.). See my Life of Christ, i. 117 n.
and praying ] This deeply interesting touch is peculiar to St Luke, who similarly on eight other occasions calls attention to the Prayers of Jesus after severe labours (Luk 5:16); before the choosing of the Apostles (Luk 6:12); before Peter’s great Confession (Luk 9:18); at His transfiguration (Luk 9:28-29); for Peter (Luk 22:32); in Gethsemane (Luk 22:41); for His murderers (Luk 23:34); and at the moment of death (Luk 23:46). He also represents the duty and blessing of urgent prayer in two peculiar parables the Importunate Friend (Luk 11:5-13) and the Unjust Judge (Luk 18:2). See Introd. p. 24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See the notes at Mat 3:13-17. Jesus being baptized; or, Jesus having been baptized. This took place after the baptism, and not during its administration, Mat 3:16.
Praying – This circumstance is omitted by the other evangelists; and it shows,
- That Jesus was in the habit of prayer.
- That it is proper to offer up special prayer at the administration of the ordinances of religion.
- That it is possible to pray in the midst of a great multitude, yet in secret. The prayer consisted, doubtless, in lifting up the heart silently to God. So we may do it anywhere – about our daily toil – in the midst of multitudes, and thus may pray always.
Luk 3:22
In a bodily shape – This was a real visible appearance, and was doubtless seen by the people. The dove is an emblem of purity and harmlessness, and the form of the dove was assumed on this occasion to signify, probably, that the spirit with which Jesus would be endowed would be one of purity and innocence. The Holy Spirit, when he assumes a visible form, assumes that which will be emblematic of the thing to be represented. Thus he assumed the form of tongues, to signify the miraculous powers of language with which the apostles would be endowed; the appearance of fire, to denote their power, etc., Act 2:3.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Luk 3:21
Jesus also being baptized–
Meeting of Jesus with John
The people, I read, mused, wondering if John were the expected Messiah.
John, too, mused, we may be sure. Words! words! words! at the end of each long sultry day, as he laid him down in some rocky cave what time the sun sank suddenly and the stars hung like balls of fire in the purple sky, and the cry of the wild beast was heard as he stole forth to drink at the fords of the Jordan. I can baptize them with water. I can tell them to repent. Poor forlorn sheep upon the mountains–where shall they find their shepherd? I am the voice crying in the wilderness–where is the Divine Prophet? I baptize with water–who will give them the fiery baptism of the soul? Who will help them to seek, and nerve them to act? And then came One on a certain still morn, early, it may be, before the heat of the day, with only a few zealous stragglers about, waiting for baptism, and John met Him by the Jordan river. Needless to explain. Soul met soul. John knew his Master as surely as did frail Peter when he cried out, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man; or doubting Thomas when, heart-struck, he murmered, My Lord, and my God! I have need, were Johns first words–yea, we all have need face to face with Jesus–I have need to be baptized of Thee. And then came the first words of Christs ministry, they struck the keynote of the gospel, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. The heart of Christianity lies there; Christ the Companion of man, the Example of man. The Saviour, because the revelator of a Divine union between God and man, a spiritual life in man. And on the morrow the Baptist saw Him walking by the river, and pointing Him out, exclaimed, Behold the Lamb of God! &c. Message to the Ages! Call to every Pilgrim of the night! Be of good cheer, thy help is nigh. God in Christ is your Saviour, because Christ in human nature means Christ in you, the Divine power revealed in every man, as he is able to receive and use it. Let that vision remain with us. Blessed gleam of the morning light I Behold Jesus going down into the Jordan to be baptized, one with us, never more to be separated from us–Great Elder Brother, dear Friend! Close to us in the waters of purification, close to us in the burden and heat of the day, close to us in the shadow of our Gethsemane, close to us in the Calvary of our pain, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. (H. R. Haweis, M. A.)
Christ and John
The relation between Jesus and John resembles two stars following each other at a short distance, both passing through similar circumstances. The announcement of the appearing of the one follows close upon that of the appearing of the other, it is the same with their two births. This relation repeats itself in the commencement of their respective ministries; and lastly, in the catastrophes which terminate their lives. And yet, in the whole course of the career of these two, there was but one personal meeting–at the baptism of Jesus. After this moment, when one of these stars rapidly crossed the orbit of the ether, they separated, each to follow the path that was marked out for him. (F. Godet, D. D.)
Jesus baptized
I. 1. The preaching of John the Baptist was the sign that the active ministry of the Messiah was now to begin. The Incarnate Word had been hidden among men. His presence must now be manifested and His kingdom set up.
2. His first act in passing from His hidden to His active life, is to identify Himself with that sinning race in whose likeness He had come.
3. This humiliation was temporary and voluntary–Suffer it to be so now, i.e., for the present time; for thus it becometh us–not it is necessary–to fulfil all righteousness.
4. Notice how He who in His boyhood must be about His Fathers business, in His manhood must fulfil all righteousness.
II. 1. There is a deep sense in which this undergoing the baptism of John was a fulfilling all righteousness. It was a revelation that mans nature needs not merely improvement but renewal. Baptism represents the death of the old man and the resurrection of the new.
2. It is that He who thus humiliated Himself for us may fulfil all righteousness in us that we pray, By Thy baptism, good Lord, deliver us. (Canon Vernon Hutton, M. A.)
The significance of Christs baptism
One purpose of His baptism our Lord Himself mentions, in order to satisfy the scruples of the reluctant Baptist; Suffer now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. The first and obvious sense of this is, that since the baptism of John was of God, it became Him, as being born in the people to whom God had given it, to submit Himself to it as the ordinance of God. But then, other grounds might be included in this, as involved in the character and person of Him who thus submitted Himself. The words may have been left, on purpose, undefined, in order to comprehend the more. He added not, says St. Jerome, the righteousness of the law, or of nature, that we might understand both. The righteousness fulfilled was in Him humility surpassing all thought, in that while God He received the baptism of the sinners whose nature He had taken; in Him it was love, which is the fulfilling of the law, in that He received that which He needed not, that they who need it might the more gladly receive it; and so it may be also that He was baptized, not only to give an example of obedience, or healthfully to shame those who to their destruction would have disdained it, but in it to fulfil all righteousness by cleansing the sinful nature in the likeness whereof He had come, and to impart to it as a whole the righteousness which He should afterwards communicate, one by one, to those who came to the baptism which He had thus consecrated. And again, all righteousness may thereby have been fulfilled in it, in that an everlasting righteousness was thereby brought in, and the element consecrated whereby the justifying efficacy of His meritorious Cross and Passion were to be conveyed to all believers. The one sense will not exclude the other; as of all our blessed Saviours actions and words, it is to be believed that they have a manifold depth and meaning, of which each application brings out but one portion; these gifts are a precious stone, whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth. (E. B.Pusey, D. D.)
Christ submitting to baptism
In presenting Himself for baptism, Jesus had to make, as others did (Mat 3:6; Mar 1:7), His confession of sins. Of what sins, if not of those of His people and of the world in general? He placed before John a striking picture of them, not with that pride and scorn with which the Jews spoke of the sins of the heathen, and the Pharisees of the sins of the publicans, but with the humble and compassionate tones of an Isaiah (chap. 63.), a Daniel (chap. 9.), or a Nehemiah (chap. 9.), when they confessed the miseries of their people, as it the burden were their own. He could not have gone down into the water after such an act of communion with our misery, unless resolved to give Himself up entirely to the work of putting an end to the reign of sin. He did not content Himself with making a vow. He prayed, the text tells us; He besought God for all that He needed for the accomplishment of this great task, to take away the sin of the world. He asked for wisdom, for spiritual strength, and particularly for the solution of the mystery which family records, the Scriptures, and His own holiness had created about His person. We can understand how John, after hearing Him confess and pray thus, should say, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! (F. Godet, D. D.)
Christs baptism gives virtue to ours
His last action, or rather passion, was His baptizing with blood; His first was His baptization with water: both of them wash the world from their sins. Yea, this latter did not only wash the souls of men, but washeth that very water by which we are washed; from hence is that made both clean and holy, and can both cleanse and hallow us. (Bishop Hall.)
The scene of Christs baptism
A river that had never been navigable, flowing into a sea that had never known a port? A river almost equal in length to our own Thames, but with no great city gathered upon its banks, and winding through no grand or picturesque scenery Such was the river of God, of which the Hebrew psalmist sung; the sacred river of Old Testament story, upon which Lot, the wandering emigrant, once lifted up his eyes; which Jacob, returning from exile, crossed with his staff, and over which had passed the descendants of the patriarchs twelve sons–a mighty nation, emancipated, and brought from afar, to inherit the land. Since then, along its shores, the tide of many a momentous battle had rolled; its waters had washed the leper clean; and among its pink oleanders and yellow marigolds, prophets had lingered in meditation, or listened at midnight to messages from heaven that made their skin creep. It was while standing on its brink that Elijah, the chief of an illustrious line, had been swept up in the chariot of the whirlwind; and by the sound of its waves, David, the prince of kings, had both thundered in victorious fight, and wept in misery. But now, at last, there is a new thing–a surprising thing. At one of the upper fords of this ancient river, the Redeemer of the world appears: not working marvellous works, or drawing crowds around Him by the magic of His gracious words, but meekly applying to receive at the hands of the reforming preacher of the day, who had been pronouncing the nation morally unclean, and calling it to repentance–a most humiliating rite; a rite which was understood to express the recipients conviction of sin, and his need of purification. (N. R. Wood.)
The baptism of Christ
There is one thing for us to remember, in conclusion: namely, that the baptism which St. John preached, but which he hesitated to administer to the spotless and holy Jesus, had its meaning most fully expressed only when it became administered to Him; for what was it intended to set forth? The nations conscious burthen of sin! And who, of all the multitudes that flocked to be baptized, felt that burthen as Christ did? Some there were, doubt less, among the throng, who mourned truly and deeply their transgressions and the transgressions of the time; devout men, like the greyhaired Simeon, who had long been dissatisfied with themselves and with the existing state of things; but not one, even of the most profoundly stirred and quickened of these, felt the ugliness and horror of their sins, and of Israels corruption, as He felt it. He not only confessed and repented with the people, but for them; suffering in His righteous soul what they ought to have suffered, and did not, nay, could not; offering to God what they ought to have offered, and failed to offer, nay, were unable to offer–an adequate feeling of sin, an adequate sorrow and atonement for it. They truly confessed and repented only in Him; in Him was presented the perfect confession and repentance, of which, at their very best, they fell far short. (N. R. Wood.)
Johns baptism reached its fullest expression in Christs submission to it
See the mother, in the midst of a group of little ones, mingling her tearswith theirs, at the fathers grave. They feel that they have lost something precious; but it is she alone who feels, as she stands bowed among them, how much they have lost. They all kneel together on the sod, and the eyes of all are alike swimming with grief: but what is their impression of the bereavement they have sustained, in comparison with hers? What is their anguish for themselves, compared with her anguish for the fatherless ones? Weep as the children may, the full bitterness of their loss is borne, not by the children, but by the mother who weeps with them. So when Christ joined with the multitude in their baptism of contrition, to none of them were their sins half so burdensome and oppressive as they were to Him; none of them endured, under their deepest convictions, the half of that which He endured for them. The meaning of St. Johns baptism reached its fullest expression in His submission to it, upon whom there was laid the iniquity of all; who, being at once the sinless one and the loving one, saw sins and sinners with Gods eyes, and felt, in reference to them, with Gods heart. (N. R. Wood.)
The baptism of Jesus
The cry of John the Baptist was: Repent; and his baptism was that of repentance. What, then, was the meaning of our Lords baptism? It could not signify that He repented. It was a symbolical act followed by that of which it was the symbol–the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Learn–
I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ORDINANCE OF BAPTISM. That to which our Lord submitted cannot be considered indifferent by any of His disciples.
II. ORDINANCES OF GODS APPOINTING, REVERENTLY AND INTELLIGENTLY SUBMITTED TO, ARE OFTEN THE CHANNELS OF BLESSING. Being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened, &c. Rites unintelligently or superstitiously performed often hide the truth and lead into dangerous error; but when understood as symbolizing or declaring a living truth they are often important aids in teaching truth, and in stimulating to the acquiring of spiritual blessing. (D. Longwill.)
The baptism of Christ
It was–
I. THE PROCLAMATION OF HIS HUMAN RELATIONSHIP TO MAN AND TO GOD.
II. By this act tie bound together in submission to His Fathers WILL THE OLD AND NEW DISPENSATIONS, AND RECOGNIZED HIMSELF AS THE CENTRAL POINT OF HISTORY.
III. IT CONSECRATED HIM KING OF THE THEOCRATIC KINGDOM, AND PROCLAIMED TO ALL MEN THAT HIS ORGANIZATION OF THAT KINGDOM HAD BEGUN.
IV. HOW DOES CHRISTS BAPTISM SPEAK TO US? We have rites of consecration, but these are not the parallels in our lives to this moment in the life of Jesus. There are hours of consecration in our lives of which none know but God and ourselves. (Stopford A. Brooke, M. A.)
The inauguration
Christs example shows that obedience to the Divine Spirit of the time ever brings fuller disclosures and attestations of the Divine blessing. The heavens are opened to every obedient man, and the Spirit of God descends on the last as on the first. Johns baptism had gone no further than repentance; but Christ, standing with the dove resting upon Him, showed that there was a baptism unto holiness. By Johns baptism men were put into a right relation to the past: but as they followed Christ they were put into a right relation to the future; from the negative condition of repentance they passed to the affirmative attitude of holiness. This is the culmination of human history. We have come through man, servant, prophet, messenger, up to Son. The very nomenclature is pregnant with sublime moral significance. We pass from made, to begotten, from upright to beloved, from the us of the creating Trinity to the my of the benignant Father, from the very good of the first Adam to the well-pleased of the second. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The inauguration of Christ
The baptism of Christ was, first of all, the public announcement and inauguration of Christ to His work. John the Baptist had conic to bear witness of the Light, and now his work was nearly done. One last act remained to be done, the solemn setting apart of the Christ to His redeeming work. The baptism closed our Lords private life and began His public ministry. He who had gone down into the water known to men as the Son of Mary, came up thence declared to be the Son of God,
The baptism, with the opened heavens, and the Spirit descending like a dove, and abiding on Jesus, and the witness borne by the voice of God Himself, was the sublime inauguration of the Saviour of the world to His great mission. From that hour Johns prophetic work was done. It expired, to use Davisons beautiful image, as Old Testament prophecy had expired, with the gospel upon its tongue. (G. S. Barrett, B. A.)
The people were baptized
There are many of every sort of people–as we may read–saved in the gospel, but of Pharisees we find none but one, namely, Nicodemus; no sort of men are further from the kingdom of God than proud justiciars. For as a vessel full of one liquor is not capable of another, so the soul which is filled with a vain conceit of her own righteousness, is not capable of the grace of Christ. Grace entereth not into such a soul, because it is full, neither doth grace find any place to dwell therein. There is no place for grace to enter in, where merit hath possession: what thou attributest to merits, is wanting to grace. I will none of that merit which excludes grace. (Bishop Cowper.)
The Baptism of Christ
1. He would hereby honour the ministry of man, in that He submits Himself unto it, and seeketh to it with much pains and labour.
2. As He was baptized, not by an angel or prince, but by a homely man that lived like an hermit in an austere manner of life for diet and clothing; so must not we account baser of the sacraments for the meanness of the man, if a lawful minister, seeing Christ refused not the sacrament at Johns hands; neither must we from the meanest minister, seeing the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John.
3. Christ was content to wash in a common water, in the flood Jordan; He feared no infection from it, though Naaman the leper were washed there; though the Pharisees and hypocrites washed there: yet He takes no exception, contracts no uncleanness; so the wickedness of another communicant doth not prejudice him that is rightly prepared, though he communicate with him in the sacrament, yet not in his sin. Although He undertook not the sacrament as a sacrament of regeneration, or as a symbol of new life, yet He did–
(1) As it was a sacrament of Christian society (1Co 12:13), for as by it the faithful are set into His body, so would He by it be set into the body of the saints, and take on Him the common mark and privilege of His members; even as we see kings and princes, by whom all hold their freedom, will sometimes be made free, and so receive a public testimony of association from their people; and lo, here our Prince in the colours of a common soldier.
(2) As baptism is a symbol of affliction, so He would undertake it; so Mar 10:38) Christ calls His cross and death by the name of baptism.
(3) Christ would be baptized, not to wash Himself, but us; not to put off sin as we, but to put on our sin, that so our sin in Him might be washed away, that He might sanctify this sacrament. Again, this is for our instruction, to note the excellency and dignity of this sacrament, and what esteem we ought to have it in; the Lord comes to the servant a tedious journey to seek it; yet many of us, when it is brought to us, turn our backs upon it. What price set they upon it who flee forth of the Church when this sacrament is to be administered? Shall Christ that needed it not, come to it, and shall we that need it run from it? This I will add to what I have elsewhere largely delivered, that whosoever do not present themselves with due reverence and meditation, but run out carelessly and profanely when baptism is administered, they be far from Christs example, and little comfort can they have of their baptism, but may well fear, lest those mysteries and benefits offered and sealed to a member of the congregation belong not to them; for if they did they would own them, and not run contemptuously from them; as good never baptized, as never meditate on it. But, were thyself to take no good by the sacrament, in calling to mind thine own covenant made in baptism, with the fruit in thyself, yet good order requires thy presence.
1. Because the ordinance belongs not only to the infants parents and sureties, but to the whole congregation, as the entering of a free man into a corporation is by the whole.
2. God looks it should be graced, and not scorned by turning thy back upon it. Were it not a most irreverent contempt to run out from the Word? and is it not also to run from the seal? especially the blessed Trinity being met to such a purpose, to seal such benefits to a member of that congregation?
3. Thy presence is requisite to help the infant by prayer, to join with the congregation in prayer and in praise for the ingrafting of a member into Christs body. But what law or ordinance was there for baptism, to which Christ must be subjected?
It was decreed by the whole Trinity.
1. That Christ should be initiated by this ceremony, wherein also He must manifest Himself the Author of all purity and cleanness.
2. John had preached it, and showed the necessity of it by Divine authority.
3. He would not only subject Himself to His Fathers ordination, but also for our sakes, the virtue of whose baptism depends upon His, as also give us help by His example, and therefore would Himself do that which He commanded others to do.
4. Christ as Mediator, and in our stead, was to be made our righteousness 1Co 1:30); three ways:
(1) In being made an offering for us, by which He was to abolish our sin and curse, and by His most perfect obedience satisfy the whole law for us.
(2) By applying that righteousness purchased by His blood, which else we could never have had benefit by.
(3) By appointing and sanctifying means and instruments for that application, called the ministry of the Spirit, whereof one branch is the laver of water in the Word. And thus, as in our stead, He stood in the general, bound by the will and ordinance of God, in Himself to sanctify baptism for us. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
The baptism of Christ
I. St. Matthew gives us THE REASON WHY THIS BAPTISM TOOK PLACE. Suffer it to be so now, He said to John, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. He was anxious to obey every Divine law, to conform to every Divine institution, to work out and complete a righteousness extensive as the Divine commands. And this answer exhibits the Saviour to us in two characters, each illustrating the propriety of His baptism.
1. He stands here as the Representative of His people. Now they are an unclean people. We argue from His appearing in their form, that He was the Representative of His sinful people; and then we argue from His being their Representative, that it became Him to be baptized.
2. He was also their Head; standing in the relation to them of a Leader or Chief. The Captain of our salvation puts on Himself the garb in which He arrays His soldiers. The Commander submits first to the oath that He enjoins on His followers.
II. Let us look now at His BAPTISM ITSELF.
1. The first circumstance that strikes us in it, is His simple obedience to the Divine law. It bids you obey the Divine law, not scan it. It bids you do the will of God, not criticise it. The will of God must be done, and every command of God obeyed.
2. And notice the humility manifested here, the amazing condescension of Christ. He was now coming forth among men to make known His high pretensions. And how does He appear? Working miracles and doing wonders? Bursting forth like the sun in his brightness, glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? No; He cometh from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. We can hardly form one faint idea of the extent of this degradation. Not indeed a sinner, but appearing as one, assuming a character He had bidden angels and archangels loathe. The manger, the stable, the carpenters hut and the carpenters toil–they were all as nothing; no word of His had poured contempt on any one of them: but to be the thing He had branded; to come forth into sight as though He were the character He abhorred; verily, brethren, this was the infinite abasement of an infinite God.
3. And mark also the devotion the Saviour manifested on this occasion.
III. We come now to our third subject–THE WONDERFUL EVENT WHICH ATTENDED THE SCENE OF HUMILIATION WE HAVE BEEN CONTEMPLATING. It came to pass, says the evangelist, that Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.
1. Observe here the greatness of Christ; His dignity. And it is a remarkable fact that throughout His life, whenever we see Him signally abased, we generally see His Father putting on Him signal honour. He is born in a manger, but a star in the heavens proclaims His advent, and over Him are ringing the songs of angels.
2. We see here also the Messiahship of Christ. First comes the voice of prophecy, marking out the future Messiah as one on whom the Spirit of the Lord was to descend and rest; one who, at His entrance on His office, was to be anointed with the spirit, just as earthly monarchs and priests were anointed with the holy oil. Besides, in all this there was a special reference to John himself.
3. But this event establishes another point. While it proves the reality of our Lords Messiahship, it declares His qualifications for the discharge of this office. The Spirit descended on Him in Jordan to qualify Him for what we may call the moral part of His great work; to enable Him to reach the mind of man, and influence and rule it. He Himself tells us so. Led by the Spirit He had received, He first goes into the wilderness to have His own faith and obedience put to the test; and when He had been taught there by His own experience, what this Spirit could do for the suffering and tempted, He begins His public ministry at Nazareth by declaring the qualifications bestowed on Him for the discharge of His office. The Spirit of the Lord, He says, is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised. And this Spirit abode on Him. St.
Matthew informs us that the dove rested, as well as descended on Him; and St. Luke speaks of Him as going up from the river into the wilderness, full of the Holy Ghost. His blessed gifts are made over to Him, placed at His disposal; and for this purpose, that He may communicate them to whomsoever He will.
4. We are taught also here the high estimation in which the anointed Saviour is held by His Father; the complacency and delight with which He regards Him. From a review of this history we learn, first, the importance which God attaches to His own ordinances, the honour He puts on them. We see here also the insufficiency of ordinances. Baptism, though administered by a prophet and received by Christ, was powerless; or if it had any efficacy, that efficacy was limited; it evidently left much undone. It could not touch the soul of Jesus; it did not qualify Him for His mediatorial work. To accomplish these ends, the Holy Ghost comes down from on high, rests and abides on Him. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
And praying.
Christ praying
To most, if not to all of us, the fact that our Saviour prayed is in itself a wonder. This does not, however, seem to have struck the gospel-writers. Prayers of Christ precious, as showing how completely human He became, living like ourselves, a life of dependence, of communion, and of submission.
I. THE OCCASION ON WHICH THE SAVIOUR IS HAS SAID TO HAVE PRAYED. AS undergone by Christ, the rite of baptism would seem to have had a twofold meaning.
1. It was intended to be symbolic of His entire oneness with the race He came to save.
2. It was intended to be emblematic of His complete consecration to the salvation of the race to which He came.
II. THE REASONS WHICH LED HIM TO PRAY.
1. We are not to suppose that Christs praying on this occasion
(a) arose from any doubt in His mind as to the propriety of the work on which He was entering;
(b) sprang out of any misgiving as to His own appointment to it;
(c) was due to any uncertainty as to His personal fitness for it. No, but–
2. Bearing in mind the meaning of the baptism with which His prayer was associated, we may imagine that His prayer on this occasion would spring–
(a) from His pure passion for the glorification of the Father;
(b) from His intense longing for the salvation of the world;
(c) from His vivid anticipation of the difficulties which lay before Him;
(d) from His keen prevision of the sorrows that awaited Him.
III. THE RESPONSE WHICH CAME TO OUR SAVIOURS PRAYER.
1. There was a special communication of the Divine Spirit.
2. There was a special assurance of the Divine complacency. Practical lesson: PRAYER A PREPARATION FOR SERVICE. (B. Wilkinson, F. G. S.)
For the first, He was now baptized, and in regard of that He prayed, and teacheth us–
1. In that He first was baptized, and then prayed, that we must be first cleansed and sanctified, and then pray: men must lift pure hands with pure hearts in every place (Isa 1:16). In receiving the sacrament a holy heart knows that he hath to do with God, and lifteth itself above sensible elements; it labours to approve itself to God, and looks not at men, but at God and His covenant, and renews itself with faith, repentance, and invocation.
2. In that Christ goeth to God for a blessing upon the sacrament received, we learn that all the grace, holiness, and efficacy of any sacrament is to be obtained, continued and increased by the means of prayer.
For the second, Christ prayed in respect of that He was to do.
1. He was now to be declared that great Prophet of His Church Deu 18:18). And the whole ministry of the New Testament was now to be delivered and consecrated in Him, and therefore undertaking this great work, He goeth to His Father for blessing and success in it.
2. He was now in a solemn manner by sundry testimonies from heaven to be set apart for the work of redemption, and the salvation of man being lost: a ministry which men and angels were all too weak for; and no marvel, if He pray to His Father for sufficient strength and grace to undergo the same.
3. He knew that the heavens were to be opened, and therefore He will be in prayer, to show the power of prayer, that it pierceth the heavens, and entereth the presence of God, and prevaileth for a blessing.
4. The Spirit was to descend upon Him, and therefore He would be in prayer to teach us that the prayers of Gods children are of that force that they bring down the Holy Ghost with all graces upon earth.
5. That faithful prayer doth cause God to give some evident testimony upon those with whom He is well pleased.
6. That whatever we take in hand, we must reverently undertake it with prayer, but especially two things above others.
(1) The part of Gods holy worship.
(2) The duties of our callings.
2. Such is our weakness, as when we do anything the best we can, we had need to pray to do it better, and for pardon that we have done it no better: which if it be true in external things and duties, wherein we are better acquainted; much more in spiritual, wherein our ability is much less.
3. We never receive so much favour from God, but we still stand in need to crave more; nor never so little, but that we have much to be thankful for. This doctrine serves to reprove such as content themselves with the work of Gods worship; that come to the word and sacraments, but beg not a blessing of God beforehand; whereas Christ Himself contented not Himself with the outward means, but prayed for a blessing. And this is the very cause why men find so little taste, strength, and power in these ordinances, because Gods blessing goes not with the means; and therefore it is sundered from His own ordinances, because it is not asked. Is it any marvel, that when men come carelessly, carnally, and profanely, without reverence and religion to the exercises of religion, that they go away as brutishly as they come; and the longer they thus profane Gods holy things, the more senseless and incurable they grow by them, more hardened and hopeless. What good hath many a man gotten by customable coming to the word and sacraments many years together? for their knowledge, babes may pose them in principles; for their conscience, we may as soon prevail with children of three years old, to sit reverently and attentively, as some of three or fourscore, who in the morning are so sleepy, as it were fitter they were at home in their beds, or take order to bring their beds with them: and for their profitableness in their places, or reformation of anything in public, or in their private families, or their own person, God nor man can see no such thing. Now would I ask these men as old as they be, how often they can remember they have humbled themselves before God, that He would bless the Word unto them, and them to understand it, and make conscience of it, to reform their ways, to comfort their consciences? Alas, dead men! this is a strange motion to them; and now we conclude, no blessing asked, none obtained, but a curse accompanied them further to harden them: whereas humble and feeling prayer would have opened the heavens and fetched down the Spirit to have accompanied the ordinance; and so some testimony would have been seen, that God had been better pleased with them and their work.
3. It is a notable fence against sin: for, as the more sin prevails, the less can a man pray; for the more he prays, the less is he overtaken with sin. When the true man is assaulted, if he cry for help, the thief runs away; and so doth sin (a thief which ever doggeth and besetteth us to rob us and steal away grace) if we can cry mightily to God.
4. Acquaint thyself with God; for the times come when nothing will stand by thee but His help; and therefore use prayer, to be familiarly acquainted with Him: know Him now in the time of thy prayer, that He may know thee in the day of thy distress. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Conduct without prayer
He knoweth truly how to live well, who knoweth how to pray well. But best actions without prayer, which obtain grace to them, are like bodies without spirits: yea, as the body without breathing cannot live to do any work competent to a natural life: so the soul, without prayer, can do no work that truly is spiritual. (Bishop Cowper.)
The heaven was opened.
No wit followeth, that we speak of those three admirable events, which followed the prayer of Christ.
