Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 11:3
And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
3. he that should come ] Literally, He that cometh. One of the designations of the Messiah; in every age the prophet said “He cometh.”
It is often disputed whether John sent this message (1) from a sense of hope deferred and despondency in his own soul; he would ask himself: ( a) Is this the Christ whom I knew and whom I baptized? ( b) Are these works of which I hear, the works of the promised Messiah? or (2) to confirm the faith of his disciples, or (3) to induce Jesus to make a public profession of His Messiahship. (1) The first motive is the most natural and the most instructive. In the weariness and misery of the prison the faith of the strongest fails for a moment. It is not doubt, but faith wavering: “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” (2) The second has been suggested and found support rather from the wish to uphold the consistency of the Baptist’s character than because it is the clearest inference from the text. (3) The third motive would have been hardly less derogatory to John’s faith than the first. And would not our Lord’s rebuke Mat 11:6 have taken a different form, as when He said to Mary, “Mine hour is not yet come”?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Art thou he that should come? – That is, Art thou the Messiah, or the Christ? The Jews expected a Saviour. His coming had been long foretold, Gen 49:10; Isa 9:1-6; Isa 11:1-5; Isa 35:4-6; Isa 53:1-12; Dan 9:24-27. See also Joh 6:14. Compare Deu 18:18-19. In common language, therefore, he was familiarly described as he that was to come. Luke adds here Luk 7:21, that at the time when the messengers came to him, Jesus cured many of their infirmities, and plagues, and of evil spirits. An answer was therefore ready to the inquiries of John.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. Art thou he that should come] , he that cometh, seems to have been a proper name of the Messiah; to save or deliver is necessarily implied. See Clarke on Lu 7:19.
There is some difficulty in what is here spoken of John. Some have thought he was utterly ignorant of our Lord’s Divine mission, and that he sent merely for his own information; but this is certainly inconsistent with his own declaration, Lu 3:15, c. Joh 1:15; Joh 1:26; Joh 1:33; Joh 3:28, c. Others suppose he sent the message merely for the instruction of his disciples that, as he saw his end approaching, he wished them to have the fullest conviction that Jesus was the Messiah, that they might attach themselves to him.
A third opinion takes a middle course between the two former, and states that, though John was at first perfectly convinced that Jesus was the Christ, yet, entertaining some hopes that he would erect a secular kingdom in Judea, wished to know whether this was likely to take place speedily. It is very probable that John now began, through the length of his confinement, to entertain doubts, relative to his kingdom, which perplexed and harassed his mind; and he took the most reasonable way to get rid of them at once, viz. by applying to Christ himself.
Two of his disciples] Instead of , two, several excellent MSS., with both the Syriac, Armenian, Gothic, and one copy of the Itala, have , by; he sent by his disciples.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And said unto him,…. By the disciples he sent; this was the message they came with, and this the question they were to ask, and did,
art thou he that should come? A “periphrasis” of the Messiah, well known to the Jews; for he had been spoken of frequently in the prophecies of the Old Testament, as the Shiloh, the Redeemer, the Prophet, and King that should come; particularly, by this circumlocution, reference seems to be had to Hab 2:3. “It shall surely come”, , which may be rendered, “for he that cometh”, or “is to come, shall come”. So that the question in plain terms is, whether he was the Messiah? John could not be ignorant of this, who had seen the Spirit of God descending on him at his baptism, heard a voice from heaven, declaring him the Son of God; and had so often pointed him out to others, and had borne frequent testimonies that he was the Lamb of God, and bridegroom of his church: wherefore this question was put, not upon his own account, but his disciples, that they might have from the mouth of Christ a full and satisfactory answer, which would remove all their doubts and scruples, and attach them to Christ, now he was about to die, and leave them, than which nothing was more desirable to him. Though some have thought, that John’s faith was somewhat slackened; and through his long imprisonment, he began to doubt whether he was the Messiah or not: and others have been of opinion, as particularly Dr. Lightfoot, that the reason of this message was, neither the ignorance and unbelief of John, or his disciples; but that John, with the rest of the Jews, having a notion of a temporal kingdom, and hearing of the mighty works of Christ, wonders that he himself was not delivered out of prison by him, grows impatient upon it, and asks, if he was the Messiah? And if he was, why did he suffer his forerunner and chief minister to lie in prison?
or do we look for another, to release me, and set up this kingdom?
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He that cometh ( ). This phrase refers to the Messiah (Mark 11:9; Luke 13:35; Luke 19:38; Heb 10:37; Ps 118:26; Dan 7:13). Some rabbis applied the phrase to some forerunner of the kingdom (McNeile). Was there to be “another” () after Jesus? John had been in prison “long enough to develop a prison mood” (Bruce). It was once clear enough to him, but his environment was depressing and Jesus had done nothing to get him out of Machaerus (see chapter IX in my John the Loyal). John longed for reassurance.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Thou. Emphatic. Art thou “the Coming One?” – a current phrase for the Messiah.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And said unto him,” (eipen auto) “And inquired of him;” The two disciples of John the Baptist inquired of Jesus, directly, as follows: (as also recounted Luk 7:18-35).
