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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 3:16

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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:

16. the heavens ] A literal translation of the Hebrew word, which is a plural form.

he [ Jesus ] saw ] We should infer from the text that the vision was to Jesus alone, but the Baptist also was a witness as we learn from Joh 1:32. “And John bare record, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.” This was to John the sign by which the Messiah should be recognised.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Out of the water – This shows that he had descended to the river. It literally means, he went up directly from the water. The original does not imply that they had descended into the river, and it cannot be proved, therefore, from this passage, that his baptism was by immersion; nor can it be proved that even, if his baptism was by immersion, that therefore the same mode is binding on people now. In order to demonstrate from this passage that immersion is essential, it is necessary to demonstrate:

(a) that he went into the river;

(b) that, being there, he was wholly immersed;

(c) that the fact that he was immersed, if he was, proves that all others must be, in order that there could be a valid baptism.

Neither of these three things has ever been demonstrated from this passage, nor can they be.

The heavens were opened unto him – This was done while he was praying, Luk 3:21. The ordinances of religion will be commonly ineffectual without prayer. If in those ordinances we look to God, we may expect that he will bless us; the heavens will be opened, light will shine upon our path, and we shall meet with the approbation of God. The expression, the heavens were opened, is one that commonly denotes the appearance of the clouds when it lightens. The heavens appear to open or give way. Something of this kind probably appeared to John at this time. The same appearance took place at Stephens death, Act 7:56. The expression means that he was permitted to see far into the heavens beyond what the natural vision would allow.

To him – Some have referred this to Jesus, others to John. It probably refers to John. See Joh 1:33. It was a testimony given to John that this was the Messiah.

He saw – John saw.

The Spirit of God – See Mat 3:11. This was the third person of the Trinity, descending upon him in the form of a dove, Luk 3:22. The dove, among the Jews, was the symbol of purity of heart, harmlessness, and gentleness, Mat 10:16; compare Psa 55:6-7. The form chosen here was doubtless an emblem of the innocence, meekness, and tenderness of the Saviour. The gift of the Holy Spirit, in this manner, was the public approbation of Jesus Joh 1:33, and a sign of his being set apart to the office of the Messiah. We are not to suppose that there was any change done in the moral character of Jesus, but only that he was publicly set apart to his work, and solemnly approved by God in the office to which he was appointed.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mat 3:16

Heavens were opened unto Him.

This great sight

1. Great in the Object.

2. Great in the Person.

3. Great in the Mysteries.

Trinity Sunday

I. The three persons in the holy trinity.

1. Jesus of Nazareth.

2. The Holy Ghost miraculously exhibited.

3. The Holy Father.

II. A vivid representation of gospel salvation.

1. Here was salvation embodied in Jesus Christ.

2. The Holy Ghost falls on Him.

3. The Holy Fathers solemn attestation of the sufficiency of Christ and His salvation.

III. The privilege of believers here confirmed in the person of Jesus Christ.

1. We view Him as our Federal Head and Representative.

2. In this capacity He received the Holy Ghost.

3. In this character the Father delighted in Him, and also in His people.

(1) What a practical view of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

(2) Have we a personal interest in this great work?

(3) Let the power of these truths be seen in our lives. (F. Close, M. A.)

Divine testimony to the Tri-unity of the Godhead

I. Demonstrate from Scripture the Tri-unity of the Godhead.

II. Prove Christs perfect union in the Godhead, as the true ground of Christian faith.

III. How great a blessing this glorious doctrine is for all Gods people. There may be mines of precious wealth, of minerals, gold, silver, jewels, in a domain only partially known; so with this doctrine. God the Father planned the way of redemption. God the Son willingly came to accomplish our salvation. And God the Spirit guides us into all truth. The whole Trinity joins in mans salvation.

1. How great the condescension of Jehovah thus to reveal the nature and perfections of mercy.

2. How much all revelation testifies of God the Fathers delight in His beloved Son.

3. How God is well pleased in the souls salvation by Christ. (J. G. Angley, M. A.)

Christs baptism

I. Christs submission to the ordinance of baptism.

1. Jesus humbly waits upon the Baptist. The fortitude with which to meet publicity.

2. He is privately discovered to John.

3. The Saviour meekly persists in His obedient resolution. How lovely this conflict of humility!

4. Jesus at last receives the sign from His forerunner.

II. The honours Christ received at His baptism.

1. The opening of the heavens.

2. The descent of the Spirit followed.

3. The proclamation of the Father closed the scene of wonders. (J. Bennett, D. D.)

I. Here is a declaration of the dignity and endearedness of the Saviour, My beloved Son.

1. The dignity of His Person.

2. The endearedness of the Son.

II. The fathers complacency in the son. Complacency takes place.

1. In Creation: All things were made by Him.

2. In redemption: He hath made us accepted in the beloved.

3. The Father is well pleased with Christ in His incarnation and mediation.

4. He is well pleased with Him in all His people. (H. Budd, M. A.)

Here we have

(1) the rising of the morning star, John the Baptist;

(2) The more glorious rising and shining of the Sun of Righteousness Himself;

(3) A messenger from heaven. The Spirit of Christ is a dove-like Spirit. The dove was the fowl offered in sacrifice; so Christ offered Himself without spot unto God.