1. The sensible opening of the heavens.
2. The visible descending of the Holy Ghost.
3. The audible voice of God the Father, witnessing to many both eye and ear-witnesses the solemn instalment and induction of Christ into His office and work of mediation and ministry. Wherein we must know, that as there never was in all the world so high and excellent an office as Christs was (for the greatest of kings, and the high priest, who yet were with great state and observation anointed and deputed to their offices, were but shadows of this), even so God would have Christ entered into it with such magnificence and glory as never man was, nor creature is capable of. At the coronation of a prince, with what glory, pomp, and sumptuousness, even to admiration, is he brought forth with his nobles and subjects! But all this is but earthly glory, from earthly men to an earthly king. But now at the coronation of the Prince of Peace, God sets Himself from heaven to honour it; and for this purpose He doth more familiarly, and yet more gloriously reveal Himself unto all mankind, than He had ever before done from the creation of the world; and never was any ceremony in all the world so honoured as this baptism of Christ was. The ancient sacrifices of Gods institution were honoured by- manifest signs of His gracious presence, as by the fire which came from heaven continually to consume them: the Ark was honoured with special signs of His glorious presence, sitting between the cherubims, answering by oracle and voice unto cases propounded: the Temple itself at Jerusalem, at Solomons prayer and dedication, was filled with the glory of God, manifested in that cloud that filled the House of the Lord (1Ki 8:10), and this cloud still watched over the Tabernacle (Exo 40:34). But these were all but shadows to this, wherein the Lord did not cloud and vail His presence, or reveal His presence in some sign; but the Divine Majesty manifested itself distinctly, as we may say, in person, yea, in the distinction of all the three Persons, the Father testifying His delight in His dear Son, the Son standing in Jordan, and receiving His Fathers testimony; and the Holy Ghost descending in the visible shape of a dove. It seemeth therefore to be true, that the heaven was sensibly divided and rent in twain, even as the earth was when Korah and his company were swallowed up.
Now the reasons why the heavens were opened were sundry.
1. To manifest the truth and certainty of the other signs which followed, that seeing the heavens opened, they might not conceive that either the dove or the voice came from any other place.
2. To show that howsoever Christ stood there as a weak man, and in similitude of sinful flesh, yet He was the Lord from heaven heavenly, of whom was verified (Joh 3:31) He that is come from heaven is above all.
3. That as His person, so likewise His doctrine was Divine and heavenly (Luk 3:34). He whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God: and this was the special work of His doctoral office, to reveal the will of His Father. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, hath declared Him (Joh 1:18). The power also and grace, whereby He wrought miracles, was not from Beelzebub, but from heaven.
4. To show that His office, into which He was now entered, was and is to open heaven again for us, who by sin had shut it against ourselves; He hath made our way unto the throne of grace. And thus this second Adam standeth in opposition with the first; He shut us out of paradise, a token that we were shut out of heaven: but this lets us into the paradise of God again. The heavens are opened by His passion, not by His baptism Heb 10:19). They are opened by His death as by a common cause, which must be specially and singularly applied, and that is by baptism: therefore it is said, We are baptised into His death (Rom 6:3-4), that is, to have benefit by His death. Note hence, that Christ by fulfilling all righteousness, hath set heaven open unto us, and consequently the justification of a sinner is not only by the obedience of His passion, but also by His active obedience in fulfilling the law. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Like a dove upon Him
The dove-like descent of the Spirit on Christ
Hence then, we may observe, that the religion of Jesus consists in a dove-like temper. This observation we will endeavour to illustrate. That we may proceed with safety, we will give no indulgence to imagination, but will strictly follow the allusions which we find in Scripture.
1. The dove is an emblem of purity. In the law of Moses this was reckoned a clean bird, and it was selected for an offering in the ceremony of purification. His precepts, His doctrines, His example teach us to be holy, undefiled, and separate from sinners.
2. Christ directs His disciples to be harmless as doves. The same meek and inoffensive spirit which was in Him must also be in us.
3. The dove, in the book of Canticles, is an emblem of cheerfulness and joy. Lo, the winter is past and gone, the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The dove-like temper of the gospel is sweet, serene, and pleasant.
4. Doves are distinguished by their mutual fidelity and love. To this social and affectionate property there are frequent allusions in Scripture. The bridegroom, in the book of Canticles, calls the bride by this, among other endearing names: O my dove, let me see thy face, and hear thy voice, for thy voice is sweet, and thy face is comely. People in affliction are described as mourning like doves who have lost their companions. Mutual love is the temper of the gospel.
5. The dove is a defenceless bird. Hence she is described as dwelling in the clefts of the rocks, and in the secret places of the stairs; and as flying to her windows in times of danger. In this view she is an emblem of Christian faith and humility. True believers, sensible of their weakness, and of the dangers which attend them, trust not in themselves, but in the power and grace of their Saviour.
6. The excellent glory, which descended like a dove and rested on Jesus, might be intended to represent the beauties of His Church, adorned and dignified by the graces of His Spirit. The dove, which is a beautiful bird, is a natural emblem of the virtuous and good works which distinguish the Christian character. Though ye have lien among the pots, yet ye shall be as the wings of a dove, covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.
7. The dove, which is a fruitful bird, is, by Isaiah, made an emblem of the increase of the Church in her happy and prosperous periods. Then converts shall fly unto Gods altar, as doves to their windows. (J. Lathrop. D. D.)
The Spirit likened to a dove
1. Our subject suggests to us that the Spirit of Christ usually comes to the soul in a mild and gentle manner. His operations are as His fruits, dovelike, sweet, and kind. The benevolent and friendly nature of the dispensation which Christ was about to introduce, was intimated in the manner of the Spirits descent. The law, which was a ministration of death and condemnation, was delivered to the people with circumstances of terror and amazement. As His manner of teaching, so the doctrines which He taught were kind and gracious.
2. Our subject farther teaches us, that they only are led by the Spirit of God, who are of a dove-like temper. It is absurd then to impute to an uncommon influence of the Spirit any error of conduct, excess of passion, extravagance of zeal, or bitterness of censure; for the Spirit comes like the dove.
3. Our subject reminds us of our obligation to adorn with good works our Christian character, and to recommend to the choice of others the religion which we profess. We should resemble the dove, whose wings are covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. The beauty of religion much depends on our maintaining the more amiable and engaging virtues; such as charity, peaceableness, humility, and meekness.
4. Our subject teaches us our obligation to labor for the increase of Christs Church–not only to enter into it ourselves, but also to encourage others to come and join themselves to it. (J. Lathrop. D. D. )
In semblance of a dove
I. The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape LIKE A bow.
1. The dove was a bird of purity. You know it was used by the poor in sacrifices, and therefore was considered clean.
2. The Holy Spirit is like a dove because it is a harmless creature. The dove never hurts the tiniest bird with which it comes into contact. The Holy Spirit is not compared to the eagle, nor to the hawk, nor to the vulture–birds of prey; but to the dove–a harmless creature.
3. The Holy Ghost is like a dove because the dove is such a gentle creature. His influences are most benign.
4. The Holy Spirit is like the dove, too, because the dove has very keen eyesight. In the Book of Canticles we read, Thou hast doves eyes. Doves are remarkable for great keenness of vision. The Holy Spirit searcheth all things.
5. The Holy Spirit is like the dove because the dove was an emblem of peace and of spring. The dove brought the olive leaf back in her mouth, indicating to Noah that the waters had subsided, and that the deluge of wrath would soon be gone. The dove, too, is mentioned in the Canticles as being a herald of spring: The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land. And whenever the Holy Spirit comes to a mans heart, there is a sign that that heart will be at peace with God.
6. The Holy Ghost, lastly, is like a dove because the dove was given to mourning. I did mourn as a dove, says Isaiah. The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities–takes our infirmities upon Himself. His work is of a loving nature.
II. Secondly, we have THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CHRIST. Much is taught in the connection of the text concerning the mission of Christ, while our text itself gives the chief elements of His character. First of all, we have something concerning His mission. It was divinely ordained, for God sent the Holy Spirit to testify to the world that He was commissioned by Him to undertake mans redemption. We have here the purpose of His mission. Heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended. It was the purpose of Christ to open heaven. The first Adam closed heaven against us. But the character of Christ was developed by the influence of the Holy Ghost. Jesus did not achieve His work by virtue of the divinity that was in Him only, but by virtue of the Spirits graces upon Him. The dove was harmless. Christ said, I am meek and lowly in heart. The dove was given to mourning. Jesus was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The dove wag innocent. Jesus Christ was purity personified. Which of you convinceth Me of sin? said He. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and in an emphatic sense, the dove was emblematic of Him.
III. IT is so ALSO WITH A CHRISTIAN. There is no true character which is not built up by the influence of the Holy Spirit. The dove is defenceless. It has nothing to protect it except the rocks, and when pursued its only refuge is to fly thither. The Christian has nothing to protect himself against the wiles of the devil and the allurements of the world, except the Rock of Ages. The dove keeps to its own company. It is delighted when it is with its fellows. So the Christian feels at home when he gets among characters of like nature. The dove mourns in the absence of its mate; and the character which the Holy Spirit gives to us is such as to make us mourn when our Lord Jesus is away, so that we have no rest if we be separated from Him. You cannot have this character except by the personal application of the Holy Spirit to your heart. (T. Gamble.)
The Holy Spirit descending like a dove
I. First, as the brooding of the Spirit of God upon the face of the deep produced order and life in the beginning, so does He impart new life to the soul, and open the eyes of the understanding, that we may behold the wonders of Gods law.
II. Again: In the fact that the Holy Ghost descended upon the Lord Jesus in the form of a dove, we are reminded that quietness is often essential to many of the operations of grace. A very restless person Will never be very godly, and a very godly one will never be very restless. Be still, and know that I am God.
III. Another point suggested by the text is, that as the dove is an appropriate emblem of love, so the soul which is influenced by the blessed Spirit will abound in love to God, and love to His people. The steeple of an old village church was to be pulled down, in order to prepare the way for some modern improvements, and a long rope was fastened near the top of it, that it might be kept from crushing the building in its fall. Soon everything was ready, and the master-carpenter shouted aloud to the men to pull. As the old steeple began to tremble, and sway from side to side, a beautiful white dove was observed to fly round and round, not daring to go in at its accustomed place, and yet evidently unwilling to depart. She seemed to be aware that a great calamity was about to happen, while a hundred voices shouted, See that dove! Poor thing! the head carpenter observed, she must have young ones up in the steeple. Again the workmen gave a vigorous tug at the rope, and the old steeple reeled and tottered. The distress of the poor dove became so great, that every one felt sorry for her, and not a word was spoken. The bird hovered a moment on her wings, and at the instant that the creaking timbers began to topple over, she darted into the steeple and was hid from view. When the rubbish was cleared away, she was found lying between her two young ones–all three crushed to death I The devoted bird was willing to die with and for them, but she could not save them. There was a spectacle of devoted love–love even unto death!
IV.
I remark, in the fourth place, that the descent of the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, should remind us that gentleness is a distinguishing mark of Christian character in which most of us have very much to learn.
Audubon, the ornithologist, relates this incident in his autobiography: A man, who was once a pirate, assured me that several times, while at certain wells dug in the burning, shelly sands, the soft and melancholy notes of the doves awoke in his heart feelings which had long slumberbed, melting his heart to repentance.
So deeply was he moved by them–the only soothing sounds he had ever heard during his life of horrors–that through them he was induced to escape from his vessel, abandon his turbulent companions, and return to a family deploring his absence, and he now lives in peace in the midst of his friends.
I beseech you by the gentleness of Christ, was St. Pauls exhortation to the Christians of Corinth (2Co 10:1); and, Gentleness, he assures the Galatians (v. 22), is one of the prominent fruits of the Spirit. Henry Martyn, whose temper was naturally not the gentlest, wrote in his journal, I walked into the village where the boat stopped for the night, and found the worshippers of Call by the Sound of their drums and cymbals. I did not speak to them on account of their being Bangalees; but being invited to walk in by the Brahmins, I went within the railings, and asked a few questions about the idol. The Brahmin, who spoke bad Hindostanee, disputed with great heat, and his tongue ran faster than I could follow, and the people shouted applause. I continued to ask my questions, without making any remarks upon the answers The man grew quite mild, and said it was good words, and asked me seriously, at last, was idol-worship true or false? I felt it a matter of thankfulness that I could make known the truth of God, though but a stammerer; and this I also learned, that the power of gentleness is irresistible. Once more: the dove has always been the type of purity, and the Holy Spirit is the purifier of the heart. When He gains an entrance into it, sin and uncleanness must depart. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)
The Holy Spirit like a dove
So here the Spirit would appear in the shape of a dove, to note–
1. What kind of Spirit Christs was.
2. What kind of gifts they were which were collated and bestowed upon Him: and–
3. What was the fruit of those gifts. (J. Taylor, D. D.)
The Divine Spirit in the ministry
Note, as Christ was set apart both by the ministry of man, and by the Spirit, by the visible appearance of which God would manifest that He was fitted thereunto; so in all those that are set apart by man to the ministry, must be an apparent descending of the Spirit though not in visible shape, yet in evident gifts and graces. (J. Taylor, D. D.)
The Spirit of God like unto Himself
The Spirit of God is everywhere like to Himself, both in the head and members, as the same juice is in the root and branches, in the tree and fruits. Look what were the fruits of the Spirit in Christ, the same also are in the members (Gal 5:23). (J. Taylor, D. D.)
The Divine Trinity engaged in redemption
Here, then, for our further comfort, we have to consider how the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity concur together to work the great work of our redemption; for here is the Father designing, ordaining, proclaiming; here is the Son accepting, and the Holy Ghost anointing. (Bishop Cowper.)
The Holy Ghost as dove
The Spirit that descended on Jesus like a dove was to become, and became, when breathed abroad by Him, a consuming fire (Luk 3:16). Why, in its descent upon Him, was it the gentle brooding of a dove? May we not answer with a word, that in Him it encountered no sinful force, no mass of evil passion or unworthy disposition, to contend with; but only beautiful germs to develope, only rights, sympathies, and aspirations to encourage, and direct, and intensify? Yes; it found in Him only that which was accordant and congenial; the Holy Child to be expanded into the Holy Man; nothing contrary to it, the withstanding of which would have struck out a flame; nothing to burn against and burn up, in order to His perfecting; no false will of affections to be resisted by and to resist, until it was conquered. The Spirit from above just lighted and spread its wings, and sat brooding upon the Divine simplicity of the wholehearted Nazarene. True, He had to endure in Himself a fiery baptism, as the result of the descent upon Him from above. But it was through His contact, thus Spirit-charged, with the bad element surrounding Him, that He suffered what He suffered; not through the contact of the Spirit with any bad element in Him. It met with nothing in Him to cause a painful flame; touching which it had to become a purging devouring fire. It abode upon Him like a dove brooding over its nest. (S. A. Tipple.)
Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased
The voice from heaven
I. THE PERSON WHOSE VOICE IT WAS IS GOD THE FATHER; for He saith, Thou art My beloved Son. Every testimony receives validity and authority from the testator, therefore this must needs be sound and good. God had given testimony to Christ by many famous men, even all the prophets, and now lately by John Baptist, who was greater than a prophet, that Christ was greater than he; yea, more, had given testimony of Him by a multitude of heavenly angels (Luk 1:30; Luk 13:1-35). But not content with all this, He gives from heaven His own testimony of Him.
1. To strike us with reverence in receiving this testimony, which hath this privilege above other parts of Scripture, that it was uttered by Gods own mouth, not by men or angels.
2. To confirm us in the truth of the testimony, proceeding from Him who is prima veritas, truth itself (not only true) in His essence, and much more in His words and works, who cannot be deceived, nor deceive us.
3. To show the necessity of believing this testimony, being the first and only principle in Christian religion, without which foundation laid can be no religion nor salvation, as we see in the Jews and Turks. That we might more firmly believe in the Son of God for life, Gods own mouth testifieth so honourably of Him.
4. That such a glorious commendation of this testimony might stir up our best attention and affections in the unfolding of it, we have here the word of a King which was never stained, and that not uttered by any herald or a lord chancellor, but from His own mouth, which carrieth more weight with it. If God speak, woe to him that hears not.
II. THE PLACE WHENCE–FROM HEAVEN. For these reasons:
1. For more authority to the person of Christ, whom God from heaven doth honour. And if God thus honour Him, how ought we to honour Him? 2Pe 1:17.) He received of God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son; which was verified not only in the time of His Transfiguration, but here also.
2. Because the testimony contains the sum of the whole gospel, to declare that the doctrine of the gospel, which Christ delivered to the world, was from heaven, because God from heaven so testifieth it to be. Wherein it differs from the doctrine of the Law, which, although God renewed from heaven in the tables of stone, yet was it written in the heart of man by nature. So was not the gospel. But as after the Fall it was immediately delivered by God to Adam in the promise, so here by the same voice from heaven confirmed to be Divine and heavenly.
3. In respect of us, that we should more carefully attend to the testimony itself proceeding from the excellent glory, and that from the mouth of the God of glory sitting in His chair of estate, seeing the word of a King in that place is more regarded. The contempt of the Law given upon Mount Sinai, in the hand of angels, was required at their hands; how shall they then escape that despise Him that speaketh from heaven? (Heb 2:2-3.) The Law being transgressed, the gospel from heaven moderateth and pardoneth a man; but the gospel from heaven being despised, what can plead for him?
4. To show the extent of the gospel, that it is to be preached, and binds to the faith of it all the people under heaven. And herein it was not to be inferior to the Law, which God would have acknowledged His own by uttering it from heaven, and that not before He had sent Moses down, lest it should have been thought to be His, although it was so loud and piercing, as it could not possibly be but Divine, not human.
III. THE MANNER OF THE TESTIMONY–BY AN AUDIBLE AND SENSIBLE VOICE. HOW the Father uttereth this voice it is needless to inquire, seeing we know that He who made the tongue can either speak without a tongue or by secret inspiration and revelation, as to Isaiah (2Ki 20:4). or frame a tongue and organs of voice at His pleasure, to utter and make known His will and good pleasure to His creatures, or speak by creatures, as angels in human shape, or other creatures–sensible, as Balaams ass; or insensible, as the bush of fire. It is much more material to inquire into the end and use of it, which was to make the Son of God known unto the world, that the faith of men might be fixed on Him for salvation.
1. Hence, note, in that the Lord from heaven teacheth by voice His wonderful care, that will not suffer us to want any means to help us in the knowledge of the means of salvation. He had taught them and us before, by the sense of sight, seeing the heavens opened, and the Spirit visibly descending; and now He teacheth the ear by a voice, for He knows our dulness, security, slow ness of heart to believe, and applies Himself every way to help us. He setteth out His glory by His works and creatures; He addeth His Word confirmed by many powerful miracles; to his audible Word He hath annexed His visible Word, the sacraments; He hath set up a constant ministry in His Church, and every way fitted it to the edification of His people, as so He may now say, What could I do more for thee, O Israel? Is God thus careful of our profiting every way? Then how damnable and excuseless shall the carelessness of the most be in the matter of their salvation I In which regard it had been good for many a man that God had never made His will known to him, that he never had heard the Word, or received the sacraments, for all but tend to his deeper condemnation, because of his neglect and formal use. When our Saviour said of Judas, It had been good for him he had never been born, did not He in effect say the same, It bad been good for him he had never been a disciple of Christ, never had heard Christ, or preached Christ, because the more excellent means he had, the greater was his sin and judgment. Again, hereby God cleareth His righteous judgment in the just damnation of the wicked and unbelievers. O Israel, thy destruction is of thyself. Say not, What can I remedy it, if God will not save me? Nay, what can God do more than He hath done? He hath given thee strong and excellent means, and preached the gospel from heaven by His own mouth, and sent it to all nations under heaven in their own language in an audible and intelligible voice. If thou wilt now wilfully refuse the means, thy blood be upon thy own head; that which will die, let it die. Thou art in the sea of thy sins, ready to be drowned, good help is offered, but thou refusest it, and must die in thy sin. Thy case is that of Jerusalem: How often would I have gathered thee, and thou wouldst not!
2. Note, that it is Gods pleasure that we should be taught the matter of salvation by voice, and attend to that. Here was a visible opening of the heavens, a glorious presence of the Spirit in the shape of a dove resting on Christ; but when the Lord will have Christ published and proclaimed the Messiah, this must be done by voice.
Thou heardest a voice, but sawest no image, therefore take heed to thyself, and corrupt not thyself by any image (Deu 4:12; Deu 4:14).
1. Herein His mercy hath appointed a familiar and fit instruction, meet for our weakness, not coming to His Church in His own Majesty.
2. Herein He advanced our nature, teaching us great mysteries by such as ourselves, sanctifying the tongues of men, and not angels.
3. Herein He magnifies His power, who by so weak means worketh salvation. Earthen vessels are used, that the power may be seen to be of 2Co 4:7). The voice of men by Gods power conquers the world.
4. Hereby He tries our obedience, whether we will yield to a weak voice, whereas He might force us by power. Reasons: If God look on us in our selves, and in the common mass, we are so covered over with sin, as He must needs pronounce of us as once He did of mankind, It repenteth Me that I have made man. He must needs bring the curse of the Law on our necks. But looking on us through Christ, He changeth His voice, that as when we behold a thing through a red, or green, or coloured glass, everything looks as the colour of the glass. So God beholding us through Christ, we receive the dye and tincture of His blood and obedience, and so are justified and accounted innocent and pure. And thus, as it is said of the Church (Eze 16:14),we recover our former beauty, which is made perfect through His beauty. (T. Taylor, D. D.)
Thirty years of age
Years of silence and preparation
In the humble home at Nazareth Jesus spent thirty years; most marvellous in this, that nothing marvellous is recorded of them. Goodness was so perfect, duty so evenly performed, the lustre of holiness so mild and steady, that brothers and sisters and rude Nazarene neighbours came to take all this as a matter of course, saw in it nothing superhuman; and when at last the disguise was laid aside, and the prophet-king of Israel, the promised Messiah, stood unveiled, they could still only stupidly ask, Is not this Jesus, the carpenter? Imagination may strive to withdraw the veil which inspiration has left drawn over these thirty years–the precious episode of the visit to Jerusalem. For some minds the attempt will have an irresistible fascination, to others it will be utterly distasteful; and neither may judge the other. But faith and love should never lose sight of the lessons which speak in the very silence of those years. Ten times as much of life as our Lord Jesus occupied in public ministry He spent in private life, preaching no sermon, initiating no public movement, working no miracle. The Divine ideal of perfect holiness in childhood, youth, and manhood was realized during thirty years in a life of obscure privacy, mechanical toil, and home affection and duty. (E. R.Conder, D. D.)
Thirty years of preparation, and about three years of work I how contrary to our notions of a wise economy of the working powers of a human life! There may possibly be a reference to the age at which, according to the law, the Levites were to enter upon their ministrations; but when we consider the short time during which the actual ministry lasted, we may certainly draw the conclusion that in order to do a great work in a short time long and patient preparation is necessary; and that they who would be useful ministers of the Church of Christ should grudge no time and no amount of labour to fit themselves for the great work committed to them. (Bishop Harvey Goodwin.)
The author of the New Phoedo considers thirty years of age the epoch for the departure of youth; by which he does not, of course, intend to signify incipient decay, our frames being as young as they were five years before, while the mind has been ripening; by youth he means the growing and progressive season, the departure of it being visible only inasmuch as we have become, as it were, fixed and stationary. The qualities that peculiarly belong to youth, its quick, throbbing fancies, its exuberance of energy and feeling, cease, by his reckoning, to be our distinctions at thirty.
Maynard, in the play, speaks of himself as almost thirty–warning thirty. Warning thirty? repeats his companion, half-mockingly, half-inquiringly. The other explains, Tis half the journey, Tom. Depend on it, after thirty, tis time to count the milestones. At the age of thirty, according to Lord Lytton, the characters of most men pass through a revolution; we have reduced to the sober test of reality the visions of youth; we no longer chase frivolities or hope for chimeras; and we may now come with better success than Rasselas to the Choice of Life. Ever to be noted is the pregnant fact that when our Lord began to be about thirty years of age, then began His work in earnest, His ministry in public. To many that age is the signal for selfish indulgence in regrets. To Him it struck the hour of hard work–work that should cease but in death. (F. Jacox.)
The achievements of youth
Almost everything that is great has been done by youth. For life in general there is but one decree. Youth is a blunder; manhood a struggle; old age a regret. Do not suppose that I hold that youth is genius; all that is genius, when young, is Divine. Why, the greatest captains of ancient and modern times both conquered Italy at five-and-twenty! Youth, extreme youth, overthrew the Persian empire. Don John of Austria won Lepanto at twenty-five–the greatest battle of modern times. Had it not been for the jealousy of Philip, the next year he would have been Emperor of Mauritania. Gaston de Foix was only twenty-two when he stood a victor on the plain of Ravenna. Every one remembers Conde and Rocroy at the same age. Gustavus Adolphus died at thirty-eight. Look at his captains: that wonderful Duke of Weimar, only thirty-six when he died; Banter himself, after all his miracles, died at forty-five. Cortes was little more than thirty when he gazed upon the golden cupolas of Mexico. When Maurice of Saxony died at thirty-two all Europe acknowledged the loss of the greatest captain and the profoundest statesman of the age. Then there is Nelson, Clive–but these are warriors, and perhaps you may think there are greater things than war. I do not; I worship the Lord of hosts. But take the most illustrious achievements of civil prudence. Innocent III., the greatest of the Popes, was the despot of Christendom at thirty-seven. John de Medici was a cardinal at fifteen, and, Guicciardini tells us, baffled with his statecraft Ferdinand of Arragon himself; he was Pope as Leo X. at thirty-seven. Luther robbed even him of his richest province at thirty-five. Take Ignatius Loyola and John Wesley; they worked with young brains. Ignatius was only thirty when he made his pilgrimage and wrote the Spiritual Exercises. Pascal wrote a great work at sixteen, the greatest of Frenchmen, and died at thirty-seven. Ah, that fatal thirty-seven! Was it experience that guided the pencil of Raphael when he painted the palaces of Rome? He died at thirty-seven. Richelieu was Secretary of State at thirty-one. Then there were Bolingbroke and Pitt, both Ministers before other men leave cricket. Grotius was in great practice at seventeen, and Attorney-General at twenty-four. And Acquaviva–Acquaviva was general of the Jesuits, ruled every Cabinet in Europe, and colonized America before he was thirty-seven. What a career I It is needless to multiply instances. The history of heroes is the history of youth. (Lord Beaconsfield.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. Jesus – being baptized] See on Luke 3:16; Luke 3:17.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This history of our Saviours baptism is reported both by Matthew and Mark, much most largely by Matthew; See Poole on “Mat 3:13“., &c. Luke only addeth those words,
and praying, which teacheth us that prayers ought to be joined with baptism. What was the matter of his prayer we are not told, though the following words incline some not improbably to judge that he prayed for some testimony from heaven concerning him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. when all the people werebaptizedthat He might not seem to be merely one of the crowd.Thus, as He rode into Jerusalem upon an ass, “whereon yetnever man sat” (Lu19:30), and lay in a sepulchre “wherein was never man yetlaid” (Joh 19:41), soin His baptism He would be “separate from sinners.”
Lu3:23-38. GENEALOGY OFJESUS.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now when all the people were baptized,…. That came from several parts to John for this purpose, even as many as he judged to be proper subjects of that ordinance, as many of the common people, publicans, soldiers, c.
it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized of John in Jordan, he coming from Galilee thither on that account:
and praying; after he was baptized, for the coming down of the Spirit upon him, as man, to anoint, and qualify him for his office he was now about to enter on publicly: and for success in it, and for a testimony from heaven, that he was the Son of God, and true Messiah:
the heaven was opened;
[See comments on Mt 3:16].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Genealogy of Christ. |
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21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. 23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, 24 Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph, 25 Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge, 26 Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda, 27 Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri, 28 Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er, 29 Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, 30 Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim, 31 Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David, 32 Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson, 33 Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda, 34 Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor, 35 Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala, 36 Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, 37 Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, 38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
The evangelist mentioned John’s imprisonment before Christ’s being baptized, though it was nearly a year after it, because he would finish the story of John’s ministry, and then introduce that of Christ. Now here we have,
I. A short account of Christ’s baptism, which had been more fully related by St. Matthew. Jesus came, to be baptized of John, and he was so, Luk 3:21; Luk 3:22.
1. It is here said that, when all the people were baptized, then Jesus was baptized: all that were then present. Christ would be baptized last, among the common people, and in the rear of them; thus he humbled himself, and made himself of no reputation, as one of the least, nay, as less than the least. He saw what multitudes were hereby prepared to receive him, and then he appeared.
2. Notice is here taken of Christ’s praying when he was baptized, which was not in Matthew: being baptized, and praying. He did not confess sin, as others did, for he had none to confess; but he prayed, as others did, for he would thus keep up communion with his Father. Note, The inward and spiritual grace of which sacraments are the outward and visible signs must be fetched in by prayer; and therefore prayer must always accompany them. We have reason to think that Christ now prayed for this manifestation of God’s favour to him which immediately followed; he prayed for the discovery of his Father’s favour to him, and the descent of the Spirit. What was promised to Christ, he must obtain by prayer: Ask of me and I will give thee, c. Thus he would put an honour upon prayer, would tie us to it, and encourage us in it.