2) “Art thou he that should come,” (su ei ho erchomenos) “Are you the one who should come,” as the Messiah; as “The coming one”? Of whom I spoke when I was baptizing, Mat 3:11. This is a term that had come to refer to the promised Messiah to Israel, Isa 61:1-2.
3) “Or do we look for another? (e heteron prosdokomen) “Or may we expect another?” one different from you, to fill that role, a different kind of person, Psa 72:11-14; Luk 7:19-20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. Art thou he who was to come? John takes for granted what the disciples had known from their childhood; for it was the first lesson of religion, and common among all the Jews, that Christ was to come, bringing salvation and perfect happiness. On this point, accordingly, he does not raise a doubt, but only inquires if Jesus be that promised Redeemer; for, having been persuaded of the redemption promised in the Law and the Prophets, they were bound to receive it when exhibited in the person of Christ. He adds, Do we look for another? By this expression, he indirectly glances at their sloth, which allowed them, after having been distinctly informed, to remain so long in doubt and hesitation. At the same time, he shows what is the nature and power of faith. Resting on the truth of God, it does not gaze on all sides, does not vary, but is satisfied with Christ alone, and will not be turned to another.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Art thou he that should come?There are no adequate grounds for assuming, as some have done, that the Baptist sent the disciples only to remove heir doubts. The question comes from him; the answer is sent to him. No difficulty in conceiving how the doubt which the question seems to imply could enter into the mind of the Baptist after the testimony which he had borne and that which he had heard, can warrant us in doing violence to what would seem to be the plain meaning of the history. And the meaning of the question is not far to seek. The sickness of deferred hope turns the full assurance of faith into something like despair. So of old Jeremiah had complained, in the bitterness of his spirit, that Jehovah had deceived him (Jer. 20:7). So now the Baptist, as week after week passed without the appearance of the kingdom as he expected it to appear, felt as if the King was deserting the forerunner and herald of His kingdom. The very wonders of which he heard made the feeling more grievous, for they seemed to give proof of the power, and to leave him to the conclusion that the will was wanting. And so he sends his disciples with the question, which is one of impatience rather than doubt, Art Thou the coming One of whom the prophets spoke (Psa. 40:7; Psa. 118:26; Mal. 3:1)? but if so, why tarry the wheels of Thy chariot? Are we still to look for another and a different Christ?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Art thou he that should come Here is no doubt a reference to Mal 3:1, where it is said: “Jehovah whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple.” The slowness of our Lord to develope the glory of his kingdom seemed to John not to agree with the suddenness ascribed to the Messiah. Do we look for another John here seems to be running into the same train of reasoning as that which induced the later Jews to adopt the theory of two Messiahs, one of whom (called by them the Son of Joseph) should fulfil the humiliations described by the prophets as belonging to the Messiah; and the other (whom they called the Son of David) should fulfil the glorious part of the prophecies. I do not mean that John adopted or was acquainted with this Jewish theory; but that the same idea (namely, the contrast lying between the humble suffering Messiah and the glorious Messiah, Prince of the kingdom of God) which prompted that theory prompted his question.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mat 11:3. Art thou he that should come It seems that by their speaking of the Messiah in the phrase he that cometh, or he that is coming, (‘ , ) the pious Jews in the most lively manner expressed their confident expectation of him, and their eager longing for his appearance, as the greatest, most welcome, and most desirable person that ever did or should come into the world. See Mar 11:9-10 and compare Dan 7:13; Dan 7:28. Bishop Pearson justly observes, that this, among many other arguments, proves that the notion of two Messiahs, the one suffering, the other triumphant, is a vain dream of the modern Jews, altogether unknown to the ancients. See Chandler’s Defence, p. 7 and Pearson on the Creed, p. 183.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 11:3 . ] Placed first for sake of emphasis. Comp. .
] He who is coming (Heb 10:37 ), i.e . the Messiah , who, because His advent, as being certain and near, was the object of universal expectation, is called, , the coming one ( ), perhaps in accordance with Psa 40:8 . Olshausen, Hilgenfeld, Keim, suggest Psa 118:26 ; Hengstenberg suggests Mal 3:1 ; Hitzig, Dan 9:26 .
] so that thou too wouldst, in that case, be only a forerunner.
] may be conjunctive (as commonly preferred) or indicative (Vulg. Erasmus, Beza, Calvin, Fritzsche). The idea of deliberation is, for psychological reasons, more appropriate. The we in the question is the expression of the popular expectation.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Ver. 3. Art thou he that should come, &c. ] This question the Baptist moved not for his own sake (for he was well assured, and had sufficiently testified, Joh 3:27-36 ), but for his disciples’ better settlement and satisfaction. This, while Tertullian observed not, he hath done the Baptist palpable injury in three different places; as if himself had doubted of the person of Christ. Let not us be troubled to be in like manner mistaken and misjudged.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 11:3 . , said to Jesus, by them, of course. : the question a grave one and emphatically expressed: Thou , art Thou ? Art Thou He whom I spoke of as the One coming after me when I was baptising in the Jordan (Mat 3:11 )? It is a question whether Jesus be indeed the Christ . Lutteroth, basing on the hypothesis that for popular Jewish opinion the Christ and the coming One (a prophet like Moses) were different persons, interprets the question thus: “Art Thou, Jesus, whom I know to be the Christ, also the coming Prophet, or must we expect another to fill that rle?” , not , which would have been more appropriate on Lutteroth’s view = a numerically distinct person. . suggests a different kind of person. : may be present indicative (for future) as Beza and Fritzsche take it, or present subjunctive deliberative = ought we to look? (Meyer-Weiss, Holtz., H.C.), the latter preferable. What was the animus or psychological genesis of the question? Doubt in John’s own mind, or doubt, bred of envy or jealousy, in the minds of his disciples, or not doubt on Baptist’s part, but rather incipient faith? Alternative (2), universal with the fathers (except Tertullian, vide de prscrip. , 8, de baptis. , 10); (1) common among modern commentators; (3) favoured by Keim, Weizscker, and Holtz., H.C.: “beginnende Disposition zum Glauben an Jesu Messianitt”. The view of the fathers is based on a sense of decorum and implicit reliance on the exact historical value of the statements in fourth Gospel; No. (3), the budding faith hypothesis, is based on too sceptical a view as to the historic value of even the Synoptical accounts of John’s early relations with Jesus; No. (1) has everything in its favour. The effect of confinement on John’s prophetic temper, the general tenor of this chapter which obviously aims at exhibiting the moral isolation of Jesus, above all the wide difference between the two men, all make for it. Jesus, it had now become evident, was a very different sort of Messiah from what the Baptist had predicted and desiderated ( vide remarks on chap. Mat 3:11-15 ). Where were the axe and fan and the holy wind and fire of judgment? Too much patience, tolerance, gentleness, sympathy, geniality, mild wisdom in this Christ for his taste.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
He That should come = He Who cometh, or the corning One: i.e. He Who was expected to come. Compare Mat 3:11; Mat 21:9; Mat 23:39. Joh 3:31. Psa 118:26. Gen 49:10. Isa 35:4. Eze 21:27. Zec 9:9.
do we look for = are we to expect.
another = a different [one].
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 11:3. , he that should come) cf. Psa 40:7; Heb 10:37.-, …, or, etc.) There was not at that time any other, for John excludes himself by this disjunctive particle.-, another) They recognise as a certain fact that there is some one who should come.-, must we await) sc. with longer delay.[510]
[510] The time of waiting in expectation was now by this time coming to an end; for the Seventieth week of Daniel was close at hand.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Art: Mat 2:2-6, Gen 3:15, Gen 12:3, Gen 49:10, Num 24:17, Deu 18:15-18, Psa 2:6-12, Psa 110:1-5, Isa 7:14, Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7, Jer 23:5, Jer 23:6, Eze 34:23, Eze 34:24, Dan 9:24-26, Hos 3:5, Joe 2:28-32, Amo 9:11, Amo 9:12, Oba 1:21, Mic 5:2, Zep 3:14-17, Hag 2:7, Zec 9:9, Mal 3:1, Mal 4:2, Joh 4:21, Joh 7:31, Joh 7:41, Joh 7:42
he that: Mat 21:5, Mat 21:9, Mar 11:9, Luk 19:38, Joh 16:14, Joh 12:13, Heb 10:37
Reciprocal: Isa 35:5 – the eyes Mar 14:61 – Art Luk 22:67 – Art Joh 6:14 – This Joh 9:36 – Who Joh 10:24 – How Joh 11:27 – which Joh 13:19 – that I Act 19:4 – John Heb 9:11 – Christ Heb 10:5 – when
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
11:3
I do not believe that John made this inquiry through any weakness of his own faith. That would have been a serious fault after the kind of preaching he had done. His own languishing in prison even should not have put any strain on his faith for he had preached to the people and told them concerning Christ and himself that “He must increase, but I must decrease,” so that his persecution would harmonize with his own preaching. And had it been the case that his faith was weakening. Jesus would certainly have said something of a reproving character either to or about him. But he not only did not do that, but the entire speech that he made afterwards at verses 7-14 about John was highly complimentary. I am persuaded that it was for the reassurance of his own disciples who had not been seeing the miracles that Christ’s disciples had seen. No doubt John believed that by getting his disciples in the immediate presence of Jesus on the occasion of the inquiry, they might get to see some of those evidences for themselves. This idea is borne out by the account in Luk 7:21 which says “in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities,” etc.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
[Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?] the reason of the message of John to Christ is something obscure:
First, That it was not because he knew not Christ, is without all controversy, when he had been fully instructed from heaven concerning his person, when he was baptized; and when he had again and again most evidently borne witness to him; in those words, “This is the Lamb of God,” etc.