3. When he prayed, the heaven was opened. He that by his power parted the waters, to make a way through them to Canaan, now by his power parted the air, another fluid element, to open a correspondence with the heavenly Canaan. Thus was there opened to Christ, and by him to us, a new and living way into the holiest sin had shut up heaven, but Christ’s prayer opened it again. Prayer is an ordinance that opens heaven: Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
4. The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him; our Lord Jesus was now to receive greater measures of the Spirit than before, to qualify him for his prophetical office, Isa. lxi. 1. When he begins to preach, the Spirit of the Lord is upon him. Now this is here expressed by a sensible evidence for his encouragement in his work, and for the satisfaction of John the Baptist; for he was told before that by this sign it should be notified to him which was the Christ. Dr. Lightfoot suggests that the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, that he might be revealed to be a personal substance, and not merely an operation of the Godhead: and thus (saith he) was made a full, clear, and sensible demonstration of the Trinity, at the beginning of the gospel; and very fitly is this done at Christ’s baptism, who was to make the ordinance of baptism a badge of the profession of that faith in the doctrine of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
5. There came a voice from heaven, from God the Father, from the excellent glory (so it is expressed, 2 Pet. i. 17), Thou art my beloved Son. Here, and in Mark, it is expressed as spoken to Christ; in Matthew as spoken of him: This is my beloved Son. It comes all to one; it was intended to be a notification to John, and as such was properly expressed by, This is my beloved Son; and likewise an answer to his prayer, and so it is most fitly expressed by. Thou art. It was foretold concerning the Messiah, I will be his Father, and he shall be my Son, 2 Sam. vii. 14. I will make him my First-born, Ps. lxxxix. 27. It was also foretold that he should be God’s elect, in whom his soul delighted (Isa. xlii. 1); and, accordingly, it is here declared, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
II. A long account of Christ’s pedigree, which had been more briefly related by St. Matthew. Here is,
1. His age: He now began to be about thirty years of age. So old Joseph was when he stood before Pharaoh (Gen. xli. 46), David when he began to reign (2 Sam. v. 4), and at this age the priests were to enter upon the full execution of their office, Num. iv. 3. Dr. Lightfoot thinks that it is plain, by the manner of expression here, that he was just twenty-nine years old complete, and entering upon his thirtieth year, in the month Tisri; that, after this, he lived three years and a half, and died when he was thirty-two years and a half old. Three years and a half, the time of Christ’s ministry, is a period of time very remarkable in scripture. Three years and six months the heavens were shut up in Elijah’s time, Luk 4:25; Jas 5:17. This was the half week in which the Messiah was to confirm the covenant, Dan. ix. 27. This period is expressed in the prophetical writings by a time, times, and half a time (Dan 12:7; Rev 12:14); and by forty-two months, and a thousand two hundred and threescore days, Rev 11:2; Rev 11:3. It is the time fixed for the witnesses’ prophesying in sackcloth, in conformity to Christ’s preaching in his humiliation just so long.
2. His pedigree, v. 23, c. Matthew had given us somewhat of this. He goes no higher than Abraham, but Luke brings it as high as Adam. Matthew designed to show that Christ was the son of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth are blessed, and that he was heir to the throne of David and therefore he begins with Abraham, and brings the genealogy down to Jacob, who was the father of Joseph, and heir-male of the house of David: but Luke, designing to show that Christ was the seed of the woman, that should break the serpent’s head, traces his pedigree upward as high as Adam, and begins it with Ei, or Heli, who was the father, not of Joseph, but of the virgin Mary. And some suggest that the supply which our translators all along insert here is not right, and that it should not be read which, that is, which Joseph was the son of Heli, but which Jesus; he was the son of Joseph, of Eli, of Matthat, c., and he, that is, Jesus, was the son of Seth, of Adam, of God, <i>v. 38. The difference between the two evangelists in the genealogy of Christ has been a stumbling-block to infidels that cavil at the word, but such a one as has been removed by the labours of learned men, both in the early ages of the church and in latter times, to which we refer ourselves. Matthew draws the pedigree from Solomon, whose natural line ending in Jechonias, the legal right was transferred to Salathiel, who was of the house of Nathan, another son of David, which line Luke here pursues, and so leaves out all the kings of Judah. It is well for us that our salvation doth not depend upon our being able to solve all these difficulties, nor is the divine authority of the gospels at all weakened by them; for the evangelists are not supposed to write these genealogies either of their own knowledge or by divine inspiration, but to have copied them out of the authentic records of the genealogies among the Jews, the heralds’ books, which therefore they were obliged to follow; and in them they found the pedigree of Jacob, the father of Joseph, to be as it is set down in Matthew; and the pedigree of Heli, the father of Mary, to be as it is set down here in Luke. And this is the meaning of hos enomizeto (v. 23), not, as it was supposed, referring only to Joseph, but uti sancitum est lege–as it is entered into the books, as we find it upon record; by which is appeared that Jesus was both by father and mother’s side the Son of David, witness this extract out of their own records, which any one might at that time have liberty to compare with the original, and further the evangelists needed not to go; nay, had they varied from that, they had not gained their point. Its not being contradicted at that time is satisfaction enough to us now that it is a true copy, as it is further worthy of observation, that, when those records of the Jewish genealogies had continued thirty or forty years after these extracts out of them, long enough to justify the evangelists therein, they were all lost and destroyed with the Jewish state and nation; for now there was no more occasion for them.
One difficulty occurs between Abraham and Noah, which gives us some perplexity, Luk 3:35; Luk 3:36. Sala is said to be the son of Cainan, and he the son of Arphaxad, whereas Sala was the son of Arphaxad (Gen 10:24; Gen 11:12), and there is no such man as Cainan found there. But, as to that, it is sufficient to say that the Seventy Interpreters, who, before our Saviour’s time, translated the Old Testament into Greek, for reasons best known to themselves inserted that Cainan; and St. Luke, writing among the Hellenist Jews, was obliged to make use of that translation, and therefore to take it as he found it.
The genealogy concludes with this, who was the son of Adam, the son of God. (1.) Some refer it to Adam; he was in a peculiar manner the son of God, being, more immediately than any of his offspring, the offspring of God by creation. (2.) Others refer it to Christ, and so make the last words of this genealogy to denote his divine and human nature. He was both the Son of Adam and the Son of God that he might be a proper Mediator between God and the sons of Adam, and might bring the sons of Adam to be, through him, the sons of God.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
When all the people were baptised ( ). The use of the articular aorist infinitive here with bothers some grammarians and commentators. There is no element of time in the aorist infinitive. It is simply punctiliar action, literally “in the being baptized as to all the people.” Luke does not say that all the people were baptized before Jesus came or were baptized at the same time. It is merely a general statement that Jesus was baptized in connexion with or at the time of the baptizing of the people as a whole.
Jesus also having been baptized ( ). Genitive absolute construction, first aorist passive participle. In Luke’s sentence the baptism of Jesus is merely introductory to the descent of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the Father. For the narrative of the baptism see Mark 1:9; Matt 3:13-16.
And praying ( ). Alone in Luke who so often mentions the praying of Jesus. Present participle and so naturally meaning that the heaven was opened while Jesus was praying though not necessarily in answer to his prayer.
The heaven was opened ( ). First aorist passive infinitive with double augment, whereas the infinitive is not supposed to have any augment. The regular form would be as in D (Codex Bezae). So the augment appears in the future indicative (Mt 12:20) and the second aorist passive subjunctive (Joh 19:31). Such unusual forms appear in the Koine. This infinitive here with the accusative of general reference is the subject of (it came to pass). Mt 3:16 uses the same verb, but Mr 1:10 has , rent asunder.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Was opened [] . So Matthew, but Mark scizomenouv, rent.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS V. 21, 22
1) “Now when all the people were baptized,” (en to baptisthenai hapanta ton laon) “When all the people were immersed,” who repented at the preaching of John, and gave fruit-evidence of it, Mat 3:7-8; and as John’s ministry drew near an end, Joh 3:30.
2) “It came to pass,” (egeneto de) “Then it occurred,” happened, or came to be, when Jesus had come to him, to be baptized by John, Mat 3:13-15.
3) “That Jesus also being baptized,” (kai lesou baptisthentos kai proseuchomenou) “That Jesus also being baptized and praying,” or having been baptized, as also recounted, Mat 3:15-17.
4) “And praying,” (kai proseuchomenou) “And as he was praying,” or while He prayed, in solemn preparation for His work, Luk 18:1; without ceasing, 1Th 5:17.
5) “The heaven was opened.” (aneochthenai ton ouranon) “The heaven came to be opened,” Mat 3:16; Mar 1:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk. 3:21.This verse seems to imply that the baptism of Jesus was in a measure privatethat He was the last to receive the rite on the particular day when He came to John. The reason why He submitted to the rite is given by Himself in Mat. 3:15, viz. that He judged it fitting for Him to conform to all the requirements of the law of Moses. Praying.This circumstance is mentioned by St. Luke only. It is an illustration of the necessity of prayer to make any external rites effectual.
Luk. 3:22. In a bodily shape.Added by St. Luke. The dove was from early times a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Talmudic comment on Gen. 1:2 is that the the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters like a dove. We are probably to understand a dovelike, hovering, lambent flame descending on the head of Jesus; and this may account for the unanimous early legend that a fire or light was kindled in the Jordan (Farrar). A voice.This voice out of heaven was heard also on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luk. 9:35), and shortly before the Passion (Joh. 12:28-30). This appearance of the Holy Spirit, and voice of the Father, seen and heard on the occasion of the baptism of Jesus, distinctly imply the doctrine of the Trinity of the Godhead.
Luk. 3:23.The phraseology of the beginning of this verse is very rugged; and commentators have been much perplexed by it. The R.V. is, And Jesus Himself, when He began to teach, was about thirty years of age. The substitution of the words in italicsto teachseems somewhat arbitrary. The evident intention of the Evangelist is to give the age of Jesus at His baptism. Perhaps the simplest and most natural rendering of the passage would be, And Jesus was beginning to be [a man] of about thirty years of agei.e. had nearly completed his thirtieth year.
Luk. 3:23-38.The genealogy of Jesus. For a full discussion of the many interesting and complicated questions connected with the genealogies given in the first and third Gospels, we must refer the reader to works specially dealing with that subject. Lord A. C. Hervey, Bishop of Bath and Wells, has written a very able monograph entitled The Genealogies of our Lord Jesus Christ, and is also the author of the article on the subject in Smiths Dictionary of the Bible. From the latter we make the following extracts:
1. They are both the genealogies of Josephi.e. of Jesus Christ, as the reputed and legal son of Joseph and Mary.
2. The genealogy of St. Matthew is Josephs genealogy as legal successor to the throne of Davidi.e. it exhibits the successive heirs of the kingdom, ending with Christ, as Josephs reputed son. St. Lukes is Josephs private genealogy, exhibiting his real birth, as Davids son, and thus showing why he was heir to Solomons crown.
3. There can be no doubt that Mary also was of Davids descent (Luk. 1:32; Act. 2:30; Act. 13:23; Rom. 1:3, etc.). It is probable that she was the daughter of Jacob, and first cousin to Joseph, her husband; so that in point of fact, though not of form, both the genealogies are as much hers as her husbands. In St. Matthews Gospel Joseph is said to have been the son of Jacob, the son of Matthan; in St. Lukes, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat. There seems to be no reason to doubt that Matthan and Matthat are one and the same person. The state of matters then would be that Matthan had two sons, Jacob and Heli; that Jacob had no son (but according to the above conjecture, a daughter Mary), and that consequently Joseph, the son of the younger brother Heli, became heir to his uncle and to the throne of David. It is quite evident that, in spite of all difficulties which may now be connected with these genealogies, they are trustworthy; not a doubt was thrown out by the bitterest of the early enemies of Christianity as to our Lords real descent from David.
Luk. 3:27.Probably the original text had the son of the Rhesa Zerubbabel. Rhesa is not a proper name, but a Chaldan word signifying prince.
Luk. 3:36.The Cainan mentioned in this verse is perhaps introduced by mistake. The name is to be found in the LXX. Version of Gen. 11:12, but not in any Hebrew MS. of the Old Testament.
Luk. 3:38. Adam, which was the Son of God.The Evangelist here asserts at once the community of nature which subsists between all mankind (cf. Act. 17:26-28), and the filial relation in which all men stand to God, not merely as being the creatures of His hand, but also as being made in His image (Speakers Commentary).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Luk. 3:21-38
The Divine Sonship of Christ and of Man.Nowhere else in the Gospels is the fact that Jesus Christ was in a unique sense the Son of God more plainly stated than here. And yet His true humanity is no less emphatically asserted in the genealogical table which traces His descent from the founder of our race. Nor does it seem to the author of the Gospel that there is any insuperable difficulty in believing that the Son of God became Son of manas though the Divine and the human natures were alien to each other; on the contrary, he speaks of man as being in a sense the son of God (Luk. 3:38).
I. The Divine Sonship of Christ.To all outward seeming Jesus was simply a young man, now about the age of thirty, who had come like others to receive baptism from John. But by supernatural signsthe opened heaven, the descent of the Spirit, and the voice of GodHis unique relationship with God is declared. His absolute sinlessness is asserted in the words, In Thee I am well pleased; and consequently there is a difference between Him and every other member of the race with which He is now connected. He is born of woman, but not of human parentage (Luk. 3:23); and though akin through His mother with every member of the human racefor all are descended from a common ancestorHe has not inherited a depraved nature. No sins of His own are therefore to be thought of as having been washed away by the water of baptism. Yet by His identification of Himself with His brethren He took upon Himself their shame and guilt.
II. The Divine sonship of man.The great distinction between man and the other creatures is that he was made in the image of God. And therefore there is a kinship between him and his Creator which the Evangelist expresses in the words, Adam, which was the son of God. Because of this relationship it is possible for man to know God, and love Him, and serve Him, and have communion with Him, as none of the other creatures can do. In consequence of it, also, it was possible for Christ to assume our nature and be found in fashion as a man, without any confusion of natures in His person. Those who were sons of God, however, differed in one marked respect from Him who was the Son of God: they had lost many of the privileges of sonship because of disobedience, while the communion of Christ with God was perfect and unbroken. And the one great purpose of the Saviours life was to restore fellowship between heaven and earth, between the Father and His human children. To Christ the heaven was opened that He might lead us into it, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him to pass from Him to us, and with us in Christ the Father is well pleased.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk. 3:21-38
Luk. 3:21. When all the people were baptized.The peculiar phrase when all the people were baptized may imply that the baptism of Jesus was towards the close of Johns ministry; it may, however, be St. Lukes method of explaining the reason why Jesus submitted to baptism. All the people, the nation, by accepting Johns baptism, were turning to God, and Jesus did not hold aloof from the movement. By His incarnation He had become a member of our race, by His circumcision He had become a Jew, and He fulfilled the obligations which rested upon Him of obedience to the Divine commandments. If we understand why He received the rite of circumcision, we shall understand why He received that of baptism, for the same general ideas underlie both rites. So far from separating Himself from others, as One who was of a different nature from ours, and free from the necessity of seeking forgiveness, He identified Himself with mankind so as to bear the burden of condemnation and be subject even unto death. His own explanation (Mat. 3:15), Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness, plainly declares that He submitted to every commandment that is laid by God upon man. Hence St. Luke speaks of His baptism as a matter of course, since Israel as a nation was accepting Johns ministry. It is probable that this was the only occasion when John and Jesus mot together, although their careers were so closely connected and intervolved.
1. The birth of John preceded and heralded that of Jesus.
2. In his ministry also John acted as the forerunner of Jesus.
3. In his death by violence he offered a presage of the death of Jesus by cruel hands two or three years later.
A Private Celebration.The narrative of St. Luke seems to imply that the baptism of Jesus was not at a time when there were others receiving the rite. John was evidently either alone or there were but few spectators. The mere fact of Jesus standing and praying after His baptism would lead us to infer that it was a private rather than a public celebration of the rite. Though He received baptism, He was separate from sinners; though He afterwards received burial, He was laid in a tomb wherein was never yet man laid.
Jesus baptized.Jesus would identify Himself with His people in their most humbling experiences. So He went down into the water (not, indeed, to be cleansed by it; rather, as an old writer says, to cleanse it), and the Divine voice declared, This is My beloved Son! He descended into the water, just as He submitted in His early years to the Jewish law. His being baptized was part of His unutterable humiliation. Jesus pledged Himself to the fulfilment of all righteousness on behalf of the race whom He had come to save.Nicoll.
Weighty Reasons for His receiving This Rite.There must have been weighty reasons for this water ceremony, so solemnly observed, or He never could have found place for it among His crowded days of teaching, healing, and comforting His countrymen. Though able to set all symbols and all forms aside if He chose, He went down into the water, at the beginning of His lifes work, in order, we are told, to fulfil all righteousness. He came by water, and takes peculiar pains in His teaching that every Christian life must begin in the same way. Born of water. Baptize them. Why is this? Because one great part of our Saviours work is to purify mens lives.Huntington.
Fellowship with our Weakness and Sinfulness.In the baptism Christ took upon Him the fellowship of mans weakness and sinfulness; and because His brethren needed cleansing and its symbol, He, the Sinless, took part of the same.Maclaren.
Luk. 3:21-22. The first recorded Prayer of Christ and its Answer.It was when He was praying that the Spirit was sent down upon Him, and in all probability it was this which at the moment He was praying for. He was in immediate need of the Holy Spirit to equip Him for His great task. The human nature of Jesus was dependent from first to last on the Holy Ghost, being thereby made a fit organ for the Divine; and it was in the strength of this that all His work was done. If in any measure our life is to be an imitation of Hisif we are to help in carrying on His work in the world, or in filling up what is lacking in His sufferingswe must be dependent on the same influence. How are we to get it? He has told us Himself. By prayer. Your heavenly Father shall give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Power, like character, comes from the fountain of prayer.Stalker.
Christs Prayerfulness.In one sense Christs prayers formed the truest proof of His manhood. His practice of prayer and His exhortations to it are chiefly recorded in the Gospel of Luke, which is pre-eminently a gospel of the Son of man. He prayed after His baptism.Nicoll.
Prayer at the Baptism and at the Transfiguration.In conformity with Lukes psychological purpose as an evangelist, the effect of prayer upon two of the sublimest external phenomena in the Saviours life is mentioned by him. Prayer on His part is the psychological antecedent of the scene at the Baptism (and of the glory at the Transfiguration). To St. Luke alone we owe both notices. While He was yet praying, the heaven was opened. There was not a magic cleaving of the heavens, a sudden and theatrical radiance steeping face, and form, and vesture. There was a human factor, a suitable antecedent, in the perfect Man. The inward glory grew outward, coalesced with the opening sky, and melted into the light of heaven. Among human faces few, indeed, look like the face of an angel, or are touched with heavenly radiance. The only true light on any face is sure to be a light of prayer.Alexander.
The Significance of that Prayer.Who would not penetrate, if he were permitted, into the mystery of that prayerthat prayer between the thirty years seclusion and the three years publicitybetween the calm, peaceful home of the past, and the troubled, storm-stossed no-home of the future? It was the calling in of strength for the dread ordeal of the Temptation. It was the putting on of the whole armour of God for that great withstanding in the evil day. The prayer had its answer on the instant. To it the heaven was opened, the Holy Ghost descended in visible formvisible to two persons, the baptizer and the Baptized; and a Voice was heard, audible to two personsappointed sign to the one, comforting solace to the Other: Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased. That prolonged and protracted prayer has its lesson for us. Much of the blessing of sermon, sacrament, and service is lost by the want of the after-prayer of which Christs is the example. Too soon does the world come back upon us after the holiest communion, after the most inspiring converse with the Invisible. Jesus also being baptized and still praying, praying still, still praying on, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended.Vaughan.
The Burden of the Prayer and the Answer of the Prayer.The Gospel of the Son of man specially notes Christs prayers as the tokens of His true manhood. The signs following were
I. The answer, and may help us to understand
II. The burden of the prayer. The connection between the petition and the opened heavens may bring us the sweet confidence that for us, too, unworthy as we are, the same blessed gift and voice will fall on our hearts and ears if we, in His name, pray as He did.Maclaren.
Our Lords first recorded Prayer.We are first introduced to our Lord in prayer by Luke, who relates how He came to John to be baptized. The narrative, though it does not say so in so many words, plainly implies that as soon as the Lord had come up out of the water, He set Himself to beseech His Fathers blessing on the act. The answer, more, doubtless, for our sakes than His own, was forthwith visibly and audibly given by the Holy Ghost descending upon Him, and a Voice declaring, This is My beloved Son!Markby.
Various Occasions on which Jesus Prayed.St. Luke on eight other occasions calls attention to the prayers of Jesusafter severe labours (Luk. 5:16); before the choosing of the apostles (Luk. 6:12); before Peters great confession (Luk. 9:18); at His transfiguration (Luk. 9:28-29); for Peter (Luk. 22:32); in Gethsemane (Luk. 22:41); for His murderers (Luk. 23:34); and at the moment of death (Luk. 23:46).Farrar.
The Threefold Sign.
I. The opened heavens.Opened not only for the descending Dove, but for the ascending aspiration and gaze, symbolising the access thither which that Son had who is in heaven even while He has come forth from heaven and remains on earth. United to Him by faith, we too may walk beneath an ever-open heaven, and look up through the lower blue to the very throne, His home and ours.
II. The descending Dove.This symbol recalls the brooding Spirit hovering over chaos, and symbolises the gentle Spirit of God dwelling in Him who was meek and lowly of heart. The whole fulness of that Spirit falls and abides on Him. It dwelt in Him that He might impart it to us, and the Dove of God might rest in our hearts.
III. The solemn Voice.Thus was brought to Jesus Himself, in His manhood, the assurance of His Sonship, of the perfect love and satisfaction of the Father in Him. It was meant for Him, but not for Him alone. If we accept its witness, we too become sons; and if we find God in Him, we shall find Him well pleased even with us, and be accepted in the Beloved.Maclaren.
Consecration to Office of Redeemer.Three outward signs were given of the consecration of Jesus to the office of Redeemer of the world.
1. The heavens were openedhenceforth He has perfect knowledge of Gods plan in the work of salvationthe treasures of Divine wisdom are open to Him.
2. The descent of the Spirit, the source of life, endowing Him with all needed gifts and powers; given in fulness to Him and abiding permanently upon Him.
3. The voice from heaven giving Him in clearest form assurance of His Divine Sonship, and of the love of the Father to Him, of which He was to make His brethren partakers. The first two evangelists tell us that this series of Divine manifestations was seen by Jesus; John the Baptist tells us that he also saw it (Joh. 1:32). As there were more than one witness it could not have been a mere figment of the imagination, and therefore St. Luke relates it as a plain objective fact. The heaven was opened, etc.
The Triune Nature of the Godhead.Jesus prays to God, the Spirit descends upon Him, and the voice of the Father is heard. The triune nature of the Godhead is thus declared. When the Son is baptized, the Father testifies that He is present; present also is the Holy Spirit; never can the Trinity be broken up (a se separari) (Augustine). By Christs appointment the doctrine of the Trinity which was first distinctly unfolded at His baptism is set forth in the formula to be used on occasions when believers are baptized (Mat. 28:19).
Heaven was opened.Heaven, which was closed by the first Adam, is opened again over the second.
Like a dove.On account of the mildness of Christ (cf. Isa. 42:2-3), by which He kindly and gently called and every day invites sinners to the hope of salvation, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the appearance of a dove. And in this symbol has been held out to us an eminent token of the sweetest consolation, that we may not fear to approach to Christ, who meets us, not in the formidable power of the Spirit, but clothed with gentle and lovely grace.Calvin.
The Significance of the Symbol.The dove is used in other parts of Scripture as a symbol of
(1) purity (Son. 6:9);
(2) harmlessness (Mat. 10:16);
(3) modesty and gentleness (Son. 2:14); and
(4) of beauty (Psa. 68:13). And in the history of the Deluge it is the dove with the olive leaf that tells that the peace is restored between heaven and earth (Gen. 8:11).
The Holy Dove.The living symbol identified with this Pentecost which inaugurated Christs official life was seen by Jesus and John, possibly also by a number of those of the spiritually fit who were present in the crowd. This Prophet and Deliverer who had come down from heaven could not be left to His own reviving recollections of the life passed in His Fathers bosom, nor to the unconscious momentum of pre-existent experiences which might come to put a high stamp on His moods and habits of thought and act. The God-man could not meet the duties and ordeals of His incarnate life in the strength of that majestic retrospect only. The dovelike form signifying an inward visitation from the presence of the Father, implied peace, tenderness, fidelity, holy and gentle fellowship. The messenger did not need to come to this obedient and undefiled Son as scorching fire, although it became fire when He in due time ministered the Spirit to sinful men. The Spirit came to bring new anointings, and discernments, and prerogatives to the humanity of Jesus Christ, to be a vehicle of fresh visions, fresh powers, fresh aptitudes, fresh vocations, which mighty things were by-and-by to pass from Christ to His disciples.Selby.
The Harbinger of Peace and of the Spring.There is rich suggestion in the form in which the Spirit descended. A great many tender thoughts cluster around the dove. The dove was the offering of the very poor. The appearance of the dove was a harbinger of spring. Remembered in connection with the Deluge, it was regarded as an emblem of peace, and a symbol of gentleness and harmlessness. All these associations made the dove a most fitting emblematic form for the Holy Ghost to assume when descending upon Jesus. Jesus came to be a peace-bringer for all, even the poorest. He came like the spring, to bring life to a dead world. He is like the dove in gentleness and harmlessness.Miller.
Thou art My beloved Son.From the time of His baptism dates the unique consciousness which Jesus had of God as His Father; it is the rising of that glorious sun which from that moment illumined His life, and which since the Day of Pentecost has risen upon humanity.Godet.
Sonship implies Messiahship.In the fact of His Divine Sonship was involved His Messiahship; the consciousness of His official rank was preceded by that of His special relationship with God.
The Voice from Heaven.When He heard this Voice, This is My beloved Son, those thoughts and impressions which had probably long been stirring in the human consciousness of Christ were shaped into definite conviction and assurance, and He recognised the Divine nature in mysterious union with the Manhood which was to be made perfect through His sufferings. Long before this He must have learned the mysterious circumstances which attended His nativity. Now he apprehended their significance, and very naturally in the amazement, if we may not say the agitation, which was consequent on this discovery, He went under the leading of the Spirit into the wilderness.Drew.
My beloved Son.To Jesus it was the seal of Divine authentication. It was the fatherly recognition. It was the first break in the silence and loneliness of thirty years. It was, so to speak, a breath from home. If the occasion was marked by the first audible Divine intervention, it must have been one which called for it. It was a second birth to a new life; in the language of the Church of old, His second nativity. It was the meeting-point of the private and public life Divine.Vallings.
Luk. 3:23. About thirty years of age.The period of life when physical and mental powers have attained their highest point of development; the age when the Levites entered upon office (Num. 4:3; Num. 4:23).
Luk. 3:24-38. The Difference Between the Two Genealogies.While St. Matthew, in the genealogy he gives, descends from Abraham to Jesus, St. Luke ascends from Jesus to God. St. Lukes purpose is to show that Jesus is the promised Seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15; Gal. 4:4), that He is that second Adamthe Father of the new race of regenerate humanityin whom all nations of the earth are blessed (Wordsworth).
The Hopes connected with the House of David.The possibility of constructing such a table, comprising a period of thousands of years, in an uninterrupted line from father to son, of a family that dwelt for a long time in the utmost retirement, would be inexplicable, had not the members of this line possessed a thread by which they could extricate themselves from the many families into which every tribe and branch was again subdivided, and thus hold fast and know the member that was destined to continue the lineage. This thread was the hope that Messiah would be born of the race of Abraham and David. The ardent desire to behold Him and be partakers of His mercy and glory suffered not the attention to be exhausted through a period embracing thousands of years. Thus the member destined to continue the lineage, whenever doubtful, became easily distinguishable, awakening the hope of a final fulfilment, and keeping it alive until it was consummated.Olshausen.
Luk. 3:38. Adam, the son of God.The last word of the pedigree is connected with its starting-point. Unless the image of God had been stamped on man, the Incarnation would have been impossible. God could not have said to a man, Thou art My beloved Son, if humanity had not issued from Him (Godet). All things are of God through Christ; and all things are brought back through Christ to God (Bengel).
The Divine Root of the Human Pedigree.There is no bolder word in Scripture, none that strikes us with a deeper surprise and awe than thisAdam, who was the son of God. Some may wonder why such a long and barren list of names is given here; but in reality the pedigree is of immense value. It connects the second Adam with the first Adam, and places a son of God at either end of the list of names; it makes us out to be the children of God both by nature and by grace. There is a Divine element in our nature as well as a human element, a capacity for life and holiness as well as a liability to sin and death. This is the secret of that double or divided nature of which we are conscious. It is this which explains how it comes to pass that even in the worst of men we find something good, and something bad even in the best. That which is good in us we derive from God, that which is evil from all our earthly parents. It is because every man is a child of God, because the Divine name stands at the top of the human pedigree, that even the worst of men feels a Divine constraint laid upon him at times, yields to a Divine impulse, and so does that which is just, pure, lovely, and kind. It is because even the best of men is but a man at the best, and forgets that he is a son of God, and refuses to yield to the Divine influence, that he falls into sins, which, as he himself is the first to confess, render him guilty before God, and even move him to account himself the chief of sinners. If we keep the fact in mind that Christ is the eternal Word, by whom all things were created and made, and by whom, therefore, Adam or man was created and made, the teaching of the New Testament as to the salvation of the race is made much clearer. Because we all spring from Christ, whatever He has done or does as surely affects us as what Adam was and did affects our nature and position. The second Adam, He was nevertheless before the first Adam, and called Him into being. Hence He could die for all. Hence He lives for all, and we all live in and by Him. Hence if by the offence of one death came on all, much more did life come to all by the obedience of One. Our text makes it clear that we have not to persuade God to enter into a fatherly relation to us and to love as. He is our Father. The change to be wrought is a change in ourselves. We need to realise and believe the fact that we are children of God, and to be true to the responsibilities it brings with it.Cox.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Appleburys Comments
The Baptism of Jesus
Scripture
Luk. 3:21-22 Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
Comments
when all the people were baptized.For the purpose of this baptism, see comment on Luk. 3:16.
Jesus also having been baptized.It is important to notice the distinction between the purpose of the baptism of the people and the purpose of the baptism of Jesus by John. Jesus said His was to fulfill all righteousnessthat is, to do all things that meet the approval of God. See Mat. 3:15. John suggests two more reasons why Jesus was baptized. He had been told that the one upon whom he would see the Holy Spirit descending would be the one who would baptize in the Holy Spirit. Although John knew Jesushe said, I have need to be baptized by youhe needed this evidence that came at the time of Jesus baptism to be able to reveal Him to the people as the Son of God. See Joh. 1:29-34.
and praying.Only Luke tells us that Jesus was praying when He was baptized. He also records a good many other things about the prayer life of Jesus.
the Holy Spirit descended.This was the sign to John that Jesus was the One who would baptize in the Holy Spirit. Peter also refers to the fact that God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power and that He went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him (Act. 10:38).
a voice from heaven.The One who was designated Son of God at the time of His conception is now publically recognized by the Father. The Voice of God was heard three times during the ministry of Jesus: (1) at His baptism; (2) when He prayed after the Greeks came to see Him (Joh. 12:28); and (3) at the time of His transfiguration (Luk. 9:35).
The List of Jesus Ancestors
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Butlers Comments
SECTION 4
The Baptizers Master (Luk. 3:21-38)
21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.
23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24the son of Mathat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattaha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, 33the son of Amminadab, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35the son of Serag, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
Luk. 3:21-22 Goodness: Jesus came when he was about 30 years of age to submit to Johns immersion. The date would have been approximately December, 26 A.D. or January, 27 A.D. It was more than 40 days before He went to the Passover recorded in Joh. 2:13-22. He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness immediately after His baptism to be tempted by the devil. After His temptation He was pointed out by John the Baptist to some of his disciples, He traveled to Canaan of Galilee for a wedding feast, spent a few days in Capernaum (Joh. 1:19Joh. 2:12) and then went to the Passover. The place He was baptized was probably Bethany beyond the Jordan (Joh. 1:28) also known as Bethabara (house of the ford).
John objected; Jesus insisted. It would be a natural reaction for John to insist that he was unworthy to baptize the Messiah. John had already declared that the One Coming was so much greater than he. It is a clear doctrine of the New Testament that Jesus Christ was without sin. Why then did He need to be immersed with Johns baptism? We suggest the following reasons:
a.
Acquiescence:
The message God gave John the Baptist was that anyone who wished to be of the true Israel of God must acquiesce to a righteousness from an obedient heart. Matthew states that Jesus said, . . . it is fitting . . . (Mat. 3:15). The Greek word prepon might be translated, proper. It was proper for Jesus to acquiesce to any revealed commandment of the Father and fulfill righteousness from an obedient heart.
b.
Association:
Jesus, to serve as our pathfinder, redeemer, and faithful High Priest, tested and tried in all points as we are tried, must be made like His brethren in every respect (Heb. 2:14-18). Jesus in His flesh, has traveled every road we have traveled, been tried in every way we have been tried, and submitted to every command we have been commanded.
c.
Authentication:
Gods initial signal that this Person was His Son and the Messiah was at Jesus baptism. It was here Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit (Joh. 1:33-34) and approved by the verbal, audible announcement of the Father (Mat. 3:17).
Jesus acquiesced to Johns immersion to demonstrate that the man who wishes to be acclaimed good by God must have an obedient heart. Even the Son, who condescended to an incarnate experience, felt it was necessary to obey the Fathers will no matter who the messenger might be (cf. Mat. 17:24-27; Mat. 23:1-2; Heb. 5:7-9). If the sinless Son of God felt the necessity of walking 6070 miles to submit in obedience to the Fathers revealed will to be immersed in the Jordan River, how can any believer today feel that it is not necessary to be immersed in obedience to the Sons command?
Luk. 3:23-38 Geneaology: Genealogies are family trees. The ancient Jews were very zealous to keep genealogical records (cf. Eze. 13:9; Ezr. 2:59; Ezr. 2:62). These records were necessary for adjudicating inheritances of tribal lands and for succession of royal and priestly families. They were legal documents. Matthews genealogy traced Jesus lineage through Joseph because it was only through Joseph as His father-of-record that He had claim to Davids throne. Luke, probably not primarily interested in Jesus legal heritage, gives the parenthetical (as was supposed, the son of Joseph) explanation as he traces Jesus lineage back to Adam and God. Luke was more interested for the sake of his Gentile readers to trace Jesus ancestry to the original man Adam and thence to God. Lukes genealogy would be a documented rebuttal to the mythological genealogies of the pagan gods. Joseph is distinctly declared by Matthew to be from David through Solomon, back to Abraham (Mat. 1:1-17; see also Mat. 1:20; Luk. 2:4). But Joseph was connected to two lines of descent if you compare Lukes list with Matthews. How could Joseph be the son of both Jacob (in Matthew) and Heli (in Luke)? As sometimes happened a man and his wife could not produce male heirs to their tribal heritage. God provided in the Old Testament economy what came to be known as the Levirate Law (Gen. 38:8 ff; Deu. 25:5-10) whereby a deceased mans brother or nearest male kin was required to marry his brothers widow and raise up seed in his brothers name. Ruths marriage to Boaz recognized this law (Rth. 4:1-17). This ancient custom was also applied in the practice of adoption. Orphaned children were often adopted (Est. 2:7) and thus became legal heirs through kinsmen. It is altogether possible that Heli was Josephs first father and, upon his death, Joseph was adopted by Jacob and became legal heir to Jacobs heritage.
A comparison of Lukes genealogical record of Jesus ancestry with that of Matthew will show Zerubbabel as the son of Shealtiel. But according to 1Ch. 3:19 Zerubbabel is the nephew of Shealtiel and the son of Pedaiah. Zerubbabel is at one and the same time heir, and, legally son of two men. In Matthews list Shealtiel is the son of Jechoniah, and in Luke he is the son of Neri. How do we resolve this problem? According to Jer. 22:30, Jechoniah was to have no children to succeed him in a legal sense on the throne (he was to be prophetically childless). Shealtiel became legal heir through his fathers cousin Neri (see chart, pg. 62). The only place Neri is mentioned is in Lukes list. We assume then that Neri had no sons but when Jechoniah died, Shealtiel, the blood son of Jechoniah, was adopted by Neri (son of David through Nathan). What is true of Shealtiel is also true of Zerubbabel. He became the heir through Shealtiel because Shealtiel had no sons (Pediah and his other brothers had probably died) so Zerubbabel was adopted by Shealtiel who was already legal heir through the Leverite Law. Thus Gods prophecy concerning Jechoniah (legally childless) and the David lineage were both preserved.
The main aspect of the genealogical record of Christs ancestry is to establish Gods faithfulness, wisdom, and power to carry out His redemptive plan through the Divine-Man in spite of all obstacles and enemies. Imagine the difficulties that would arise if we did not possess proof that Jesus was the descendant of David! But even more importantly, the genealogies tracing Jesus ancestry back to the original man, Adam, prove that Gods plan was to save man by a Man. Mans redeemer must be a man; it was necessary that the power of the devil (the fear of death, Heb. 2:14-15) be conquered in the flesh. Mans sacrifice must be a man; a sinless, perfect man (cf. Heb. 10:4-10). Mans mediator must be a man (cf. 1Ti. 2:5; Heb. 2:17-18). Jesus was The Man who redeemed man (cf. Gal. 4:4-5). Furthermore, Gods power and faithfulness to overcome all obstacles is revealed in the genealogies of Jesus. God kept His word to preserve a family and a nation through whom He delivered to the world its Savior. In spite of dungeon, fire and sword, He preserved a specific family. In spite of bondage, captivities, and resistance by this chosen nation itself, God preserved a throne. In spite of sinful men and women (David; Bathsheba, Rahab, etc.) in the lineage of Jesus, God produced a believing, humble peasant girl and her fiance through whom to deliver the Messiah to mankind. Gods providential power is evident in the genealogies of Jesus.
STUDY STIMULATORS:
1.
What do you think of the historical context in which John the Baptist carried out his mission? Would you be able to maintain an optimistic attitude if you were called to serve God in a similar historical context?
2.
How did John the Baptist serve as a link between the Old and New covenants? What was the response God expected from all who heard his message?
3.
Were peoples sins forgiven when they submitted to Johns immersion?
4.
Why is it incorrect to state that Johns baptism originated in Jewish proselyte baptism?
5.
Why is it incorrect to state that Johns baptism originated in the practice of Essene (Qumranian) washings?
6.
Where did Johns immersion originate? How did Jesus verify that?
7.
What is the correct New Testament mode of baptism?
8.
Has the Bible given any man or group of men sanction to change the mode of baptism?
9.
Why did John call the Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of vipers? Would this same categorization apply to any contemporary religious teachers?
10.
What is repentance? Is it to be accomplished only once in our lives?
11.
Why is it necessary to repent of erroneous theology before repentance in ethics?
12.
May one continue to be a soldier and please God?
13.
Are all believers to be immersed in the Holy Spirit?
14.
Why did Jesus insist on being baptized by John?
15.
Why is it important that the genealogical record of Jesus ancestry be a part of the gospel record?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(21-22) Now when all the people were baptized.See Notes on Mat. 3:13-17. St. Lukes account is the shortest of the three first Gospels, but it adds here, as afterwards in his report of the Transfiguration, the fact that our Lord was praying at the time of the divine attestation to His Sonship. (See Introduction.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. Jesus also being baptized But how, it is asked, could the sinless Jesus confess any sins as by John required? But where, we ask in reply, is it said that such a confession was required of Jesus? The people, the multitude, were indeed so required, for they were sinners. But John, instead of requiring confession of Jesus, really confessed to Jesus, acknowledging his need of baptism by him. On the relation of Christ’s baptism to sin, see note on Mat 3:15.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Baptism of Jesus (3:21-22).
Apart from here there is nothing in any of the Gospels which explains why Jesus began His work when He did. There must have been something that prompted Him to leave the carpenter’s shop and His family in order to engage in His God-given mission. And we have the explanation for it in what happened after His baptism. We have here the moment of Jesus’ call to his future work, and the anointing which takes Him into His prophetic ministry (Luk 4:18; Act 10:37-39). It will be noted that John’s name now drops out, and even Jesus’ baptism is seen as having happened in the past. The concentration here is on His receiving of the Holy Spirit, and on what the voice from heaven said, of His anointing for His work as not directly connected with His baptism. His baptism was part of the old way, in the coming of the Holy Spirit on Him begins the new way.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘Now it came about that when all the people were baptised, Jesus also having been baptised, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are my beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” ’
Note that Luke’s concentration is on what happened after the baptism of Jesus, even more so than in Matthew and Mark, rather than on the baptism itself. What is primary in his purpose is that Jesus was praying, and that the heaven opened and the Holy Spirit came down on Him in a bodily form like a dove, and that the voice from heaven then authenticated Him as the Son of God and the Servant of God Who was satisfying to Him in every way (Isa 42:1). The time of the Spirit which John’s baptism pointed to had initially arrived.
But he does point out that Jesus was baptised, even if only as a past event. This baptism of Jesus was necessary. It indicated Jesus’ full approval of what John was doing and was seen by Him as the right thing to do. As He says in Mat 3:15. ‘Thus it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness (to do what is fully right in every way)’ The emphasis that Luke places on the fact that He was baptised ‘all the people having been baptised’ (in the phrase it is the intention that matters not its strict correctness. It was not forbidding that any more be baptised) confirms that His baptism was unique. He was baptised, not for His own sake, but because He summed up in Himself the whole of believing Israel. He did so because He was here as the supreme representative of Israel. It was right that believing Israel should be baptised and so, once they had been baptised, He was baptised along with them as their representative. He was identifying Himself with them. (But it would certainly have been a great blow to John’s ministry if the news had got about that his godly relative had refused to be baptised by him).
This baptism of Jesus is only a difficulty to those who read John’s baptism incorrectly. Those who see it as signifying a washing from sin necessarily find it difficult to understand (even though through His life He had partaken in the offering of sacrifices, for example at the Passover, and in other ritual activities, again because He was here as the King and Servant representing all Israel). But when we recognise that John’s baptism symbolised rather the working of the Holy Spirit in those who were baptised, and their desire for participation in the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit, it becomes perfectly understandable. For after His baptism the Holy Spirit did come on Him with a view to Him pouring out the Holy Spirit on men. ‘This is He Who baptises in the Holy Spirit’ (Joh 1:33).
Yet the baptism of John was undoubtedly generally a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and the purpose of the Holy Spirit’s coming was seen as in order to cleanse, transform and renew. How then did this fit in with Jesus? Firstly we must remember that the significance of the baptism in individual cases depended on the spiritual state of the individual concerned. A certain number of those who came to John (although unquestionably a small minority) were not ‘turning to God’ in the sense in which most were, for they had already turned. The Holy Spirit had already worked in their hearts even before they came. And they were already clean through the means that God had provided, and were walking righteously with God. And yet they more than all would come to be baptised by him in expectation of the coming of the Holy Spirit. They would come because they fully agreed with all that John was doing and wanted to be a part of it, and identify with it, and because they were grateful for God’s saving goodness towards them, and because they wanted to participate in the future promised work of the Spirit (and no doubt had they still been alive those Spirit blessed servants of God, Zacharias and Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna would also have come). They were entering into the repentance of believing Israel, but were not at this stage repenting themselves, for they had done that previously.
But even that is not the full explanation, for with Jesus there was more, and Luke gives us his answer at the end of the Gospel when he says of Him, ‘He was numbered with the transgressors’ (Luk 22:37 compare Mar 15:28). Here in His baptism He was indicating that He was taking on Himself the sins of others, He was being ‘made sin’ (2Co 5:21), He was identifying Himself with believing Israel who had flocked to be baptised by John, and He was baptised on their behalf and what He then received He received on their behalf so that He might dispense it to them (Luk 3:16). In being baptised He was as much acting as representative for believing Israel (Isa 49:3), as He would be in His death (Isaiah 53). He was walking where they walked, and going through what they went through, so that He could act for them in things pertaining to God (see Heb 2:17).
Only Luke points out that He was praying. But few would doubt that all the Gospel writers knew that He was praying at the time. It is what people do when genuinely partaking in such a religious ordinance. And would be more so with Jesus than with anyone. But this mention of praying is typical of Luke. He regularly speaks of the need for people to pray (Luk 6:28; Luk 10:2; Luk 11:2; Luk 18:1; Luk 18:10-11; Luk 21:36; Luk 22:40; Luk 22:46), and of Jesus Himself praying (Luk 5:16; Luk 6:12; Luk 9:18; Luk 9:28 ff; Luk 11:1; Luk 22:41; Luk 22:44-45; Luk 23:46). The fact that Jesus so constantly prayed at crucial times in His life should bring home to us the importance of prayer, especially at crucial times in our lives, and remind us that prayer is essentially in order to enable us to serve God and bring about His purposes, as the Lord’s prayer makes clear. It also brings home that having become Man, He was dependent on His Father. He did all in consultation with His Father. Just as He had previously found it necessary to be in His Father’s House (Luk 2:49), so now He must be in His Father’s presence. All He did He did in association with the Father (Joh 5:19; Joh 5:30; Joh 5:36).
‘The heaven was opened.’ This is simply a phrase that signifies that the heavenly is about to affect the earthly. It does not necessarily indicate that anything was seen. It was a ‘spiritual’ opening of heaven. The point being made is that heaven was about to act in earth’s affairs and that what resulted came from God and not from men. Note that this happened after His baptism. After His baptism Jesus prayed, and then the Holy Spirit came. It is God’s response to His identification of Himself with His people. It is not the direct consequence of His baptism. It is the consequence of what He is.
‘And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon Him.’ Luke here makes clear that something happened that could be seen. He wanted it known that what Jesus experienced there was something real and tangible. It was not just something that he had ‘read in’. What precisely was seen the eyewitnesses found difficult to define apart from the fact that it was ‘like a dove’. This may signify something with a vaguely dove-like shape, or it may simply indicate something visible coming on Him ‘like the dove returned to the ark, signalling that God’s judgment was over’, without the shape being defined (Gen 8:10-11). Or the one might have been the deliberate representation of the other. For Israel the dove was ever the symbol of the end of the Noahic judgment, and it became a symbol Israel used of themselves.
The dove was also a symbol of gentleness. Whereas the serpent was the symbol of shrewdness and subtlety, the dove was the symbol of not causing harm to anyone (Mat 10:16). Thus it indicated that the Spirit that had come on Jesus was not with warlike intent, or with the aim of preparing Him for battle as it had the Judges, but that He came in gentleness with the purpose of blessing mankind. It was a vivid portrayal of the fact, as men would learn later, that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah had come as a Lamb arriving to be slain (Rev 5:5-6). And this was apposite in that the dove not only symbolised gentleness, it also symbolised mourning (Isa 59:11; Nah 2:7).
So we learn here that God’s past time of judgment has ended and that, just as with the remnants of the human race when the dove returned to Noah, so the human race will now have a new opportunity of salvation, and that the Messiah Who has come has not come with warlike intentions, but in order to bring peace ( Isa 6:6-7; Isa 11:1-9; Zec 9:9-10) and yet along with it mourning (Isaiah 53; Zec 12:10 to Zec 13:7). Luke constantly makes clear that along with the spreading of the word comes trouble and tribulation (e.g. Act 14:22), as already depicted in what happened to John (Luk 3:19).
But why does Luke stress that the Spirit came ‘in bodily form’ like a dove? It is in order to stress the true physical nature of Jesus, and the physical nature of what He was receiving. It puts paid to any suggestion that the physical body of Jesus was possessed by the spirit of the Messiah that was somehow superior to the physical, for what came on Jesus was physical. It was to Jesus as true natural, physical man that the Spirit of God came in similar true, natural and physical fashion. The point is being made that what Jesus was endued with was not ‘other earthly’ and strange to human flesh, even though it came from above, but was a gift that conformed with His humanity. Through God’s working the Spirit Who inspired Him did so in His humanity. As through the coming of the Spirit at birth God was made man, so in His coming at His baptism God was made prophetically inspired physical man.
But while noting this we must recognise that the significance of what happened gained its importance from the fact of what had happened. The mighty Holy Spirit of God had anointed Jesus for His task as Messiah, Servant and Prophet to Israel and the world (Act 4:26-27; Act 10:38). He was revealed as the Branch from the roots of Jesse, the Spirit anointed king (Isa 11:1-3; Act 4:26-27), the Spirit anointed Servant of the Lord (Isa 42:1; Act 4:27), and, as He Himself will later point out, as the Spirit anointed Prophet (Luk 4:18; Act 10:38).
‘And a voice came out of heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved, in You I am well pleased.” ’ And all this was attested by the words that came from heaven. ‘You are my Son’ comes from Psa 2:7 where the words were addressed to the future worldwide king who could ask Him for dominion over the world (Luk 2:8), (was that what Jesus was praying for, dominion over men’s hearts?), who was the anointed of God (Psa 2:2), here also described as ‘the Beloved’ in order to stress His uniqueness. The point is being made that He is ‘the Only Son’, the Beloved One (see Luk 20:13 where precisely the same phrase is used). ‘The beloved, in You I am well pleased’ reflects Isa 42:1, and especially as quoted in Mat 12:18, referring to the coming servant of YHWH. But we must recognise that Matthew may well have varied the saying, replacing ‘chosen’ by ‘beloved, in order to relate it to what this voice said at His baptism.
There are no firm grounds, however, for seeing this either as an adoption, a begetting or a crowning. It is rather a confirmation from God of Who and What He is. His declaration that Jesus is His beloved Son ‘with Whom He is well pleased’ demonstrates that He is already His Son in every way, as had been revealed at His birth and this is then confirmed by the following genealogy (Luk 3:38). This anointing is in fact actually revealed in Luk 4:18 (and Act 10:38) as being for service as the great Prophet of the last days promised by Isa 61:1-2. We have no reason to read into it anything else, unless it ties in with that.
But in noting the connections with Scripture we must not lose the wonder of the words. Here was the One on Whom God looked as His only beloved Son, and as He declares His love for Him, He also declares how satisfactorily He has up to this point fulfilled His task, for His Father can say of Him, ‘in You I am well pleased’. Up to this point nothing has marred Him in the living of His perfect life according to the will of God (compare Heb 10:5-10), which will make Him fit to complete His task to be the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world (Joh 1:29). This comment sufficiently emphasises that the words spoken are looking back to His already successful career as beloved Son and Servant.
Note On The Alternative Reading, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten you’.
The only important manuscript in which this reading is found is D and as is well known the readings in D can be somewhat erratic. It is also found in a number of old Latin versions, in Irenaeus, and Justin (both of whom tend towards D) and Origen. It hardly seems necessary to argue against this reading as it is so poorly attested, and that in so limited a part of the world. But unfortunately there are always some who become concerned about it, which is why we mention it here. It probably arose because a learned but tired scribe, on writing ‘You are my son’ continued with the well known words of the Psalm without paying too much heed to the text he was copying, and did not realise what he had done, or because while copying he was carried away by his own thoughts. Alternately he may have believed in an adoptionist Christology (that Jesus was adopted as the Messiah at His baptism by the spirit of the Messiah taking on his body) and simply have altered the text.
The reason that some have tried to find arguments to sustain it is mainly due (but not only so, it is also used to boast certain theories which have not found general acceptance) to an attempt to favour an adoptionist Christology, by seeing Jesus as adopted as the Messiah at His baptism. But in view of the fact that Luke uses it of Jesus after His resurrection in Act 13:33 as justifying His resurrection, it is clear that he did not see it as being adoptionist. There the ‘begetting’ by God indicates His being acted on within His purposes, and thereby acknowledged as his Son.
Further, in view of the fact that Luke probably had Mark’s text before him it seems extremely unlikely that he would have chosen an alternative text to Mark, especially in view of his usage of it in Act 13:33. So unless some remarkable evidence turns up this poorly attested alternative reading should be seen as telling us more about the scribe than the Greek text.
End of note.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Holy Spirit Comes on Jesus As The One Who Is The Son of David, The Son of Adam, and the Son of God (3:21-38).
With this incident Luke turns his concentration to Jesus and His ministry. While what now happens does so through John’s ministry John is not mentioned, nor is Jesus’ actual baptism. We have another typical Lucan silence. John’s ministry is now to be put behind us, and we move on to the Greater than he. In this passage we see the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus with words that reveal Him to be both God’s beloved Son and His beloved Servant, and this is followed by a genealogy which connects Him not only with David, but with Abraham, with Adam and with God. He is the Son of David, He is the fulfilment of the promises to Abraham, He is the last Adam, He is the Son of God.
This is one of two occasions in Luke when God attests Him from heaven, the other is the Transfiguration (Luk 9:35) where the voice says, ‘this is My Son, My Chosen, listen to Him’. These occur at crucial points in His life, here at the commencement of His ministry, the Transfiguration at the time when the course of His ministry changes and He sets His face towards Jerusalem knowing that He will die there. We can compare the appearance of Jesus to Paul in Acts. John tells us of another example of a voice from heaven in Joh 12:28 when Jesus was facing the anguish of what lay ahead.
Many gain the impression that Jesus was baptised privately by John but we view this as unlikely, especially as a baptism in the Jordan by a famous prophet probably meant that privacy was impossible. Part of the significance of John’s baptism was an open testimony to participation in the coming pouring out of the Spirit, and if by His baptism Jesus was expressing His oneness with God’s believing people it required public recognition. What is more possible is that only He and John saw the likeness to the dove and heard the voice (Mat 3:16-17; Joh 1:32-33), or at least appreciated its full significance.
It would be difficult to overemphasise the importance of this moment. It is the moment when the work of salvation for the world first began to unfold as the Holy Spirit descended on the One Who would be responsible for bringing that salvation into fruition, sending Him out on His way to reveal God openly to men, and finally to die on a cross and rise again to His glorious throne.
The passage can be analysed briefly as follows, selecting out the important points which are not obvious from the text itself:
a Jesus is the King and Servant Who is anointed by the Holy Spirit for His ministry (Luk 3:21-22).
b The genealogy of Jesus from Joseph to David. Jesus is the Son of David, God’s chosen King (Luk 3:23-31 b).
b The genealogy of Jesus from Jesse to Abraham. Jesus is the son of Abraham, God’s chosen Servant (Luk 3:32-34 b).
b The genealogy of Jesus from Terah to Adam. Jesus is the Son of Adam with whom God was not well pleased (34c-38b).
a Jesus is the Son of God (Luk 3:38 b).
In this case it is recognised that the central divisions may appear somewhat arbitrarily determined. We will seek to justify them shortly. Theologically, and in the light of the voice at His baptism, they would appear to be justified. Our purpose in presenting the analysis here is simply in order to help to bring out in seed form what the significance of the genealogy might be.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Prophetic Witness of God the Father in Baptism and Genealogy Justifying the Lord Jesus Christ ( Mat 1:1-17 ) In Luk 3:21-38 we are given the prophetic witness of God the Father speaking from Heaven, declaring Jesus as His beloved Son in whom He is pleased. This testimony is supported by Luke’s version of the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ, which goes back to Adam and God. In Luk 3:22 God the Father declared that Jesus Christ was His Son, in whom He is well pleased. No man had ever fully pleased God by his own merits. The Jews spent their lives under the Mosaic Law trying to please God by obeying its statues and later associated traditions. However, their own consciences told them that they had come short of pleasing God. Now God speaks from Heaven to declare Jesus Christ justified in His sight as sinless, perfectly pleasing God in every aspect of His life.
Comparison of Genealogies in Matthew and Luke – Three genealogies can be identified in the Gospel material of Matthew, Luke and John. While Matthew’s genealogy reveals Jesus as the Son of David, Luke’s genealogy (Luk 3:21-38) reveals Jesus as the Son of God, and John’s genealogy (Joh 1:1-18) reveals Jesus as God. Luke’s genealogy begins with a prophetic witness of God the Father declaring Jesus as the Son of God (Luk 3:22), followed by His actual genealogy that supports this prophetic statement. While Luke’s genealogy shows Jesus as the Son of man, being born in the flesh, a title used frequently throughout the Gospels, it primarily shows Jesus as the Son of God, because it goes back to God. The genealogy of Jesus Christ given in Luk 3:23-38 leads to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God to support God the Father’s statement in Luk 3:22, “and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” Jesus is the second Adam.
Jewish genealogies were public records confirming a person’s lineage. These genealogies became a prophetic witness to Jesus’ royal birth as the Saviour of the World. A quick reading of the two genealogies in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke reveal that Matthew’s genealogy follows the lineage of Solomon while Luke’s Gospel follows the lineage of Nathan, both sons of David. Why is this so?
The genealogy found in Luk 3:21-38 begins at Jesus and goes back to God. In Matthew, the genealogy goes forward from Abraham to Jesus. However, the two genealogies differ at the sons of David, Solomon and Nathan. There are a number of proposed reasons.
(1) A Natural Lineage and a Legal Lineage – If we look back to the writings of the early Church fathers, we find in the writings of Julius Africanus (A.D. 160 to 240) a different detailed explanation for this discrepancy. In his Epistle to Aristides, Africanus, basing his statements upon tradition, says that the two genealogies represent lineage according to nature and according to Law. He further explains by saying that Matthew gives the list of biological fathers of each offspring, while Luke gives the names of the legal fathers whenever one of them died and a second man raised up children in the name of a childless brother. He gives the example that Eli died childless, so that Jacob took his widow and raised up Eli’s offspring. This would mean that Eli was Joseph’s legal father, while Jacob, Eli’s brother, was Joseph’s biological father.