Secondly, Nor was that message certainly, that the disciples of John might receive satisfaction about the person of Christ: for, indeed, the disciples were most unworthy of such a master, if they should not believe him without further argument, when he taught them concerning him.
Thirdly, John therefore seems in this matter to respect his own imprisonment, and that his question, “Art thou he which should come,” etc. tends to that. He had heard that miracles of all sorts were done by him, that the blind received their sight, the dead were raised, devils were cast out, etc. And why, therefore, among all the rest, is not John set at liberty? This scruple, as it seems, stuck with the good man; ‘Why do all receive benefit and comfort from Christ, but only I?’ Perhaps he laboured under that dim-sightedness which the disciples of Christ and the whole nation did concerning his earthly kingdom, victories, and triumphs: from which how distant (alas!) was this, that his forerunner and the chief minister should lie in chains! ‘If thou art he, concerning whose triumphing the prophets declare so much, why am I so long detained in prison? Art thou he, or is another to be expected, from whom these things are to be looked for?’
First, “That I am he that should come, these things which I do bear witness, ‘The blind receive their sight, the lame walk,’ ” etc.
Secondly, “As to the present case of John, who expects somebody to come to deliver him out of bonds, and to free the people from the yoke of men, Let him (saith he) acquiesce in my divine dispensation, and, ‘Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me,’ however all things are not according to his mind, which he hath expected to fall out, for his present and bodily advantage.”
And the words of our Saviour, Mat 11:11; seem to express some secret reproof of this error in John, “He that is less in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he.” The Vulgar version renders well the word less; not least; as if he should say, “When ye went out into the desert to John, ye neither looked for trifles nor earthly pomp, neither ‘a reed shaken with the wind,’ nor ‘a man clothed in soft raiment’; but ye looked in good earnest for a prophet: and in that ye did very well; for he was the greatest of prophets, nay, of men, as to his office; honoured in this above all others, that he is the forerunner of the Messias. howbeit, there are some, which, indeed, in respect of office, are much less than he in the kingdom of heaven, or in the commonwealth of Christ, who yet are greater than he in respect of the knowledge of the state and condition of his kingdom.” A comparison certainly is not here made, either in respect of office, or in respect of dignity, or in respect of holiness, or in respect of eternal salvation; for who, I pray, exceeded the Baptist in all these, or in any of them? but in respect of clear and distinct knowledge, in judging of the nature and quality of the kingdom of heaven.
Let the austerity of John’s life, and the very frequent fasts which he enjoined his disciples, be well considered, and what our Saviour saith of both, and you will easily believe that John also, according to the universal conceit of the nation, expected temporal redemption by the Messias, not so clearly distinguishing concerning the nature of the kingdom and redemption of Christ. And you will the more easily give credit to this, when you shall have observed how the disciples of Christ themselves, that conversed a long time with him, were dim-sighted, likewise, in this very thing.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 11:3. Art thou he that cometh, i.e., the Messiah, or do we look for another. Explanations: (1) John was temporarily in depression and doubt, respecting the slow and unostentatious mode of Christs manifestation, and the true nature of his kingdom. (2) Johns disciples (not himself) were in doubt, and he sent them to be instructed; the opinion of some of the Fathers. This saves Johns orthodoxy at the expense of his morality. There is no more evidence of doubt in their case than in that of John. Besides the answer was addressed to John. (3) John was prompted by impatient zeal, and wished to call forth from Jesus a public declaration of His Messiahship. But this would have been even worse than doubt. (4) John wished to learn with certainty whether this worker of miracles was the one he had baptized. This is opposed by the phrase works of the Christ (Mat 11:2). The first view is preferable. The Bible does not represent the saints as free from imperfection and doubt. Elijah, the prototype of John, had his season of despondency. John was at least disappointed, and may have sent this message, hoping for something to strengthen his own faith, hoping perhaps that he would be set free to see the coming of the kingdom of heaven, and that judgment would come upon the wicked ruler and court from whom he suffered; and yet doubting because these hopes had not been realized long before.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 3
He that should come; the promised Messiah.