“For whereas in Israel the names of their generations were enumerated either according to nature or according to law,– according to nature, indeed, by the succession of legitimate offspring, and according to law whenever another raised up children to the name of a brother dying childless; for because no clear hope of resurrection was yet given them, they had a representation of the future promise in a kind of mortal resurrection, with the view of perpetuating the name of one deceased;– whereas, then, of those entered in this genealogy, some succeeded by legitimate descent as son to father, while others begotten in one family were introduced to another in name, mention is therefore made of both– of those who were progenitors in fact, and of those who were so only in name. Thus neither of the evangelists is in error, as the one reckons by nature and the other by law. For the several generations, viz., those descending from Solomon and those from Nathan, were so intermingled by the raising up of children to the childless, and by second marriages, and the raising up of seed, that the same persons are quite justly reckoned to belong at one time to the one, and at another to the other, i.e., to their reputed or to their actual fathers. Hence it is that both these accounts are true, and come down to Joseph, with considerable intricacy indeed, but yet quite accurately.”
“But in order that what I have said may be made evident, I shall explain the interchange of the generations. If we reckon the generations from David through Solomon, Matthan is found to be the third from the end, who begat Jacob the father of Joseph. But if, with Luke, we reckon them from Nathan the son of David, in like manner the third from the end is Melchi, whose son was Heli the father of Joseph. For Joseph was the son of Heli, the son of Melchi. As Joseph, therefore, is the object proposed to us, we have to show how it is that each is represented as his father, both Jacob as descending from Solomon, and Heli as descending from Nathan: first, how these two, Jacob and Heli, were brothers; and then also how the fathers of these, Matthan and Melchi, being of different families, are shown to be the grandfathers of Joseph. Well, then, Matthan and Melchi, having taken the same woman to wife in succession, begat children who were uterine brothers, as the law did not prevent a widow, whether such by divorce or by the death of her husband, from marrying another. By Estha, then–for such is her name according to tradition–Matthan first, the descendant of Solomon, begets Jacob; and on Matthan’s death, Melchi, who traces his descent back to Nathan, being of the same tribe but of another family, having married her, as has been already said, had a son Heli. Thus, then, we shall find Jacob and Heli uterine brothers, though of different families. And of these, the one Jacob having taken the wife of his brother Heli, who died childless, begat by her the third, Joseph–his son by nature and by account. Whence also it is written, ‘And Jacob begat Joseph.’ But according to law he was the son of Heli, for Jacob his brother raised up seed to him. Wherefore also the genealogy deduced through him will not be made void, which the Evangelist Matthew in his enumeration gives thus: ‘And Jacob begat Joseph.’ But Luke, on the other hand, says, ‘Who was the son, as was supposed (for this, too, he adds), of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Metchi.’ For it was not possible more distinctly to state the generation according to law; and thus in this mode of generation he has entirely omitted the word ‘begat’ to the very end, carrying back the genealogy by way of conclusion to Adam and to God.” ( Epistle to Aristides 2-3 [ ANF 6]; see also in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 1.7.5-10)
We also find a lengthy discussion by John of Damascus regarding the distinctions between these two genealogies along a similar explanation.
“But that Joseph is descended from the tribe of David is expressly demonstrated by Matthew and Luke, the most holy evangelists. But Matthew derives Joseph from David through Solomon, while Luke does so through Nathan; while over the holy Virgin’s origin both pass in silence. One ought to remember that it was not the custom of the Hebrews nor of the divine Scripture to give genealogies of women; and the law was to prevent one tribe seeking wives from another. And so since Joseph was descended from the tribe of David and was a just man (for this the divine Gospel testifies), he would not have espoused the holy Virgin contrary to the law; he would not have taken her unless she had been of the same tribe. It was sufficient, therefore, to demonstrate the descent of Joseph. One ought also to observe this, that the law was that when a man died without seed, this man’s brother should take to wife the wife of the dead man and raise up seed to his brother. The offspring, therefore, belonged by nature to the second, that is, to him that begat it, but by law to the dead. Born then of the line of Nathan, the son of David, Levi begat Melchi and Panther: Panther begat Barpanther, so called. This Barpanther begat Joachim: Joachim begat the holy Mother of God. And of the line of Solomon, the son of David, Mathan had a wife of whom he begat Jacob. Now on the death of Mathan, Melchi, of the tribe of Nathan, the son of Levi and brother of Panther, married the wife of Mathan, Jacob’s mother, of whom he begat Heli. Therefore Jacob and Hell became brothers on tile mother’s side, Jacob being of the tribe of Solomon and Heli of the tribe of Nathan. Then Heli of the tribe of Nathan died childless, and Jacob his brother, of the tribe of Solomon, took his wife and raised up seed to his brother and begat Joseph. Joseph, therefore, is by nature the son of Jacob, of the line of Solomon, but by law he is the son of Hell of the line of Nathan. Joachim then took to wife that revered and praiseworthy woman, Anna. But just as the earlier Anna, who was barren, bore Samuel by prayer and by promise, so also this Anna by supplication and promise from God bare the Mother of God in order that she might not even in this be behind the matrons of fame. Accordingly it was grace (for this is the interpretation of Anna) that bore the lady: (for she became truly the Lady of all created things in becoming the Mother of the Creator)” ( An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox 4.14) ( NPF2 9)
(2) Joseph’s Lineage and Mary’s Lineage – Modern scholars speculate that the Gospel of Matthew gives Joseph’s lineage, while the Gospel of Luke gives Mary’s lineage. Therefore, both Joseph and Mary would be descendents of David, and thus, they both would qualify as someone from whom the Messiah could come forth. Note also that Mat 1:16 seems to indicate that Matthew is showing Joseph’s lineage and Luk 3:23 indicates that Luke shows Mary’s lineage.
Mat 1:16, “And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”
Luk 3:23, “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,”
Another reason to believe that Matthew’s genealogy represents Joseph is the fact that Matthew tells the birth of Jesus from Joseph’s eyes, while Luke tells the birth of Jesus from the eyes of Mary. An additional need for two genealogies for our Savior is to show that Jesus was a biological descendent of King David through Mary, which would appeal to the Gentiles, but Jesus was “legally” the son of Joseph by Jewish law, and His Messiahship would have been contested by some Jews had Jesus not been a “legal” descendent of the Davidic lineage. John Lightfoot comments that Luke’s Gospel reveals Jesus Christ as the “seed of woman,” while Matthew’s Gospel reveals Him as the “Son of David.” [172] Benny Hinn notes that it is an insult in the Hebrew culture to mention the name of the wife before the husband, thus Joseph is named in Luke’s Gospel rather than Mary. [173]
[172] John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae: Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations Upon the Gospels, the Acts, Some Chapters of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and the First Epistle to the Corinthians, vol. 2, ed. Robert Gandell (Oxford: The University Press, 1859), 15.
[173] Benny Hinn, “Fire Conference,” Miracle Center Cathedral, Kampala, Uganda, 5-6 June 2009.
The Importance of Genealogies in Hebrew Culture – Genealogies were very important to the Israelites in order to trace their Jewish roots. This is verified in the following Old Testament passages:
Ezr 2:62, “These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.”
Ezr 8:3, “Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh; Zechariah: and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males an hundred and fifty.”
Neh 7:5, “And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,”
Neh 7:64, “These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.”
The fact that Matthew would be able to trace Jesus’ genealogy back to Abraham testifies to the fact that the Jews kept ancient records of their ancestry. This is confirmed when Paul declares himself to be of the tribe of Benjamin (Rom 11:1, Php 3:5).
Rom 11:1, “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”
Php 3:5, “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;”
Josephus tells us that there were indeed public tablets of Jewish ancestry. In his opening paragraph of his autobiography, he goes to great length to defend his Jewish heritage. He closes by saying:
“Thus have I set down the genealogy of my family as I have found it described in the public records, and so bid adieu to those who calumniate me [as of a lower original].” ( The Life of Flavius Josephus 1)
Josephus also tells us of the painstaking care that the Jews have taken to keep records as old as two thousand years of their ancestry. All Jews of the Diaspora kept accurate records, which were sent to Jerusalem for safekeeping.
“For our forefathers did not only appoint the best of these priests, and those that attended upon the Divine worship, for that design from the beginning, but made provision that the stock of the priests should continue unmixed and pure; for he who is partaker of the priesthood must propagate of a wife of the same nation, without having any regard to money, or any other dignities; but he is to make a scrutiny, and take his wife’s genealogy from the ancient tables, and procure many witnesses to it. And this is our practice not only in Judea, but wheresoever any body of men of our nation do live; and even there an exact catalogue of our priests’ marriages is kept; I mean at Egypt and at Babylon, or in any other place of the rest of the habitable earth, whithersoever our priests are scattered; for they send to Jerusalem the ancient names of their parents in writing, as well as those of their remoter ancestors, and signify who are the witnesses also. But if any war falls out, such as have fallen out a great many of them already, when Antiochus Epiphanes made an invasion upon our country, as also when Pompey the Great and Quintilius Varus did so also, and principally in the wars that have happened in our own times, those priests that survive them compose new tables of genealogy out of the old records, and examine the circumstances of the women that remain; for still they do not admit of those that have been captives, as suspecting that they had conversation with some foreigners. But what is the strongest argument of our exact management in this matter is what I am now going to say, that we have the names of our high priests from father to son set down in our records for the interval of two thousand years; and if any of these have been transgressors of these rules, they are prohibited to present themselves at the altar, or to be partakers of any other of our purifications; and this is justly, or rather necessarily done, because every one is not permitted of his own accord to be a writer, nor is there any disagreement in what is written; they being only prophets that have written the original and earliest accounts of things as they learned them of God himself by inspiration; and others have written what hath happened in their own times, and that in a very distinct manner also.” ( Against Apion 1.7)
Eusebius (A.D. 260 to 340), the ancient church historian, testifies to the Jewish tradition of keeping accurate records of their ancestry.
“But as there had been kept in the archives up to that time the genealogies of the Hebrews as well as of those who traced their lineage back to proselytes, such as Achior the Ammonite and Ruth the Moabitess, and to those who were mingled with the Israelites and came out of Egypt with them, Herod, inasmuch as the lineage of the Israelites contributed nothing to his advantage, and since he was goaded with the consciousness of his own ignoble extraction, burned all the genealogical records, thinking that he might appear of noble origin if no one else were able, from the public registers, to trace back his lineage to the patriarchs or proselytes and to those mingled with them, who were called Georae. A few of the careful, however, having obtained private records of their own, either by remembering the names or by getting them in some other way from the registers, pride themselves on preserving the memory of their noble extraction. Among these are those already mentioned, called Desposyni, on account of their connection with the family of the Saviour. Coming from Nazara and Cochaba, villages of Judea, into other parts of the world, they drew the aforesaid genealogy from memory and from the book of daily records as faithfully as possible.” ( Ecclesiastical History 1.7.13-14)
Unfortunately, these ancient records no longer exist today, having been destroyed in the years past. Matthew and Luke clearly used these ancient tablets in writing their genealogies of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Regarding the genealogies of Mat 1:1-17 and Luk 3:21-38, it becomes apparent that both of them were recorded in retrospect of Christ’s appearance on earth. That is, these particular genealogies were not prepared in anticipation of revealing the Messiah, although we know that general Jewish genealogies were kept. The fact that many of the names of individuals in each of these genealogies are unknown and obscure is evidence that no scholar had an accurate idea of who the Messiah would be nor when He would appear.
It is true that God did reveal to the Jews that the Messiah would be of the stock of Abraham and of the royal lineage of King David. But other than that, no one knew where or when He would appear. This fact is clearly reflected within both genealogies. Yet, in the midst of this obscure list of names is revealed the divine intervention of God in the affairs of mankind. God knew all along which lineage that His Son would come from as the seed of man. [174]
[174] Robert Rendall, History, Prophecy and God (London, 1954), 61; in F. F. Bruce, The Books and the Parchments (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1963), 83.
Therefore, Jesus Christ is seen as a part of the Jewish nation in the book of Matthew, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh. However, the book of Luke reveals that Jesus came not for the Jew only, but for all of mankind, having taken upon Himself the likeness of Adam.
Luk 3:21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
Luk 3:21
Mat 4:12, “Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;”
Mar 1:14, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,”
Luk 3:19-21, “But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,”
Mat 4:17 tells us that this particular event marks the beginning of Jesus’ preaching ministry.
Mat 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Thus, the reason the Synoptic Gospels begin at John’s death is because this is also when Jesus began to preach and to teach publicly.
We know from a study of the Gospel of John that the imprisonment of John the Baptist took place between the First (Joh 2:13) and Second Passover (Joh 6:4). Therefore, there was up to a year difference between the time when Jesus was baptized and when He began His public ministry. The Synoptic Gospels tell us that Jesus began His public ministry at John’s death, although the Gospel of John gives us testimony of earlier miracles in Jesus’ ministry. Why would Jesus wait up to a year to go public? Perhaps an answer lies in the suggestion that Jesus respected the ministry of John the Baptist so that He did not make a public display until John’s ministry had come to an end. It is interesting to see how God never seems to be in a hurry.
Regarding Jesus’ respect for John the Baptist’s public ministry, I suggest this reason for Jesus waiting until John’s death to go public because of a careful study of the lives and ministries of some of the apostles both within and outside of the Scriptures. This study reveals such an attitude between the apostles themselves. There was a tremendous respect and reverence for one another’s ministry and hesitancy to overlay the other’s work, lest one gain undue credit above the other. The apostles may have learned this respect for one another as a result of observing Jesus’ behavior towards John the Baptist.
Luk 3:22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
Luk 3:22
Luk 3:22 Comments In Luk 3:22 God the Father declared that Jesus Christ was His Son, in whom He is well pleased. No man had ever fully pleased God by his own merits. The Jews spent their lives under the Mosaic Law trying to please God by obeying its statues and later associated traditions. However, their own consciences told them that they had come short of pleasing God. Now God speaks from Heaven to declare Jesus Christ justified in His sight as sinless, perfectly pleasing God in every aspect of His life.
Luk 3:21-22 Comments The Father’s Testimony of Jesus’ Calling In Luk 3:21-22 God the Father bears witness of Jesus’ calling by speaking from Heaven. Unlike the other Gospels, Luke’s version of Jesus’ water baptism places its entire emphasis upon the Father’s testimony from Heaven.
Comments God Speaks from Heaven to Men – The voice of God the Father spoke from Heaven to mankind on a number of occasions. God spoke to King Nebuchadnezzar when he took his mind from him for a season (Dan 4:31). God spoke from Heaven at the water baptism of His Son Jesus Christ (Mat 3:17, Mar 1:11, Luk 3:22). God spoke to the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mat 17:5, Mar 9:7, Luk 9:35-36, 2Pe 1:17-18). God spoke to Jesus when He rode into Jerusalem before His Passion (Joh 12:28-29). Jesus spoke to Paul from Heaven on the road to Damascus (Act 9:3-7).
Luk 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
Luk 3:23
Luk 1:5, “There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.”
What was significant about the age of thirty for Jesus Christ to begin His earthly ministry? We do know that according to the Mosaic Law, a priest could not enter his office until the age of thirty (see Num 4:1-49). Although he was born of the lineage of Aaron or of the tribe of Levite, he could not take this office until he fulfilled a certain age.
Num 4:3, “From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.”
We see that Ezekiel probably received his commission at the age of thirty (see Eze 1:1). This was because he served as a priest to the children of Israel who were in exile.
Eze 1:1, “Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.”
David was thirty years old when he began to reign as king over Judah. He was the only king over Israel who ever took the ephod and stood in the place of a priest.
2Sa 5:4, “David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.”
The age of thirty was significant in the fact that in Jewish culture, a man was qualified to enter the offices of a priest or leader of his community. Before this age, he was looked upon as a youth. Therefore, Jesus would not have been able to minister as an adult and community leader before the age of thirty, but rather, He would have been looked upon as a youth.
Luk 3:36 Comments – In the genealogy of Gen 11:10-32, Cainan is not mentioned.
Gen 11:10-12, “These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:”
Note: Gen 10:24, “Arphaxad began Saalah, who begat Heber.”
Note: Luk 4:35-36, “Arphaxad begat Cainan, who begat Sala, who begat Heber.”
Luk 3:35-36 Comments The Genealogy of Shem – The genealogy of Shem to Phalec (Old Testament – Peleg) is also given in Gen 10:21-31.
Luk 3:38 Comments The genealogy of Jesus Christ given in Luk 3:23-38 leads to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and supports God the Father’s statement in Luk 3:22, “and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.”
Luk 3:36-38 Comments The Genealogy of Noah – The genealogy of God to Noah is also given in Gen 5:1-32.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Baptism and Genealogy of Christ. Luk 3:21-38
The baptism of Jesus:
v. 21. Now, when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened,
v. 22. and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased. When all the people were being baptized, when the ministry of John had reached its climax, Jesus Himself came to be the companion of sinners that were seeking forgiveness of sins through Baptism. Through His baptism, Jesus was formally inaugurated into His office. For after His baptism, while He was praying, as He was wont to do in all the important situations of His life, the heaven above Him was opened. And at the same time, the Holy Spirit, in the bodily form of a dove and as such externally visible, came down from heaven upon Jesus. The entire event was a miraculous witness of God the Father to the Sonship of Jesus, as He also called down in an audible voice: Thou art My Son the beloved, in Thee I am well pleased. It was a manifestation intended for the strengthening of Christ at the beginning of His ministry. In the days which were before Him, it would often seem as though the hand of God were entirely withdrawn from Him, that He ‘no longer had a loving Father in heaven above. But the assurance which He received at His baptism gave Christ the necessary courage, according to His human nature, to meet all the trials which must needs fall to His lot as the great Vicar of mankind. Note that the Triune God is present at this great induction of the Son into His office. “With these words God makes the heart of all the world laughing and happy and transfuses all creatures with the full measure of divine sweetness and comfort. How so? Why, if I know that and am certain that the man Christ is the Son of God and well-pleasing to God, as I must be certain, since the divine Majesty itself speaks from heaven, which cannot lie, then I am also certain that all that this Man says and does is all the word and work of a beloved Son, which must please God in the highest measure. Well, then, that I note and grasp it well: How could God give me more convincing evidence and offer Himself with greater love and sweetness than by saying that it pleases Him from His heart that His Son Christ speaks so pleasantly with me, loves me so cordially, and out of great love for me suffers, dies, and does everything? Thinkest thou not, if a human heart should feel such pleasure of God in Christ when He serves us thus, that for joy it would burst into a hundred thousand pieces? For there it would see the abyss of the fatherly heart, yea, the bottomless and eternal goodness and love of God which He bears toward us and has borne from eternity.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Luk 3:21. Now when all the people were baptized, Now while all the people were receiving baptism. Heylin. If we reflect on the number of the people who followed John, and were baptized by him, and the regard which they expressed for him before and after his death, and yet that no sect was produced in consequence of such a belief and baptism, it will afford a very good argument in favour of the superior power, dignity, character, and office of Jesus. It is observable, that all the three voices from heaven, by which the Father bore witness to Christ, were pronounced while he was praying, or very quickly after it. Compare Ch. Luk 9:29-35 and Joh 12:38
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Luk 3:21-22 . See on Mat 3:13-17 ; Mar 1:9-11 .
. . .] resumes the thread dropped at Luk 3:18 in order to add another epitomized narrative, namely, that of the baptism of Jesus.
. . .] Whilst [73] the assembled people (an hyperbolical expression) were being baptized, it came to pass when Jesus also ( ) was baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, etc. The entire people was therefore present (in opposition to Kuinoel, Krabbe, and others). The characteristic detail, . , is peculiar to Luke.
. ] so that He appeared as a bodily dove. See, moreover, on Matthew.
[73] Bleek is in error (following de Wette) when he translates: when He was baptized . See Luk 2:27 , Luk 8:40 , Luk 9:36 , Luk 11:37 , Luk 14:1 , Luk 19:15 , Luk 24:30 ; in general, Buttmann, Neut. Gr . p. 226 f. [E. T. 264].
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1484
THE DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT UPON CHRIST
Luk 3:21-22. Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened; and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
IN every part of our Lords history, from his first entrance into the world to his dissolution upon the cross, we observe an astonishing combination of the most opposite events: we see the majesty of heaven degraded to the lowest depths of humiliation; and the meanest of mankind, who was a worm, and no man, the very scorn of men, and the outcast of the people, exalted to the highest honours that Heaven itself could confer upon him. Observe the circumstance of his birth: what can we conceive more degrading than for the Saviour of the world to be born in a stable, and to be laid in a manger? Yet, to counterbalance this, angels were sent to announce his advent, and a star to point out to the inquiring Magi the place of his nativity. Thus it was also at his baptism. The ordinance of baptism was intended to intimate the need which we have to be washed from our sins: Jesus, therefore, could not submit to baptism without acknowledging, in appearance, that he was a sinner, like unto us: nevertheless, for wise and gracious reasons, he insisted that that rite should be administered to him. But whatever ignominy might attach to him on this account, the offence was completely rolled away by the interposition of his God and Father, who on that occasion bore testimony to him by an audible voice from heaven, and by a visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon him. These are the two subjects for our present consideration. We notice,
I.
The visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon him
There are many things relative to the descent of the Spirit upon Jesus, which are worthy of observation
1.
The time of it was remarkable
[Jesus had just conformed to Gods ordinance of baptism. Though he had no need of baptism, (not having any sin to wash away,) yet, as it was a rite instituted by God for the introducing of men into the Messiahs kingdom, he judged it expedient to comply with it himself, that he might fulfill all righteousness in his own person, and be in all things a pattern to his followers. This was well pleasing to God, who cannot but be interested in the observance of his own ordinances. And the conferring of so distinguished an honour upon Jesus on that occasion clearly shews, that God will honour those who honour him; and that in a reverential attendance on the instituted means of grace, we may expect blessings which we shall in vain hope for in the neglect of them [Note: Those who absent themselves from the House of God under the idea that they can spend their time more profitably at home, and those who stay away from the Lords table under an apprehension of their unworthiness to go to it, would do well to consider this.].
He was, moreover, actually engaged in prayer. On three different occasions did the Father bear testimony to Jesus by an audible voice from heaven; and every time was either in, or immediately after, prayer [Note: At his baptism (see the text), at his transfiguration (Luk 9:29; Luk 9:35.), and just before his death (Joh 12:28.).]. What an evidence does this afford us of the importance and efficacy of prayer! And who that lives nigh to God in the exercise of that duty, has not found that promise realized, Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am [Note: Isa 58:9; Isa 65:24.]? Audible voices, indeed, we are not to expect; but we are sure that God has never said to any, Seek ye my face in vain.]
There was something peculiar also in the manner of it
[It was of great importance that the attestation thus publicly given to the character of Jesus should be such as could admit of no doubt. Accordingly the heavens were opened, just as they afterwards were at the time of Stephens death [Note: Act 7:55-56.], so that the very throne of God, as it were, became visible to mortal eyes; and the Holy Ghost descended visibly, in a bodily appearance, and abode upon him. Whether the Holy Ghost assumed the shape of a dove, or only appeared in a luminous body with a hovering motion, like that of a dove, we do not take upon us to determine [Note: We rather think the latter. See Doddridge on the place.]: but the appearance was such as could leave no doubt in the minds of the spectators that there was a special communication to Jesus from heaven, even such a communication as had never before been vouchsafed to mortal man.]
But the ends of the Spirits descent are most worthy of our attention
[We are sure that it was designed to confirm the Baptists mind. The providence of God had so ordered events, that John and Jesus, though related to each other, had lived thirty years in the world without forming any acquaintance with each other. Had they been intimate with each other, it might have been thought that an agreement had been formed between them to deceive the world: but John had no knowledge of the person of Jesus, till he was inspired to point him out as the Lamb of God, that was to take away the sin of the world: and this very sign was promised to John, as the means whereby his mind should be satisfied that the testimony which be had borne was true: and John himself declares, that his own conviction of Christs Messiahship was grounded on this very thing [Note: Joh 1:32-34.].
But there was another end, even the inauguration of the Messiah himself to his high office. The Jewish kings and priests, and in some instances the prophets also, were anointed with oil at the time of their consecration to their work: and therefore it behoved Jesus, in whom all these offices were to be combined, to be set apart for them by a nobler unction. Accordingly he was anointed with the oil of joy and gladness above his fellows [Note: Psa 45:7.]. It had been expressly foretold that he should be so anointed [Note: Isa 61:1.], and that the Holy Spirit should rest upon him [Note: Isa 11:2.]; and he himself mentioned, in his very first sermon, that these prophecies were then accomplished; and that he was then executing the very office for which he had been commissioned and qualified by that peculiar unction [Note: Luk 4:17-21.].]
Besides this visible attestation to his character, we are called to notice also,
II.
The audible testimony of the Father to him
In many different ways did the Father bear witness to his Son: every miracle that was wrought by Jesus was a seal whereby the Father attested the truth of his divine mission. But on this occasion he addressed his Son by an audible voice; and therein bore witness to,
1.
His person as the promised Messiah
[The Messiah had been long foretold under the character of the Son of Man [Note: Dan 7:13.]; and that term was understood by the Jews as equivalent to the Son of God [Note: Luk 22:69-70.]. That Jesus did indeed sustain this character, and that he was the very person of whom all the prophets spake, was a point to be proved; and God determined that it should be proved by every species of evidence that could be adduced. Hence, besides the foregoing proof which was offered to the eyes of men, another was added which appealed to their ears. And in the very words which are used, there seems a reference to the prophecies which were accomplished in him. Thou art that my beloved Son, that Son, whose advent has been so long foretold, and so long expected [Note: There is a force in the repetition of the article, which, though lost in the Translation, should not be overlooked.]. In this view the expression of the text precisely corresponds with that which had been long before used by the Prophet Isaiah: Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles [Note: Isa 42:1.]. Whatever pretensions, therefore, false Christs may urge, or whatever objections infidel professors of Christianity may raise against Jesus, we have the infallible testimony of God himself that Jesus is the Christ.]
2.
His acceptableness in that office
[In every view the Father could not but feel complacency and delight in him. As voluntarily undertaking the mediatorial work, as richly qualified for the discharge of it, and as persevering in it notwithstanding all the difficulties that he should have to encounter, he must be highly acceptable to the Father. But God foresaw the perfect accomplishment of all his designs through the ministration of his dear Son: he saw, as it were, all his elect delivered from their guilt and misery, and made partakers of everlasting glory and felicity: he saw all his own perfections also honoured and exalted in the mystery of redemption: and he cordially approved of it as the most stupendous effort of wisdom and of love. None can henceforth entertain a doubt whether he will accept those who come to him by Christ, since it was on account of the suitableness and sufficiency of his atonement that the Father was so well pleased in him.]
We may learn from hence,
1.
How we should think of God
[We know nothing of God except from revelation. It is presumptuous, therefore, either to form notions about him from our own vague conjectures, or to refuse our assent to the representations which he has given us of himself. That there is a Trinity of the persons in the Godhead is doubtless an incomprehensible mystery: but it is plainly revealed in numberless passages of Scripture. It is indeed from other passages that we know each of the persons in the Trinity to be God: but that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are Three distinct persons, is as clear as any truth can be: and so clearly is it intimated in the very words of our text, that the ancients were wont to say, Go to Jordan, and there learn the doctrine of the Trinity.]
2.
How we should act towards him
[All that is required of us is, to be like-minded with God. Did God point him out as his beloved Son? let us believe in him as the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. Did the Father profess himself well pleased in him? let us delight ourselves in him: let it be the joy of our, hearts to contemplate his fulness and sufficiency, and to be receiving out of his fulness grace for grace. Let us, in short, count all things but dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and glory in him as all our salvation, and all our desire.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
Ver. 21. And praying, the heaven was opened ] Prayer is the key of God’s kingdom, and must be used, as at other times, so especially when we or ours receive the sacraments; though the most, if urged hereto, must say, if they say truly, as 1Sa 17:39 , I cannot go with these accoutrements, for I am not accustomed to them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
21, 22. ] Mat 3:13-17 ; Mar 1:9-11 . Luke’s account is much more concise than usual, and wholly independent of the others; see note on Mar 1:10 ; we have here however three additional particulars 1. that all the people had been baptized before the Lord’s baptism: 2. that He was praying at the time of the descent of the Spirit: 3. that the Spirit appeared in a bodily form . On (1) we may remark that this is necessarily the meaning of . for Luke when he means ‘during,’ &c. invariably uses the present; see for the past tense with reff. and ch. Luk 14:1 ; Luk 19:15 ; Luk 24:30 for the present, ch. Luk 5:1 ; Luk 8:5 , &c., and for a comparison of the two, ch. Luk 8:40 ; Luk 8:42 .
On (3), see note at Mat 3:16 , 2,
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 3:21-22 . The baptism of Jesus (Mat 3:13-17 , Mar 1:9-11 ). : the aorist ought to imply that the bulk of the people had already been baptised before Jesus appeared on the scene, i.e. , that John’s ministry was drawing to its close (so De Wette; but vide Burton, M. and T. , p. 51, 109, on the effect ). . : so Lk. refers to the baptism of Jesus, in a participial clause, his aim not to report the fact, but what happened after it. On the different ways in which the synoptists deal with this incident, vide on Mt. : peculiar to Lk., who makes Jesus pray at all crises of His career; here specially noteworthy in connection with the theophany following: Jesus in a state of mind answering to the preternatural phenomena; subjective and objective corresponding. , in bodily form, peculiar to Lk., and transforming a vision into an external event. : the voice, as in Mk., addressed to Jesus, and in the same terms.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 3:21-22
21Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened,
22and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
Luk 3:21 “Now when all the people were baptized” This implies either
1. how successfully John’s preaching affected the lives of his hearers
2. that out of a larger crowd all those who responded stayed to be baptized.
“Jesus was also baptized” Why Jesus was baptized has always been a concern for believers because John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. Jesus did not need forgiveness for He was sinless (cf. 2Co 5:21; Heb 4:15; Heb 7:26; 1Pe 2:22; 1Jn 3:5). The theories have been:
1. it was an example for believers to follow
2. it was His identification with believers’ need
3. it was His ordination and equipping for ministry
4. it was a symbol of His redemptive task
5. it was His approval of the ministry and message of John the Baptist
6. it was a prophetic foreshadowing of His death, burial, and resurrection (cf. Rom 6:4; Col 2:12)
Whatever the reason, this was a defining moment in Jesus’ life. Although it does not imply that Jesus became the Messiah at this point, which is the early heresy of adoptionism (cf. The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture by Bart D. Ehrman, pp. 47-118), it held great significance for Him.
“while He was praying” Luke’s Gospel, more than the others, emphasizes Jesus’ prayer life (cf. Luk 3:21; Luk 5:16; Luk 6:12; Luk 9:18; Luk 9:28-29; Luk 11:1; Luk 22:41). If Jesus, the sinless Son of God, sensed the need to pray often, how much more should we!
Luk 3:22 “Holy Spirit. . .Him. . .a voice out of heaven” This is one of several passages in the NT where all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TRINITY
“dove” This is an unusual symbol for the Spirit. God wanted all to see a physical manifestation of His Spirit on His Messiah. Some think it is related to
1. the Spirit brooding over the waters in Gen 1:2
2. Noah’s sending out a dove in Gen 8:8-10
3. the rabbis’ using it as a symbol for Israel (cf. Hos 11:11)
John is surely mixing his metaphors to describe the Spirit’s work from cleansing fire to the peace and innocence of a dove.
Luke is the only Gospel that has “in bodily form.” Apparently Luke is trying to emphasize the physical manifestation of the unseen Spirit. This visible descent was not only an affirmation to Jesus, but a witness to the crowd of just-baptized hearers.
“a voice came out of heaven” This is called a bath kol. It was an interbiblical rabbinical method to communicate that a message was from God (cf. Psa 2:7; Isa 42:1). God used a mechanism to which these Jewish hearers were accustomed to reveal His presence and power in Jesus.
“You are My beloved Son” This shows (1) the Father’s affirmation to the Son and (2) a witness to the crowd. This is an allusion to Psalms 2, which is a royal Psalm of God’s victory on behalf of the Davidic king (i.e., Son, cf. Luk 2:7). This title (Son) is repeated at Jesus’ transfiguration (cf. Luk 9:35).
George E. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, p. 164, has an interesting comment about “Beloved” (agaptos), where he asserts that it appears in the Septuagint as the translation of the Hebrew yachid, “only” (i.e., only Son, cf. Gen 22:2; Jer 6:26). Based on this he further asserts that it is synonymous with monogens (cf. Joh 3:16), thus making this quote refer to Jesus as God’s only, unique, one-of-a-kind Son (i.e., Messiah).
“in You I am well-pleased” This is an allusion to Isa 42:1 (LXX), which is one of the Servant Songs of Isaiah. In this verbal affirmation to Jesus and before the believing crowd God unites the OT concepts of royal king and suffering servant (cf. Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12). These are the very words of Mar 1:11.
An interesting discussion of the several variants related to this verse is found in Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, pp. 62-67. He asserts that the reading of MS D (which quotes Psa 2:7) is original, but that since it gave theological support for the heresy of “adoptionism,” scribes altered it.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
it came to pass. As in Luk 3:1. The 1611 edition of the Authorized Version reads “and it came to pass”.
praying. Note the occasions of the Lord’s praying: here; Luk 6:16; Luk 6:12; Luk 9:18, Luk 9:28; Luk 11:1; Luk 22:41-44.
the heaven. Singular. See notes on Mat 6:9, Mat 6:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
21, 22.] Mat 3:13-17; Mar 1:9-11. Lukes account is much more concise than usual, and wholly independent of the others; see note on Mar 1:10; we have here however three additional particulars-1. that all the people had been baptized before the Lords baptism: 2. that He was praying at the time of the descent of the Spirit: 3. that the Spirit appeared in a bodily form. On (1) we may remark that this is necessarily the meaning of .-for Luke when he means during, &c. invariably uses the present; see for the past tense with reff. and ch. Luk 14:1; Luk 19:15; Luk 24:30-for the present, ch. Luk 5:1; Luk 8:5, &c., and for a comparison of the two, ch. Luk 8:40; Luk 8:42.
On (3), see note at Mat 3:16, 2,
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 3:21. , whilst praying) after His baptism. Luke often mentions the prayers of Jesus, as among the most important events: ch. Luk 6:12, Luk 9:18; Luk 9:29, Luk 22:32; Luk 22:41, Luk 23:46.-) In bringing it from , the indicative, as compared with the infinitive, has an augment: the infinitive has, not so much an augment, as an [an intensification of the meaning].
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Luk 3:21-22
2. THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
Luk 3:21-22
21 Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, -There are three accounts of the baptism of Jesus (Mat 3:13-17; Mar 1:9-11; Luk 3:21-22); Matthew’s account is the fullest; he gave the conversation of John and Jesus before the baptism. Matthew and Mark give the place, the river Jordan, where he was baptized; these writers also state that Jesus came from Galilee to John. Mark is specific and states that he came from Nazareth. The main points mentioned by Luke are the visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and the voice from heaven proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God. Each of the writers records the descent of the Holy Spirit and the audible voice endorsing him as the Son of God.
“All the people were baptized” does not mean that every one in all Judea was baptized, but it means a great number. The baptism of Jesus forms the climax of John’s ministry; it was the great crowning act, for he came baptizing in water that Jesus might be manifested to Israel. (Joh 1:31-34.) From this time John began to decrease, but Jesus to increase; all the people were no longer gathering to hear John, but to see and hear Jesus. The disciples of Jesus were baptizing more than John. (Joh 4:1-2.) Jesus was baptized at the time when the people were baptized; some think that John’s work ceased when he baptized Jesus. John had a double function; he was to get the people ready for Jesus, and then to point him out to the people. He did this soon after he baptized Jesus. (Joh 1:29-34.)
22 Thou art my beloved Son;-The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus “in a bodily form, as a dove.” There was a sudden and visible parting asunder in a portion of the sky; Jesus saw it (Mar 1:10) and John also witnessed it (Joh 1:32) , we do not know whether anyone else saw this visible manifestation. This manifestation was “as a dove” or like a dove. Some understand this to mean that the Holy Spirit descended in the manner of a dove which descends gently and swiftly. It has been a question whether the comparison here is between the descent of the Holy Spirit and that of a dove, or whether the comparison is between the visable appearance of the Spirit and the shape of a dove. Nothing is to be gained by disputing on this point. The dove was a fit emblem of the pure, gentle, and peaceful character of Jesus and his work. (Isa 61:1-3; Mat 10:16; Mat 11:29; Mat 12:19-21.) The descent of the Holy Spirit was also a token of the Messiah to John. (Joh 1:33.)
There is some variation in the record given by Matthew and Luke; Mark agrees with Luke. Matthew expresses this statement in the third person-“this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”-but Mark and Luke state it in the second person-“thou art my beloved Son in thee I am well pleased.” Mark and Luke record this as God speaking to Jesus, while Matthew expresses it as God speaking to John or some other. Jesus was not only the “Son” of God, but emphatically he is “the beloved Son.” The voice from heaven added “in thee I am well pleased.”
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Chapter 21
Lessons From The Masters Baptism And Genealogy
We know virtually nothing about the childhood, youth, teenage years and early adulthood of our Saviour. We know he was born at Bethlehem, that Joseph and Mary fled with him to Egypt when he was about two years old and that he was found in the temple conversing with the religious leaders of the temple when he was twelve. We know nothing else about our Lords earthly existence until he was thirty years old. All three of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) begin to describe our Lords life and ministry as a man in exactly the same way at his baptism. That fact alone makes his baptism and ours matters of tremendous importance.
Baptism And Faith
In the Word of God baptism and faith always go together (Act 8:36-38). Baptism is distinctly an ordinance of the New Testament. It is a distinctly gospel ordinance. There was nothing like it in the Old Testament, and nothing pointing to it.
Many have the notion that Johns baptism was somehow different from the baptism practised by our Lord, his disciples and us; but there is not a shred of evidence for that notion. There is no evidence that any of our Lords disciples were baptized by anyone, except John. Johns baptism, like ours, was the baptism of repentance because of the remission of sins (Luk 3:3). And Johns baptism, like ours, was the symbolic fulfilment of righteousness (Mat 3:13-17). It was a picture of redemption, a picture of the gospel. It was a picture not of cleansing by the gift of life, but of ransom by the death of Christ, not of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, but of redemption by the obedience of Christ unto death as our Substitute.
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mat 3:13-17).
Johns baptism, like ours, was an act by which men and women publicly renounced their former religion and publicly identified themselves with Christ and his people.
Our Lord Jesus treated this blessed ordinance of the gospel as a matter of highest esteem, giving it great honour, and placing great importance upon it. He walked all the way from Galilee to the Jordan River in order to be immersed by John the Baptist.
Baptism must never be regarded by us as a point of indifference, or a matter of slight importance. This is the ordinance of Christ, an ordinance of divine worship, which our Master commands us to keep.
I will say no more in this study about this blessed ordinance of the gospel than is here specifically stated by God the Holy Spirit. I have no creed to defend, no denomination to uphold, no tradition to maintain. I make no effort to mould the scriptures to a confession of faith. Believers mould their faith, their doctrine and their practices to the Word of God.
Here are five things taught throughout the New Testament and clearly set before us in our Saviours example. These five things are so obvious, so plainly set before us, that none can misunderstand them or fail to see them, except those who are wilfully blinded by religious tradition.
Baptism is an ordinance of worship, not a sacrament. That distinction is important. An ordinance is a rule or command. A sacrament is an outward sign of an inward grace, or a means by which grace is conferred. Our Lords baptism conferred no grace upon him. It washed away no sin from him. And it was not a sign of anything inward. It was that which he was behoved to do as Jehovahs Servant, because it symbolized the fulfilment of all righteousness by his obedience unto death.
Baptism is immersion. Immersion is not a mode, or even the mode of baptism. Immersion is baptism. That is what the word means. Without immersion, there is no baptism. Sprinkling is not immersion. It is sprinkling. Pouring is not immersion. It is pouring. Baptism is immersion.
Baptism is for adults only. Our Lord Jesus was thirty years old when he came to be baptized by John.
Baptism is for believers only. The prerequisite to baptism is faith (Act 8:36-38). We are specifically told that our Saviour was praying when he was baptized. The practice of sprinkling and/or pouring water on infants, and calling the ritual, baptism, is as foreign to the scriptures as rosary beads! If we would worship God, we must not add to his Word, or alter his ordinance.
Our baptism as believers, as followers of Christ, is a reflection of our Lords baptism (Rom 6:3-6). In this blessed ordinance of worship believers are buried with Christ in the watery grave and rise with him from the grave, because that is exactly what has happened to every regenerate person. When Christ died, we died with him When he arose, we arose with him. In our baptism we confess to the world that we trust Christ and his obedience unto death as our Substitute for the whole of our salvation, and that we have been raised from death to life by his Spirit.
The Trinity And Redemption
When our Lord Jesus was baptized, all three Persons in the Godhead displayed a manifest concern in the affair of our redemption. God the Son was baptized. God the Spirit descended upon him in an openly revealed physical form, as a dove. And God the Father spoke from heaven.
We worship the Triune God, the Three-in-One Jehovah. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one (1Jn 5:7). Throughout the New Testament, we see the fact of the Holy Trinity and the involvement of all three of the divine Persons in the work of grace. Both in the baptismal requirement that believers be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Mat 28:19), and in the benedictions of grace from the Triune God upon the churches (2Co 13:14), we are taught that the three of the Godhead are engaged to save chosen sinners. This fact is asserted with clarity in Eph 1:3-14, 2Th 2:13-14 and 1Pe 1:2).
No man can comprehend
The mighty Three-in-One,
Or fathom what to rescue man,
The Triune God has done.
With confidence we boast
What nature never learned,
That Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
To save are all concerned.
The Fathers love, so grand,
His Son did sacrifice!
The Son for us his life resigned.
The Spirit grace applies.
The Trinity we praise,
Through Jesus Christ, our King.
With gratitude and love we raise
Our voice his praise to sing.
To God the Father be,
Who sent his Son to die,
Glory, and to the Son for He
Most willingly complied!
Praise God the Holy Ghost,
Who in Jesus reveals
Gods love and grace for sinners lost,
And his salvation seals!
Grace And Mediation
We have before us a marvellous display of our Lords covenant office as our God-man Mediator. The voice which spoke from heaven said, Thou art my beloved Son. In thee I am well pleased.
The only way God Almighty can or will save fallen, guilty sinners is through a Mediator. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the Mediator, the only Mediator there is, between God and men (1Ti 2:5). Everything God has for sinners, everything God requires of sinners and everything God gives to sinners is in him, in Christ. He who is Mediator between God and men must be both God and man. And he who is our Mediator must be one in whom God is well pleased. The Lord God is well pleased with our Redeemers holy and infinitely meritorious nature as our God-man Mediator. He is well pleased with our Representatives holy life of perfect obedience for us. He is well pleased with our Substitutes death, by which he made complete satisfaction to divine justice, by the sacrifice of himself in the room and place of his people.
The Lord God is well pleased with the merit, the infinite merit of Christs obedience unto death as our Substitute, but there is more stated here than that. When the Lord God said, Thou art my beloved Son. In thee I am well pleased, he declared that he is well please not just with his Son, but well pleased in his Son. God Almighty is well pleased with his people in his Son! Read the scriptures and rejoice. If you are in Christ, God is well pleased with you in him (Eph 1:3-6; Num 23:21; Psa 32:1-2; Rom 4:8; Jer 50:20; Ecc 9:7).
Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay,
While through Christs blood absolved I am,
From sins tremendous curse and blame!
Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf
Humanity And Death
In Luk 3:23-38 we have a long list of names. Here we are given the names of 75 people. Were it not for the fact that their names are in this genealogical record[7], most of the names would have long ago gone into oblivion. Who remembers them? Who cares who they were, where they lived, what they did or what they had? No one!
[7] All who read the Scriptures with care know that there is some difficulty reconciling the records of our Lords genealogy. If we compare Matthews account with Lukes account, there appears to be an obvious conflict in the recorded names given between David and Joseph. Between David and Abraham, Matthews record and Lukes agree. But between David and Joseph, they appear to be two different family trees. In all likelihood there are. It appears that Luke was inspired to give us our Lords maternal genealogy, while Matthew and Mark give us his paternal genealogy. Heli, being Marys father, would have been Josephs father-in-law, his father by marriage. He would have been listed as such in the maternal genealogy of the family.
What frail, dying creatures we are! Like us, these men all once lived upon the earth. They had the same joys we have, the same sorrows, the same griefs and the same troubles. As we all soon must, all these men died and are buried in the earth. Each one has now gone to his own place, as soon we must.
Yes, we too are passing away and soon must be gone. Let us forever bless God and give thanks to him that in this dying world we have a living Saviour! Let us make it our one great concern to be joined to him, who is the Resurrection and the Life. May God give us grace to live day by day in this world of time and trouble as dying men and women who live for eternity.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
The Baptism of Jesus
Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.Luk 3:21-22.
1. The Baptism of our Lord was the first event of His public life as the Christ; and on this account alone it would have a peculiar significance and importance. Previously to this time He had lain hid in Galilee, in silent and secret preparation for His public work, dwelling beneath the roof of His earthly parents, and subject to them, growing year by year in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man. What were His occupations and pursuits; how His soul within Him was exercised and disciplined in the prospect of the public duties assigned to Him as Mediator; in what way the one thought of glorifying His Father by obedience unto death for His people was ever before His mind, waxing in greatness and awfulness as it was longer and more fully contemplated; how the coming events of His temptation and agony and Cross filled His holy human heart with longing and wonder and fear as the time drew on and they looked the nearer, we have not anywhere in Scripture been clearly informed. The thirty years that elapsed between His birth and His showing unto Israel are for us little else than a mysterious blank. We can do no more than conjecture how His human understanding, by the aid of the Old Testament Scriptures, which spoke of Him in type and prophecy and promise, grew in the knowledge of the great work given Him to do; and how His human feelings of faith and love, and submission to His Father, by acts of converse with God in private, were disciplined and strengthened to enter upon it. It is but a glimpse that we get of the extent to which the Child Jesus had, during His early years, perfected Himself in the Word of His God, when we see Him, at twelve years of age, sitting among the Jewish Doctors in the Temple, the Teacher rather than the taught; and we can only guess by way of inference how large a portion of His private hours in youth was spent in secret communion with His Father, when we read of how the habit had grown in mature age into the spending of whole nights alone in prayer to God.
But although comparative darkness has been allowed to settle down upon the history of the earthly life of Christ before He grew to manhood, yet we can hardly err in believing that by means of these two thingsnamely, God speaking to His human soul in the written Word, and His human soul holding converse with God in prayerHe was educated for the work in public which lay before Him; and that, although we may know but little of the character or the successive steps of it, yet there was a great work of preparation going on in those early years, of which no record is found in Scripture. And when this mysterious preparation was at an endwhen the hidden discipline of His early years had made perfect the Son of God for His destined enterprisewhat was the event which terminated His secret and inaugurated His public career; which closed up the history of Jesus as a private man, and proclaimed the opening of His official life as the Messiah, the sent of God? We have the narrative of that event in the passage before us.
2. The first meeting of Jesus and John is a unique scene. They were of nearly the same age; they were related according to the flesh; they were both men of prophetic endowment, sent to produce in their native country a religious reformation. Yet, in spite of these and other points of resemblance, there could not have been two characters more absolutely contrasted. Jesus marked the contrast in the broadest way when He subsequently said, John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold, a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! John was the child of the desert, courting solitude and avoiding human society; Jesus followed a homely trade, appeared at marriages and feasts, was a friend of women and children, and was as much at home in the busy city as on the mountain top. John called the multitude out to the desert to hear him and did not condescend to visit the haunts of men; Jesus went to sinners where He could find them, considering it His duty to seek as well as to save that which was lost. John had a seared look; he was a man who, after severe struggles, had obtained the mastery of himself and was holding down a coarse nature by main force; Jesus, on the contrary, was always innocent and spontaneous, genial and serene. John, in short, was the Old Testament personified, Jesus the embodiment of the New; and in Johns shrinking from baptizing Jesus, the spirit of the Old Testamentthe spirit of law, wrath and austeritywas doing homage to the spirit of the New Testamentthe spirit of freedom and of love.
A voice by Jordans shore!
A summons stern and clear;
Reform! be just! and sin no more!
Gods judgment draweth near!
A voice by Galilee,
A holier voice I hear;
Love God! thy neighbour love! for see,
Gods mercy draweth near!
O voice of Duty! still
Speak forth; I hear with awe;
In thee I own the sovereign will,
Obey the sovereign law.
Thou higher voice of Love,
Yet speak Thy word in me;
Through duty let me upward move
To Thy pure liberty!1 [Note: Samuel Longfellow.]
3. The application by Jesus for baptism perplexed John; and it is a perplexity even to this day. It is not, indeed, entirely without parallel in the life of Christ; for His circumcision, which took place when He was eight days old, raises the same difficulty. The difficulty is that He should have participated in an ordinance which symbolized the removal of sin. But in this case it is more urgent, because He made the application Himself.
Only two explanations seem really to touch the quick. The one is that Johns baptism had a positive as well as a negative side. It was not only the baptism of repentance, but a rite of dedication. It was a renewal of the national covenant, the inauguration of a new era, the gateway of the Kingdom of God. Now, although Jesus had no part in the sin from which baptism cleansed, He had part in this positive enthusiasm; He was the very Person to lead the way into the new era. The other explanation, which may very easily be combined with this one, is that He received baptism as a representative Person. Although sinless Himself, He was a member of a sinful nation, of whose sin He was keenly consciousmore so than any other whom John baptizedand He went along with the rest of the nation in making confession. In short, He was in this act rehearsing beforehand the great act of His death, when He bore in His own body on the tree the sins of the world.
Tintoret has thrown into his picture of the Baptism of Christ his utmost strength; and it becomes noble in his hands by his most singularly imaginative expression, not only of the immediate fact, but of the whole train of thought of which it is suggestive; and by his considering the Baptism not only as the submission of Christ to the fulfilment of all righteousness, but as the opening of the earthly struggle with the prince of the powers of the air, which instantly beginning in the temptation, ended only on the Cross. The river flows fiercely under the shadow of a great rock. From its opposite shore, thickets of close gloomy foliage rise against the rolling chasm of heaven, through which breaks the brightness of the descending Spirit. Across these, dividing them asunder, is stretched a horizontal floor of flaky cloud, on which stand the hosts of heaven, Christ kneels upon the water, and does not sink; the figure of St. John is indistinct, but close beside his raised right arm there is a spectre in the black shade; the Fiend, harpy-shaped, hardly seen, glares down upon Christ with eyes of fire, waiting his time. Beneath this figure there comes out of the mist a dark hand, the arm unseen, extended to a net in the river, the spars of which are in the shape of a cross. Behind this the roots and under stems of the trees are cut away by the cloud, and beneath it, and through them, is seen a vision of wild, melancholy, boundless light, the sweep of the desert; and the figure of Christ is seen therein alone, with His arms lifted as in supplication or ecstasy, borne of the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil.1 [Note: Ruskin, Modern Painters (Works, iv. 268).]
I
The Circumstances of the Baptism
Before we attempt to enter into the meaning of the Baptism of Jesus, whether for Himself or for us, it will be well to bring before our minds the events that took place on the occasion of it, as they are reported by St. Luke. These events are: (1) the Prayer, (2) the Opening of the Heavens, (3) the Descent of the Spirit, and (4) the Voice.
i. The Prayer
There is one peculiarity about the life of our Lord Jesus Christ which everybody must have noticed who has carefully read the four Gospels, namely, that He was a man of much prayer. He was mighty as a preacher; for even the officers who were sent to arrest Him said, Never man spake like this man. But He appears to have been even mightier in prayer, if such a thing could be possible. We do not read that His disciples ever asked Him to teach them to preach, but we are told that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray. He had no doubt been praying with such wonderful fervour that His disciples realized that He was a master of the holy art of prayer, and they therefore desired to learn the secret for themselves. The whole life of our Lord Jesus Christ was one of prayer. Though we are often told about His praying, we feel that we scarcely need to be informed of it, for we know that He must have been a man of prayer. His acts are the acts of a prayerful man; His words speak to us like the words of one whose heart was constantly lifted up in prayer to His Father. You could not imagine that He would have breathed out such blessings upon men if He had not first breathed in the atmosphere of heaven. He must have been much in prayer or He could not have been so abundant in service and so gracious in sympathy.
1. St. Luke informs us that Jesus rose out of the waters praying. This is a solemn hint as to the spirit in which all Divine ordinances ought to be received. When we come to the font seeking baptism either for ourselves or for others, when we sit at the Lords Table, when we are on our way to church, when we open Gods holy Wordas we take part in every such ordinancewe may learn from Jesus how to conduct; ourselves: the best state of mind is, to be engaged in prayer.
2. What may we suppose He was praying for? If we remember the nature of the ordinance in which He was participating and the stage of His own development which He had reached, can we doubt that He was praying for the coming of the Kingdom of God and for strength to play His own part in its inauguration? That generally.
But now, more particularly, what should He have been praying about? Clearly, if He came to St. John as claiming to be no exception to the multitude, He would fashion His prayer after the likeness of that of the multitude. And of what kind were their feelings and utterances as they descended into the waters of Jordan? They were confessing their sins. They had been moved to do something outside the Law, because they felt a burden which no law could removethe weary weight of all their unintelligible selves. When every commandment had been kept, there still remained the consciousness of not having realized their own capacities, of having fallen below the level of what they might have been, what they were intended to be. This is the guilt born of our very dignity; it haunts the worthiest, most; it is felt even by the meanest of us in hours of self-scrutiny. What could the carpenters Son know of it? Little or nothing, if He were playing a partpretending to heroism; much, it He were a genuine man; much also, if He were genuinely Divine; very much, therefore, if He were genuinely bothGod and Man in one Person. Then He could have intense perceptions, would enter into the minds of others, and understand through sympathy what He did not learn by experience; then, knowing no sin, He could be made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
ii. The Opening of the Heavens
The answer to His prayer came suddenly and impressively. While He was yet speaking, His Father in heaven heard, and three wonders happened: first the heavens were opened; secondly the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended on Him; and, thirdly, a voice came from heaven, saying: Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
1. What is meant by the opening? The language used by the Evangelists is very graphic, suggesting that there was the appearance of a rent being made in the blue vault, by which the invisible things which lie within were disclosed. But what does this mean to us, who are well aware that the visible heaven is not what it was thought to be by the infant mind of the racethe floor of a celestial palace, the occupants and furnishings of which might be seen if an opening were made in the ceiling of our earthly abode?
The opening of the heavens was a magnificent emblem: it gave, at the very beginning of the Saviours ministry, a vision, and, as it were, an epitome, of the whole work He came to do. He saw, it may be, for a brief moment, the glorious realm from which He had come to earth, and to which, through sorrow and toil, He was to make His way again. The heavens were opened to Him, as our Representative and Forerunner, thus giving us the assurance that every obstacle opposing our return to God would be overcome, and a way made for us into the very home of His dearest children.
2. This opening of the heavens is one of the most beautiful and significant circumstances connected with our Lords visible ministry. Alas! that it should be with so many a poor and almost forgotten thing, like the gleam of the lightning, or the shining of the summer-day of a hundred years ago. With too many men the question is not, Is heaven open above us, that we may have commerce there?but, Is the earth open around us, that we may gather thence our comforts and our gains? Is the season good? Are the fields fruitful? Will the times soon mend? Will the click of machinery be heard ere long in full work in our mills, and the hum of revived trade in our towns? These questions are good and right. A man is not worthy of his place in this great complex growing world if he does not feel an interest in such questions as these. But there are other questions of wider scope which ought to arise in mens hearts, and for answer to which they ought to listen as for life.
There are not a few who have tried hard to make this world, out of what seemed to them its abundant riches, supply all their need without Jesus Christ: but who have been baffledbeaten at every turn. They have gained only to lose. They have rejoiced, only to feel more acutely the pang of the after vexation. They have striven and suffered and sorrowed, only to get for inheritance that old bequest, which Solomon, so long dead, is bequeathing stillall is vanity. In their desolation they begin to think, and to ask, Is it God who tells us that all is vanity? Is He the King of an empty Universe? Is there with Him, in His gift, nothing better than the things we have won and lost? And the answer comesthat there is a way opened to Himself; that He disappoints only that He may fulfil; He takes away the less that He may give the more; He darkens earth that He may show us heaven; He has reserved Himself and His fulness for our eternal portion. Lo! the heavens are opened to them and, wise at last, they find their inheritance there.
iii. The Descent of the Spirit
1. The New Testament like the Old begins with the Spirit. Yet there is a difference in their beginnings. The Spirit of the Old Testament comes out from the darkness; it has to form the light by which we are to see it. But the Spirit of the New comes from light already created; it descends from the opened heavens. The Spirit of the Old Testament moves on the face of troubled waters; the Spirit of the New alights and reposes on the calm bosom of the Son of Man. No wonder the Spirit of the New Testament is like a dove; it has itself found peace in the heart of its own creation; it has reached in the soul of Jesus its Sabbath of rest.
2. The Holy Spirit, says St. Luke, descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him. What, asks Stalker, was the dove which descended on Jesus? Was there a real dove, which, attracted by His gentleness, alighted on Him, as such creatures when domesticated will sometimes do on persons to whom they are drawn by kindness and amiability? Or was the dove a form of light which glided, with dove-like motion, down on His head to point Him out, as at Sauls conversion a light above the brightness of the sun shone round about him? An ancient legend says that the whole valley of the Jordan was illuminated.
These questions are not easily answered now. At an earlier time Keble could say It is probable that the appearance of fire, or of a bright cloud, which had taken in former times the shape of a pillar guiding the Israelites, and which afterwards took that of fiery tongues lighting on the Apostles, now hovered over the Blessed Jesus in somewhat of the form of a dove, with wings spreading over Him; and we may be certain that it came down with the gentle steady motion of a dove.
Alford is quite explicit: The Holy Spirit descended not only in the manner of a dove, but in bodily form (Luke): which I cannot understand in any but the literal sense, as the bodily shape of a dove, seen by the Baptist. There can be no objection to this, the straightforward interpretation of the narrative, which does not equally apply to the Holy Spirit being visible at all, which John himself asserts Him to have been (Joh 1:32-34), even more expressly than is asserted here. Why the Creator Spirit may not have assumed an organized body bearing symbolical meaning, as well as any other material form, does not seem clear. This was the ancient, and is the only honest, interpretation. The express assertion of Luke, and the fact that all four Evangelists have used the same expression, which they would not have done if it were a mere tertium comparationis, are surely a sufficient refutation of this rationalizing (and, I may add, blundering) interpretation.1 [Note: H. Alford, The Greek Testament, i. 25.]
iv. The Voice
A voice from heaven was a familiar method of communicating the will of God. For examples of such voices in the Old Testament see Gen 21:17; Gen 22:11; Gen 22:15; Exo 19:19; Exo 20:22; 1Ki 19:12-13. In the Gospels the Fathers Voice is heard thriceat the Baptism and the Transfiguration (cf. 2Pe 1:17) and before the Passion (Joh 12:28). The Voice was audible or articulate only to those who had ears to hear (Joh 5:37; Joh 12:29).
The voice does not proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, as a legend would probably have represented. No such proclamation was needed either by Jesus or by the Baptist. The descent of the Spirit had told John that Jesus was the Christ (Joh 1:33). This voice from heaven, as afterwards at the Transfiguration (Luk 9:35), and again shortly before the Passion (Joh 12:28), followed closely upon Christs prayer, and may be regarded as the answer to it. His humanity was capable of needing the strength which the heavenly assurance gave. To call this voice from heaven the Bath-Kol of the Rabbis, or to treat it as analogous to it, is misleading. The Rabbinic Bath-Kol, or Daughter-voice, is regarded as an echo of the voice of God; and the Jews liked to believe that it had been granted to them after the gift of prophecy had ceased. The utterances attributed to it are in some cases so frivolous or profane that the more intelligent Rabbis denounced it as a superstition.
II
The Meaning of the Baptism
i. Its Meaning to Christ Himself
For Jesus Himself the Baptism was a transfiguring momentone of the cardinal points in the development of His humanity, marking His transition from the life of a private man to the career of a public teacher. Some suppose that it was at this point that He became fully conscious of His unique relationship to God and grasped in all its majesty the plan of His subsequent career. There is more unanimity in the belief that it was now that He was endowed with the miraculous powers of which He was to make use in His ministry. In the Gospels His miracles are ascribed to the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that His own Divine power was not at work in them; it means that His human nature required to be potentiated by special gifts of the Holy Spirit, in order to be a fit organ through which His Divinity might act. And perhaps it was at this time that these gifts were conferred.
1. The Baptism was the Fathers witness to His Sonship.A voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son. That voice was to assure not Himself indeed but others of His Sonship. In all probability the consciousness of His Sonship had flashed upon Him in His childhood, perhaps at His first visit to the Temple, when He uttered the memorable words, Wist ye not that I must be about my Fathers business? (Luk 2:49).
Even though He may have needed no assurance of His Sonship, there are many of Gods children who do. There are many ways in which the assurance may be given. I know we are not to wait for any gracious illapse of the Holy Ghost before we claim our place in the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ. I know, too, that there are various degrees of assurance, and various ways in which that assurance is borne in upon the newborn soul. There is an assurance which may be gained by looking first at the Cross, and being convinced by the Spirit as I gaze upon Him who hangs there that judgment will not be twice demanded.
First at my bleeding Suretys hands,
And then again at mine.
And this assurance is deepened when I see the empty tomb, and hear the triumphant cry, He is not here, but is risen. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us (Rom 8:34). All this is true, and most reassuring truth it is; and yet there is another way in which assurance is borne in upon the soul; it is that of which the Apostle speaks in Rom 8:16The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spiritthe direct witness of the Holy Ghost to the soul that we are born again, and that we are no more servants but sons, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together (Rom 8:17). And this is the witness that the baptism of the Holy Ghost bestows.1 [Note: E. W. Moore, The Spirits Seal, 32.]
Our Master all the work hath done
He asks of us to-day;
Sharing His service, every one
Share too His sonship may.
Lord, I would serve and be a son;
Dismiss me not, I pray.2 [Note: T. T. Lynch, The Rivulet, 2.]
(1) As a witness to His Sonship it had both a retrospective and a prospective reference. Jesus had left behind all the doings of those quiet, peaceful years, and was at the dividing line between private and public life. He was leaving behind Him the years of His obscurity, and coming out into the fierce light that ever beats upon a public teacher. And there, at the parting of the ways, God lit up all the years that had gone, with the sweet words of approval, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. It could not have been a pronouncement upon the temptation in the wilderness; that was as yet an untried pathway. It could not have been a declaration of the Divine pleasure with Gethsemanes garden and Calvarys Cross; they were still to be reached. No, it must have been a reference to the past, so that whatever else we know, or do not know, about the hidden years of the life of Jesus, this one thing is certain, that through them all He pleased God; for God put His seal upon them when they were closing behind Him, and the new years were opening before Him, saying, I am well pleased.
(2) But it was also a prophecy of the future. Our Lords public ministry lay between two Calvarys: it not only culminated in Calvary, it started from it. The baptism in Jordan was nothing less than an anticipation, a prophecy, of the Cross itself; it was the deepest act of self-abasement of which our blessed Lord was capable. As the sinners representative, He felt bound to take the sinners place, to be treated, in short, as the sinner needed to be treated. Therefore when the Baptist, instinctively recoiling from administering an ordinance emblematic of the washing away of sin to Him who knew no sin, exclaimed, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? the answer he received was, Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. As if He would say, I am in the sinners place to-day; I must accept to the full all that that position involves, or I shall fail in that uttermost obedience to the Fathers will, apart from which my work of redemption cannot be achieved. We cannot fathom the depth of self-abasement which this descent into Jordan involved to Him who was none other than the brightness of His Fathers glory and the express image of His Person; but we see how God estimated it when we read that, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.
2. The Baptism was His consecration for His work.The rite of baptism had two significations. In the case of a Gentile it signified the putting away of idolatry, and the acceptance of the worship of Jehovah. In the case of the Jew it signified the removal of his uncleanness. In both these instances the meaning was the washing away of sin. Then the second significance was consecration to office. In our Saviours case this is at least the chief meaning. We have only to look at His life to see how far this was realized. For righteousness sake, or fulfilment of a rite which was observed by the nation, the Saviour stood before the multitude and received the ordinance, repeating the prayer usual on such occasions. This was the commencement of a series of acts of consecration which terminated in Gethsemane and on the Cross.
(1) It was a consecration for the conflict that lay before Him. Was it not significant that immediately after the reception of the Holy Spirit He should be brought into a personal encounter with the evil spirit? that immediately after such a manifestation of Divine favour there should be such a manifestation of Satanic power? that face to face and foot to foot in the solitudes of the wilderness the Second Adam should have to grapple with our Adversary, to fight our battle and win our cause?
(2) It was a consecration for the service He had to accomplish. This was the opening of Christs missionary career. Up to this time He had lived a life of obscurity in Nazareth. He was content for thirty out of the thirty-three years He spent on earth to be unknown outside the little circle of His own immediate friends and acquaintances, so unknown that Nathanael said Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? (Joh 1:46). Thirty years preparation for three years service! His hour had come, and the Divine voice bade Him enter on His ministry of toil.
(3) It was a consecration to the suffering that He had to undergo. His life henceforth was to be a living martyrdom. Suffering was to be His lot. As has been truly said, God had one Son without sin, but not one without suffering.
The sufferings of Christ were altogether distinct from ours. We suffer, knowing that we have deserved more than we can ever bear. He suffered, knowing that He had deserved nothing. We suffer for others sin, knowing that even in our purest experience we have some sympathy with sin. He suffered, conscious of no such sympathy. Many a martyr, following his Lords example, has gone to as bitter a physical death as his Lord, singing as he went. Jesus went to His death, shrinking and sore amazed, and in a horror of fear before it. It was the burden He bore there that broke Him down. It was your sins and mine that bowed Him as they never bowed, never can bow, us down. He was made sin for us. This is my body broken for you. The Son of man giveth his life instead of many. By his stripes we are healed. The chastisement of our peace was laid upon him. We all like sheep had gone astray; we had turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. That is what takes the sting and curse out of life for me. That uproots the weed; that repairs the breach; that sweetens the sour. The fact that there are thistles in this world of Gods, and that they have to be taken out of it, is not so difficult to understand when a pierced hand has been pulling up thistles in the hearts acre.1 [Note: R. W. Barbour, Thoughts, 52.]
ii. Its Meaning to us
1. In the narrative of the Baptism, as has often been observed, we have the participation of the three Persons of the Trinity. There flows from it therefore a threefold blessing to men.
(1) Divine reconciliation is assured to us in this manifestation of the Son of God. To the personal Jesus is now to be added the title of the Christthe Messiah, the Anointed One. In the inn at Bethlehem, in the workshop at Nazareth, we see Jesus. In this baptism at Jordan, in His ministry in Galilee and Juda, we behold the Christ. In His Person He assures us of reconciliation between God and man. Without Him sin would for ever bar our admission into the presence of the Most High. But He is the Righteous One, who not only has done no sin, but has fulfilled all righteousness.
(2) Divine renewal is assured to us in the manifestation of the Spirit of God. Thus did the Father anoint the Son with the Holy Ghost and with power (Act 10:38); and though the sight of this heavenly effluence in dove-like form appears to have been seen only by Christ Himself and the Baptist, yet the witness is for us. The very emblem of the dove is full of teaching as to the character of the Christian renewal. We sing to the Holy Spirit:
Come as the dove, and spread Thy wings,
The wings of peace and love.
But this emblem is never used in Scripture except in connexion with the Son of God. It is only in Him that the Spirit of Holiness can dwell with sinners. Yet even so the dove tells us of the perfect purity in Christ for us; and likewise the effects of this bestowal of the Spirit upon Jesus reveal the same truth. By that Spirit He wrought His miracles and spoke His words of grace, and after His resurrection that Spirit was sent in His name, bringing to the world life and power and holiness. Sin is, so to speak, the hiatus of human nature, and the Spirit ministers that holiness which is lacking.
(3) Lastly, Divine restoration is assured to us by the testimony of the Father: Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. The self-same words are repeated towards the close of our Lords ministry, on the Mount of Transfiguration. St. Peter, writing many years afterwards, doubly assures us thereof, saying, He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mount (2Pe 1:17-18). And, in addition to this testimony of words, we have the still more substantial testimony given by the Father to the Son when He raised Him from the dead (1Pe 1:21), and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places (Eph 1:20). So we sing in the Te Deum, When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of Death, Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. For the Father, to use the inspired words of the Apostle Paul, hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
All alone, so Heaven has willed, we die; but, as travellers are cheered on a solitary road when they see the footprints that they know belonged to loved and trusted ones who have trodden it before, that desolate loneliness is less lonely when we think that He became dead. He will come to the shrinking single soul, as He joined Himself to the sad travellers on the road to Emmaus, and our hearts may burn within us even in that last hour of their beating if we can remember who has become dead and trodden the road before us.1 [Note: Alexander Maclaren.]
Christ is made the law of the law, the sin of sin, the death of death, that He might redeem from the curse of the law, justify me and quicken me. While He is the law, He is also liberty; while He is sin, He is righteousness; while He is death, He is life. For in that He suffered the law to accuse Him, sin to condemn Him, and death to devour Him, He abolished the law, He condemned sin, He destroyed death, He justified and saved me.2 [Note: Luther, Commentary on Galatians, 204.]
2. But there is value in the Baptism for us in this also, that He is our example.
(1) He is our example of Faith. What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them (Mar 11:24). The Saviour left it all with God. It was believing prayer. Was His faith disappointed? It could not be. Heaven opened upon Him. The Holy Dove descended. The mighty deed was done. This is our pattern. Christ fulfilled the conditions, and according to His faith it was unto Him. Surely from that open heaven a voice speaks to us, The promise is to you and to your children: Go and do thou likewise.
To as many of us as by His grace to us are true believers on Him and in His blood, our Lords own faith in His Father and in His Fathers word to Him is a subject of the intensest interest, the most edifying meditation, and the most transporting reflection. To as many of us as believe there is no subject in heaven or on earth like our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the true learning. This is the true knowledge. This is the true science and philosophy; and not falsely so called. This is the wisdom that cometh from above. This is the wisdom of God in a mystery. This, O Father, is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.3 [Note: A. Whyte, The Walk, Conversation, and Character of Jesus Christ our Lord, 181.]
It was in Gethsemane and on Calvary that the faith of our Substitute came to its absolute perfection. Loaded down to death and hell with the sin of the world, our Saviours faith in His Fathers sure word of promise was such that His burdened heart rose victorious above all the tremendous load that was laid upon Him. Our Saviour had the fullest assurance of faith, the fullest assurance that His Father who had begun such a good work in Him and by Him would not leave it till He had perfected it in the day of Christ. And thus it was that, as Bengel says, the most fragrant part of Christs sin-atoning sacrifice was His unshaken trust in His Fathers faithfulness and love.1 [Note: A. Whyte.]
Mr. Erskine had a strong conviction that in Rom 3:22 the faith of Christ meant the faith of Christ in His Father. I mentioned that this was identically the view entertained by Mr. Dunbar Heath, who was deprived of his benefice for holding this amongst other doctrines. Mr. Erskine had never heard of him.2 [Note: Dean Stanley, in Letters of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, ii. 291.]
(2) Of Obedience.Jesus received the Holy Spirit at a time of uttermost obedience. Do not imagine that it is such a simple thing to receive the Spirit in His fulness. It is simple when the conditions are fulfilled, but not otherwise. And the first condition is obedience. See Act 5:32the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given (not to every one) to them that obey him. So in Mat 3:15, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. It was quite unnecessary, from the human standpoint, for Christ to be baptized by John, but the Lord yielded to it.
Christ is not a teacher of the law, like Moses, but a disciple who would be obedient to the law, that through such subjection and obedience He might redeem those who were under the law.3 [Note: Luther, Table-talk (ed. by Frstemann), i. 352.]
Compassed with infirmity, appointed to suffering, our Lord entered into the deepest experience of humanity, and attained the secret of perfect obedience to the will of God. We may see in our suffering Lord how through sanctified suffering we attain harmony with the eternal will. One of the greatest of modern artists reminds his young brethren that artistic perfection is reached, not through easy and pleasant exercises, but through battles and agonies. How much more the immortal perfection of the spirit! Let me not resent the discipline of trial. A famous traveller tells us that it is a principle thoroughly believed in by all Asiatics, that the bitterer the remedy the more efficacious it is. This may not be true in physic, but it is certainly true in morals, when our sorrows are ordained by God and accompanied by His grace. Let me not, then, wear the fools cap in the school of suffering, but fully learn the great lessons of submission, patience, trust.1 [Note: W. L. Watkinson, The Gates of Dawn, 288.]
(3) Of Prayer.It was at a time of prayer that Christ received the Spirit. Prayer is the condition of receiving the Spirit. Yet for all this will I be inquired of by them, to do it for them (Eze 36:37). We shall never know what this baptism means unless we obey, believe, and pray.
I rejoice to know of your interest in the great themethe indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I am now more and more persuaded that the greatest things are possible if only we have His power resting upon us. I have seen such a demonstration in my church last year as I never witnessed before. We met morning after morning in the early year simply to pray for the power of the Holy Ghost. We were looking for a revival. When I made my plea for foreign missions, I astonished my conservative brethren by asking ten thousand dollars this year for our contribution. Only a few wealthy men among us, and they not likely to do largely. But when the collection was gathered twenty thousand dollars came, nobody asked, no solicitation made. It was simply a great impulse of the Spirit, and the astonishment of all still continues. Now is coming a gracious ingathering of souls.2 [Note: A. J. Gordon: A Biography, 258.]
The Baptism of Jesus
Literature
Brooke (S. A.), The Early Life of Jesus, 142.
Burrell (D. J.), The Morning Cometh, 164.
Cookin (G. S.), Some Difficulties in the Life of our Lord, 13.
Davies (J. Ll.), The Work of Christ, 122.
Davies (T.), Sermons, 460.
Dick (G. H.), The Yoke and the Anointing, 133.
Edsall (E. W.), Revealed by Friendship, 39.
Gibbons (J.), Discourses and Sermons, 233.
Hunt (A. N.), Sermons for the Christian Year, ii. 1.
Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year: Ascension Day to Trinity Sunday, 176.
Lewis (F. W.), Jesus, Son of God, 1.
Luckock (H. M.), Footprints of the Son of Man, 16.
McGarvey (J. W.), Sermons Delivered in Louisville, 297.
Mackenzie (R.), The Loom of Providence, 28.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Luke i.xii., 77.
Matheson (G.), Voices of the Spirit, 91.
Moore (E. W.), The Christ-Controlled Life, 183.
Moore (E. W.), The Spirits Seal, 30.
Morgan (G. C.), The Hidden Years at Nazareth, 1.
Morgan (G. C.), The Crises of the Christ, 83.
Norton (J. N.), Every Sunday, 288.
Raleigh (A.), Rest from Care and Sorrow, 197.
Robertson (A. T.), Epochs in the Life of Jesus, 1.
Robertson (A. T.), The Teaching of Jesus concerning God the Father, 43.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xvi. (1870), No. 909; lvi. (1910), No. 3178.
Stalker (J.), The Two St. Johns, 217.
Tipple (S. A.), The Admiring Guest, 60.
Whyte (A.), The Walk, Conversation, and Character of Jesus Christ our Lord, 181.
Wilson (J. M.), Via Crucis, 29.
Woodward (H.), Sermons, 472.
British Congregationalist, April. 16, 1908 (J. H. Jowett).
Christian World Pulpit, lxviii. 149 (T. V. Tymms); lxxiii. 72 (H. S. Holland); lxxxi. 372 (C. R. Williams).
Churchmans Pulpit: Trinity Sunday, ix. 288 (F. Field); Epiphany, iii. 199 (S. Carolin).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
that: Mat 3:13-15, Mar 1:9, Joh 1:32-34
and praying: Luk 9:28, Luk 9:29, Joh 12:27, Joh 12:28
the heaven: Mat 3:16, Mat 3:17, Mar 1:10, Joh 1:32-34
Reciprocal: Eze 1:1 – the heavens Joh 1:51 – Hereafter Act 7:56 – I see Act 10:11 – saw Rev 4:1 – a door
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE FIRST CALVARY
How when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.
Luk 3:21-22
The Baptism of our Lord in the River Jordan is one of the most significant events in the Gospel history.
I. The Baptism of Jesus was a prophecy.It is not always remembered that our Lords public ministry lay between two Calvarys: it not only culminated in Calvary, it started from it. The baptism in Jordan was nothing less than an anticipation, a prophecy, of the Cross itself; it was the deepest act of self-abasement of which our blessed Lord was capable. As the sinners representative He felt bound to take the sinners place, to be treated, in short, as the sinner needed to be treated. It was in the supreme hour of Christs humiliation that the most signal manifestation of Divine favour was revealed.
II. The baptism of Jesus was a pattern.In this great humiliation we have a mirror in which the eye of faith may see reflected the conditions and the effects of the reception of the Spirit still. These conditions are:
(a) Faith. It is unnecessary to refer to this in the case of our Lord, but it is very necessary for us. We must believe the blessing is for us, or we shall never seek it.
(b) Obedience unto death. Upon our obedience without a question our reception of the Holy Ghost depends. We are His witnesses of these things, said St. Peter, and so is also the Holy Ghost, Whom God hath given (not to every one, but) to them that obey Him (Act 5:32). Truly there must be an absolute consecration of ourselves to God.
III. The effects of the reception of the Spirit.They are so manifold that it is impossible to exhaust them, but the three indicated by the narrative before us are: (a) peace, the peace of an assured sonship; (b) purity, exemplified by the Holy dove and the mystic voice, In Thee I am well pleased; and (c) powerpower with God and with man, for Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee (Luk 4:14).
Rev. E. W. Moore.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2
The reader should see the comments on Mat 3:13-17.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
WE see in the passage before us, the high honor the Lord Jesus has put on baptism. We find that among others who came to John the Baptist, the Savior of the world came, and was “baptized.”
An ordinance which the Son of God was pleased to use, and afterwards to appoint for the use of His whole Church, ought always to be held in peculiar reverence by His people. Baptism cannot be a thing of slight importance, if Christ Himself was baptized. The use of baptism would never have been enjoined on the Church of Christ, if it had been a mere outward form, incapable of conveying any blessing.
It is hardly necessary to say that errors of every sort and description abound on the subject of baptism. Some make an idol of it, and exalt it far above the place assigned to it in the Bible. Some degrade it and dishonor it, and seem almost to forget that it was ordained by Christ Himself. Some limit the use of it so narrowly that they will baptize none unless they are grown up, and can give full proof of their conversion. Some invest the baptismal water with such magic power, that they would like missionaries to go into heathen lands and baptize all persons, old and young indiscriminately, and believe that however ignorant the heathen may be, baptism must do them good. On no subject, perhaps, in religion, have Christians more need to pray for a right judgment and a sound mind.
Let it suffice us to hold firmly the general principle, that baptism was graciously intended by our Lord to be a help to His Church, and “a means of grace,” and that, when rightly and worthily used, we may confidently look upon it for a blessing. But let us never forget that the grace of God is not tied to any sacrament, and that we may be baptized with water, without being baptized with the Holy Ghost.
We see, secondly, in this passage, the close connection that ought to exist between the administration of baptism and prayer. We are specially told by Luke, that when our Lord was baptized He was also “praying.”
We need not doubt that there is a great lesson in this fact, and one that the Church of Christ has too much overlooked. We are meant to learn that the baptism which God blesses must be a baptism accompanied by prayer. The sprinkling of water is not sufficient. The use of the name of the blessed Trinity is not enough. The form of the sacrament alone conveys no grace. There must be something else beside all this. There must be “the prayer of faith.” A baptism without prayer, it may be confidently asserted, is a baptism on which we have no right to expect God’s blessing.
Why is it that the sacrament of baptism appears to bear so little fruit? How is it that thousands are every year baptized, and never give the slightest proof of having received benefit from it? The answer to these questions is short and simple. In the vast majority of baptisms there is no prayer except the prayer of the officiating minister. Parents bring their children to the font, without the slightest sense of what they are doing. Sponsors stand up and answer for the child, in evident ignorance of the nature of the ordinance they are attending, and as a mere matter of form. What possible reason have we for expecting such baptisms to be blessed by God? None! none at all! Such baptisms may well be barren of results. They are not baptisms according to the mind of Christ. Let us pray that the eyes of Christians on this important subject may be opened. It is one on which there is great need of change.
We see, thirdly, in these verses, a remarkable proof of the doctrine of the Trinity. We have all the Three Persons of the Godhead spoken of, as co-operating and acting at one time. God the Son begins the mighty work of His earthly ministry, by being baptized. God the Father solemnly accredits Him as the appointed Mediator, by a voice from heaven. God the Holy Ghost descends “in a bodily shape like a dove” upon our Lord, and by so doing declares that this is He to whom “the Father gives the Spirit without measure.” (Joh 3:34.)
There is something deeply instructive, and deeply comforting in this revelation of the blessed Trinity, at this particular season of our Lord’s earthly ministry. It shows us how mighty and powerful is the agency that is employed in the great business of our redemption. It is the common work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. All Three Persons in the Godhead are equally concerned in the deliverance of our souls from hell. The thought should cheer us, when disquieted and cast down. The thought should hearten and encourage us, when weary of the conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil. The enemies of our souls are mighty, but the Friends of our souls are mightier still. The whole power of the triune Jehovah is engaged upon our side. “A three-fold cord is not easily broken.” (Ecc 4:12.)
We see, fourthly, in these verses, a marvelous proclamation of our Lord’s office as Mediator between God and man. A voice was heard from heaven at His baptism, “which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” There is but One who could say this. It was the voice of God the Father.
These solemn words no doubt contain much that is deeply mysterious. One thing however about them is abundantly clear. They are a divine declaration, that our Lord Jesus Christ is the promised Redeemer, whom God from the beginning undertook to send into the world, and that with His incarnation, sacrifice, and substitution for man, God the Father is satisfied and well pleased. In Him, He regards the claim of His holy law as fully discharged. Through Him, He is willing to receive poor sinful man to mercy, and to remember his sins no more.
Let all true Christians rest their souls on these words, and draw from them daily consolation. Our sins and shortcomings are many and great. In ourselves we can see no good thing. But if we believe in Jesus, the Father sees nothing in us that He cannot abundantly pardon. He regards us as the members of His own dear Son, and, for His Son’s sake, He is well pleased.
We see, lastly, in these verses, what a frail and dying creature is man. We read at the end of the chapter a long list of names, containing the genealogy of the family in which our Lord was born, traced up through David and Abraham to Adam. How little we know of many of the seventy-five persons, whose names are here recorded! They all had their joys and sorrows, their hopes and fears, their cares and troubles, their schemes and plans, like any of ourselves. But they have all passed away from the earth, and gone to their own place. And so will it be with us. We too are passing away, and shall soon be gone.
Forever let us bless God, that in a dying world we are able to turn to a living Savior, “I am he,” says Jesus, “that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.” “I am the resurrection and the life,” (Rev 1:18; Joh 11:25.) Let our main care be, to be one with Christ and Christ with us. Joined to the Lord Jesus by faith we shall rise again to live for evermore. The second death shall have no power over us. “Because I live,” says Christ, “ye shall live also.” (Joh 14:19.)
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Notes-
v23.-[Thirty years of age.] This was the age, be it remembered, at which Levites were first permitted to do work in the tabernacle. (Num 4:3.)
[Joseph, which was the son of Heli, &c.] Every careful reader of the Bible knows well that there is a great difficulty connected with the genealogy of our Lord. The difficulty lies in the entire variance between that part of the genealogy which lies between David and Joseph, as recorded by Luke, and the same part of it as recorded by Matthew. Between Abraham and David the two genealogies agree. Between David and Joseph they almost entirely differ. How can this difference be reconciled? This is a question on which learned men have written volumes, and failed to convince one another. A few simple remarks must suffice. Those who wish to study the subject will find it thoroughly discussed by Gomarus, Spanheim, South, Calovius, and A. Clarke.
The first, but least probable explanation, is this. The persons mentioned in the genealogy from David to Joseph had all two names. Matthew gives one of their names, Luke gives the other. But both enumerate the same persons, and both give the genealogy of Joseph. This explanation will satisfy very few people. The difference between the number of names given by Luke, compared to the number given by Matthew, is of itself an insuperable objection. It seems waste of time to dwell on this solution of the question.
The second, and more probable explanation of the difficulty, is this. The mother of Joseph the husband of Mary, married two husbands. Of one husband Joseph was the son by birth. Of the other he was the son by adoption. The two genealogies in the two Gospels, are the genealogies of these two husbands. Each evangelist ends his genealogy in Joseph, but Luke traces it through Heli, and Matthew through Jacob. Joseph was the natural son of one, and the adopted son of the other. This explanation is that which satisfied the early fathers, and is commonly known as that of Julius Africanus. It is, however, in spite of its antiquity, open to several serious objections. It is difficult to see why Joseph’s genealogy should he repeated by Luke, in a Gospel written specially for Gentile converts, and why the genealogy of our Lord’s own mother should be entirely passed over by both evangelists.
The third, and most probable explanation of the difficulty, is to regard Luke’s genealogy as the genealogy of Mary, and not of Joseph. Heli was the father of Mary, and the father-in-law, by his marriage, of Joseph. It is not said that Heli “begat” Joseph; and that the Greek does not necessarily mean that Joseph was “his son,” is clear from the expressions used about Mary and Jude. in two other places of the New Testament. (Mar 16:1. and Act 1:15.) It is Mary’s family, therefore, and not Joseph’s, that Luke describes, and Joseph’s family, and not Mary’s, that is described by Matthew. There are doubtless some difficulties in the way of this explanation. But there seem to be far greater difficulties in the way of any other. In leaving the question, I may be allowed to remark, that the view I venture to maintain is that of Brentius, Gomarus, Chemnitius, Spanheim, Surenhusius, Poole, Bengel, Parus, Lightfoot, Calovius, Gill, Burkitt, Henry, Scott, and Clarke, among Protestants,-and of Jansenius, Barrradius, Stella, and others, among Roman Catholics. It is also a remarkable fact, that Rabbinical writers, quoted by Lightfoot, speaking of Mary in very reproachful terms, distinctly call her, “the daughter of Heli.”
v36.-[The son of Cainan.] There is a serious difficulty connected with this name. It is not to be found in the genealogy from Noah to Abraham, as recorded in the Hebrew version of Gen 11:12, although it is found in the Septuagint Greek version. The question at once arises,-Why did Luke put the name here? How are we to reconcile Moses and Luke?
The solutions of this difficulty are various, and a complete settlement of the question will probably never be attained. One thing only is certain, and that is, that neither Moses nor Luke could have made a real mistake, because both were inspired. Some think that Luke does not pretend to do more than copy out the genealogy which was commonly received, and guards himself against the charge of endorsing its errors and mistakes, by the use of the expression at the outset, “as was supposed.” They consider this expression to apply to the whole genealogy. Some think that the name has been omitted in the Hebrew text of Genesis, by mistake of a transcriber. Some think that Luke purposely put the name in the genealogy, in order to consult the feelings of those who only knew the Septuagint version of the Old Testament.-Some think that the name has crept into Luke’s Gospel by the error of some transcriber, who knew nothing of Hebrew, and only knew the old Testament from the Septuagint version, and that Luke originally did not insert Cainan’s name. This last solution is maintained by Spanheim, Capellus, Grotius, Calovius, Rivetus, Leigh, and Surenhusius, and is perhaps the most probable one. One argument in support of it is the fact that the name is omitted in Beza’s manuscript, though it must be admitted that on this point his manuscript stands almost alone.
In leaving the difficult subject of these questions connected with our Lord’s genealogy, we shall do well to ponder the sensible remarks of Mr. Burgon: “It is humbly suggested that a few difficulties of this class may have been suffered to find place in Holy Writ, in order to exercise the faith of persons who, while they feel such intellectual trials keenly, are but little affected by those which imperil the salvation of the ordinary class of mankind.”
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Luk 3:21. Lukes account of the baptism of Jesus is concise, but we have some new details.
When all the people were baptised. These baptisms preceded that of our Lord; probably few were present on the latter occasion.
Jesus also having been baptised, and praying. The baptism took place first, then the prayer. Luke alone mentions the latter.
The heaven was opened. Matthew and Mark say, to Jesus; John, to the Baptist; Luke simply states the fact. This variety and agreement show that some actual external phenomenon occurred.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe, 1. The great condescension of Christ in seeking and submitting to the baptism of John. Christ, though John’s Lord and Master, yet yields to be baptized of his servant and messenger.
Observe, 2. The reasons why Christ would be baptized.
1. That by this rite he might enter himself into the society of Christians, as he had before by circumcision entered into the society of the Jews.
2. That he might by his own baptism sanctify the ordinance of baptism unto us.
3. That thereby he might fulfil the righteousness of the ceremonial law, which required the washing of the priests in water, before they entered upon their office, as appears, Exo 29:4
Observe, 3. How the duty of prayer accompanieth the ordinance of baptism: Jesus being baptized, and praying. Teaching us by his example to sanctify every ordinance and every action, with prayer.
Christ, when he was baptized, he prayed. When he was tempted, he prayed. When he brake bread, he prayed. When he wrought miracles, he prayed. In his agony in the garden, he prayed. When he suffered on the cross, he prayed.
What was the subject-matter of our Lord’s prayer at this time is not expressed; but by what followed, namely, the heavens opening and the Holy Ghost descending, it is probably conjectured, that he prayed for some testimony to be given from heaven concerning himself, for it immediately follows.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Luk 3:21-22. When all the people were baptized If we reflect on the number of the people who followed John, and were baptized by him, and the regard they expressed for him before and after his death, and yet that no sect was produced in consequence of such belief and baptism, it will afford a very good argument in favour of the superior power, dignity, character, and office of Jesus. Jesus, praying, the heaven was opened It is observable, that the three voices from heaven (see Luk 9:29; Luk 9:35; Joh 12:28) by which the Father bore witness to Christ, were pronounced, either while he was praying, or quickly after it. Thou art my beloved Son, &c. See note on Mat 3:16-17.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Second Narrative: The Baptism of Jesus, Luk 3:21-22.
The relation between John and Jesus, as described by St. Luke, resembles that of two stars following each other at a short distance, and both passing through a series of similar circumstances. The announcement of the appearing of the one follows close upon that of the appearing of the other. It is the same with their two births. This relation repeats itself in the commencement of their respective ministries; and lastly, in the catastrophes which terminate their lives. And yet, in the whole course of the career of these two men, there was but one personal meetingat the baptism of Jesus. After this moment, when one of these stars rapidly crossed the orbit of the other, they separated, each to follow the path that was marked out for him. It is this moment of their actual contact that the evangelist is about to describe.
Luk 3:21-22.
This narrative of the baptism is the sequel, not to Luk 3:18-19 (the imprisonment of John), which are an anticipation, but to the passage Luk 3:15-17, which describes the expectation of the people, and relates the Messianic prophecy of John. The expression , all the people, Luk 3:21, recalls the crowds and popular feeling described in Luk 3:15. But Meyer is evidently wrong in seeing in these words, When all the people were baptized, a proof that all this crowd was present at the baptism of Jesus. The term all the people, in such a connection, would be a strange exaggeration. Luke merely means to indicate the general agreement in time between this movement and the baptism of Jesus; and the expression he uses need not in any way prevent our thinking that Jesus was alone, or almost alone, with the forerunner, when the latter baptized Him. Further, it is highly probable that He would choose a time when the transaction might take place in this manner. But the turn of expression, , expresses more than the simultaneousness of the two facts; it places them in moral connection with each other. In being baptized, Jesus surrenders Himself to the movement which at this time was drawing all the people towards God. Had He acted otherwise, would He not have broken the bond of solidarity which He had contracted, by circumcision, with Israel, and by the incarnation, with all mankind? So far from being relaxed, this bond is to be drawn closer, until at last it involve Him who has entered into it in the full participation of our condemnation and death. This relation of the baptism of the nation to that of Jesus explains also the singular turn of expression which Luke makes use of in mentioning the fact of the baptism. This act, which one would have thought would have been the very pith of the narrative, is indicated by means of a simple participle, and in quite an incidental way: When all the people were baptized, Jesus also being baptized, and praying… Luke appears to mean that, granted the national baptism, that of Jesus follows as a matter of course. It is the moral consequence of the former. This turn of thought is not without its importance in explaining the fact which we are now considering.
Luke adds here a detail which is peculiar to him, and which serves to place the miraculous phenomena which follow in their true light. At the time when Jesus, having been baptized, went up out of the water, He was in prayer. The extraordinary manifestations about to be related thus become God’s answer to the prayer of Jesus, in which the sighs of His people and of mankind found utterance. The earth is thirsty for the rain of heaven. The Spirit will descend on Him who knows how to ask it effectually; and it will be His office to impart it to all the rest. If, afterwards, we hear Him saying (Luk 11:9), Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you, we know from what personal experience He derived this precept: at the Jordan He Himself first asked and received, sought and found, knocked and it was opened to Him.
The heavenly manifestation.
Luke assigns these miraculous facts to the domain of objective reality: the heavens opened, the Spirit descended. Mark makes them a personal intuition of Jesus: And coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit descending (Luk 1:10). Matthew corresponds with Mark; for Bleek is altogether wrong in maintaining that this evangelist makes the whole scene a vision of John the Baptist. The text does not allow of the two verbs, He went up and He saw, which follow each other so closely (Mat 3:16), having two different subjects. Bleek alleges the narrative of the fourth Gospel, where also the forerunner speaks merely of what he saw himself. But that is natural; for in that passage his object was, not to relate the fact, but simply to justify the testimony which he had just borne. For this purpose he could only mention what he had seen himself. No inference can be drawn from this as to the fact itself, and its relation to Jesus, the other witness. Speaking generally, the scene of the baptism does not fall within the horizon of the fourth Gospel, which starts from a point of time six weeks after this event took place. Keim has no better ground than this for asserting that the accounts of the Syn. on this subject are contradictory to that of John, because the former attribute an external reality to these miraculous phenomena, while the latter treats them as a simple vision of the forerunner, and even, according to him, excludes the reality of the baptism. The true relation of these accounts to each other is this: According to the fourth Gospel, John saw; according to the first and second, Jesus saw. Now, as two persons can hardly be under an hallucination at the same time and in the same manner, this double perception supposes a reality, and this reality is affirmed by Luke: And it came to pass, that…
The divine manifestation comprises three internal facts, and three corresponding sensible phenomena. The three former are the divine communication itself; the three latter are the manifestation of this communication to the consciousness of Jesus and of John. Jesus was a true man, consisting, that is, at once of body and soul. In order, therefore, to take complete possession of Him, God had to speak at once to His outward and inward sense. As to John, he shared, as an official witness of the spiritual fact, the sensible impression which accompanied this communication from on high to the mind of Jesus. The first phenomenon is the opening of the heavens. While Jesus is praying, with His eyes fixed on high, the vault of heaven is rent before His gaze, and His glance penetrates the abode of eternal light. The spiritual fact contained under this sensible phenomenon is the perfect understanding accorded to Jesus of God’s plan in the work of salvation. The treasures of divine wisdom are opened to Him, and He may thenceforth obtain at any hour the particular enlightenment He may need. The meaning of this first phenomenon is therefore perfect revelation.
From the measureless heights of heaven above, thus laid open to His gaze, Jesus sees descend a luminous appearance, having the form of a dove. This emblem is taken from a natural symbolism. The fertilizing and persevering incubation of the dove is an admirable type of the life-giving energy whereby the Holy Spirit developes in the human soul the germs of a new life. It is in this way that the new creation, deposited with all its powers in the soul of Jesus, is to extend itself around Him, under the influence of this creative principle (Gen 1:2). By the organic form which invests the luminous ray, the Holy Spirit is here presented in its absolute totality. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit appears under the form of divided () tongues of fire, emblems of special gifts, of particular , shared among the disciples. But in the baptism of Jesus it is not a portion only, it is the fulness of the Spirit which is given. This idea could only be expressed by a symbol taken from organic life. John the Baptist understood this emblem: For God giveth not, he says (Joh 3:34), the Spirit by measure unto Him. The vibration of the luminous ray on the head of Jesus, like the fluttering of the wings of a dove, denotes the permanence of the gift. I saw, says John the Baptist (Joh 1:32), the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. This luminous appearance, then, represents an inspiration which is neither partial as that of the faithful, nor intermittent as that of the prophetsperfect inspiration.
The third phenomenon, that of the divine voice, represents a still more intimate and personal communication. Nothing is a more direct emanation from the personal life than speech, the voice. The voice of God resounds in the ear and heart of Jesus, and reveals to Him all that He is to Godthe Being most tenderly beloved, beloved as a father’s only son; and consequently all that He is called to be to the worldthe organ of divine love to men, He whose mission it is to raise His brethren to the dignity of sons.
According to Luke, and probably Mark also (in conformity with the reading admitted by Tischendorf), the divine declaration is addressed to Jesus: Thou art my Son…; in Thee I am… In Matthew it has the form of a testimony addressed to a third party touching Jesus: This is my Son…in whom… The first form is that in which God spoke to Jesus; the second, that in which John became conscious of the divine manifestation. This difference attests that the two accounts are derived from different sources, and that the writings in which they are preserved are independent of each other. What writer would have deliberately changed the form of a saying which he attributed to God Himself?
The pronoun , Thou, as well as the predicate , with the article, the well-beloved, invest this filial relation with a character that is altogether unique; comp. Luk 10:22. From this moment Jesus must have felt Himself the supreme object of the love of the infinite God. The unspeakable blessedness with which such an assurance could not fail to fill Him was the source of the witness He bore concerning Himself,a witness borne not for His own glory, but with a view to reveal to the world the love wherewith God loves those to whom He imparts such a gift. From this moment dates the birth of that unique consciousness Jesus had of God as His own Father,the rising of that radiant sun which henceforth illuminates His life, and which since Pentecost has risen upon mankind. Just as, by the instrumentality of His Word and Spirit, God communicates to believers, when the hour has come, the certainty of their adoption, so answering both inwardly and outwardly the prayer of Jesus, He raises Him in His human consciousness to a sense of His dignity as the only-begotten Son. It is on the strength of this revelation that John, who shared it, says afterwards, The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands (Joh 3:35). The absence of the title Christ in the divine salutation is remarkable. We see that the principal fact in the development of the consciousness of Jesus was not the feeling of His Messianic dignity, but of His close and personal relation with God (comp. already Luk 2:49), and of His divine origin. On that alone was based His conviction of His Messianic mission. The religious fact was first; the official part was only its corollary. M. Renan has reversed this relation, and it is the capital defect of his work.
The quotation of the words of Psalms 2, To-day have I begotten Thee, which Justin introduces into the divine salutation, is only supported by D. and some Mss. of the Italic. It contrasts with the simplicity of the narrative. God does not quote Himself textually in this way! The Cantabrigiensis swarms with similar interpolations which have not the slightest critical value. It is easy to understand how this quotation, affixed at an early period as a marginal gloss, should have found its way into the text of some documents; but it would be difficult to account for its suppression in such a large number of others, had it originally formed part of the text. Justin furnishes, besides, in this very narrative of the baptism, several apocryphal additions.
By means of a perfect revelation, Jesus contemplates the plan of God. Perfect inspiration gives Him strength to realize it. From the consciousness of His dignity as Son He derives the assurance of His being the supreme ambassador of God, called to accomplish this task. These were the positive conditions of His ministry.
The Baptism of Jesus.
We shall examine1 st. The baptism itself; 2 d. The marvellous circumstances which accompanied it; 3 d. The different accounts of this fact.
1 st. The Meaning of the Baptism.
Here two closely connected questions present themselves: What was the object of Jesus in seeking baptism? What took place within Him when the rite was performed?
To the former question Strauss boldly replies: The baptism of Jesus was an avowal on His part of defilement, and a means of obtaining divine pardon. This explanation contradicts all the declarations of Jesus respecting Himself. If there is any one feature that marks His life, and completely separates it from all others, it is the entire absence of remorse and of the need of personal forgiveness.
According to Schleiermacher, Jesus desired to endorse the preaching of John, and obtain from him consecration to His Messianic ministry. But there had been no relation indicated beforehand between the baptism of water and the mission of the Messiah, nor was any such known to the people; and since baptism was generally understood as a confession of defilement, it would rather appear incompatible with this supreme theocratic dignity.
Weizscker, Keim, and others see in it a personal engagement on the part of Jesus to consecrate Himself to the service of holiness. This is just the previous opinion shorn of the Messianic notion, since these writers shrink from attributing to Jesus, thus early, a fixed idea of His Messianic dignity. It is certain that baptism was a vow of moral purity on the part of him who submitted to it. But the form of the rite implies not only the notion of progress in holiness, but also that of the removal of actual defilement; which is incompatible with the idea which these authors have themselves formed of the person of Jesus.
Lange sees in this act the indication of Jesus’ guiltless participation in the collective defilement of mankind, by virtue of the solidarity of the race, and a voluntary engagement to deliver Himself up to death for the salvation of the world. This idea contains substantially the truth. We would express it thus: In presenting Himself for baptism, Jesus had to make, as others did, His , His confession of sins. Of what sins, if not of those of His people and of the world in general? He placed before John a striking picture of them, not with that pride and scorn with which the Jews spoke of the sins of the heathen, and the Pharisees of the sins of the publicans, but with the humble and compassionate tones of an Isaiah (Isaiah 63), a Daniel (Daniel 9), or a Nehemiah (Nehemiah 9), when they confessed the miseries of their people, as if the burden were their own. He could not have gone down into the water after such an act of communion with our misery, unless resolved to give Himself up entirely to the work of putting an end to the reign of sin. But He did not content Himself with making a vow. He prayed, the text tells us; He besought God for all that He needed for the accomplishment of this great task, to take away the sin of the world. He asked for wisdom, for spiritual strength, and particularly for the solution of the mystery which family records, the Scriptures, and His own holiness had created about His person. We can under stand how John, after hearing Him confess and pray thus, should say, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! This is what Jesus did by presenting Himself for baptism.
What took place within Him during the performance of the rite? According to Schleiermacher, nothing at all. He knew that He was the Messiah, and, by virtue of His previous development, He already possessed every qualification for His work. John, His forerunner, was merely apprised of his vocation, and rendered capable of proclaiming it. Weizscker, Keim, and others admit something more. Jesus became at this time conscious of His redemptive mission. It was on the banks of the Jordan that the grand resolve was formed; there Jesus felt Himself at once the man of God and the man of His age; there John silently shared in His solemn vow; and there the God wills it sounded through these two elect souls. Lastly, Gess and several others think they must admit, besides a communication of strength from above, the gift of the Holy Spirit, but solely as a spirit of ministry, in view of the charge He was about to fulfil. These ideas, although just, are insufficient. The texts are clear. If Jesus was revealed to John, it was because He was revealed to Himself; and this revelation could not have taken place without being accompanied by a new gift. This gift could not refer to His work simply; for in an existence such as His, in which all was spirit and life, it was impossible to make a mechanical separation between work and life. The exercise of the functions of His office was an emanation from His life, and in some respects the atmosphere of His very personality. His entrance upon the duties of His office must therefore have coincided with an advance in the development of His personal life. Does not the power of giving imply possession in a different sense from that which holds when this power is as yet unexercised? Further, our documents, accepting the humanity of Jesus more thoroughly than our boldest theologians, overstep the bounds at which they stop. According to them, Jesus really received, not certainly as Certinthus, going beyond the limits of truth, taught, a heavenly Christ who came and united Himself to him for a time, but the Holy Spirit, in the full meaning of the term, by which Jesus became the Lord’s anointed, the Christ, the perfect man, the second Adam, capable of begetting a new spiritual humanity. This Spirit no longer acted on Him simply, on His will, as it had done from the beginning; it became His proper nature, His personal life. No mention is ever made of the action of the Holy Spirit on Jesus during the course of His ministry. Jesus was more and better than inspired. Through the Spirit, whose life became His life, God was in Him, and He in God. In order to His being completely glorified as man, there remained but one thing more, that His earthly existence be transformed into the divine state. His transfiguration was the prelude to this transformation. In the development of Jesus, the baptism is therefore the intermediate point between the miraculous birth and the ascension.
But objections are raised against this biblical notion of the baptism of Jesus. Keim maintains that, since Jesus already possessed the Spirit through the divine influence which sanctified His birth, He could not receive it in His baptism. But would he deny that, if there is one act in human life which is free, it is the acquisition of the Spirit? The Spirit’s influence is too much of the nature of fellowship to force itself on any one. It must be desired and sought in order to be received; and for it to be desired and sought, it must be in some measure known. Jesus declares (Joh 14:17), that the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him. The possession of the Spirit cannot therefore be the starting-point of moral life; it can only be the term of a more or less lengthened development of the soul’s life. The human soul was created as the betrothed of the Spirit; and for the marriage to be consummated, the soul must have beheld her heavenly spouse, and learnt to love Him and accept Him freely. This state of energetic and active receptivity, the condition of every Pentecost, was that of Jesus at His baptism. It was the fruit of His previous pure development, which had simply been rendered possible by the interposition of the Holy Spirit in His birth (p. 94).
Again, it is said that it lessens the moral greatness of Jesus to substitute a sudden and magical illumination, like that of the baptism, for that free acquisition of the Spirit,that spontaneous discovery and conquest of self which are due solely to personal endeavour.
But when God gives a soul the inward assurance of adoption, and reveals to it, as to Jesus at His baptism, the love He has for it, does this gift exclude previous endeavour, moral struggles, even anguish often bordering on despair? No; so far from grace excluding human preparatory labour, it would remain barren without it, just as the human labour would issue in nothing apart from the divine gift. Every schoolmaster has observed marked stages in the development of children,crises in which past growth has found an end, and from which an entirely new era has taken its date. There is nothing, therefore, out of harmony with the laws of psychology in this apparently abrupt leap which the baptism makes in the life of Jesus.
2 d. The Miraculous Circumstances.
Keim denies them altogether. Everything in the baptism, according to him, resolves itself into a heroic decision on the part of Jesus to undertake the salvation of the world. He alleges1. The numerous differences between the narratives, particularly between that of John and those of the Syn. This objection rests on misapprehensions (see above).2. The legendary character of the prodigies related. But here one of two things must be true. Either our narratives of the baptism are the reproduction of the original evangelical tradition circulated by the apostles (Luk 1:2), and repeated during many years under their eyes; and in this case, how could they contain statements positively false? Or these accounts are legends of later invention; but if so, how is their all but literal agreement to be accounted for, and the well-defined and fixed type which they exhibit?3. The internal struggles of Jesus and the doubts of John the Baptist, mentioned in the subsequent history, are not reconcilable with this supernatural revelation, which, according to these accounts, both must have received at the time of the baptism. But it is impossible to instance a single struggle in the ministry of Jesus respecting the reality of His mission; it is to pervert the meaning of the conversation at Caesarea Philippi (see Luk 9:18 et seq.), and of the prayer in Gethsemane, to find such a meaning in them. And as to the doubts of John the Baptist, they certainly did not respect the origin of the mission of Jesus, since it is to none other than Jesus Himself that John applies for their solution, but solely to the nature of this mission. The unostentatious and peaceful pro gress of the work of Jesus, His miracles purely of mercy (having heard of the works of Christ, Mat 11:2), contrasted so forcibly with the terrible Messianic judgment which he had announced as imminent (Luk 3:9; Luk 3:17), that he was led to ask himself whether, in accordance with a prevalent opinion of Jewish theology, Jesus was not the messenger of grace, the instrument of salvation; whilst another, a second (, Mat 11:3), to come after Him, would be the agent of divine judgment, and the temporal restorer of the people purified from every corruption. John’s doubt therefore respects, not the divinity of Jesus’ mission, but the exclusive character of His Messianic dignity.4. It is asked why John, if he believed in Jesus, did not from the hour of the baptism immediately take his place among His adherents? But had he not a permanent duty to fulfil in regard to Israel? Was he not to continue to act as a mediating agent between this people and Jesus? To abandon his special position, distinct as it was from that of Jesus, in order to rank himself amongst His disciples, would have been to desert his official post, and to cease to be a mediator for Israel between them and their King.
We cannot imagine for a moment, especially looking at the matter from a Jewish point of view, according to which every holy mission proceeds from above, that Jesus would determine to undertake the unheard-of task of the salvation of the world and of the destruction of sin and death, and that John could share this determination, and proclaim it in God’s name a heavenly mission, without some positive sign, some sensible manifestation of the divine will. Jesus, says Keim, is not a man of visions; He needs no such signs; there is no need of a dove between God and Him. Has Keim, then, forgotten the real humanity of Jesus? That there were no visions during the course of His ministry, we concede; there was no room for ecstasy in a man whose inward life was henceforth that of the Spirit Himself. But that there had been none in His preceding life up to the very threshold of this new state, is more than any one can assert. Jesus lived over again, if we may venture to say so, the whole life of humanity and the whole life of Israel, so far as these two lives were of a normal character; and this was how it was that He so well understood them. Why should not the preparatory educational method of which God made such frequent use under the old covenant,the vision,have had its place in His inward development, before He reached, physically and spiritually, the stature of complete manhood?
3 d. The Narratives of the Baptism.
Before we pronounce an opinion on the origin of our synoptical narratives, it is important to compare the apocryphal narrations. In the Gospel of the Nazarenes, which Jerome had translated, the mother and brethren of Jesus invite Him to go and be baptized by John. He answers: Wherein have I sinned, and why should I go to be baptized by him,unless, perhaps, this speech which I have just uttered be [a sin of] ignorance? Afterwards, a heavenly voice addresses these words to Him: My Son, in all the prophets I have waited for Thy coming, in order to take my rest in Thee: for it is Thou who art my rest; Thou art my first-born Son, and Thou shalt reign eternally.
In the Preaching of Paul, Jesus actually confesses His sins to John the Baptist, just as all the others.
In the Ebionitish recension of the Gospel of the Hebrews, cited by Epiphanius, a great light surrounds the place where Jesus has just been baptized: then the plenitude of the Holy Spirit enters into Jesus under the form of a dove, and a divine voice says to Him: Thou art my well-beloved Son; on Thee I have bestowed my good pleasure. It resumes: To-day have I begotten Thee. In this Gospel also, the dialogue between Jesus and John, which Matthew relates before the baptism, is placed after it. John, after having seen the miraculous signs, says to Jesus, Who then art Thou? The divine voice replies, This is my beloved Son, on whom I have bestowed my good pleasure. John falls at His feet, and says to Him, Baptize me! and Jesus answers him, Cease from that.
Justin Martyr relates, that when Jesus had gone down into the water, a fire blazed up in the Jordan; next, that when He came out of the water, the Holy Spirit, like a dove, descended upon Him; lastly, that when He had ascended from the river, the voice said to Him, Thou art my Son; to-day have I begotten Thee.
Who cannot feel the difference between prodigies of this kindbetween these theological and amplified discourses attributed to Godand the holy sobriety of our biblical narratives? The latter are the text; the apocryphal writings give the human paraphrase.
The comparison of these two kinds of narrative proves that the type of the apostolic tradition has been preserved pure, as the impress of a medal, in the common tenor of our synoptical narratives.
As to the difference between these narratives, they are not without importance. The principal differences are these: Matthew has, over and above the two others, the dialogue between Jesus and John which preceded the baptism, and which was only a continuation of the act of confession which Jesus had just made. The Ebionite Gospel places it after, because it did not understand this connection. The prayer of Jesus is peculiar to Luke, and he differs from the other two in the remarkable turn of the participle applied to the fact of the baptism of Jesus, and in the more objective form in which the miraculous facts are mentioned. Mark differs from the others only in the form of certain phrases, and in the expression, He saw the heavens open. Holtzmann derives the accounts of Matthew and Luke from that of the alleged original Mark, which was very nearly an exact fac-simile of our canonical Mark. But whence did the other two derive what is peculiar to them? Not from their imagination, for an earnest writer does not treat a subject which he regards as sacred in this way. Either, then, from a document or from tradition? But this document or tradition could not contain merely the detail peculiar to each evangelist; the detail implies the complete narrative. If the evangelist drew the detail from it, he most probably took from it the narrative also. Whence it seems to us to follow, that at the basis of our Syn. we must place certain documents or oral narrations, emanating from the primitive tradition (in this way their common general tenor is explained), but differing in some details, either because in the oral tradition the secondary features of the narrative naturally underwent some modification, or because the private documents underwent some alterations, owing to additional oral information, or to writings which might be accessible.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
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 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]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
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.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Luk 3:21 f. The Baptism of Jesus (Mar 1:9-11*, Mat 3:13-17*).Lk. notes that Jesus was praying (cf. Luk 9:29, Luk 11:1, etc.). In the early Church it was customary immediately after baptism to pray for the gift of the Spirit. Lk. explicitly gives a bodily form to the Spirit, and does not definitely limit the vision to Jesus. Many scholars uphold the reading of Codex Bez in Luk 3:22, Thou art my Son: I have begotten thee this day (cf. Psa 2:7.) If this be the true reading it indicates a belief that Jesus received, as it were, a new soul at the Baptism, or that He then became the Messiah.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
3:21 {5} Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
(5) Our baptism is sanctified in the head of the Church, and Christ also by the voice of the Father is pronounced to be our everlasting King, Priest, and Prophet.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
B. The baptism of Jesus 3:21-22 (cf. Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; John 1:29-34)
Luke’s account of this significant event is shorter than the parallel passages. At His baptism, Jesus received the anointing of the Holy Spirit for His ministry. It was also the occasion for the Father to authenticate Jesus as His Son. Luke stressed these two features and did not describe Jesus’ actual baptism fully, though he recorded some information that the other evangelists omitted.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Evidently John baptized Jesus after he had baptized many other people. Luke may have wanted to imply by this that Jesus’ baptism was the climax of John’s ministry. [Note: Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 150.] According to Luke this is the first of many important events that happened while Jesus was praying (cf. Luk 5:16; Luk 6:12; Luk 9:18; Luk 9:28-29; Luk 11:1; Luk 22:32; Luk 22:40-44; Luk 23:46). Only Luke recorded that the heavens opened while Jesus was praying, that is, a revelation from God followed. Luke had a special interest in Jesus’ prayer life. It showed His conscious dependence on His Father as a human being.
"Jesus’ baptism, like that of the people, was a single event in time; but his praying continued for his lifetime." [Note: Liefeld, p. 859.]
Perhaps this explanation accounts for the different tenses of the verb and the participle in this verse. Luke also may have mentioned Jesus’ praying to encourage his readers to do the same. The opening of the heavens indicated divine intervention into human history with revelation. God Himself had not intervened this way for many centuries. Luke’s original readers, with their background in Greek mythology, would have had a special interest in this intervention. The Greek gods supposedly intervened in human affairs occasionally. Moreover Luke’s frequent references to Jesus praying would have helped his original readers realize that Jesus was truly human and not just a god who had visited humans.
"In Luke-Acts times of prayer and worship are frequently the occasions for divine revelations to characters in the story. This is true of Zechariah (Luk 1:9-11), Anna (Luk 2:37-38), Cornelius (Act 10:2-6), Peter (Act 10:9-16), Paul (Act 9:11-12; Act 22:17-21), and the prophets and teachers of the church in Antioch (Act 13:2). This is true also of Jesus. Jesus’ choice of the twelve is preceded by prayer, indeed, prayer through the whole night (dif. Matthew, Mark), in which Jesus is evidently seeking divine guidance for the choice (Act 6:12). The transfiguration also takes place while Jesus is praying (dif. Matthew, Mark). . . . In Luk 22:40-46 also, if Luk 22:43-44 are an original part of the text, Jesus prays concerning his mission and receives a response through a vision of a strengthening angel." [Note: Tannehill, 1:56-57.]