(4) A voice from heaven. As the Holy Ghost manifests Himself in the likeness of a dove, so God the Father in a voice. This voice speaks Gods favour to Christ.

1. Expresses the relation He stands in to Him.

2. Expresses the affection the Father hath to Him. Observe Gods favour to us Is Him. He is My beloved Son, IN whom I am well pleased. Consider what God is out of Christ, and what God is IN Christ.

I. What God is out of Christ to the sinner.

(1) An angry God;

(2) a threatening God;

(3) a dishonoured God;

(4) a distant God.

II. What God is in Christ.

(1) A reconciled God;

(2) a promising God;

(3) a glorified God;

(4) a near God. (Ralph Erskine.)

The arithmetic of heaven

A gentleman, passing a church with Daniel Webster, asked him, How can you reconcile the doctrine of the Trinity with reason? The statesman replied by asking, Do you understand the arithmetic of heaven? The application is evident. (Anon.)

The heavens are never shut while either of the sacraments is duly administered and received; neither do the heavens ever thus open without the descent of the Holy Ghost. (Bishop Hall.)

1. The Person that did hear witness.

2. The manner how He testified to the honour of His Son.

3. The authority of that voice from heaven.

4. The Person to whom the witness is borne.

5. What is witnessed of Him in respect of Himself.

6. What is witnessed of Him in respect of our consolation, we the beloved in Him. (Hacket.)

As the Father sent His voice from heaven to earth, let our lips be full of prayers, that we may send our voice from earth to heaven. (Hacket.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 16. The heavens were opened unto him] That is, to John the Baptist – and he, John, saw the Spirit of God – lighting upon him, i.e. Jesus. There has been some controversy about the manner and form in which the Spirit of God rendered itself visible on this occasion. St. Luke, Lu 3:22, says it was in a bodily shape like to a dove: and this likeness to a dove some refer to a hovering motion, like to that of a dove, and not to the form of the dove itself: but the terms of the text are too precise to admit of this far-fetched interpretation.

This passage affords no mean proof of the doctrine of the Trinity. That three distinct persons are here, represented, there can be no dispute.

1. The person of Jesus Christ, baptized by John in Jordan.

2. The person of the Holy Ghost in a bodily shape, ( , Lu 3:22) like a dove.

3. The person of the Father; a voice came out of heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, c.

The voice is here represented as proceeding from a different place to that in which the persons of the Son and Holy Spirit were manifested and merely, I think, more forcibly to mark this Divine personality.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This story is also related Mar 1:10,11; Lu 3:21. Luke saith that Jesus praying, the heaven was opened. Mark saith, cloven asunder. It is most probable that the opening of the heavens mentioned (though possibly far more glorious) bare a proportion to that opening of the heavens which we often see in a time of great lightning, when the air seemeth to divide to make the fuller and clearer way for the light.

Unto him; that is, unto John.

And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. The Spirit of God is an invisible substance, and cannot be seen by human eyes, but the shape assumed by any person of the Trinity may be seen. Whether it was a real dove, or only the appearance of a dove, is little material for us to know. It was certainly one or the other; nor could any representation at this time be more fit, either to let the world know the dove like nature of Christ, Isa 42:2, or what should be the temper of all those who receive the same Spirit, though by measure, and are by it taught to be innocent as doves. Not that Christ had not received the Spirit before, but that his receiving of it might be notified to others. This dove, or appearance of a dove, lighted upon Christ, thereby showing for whose sake this apparition was. Christ was not confirmed only to be the Son of God by this appearance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, and lighting upon him, but also by a voice from the excellent glory, saith Peter, 2Pe 1:17; God forming a voice in the air which spake, saying,

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The word signifieth, a dearly beloved Son. The same voice was repeated at Christs transfiguration, Mat 17:5. Peter from it concludes the certainty of the faith of the gospel, in the aforementioned text.

In whom I am well pleased: the word signifieth a special and singular complacency and satisfaction: I am pleased in his person, according to that, Pro 8:30; I am well pleased in his undertaking, in all that he shall do and suffer in the accomplishment of the redemption of man. We are made accepted in the Beloved, Eph 1:6. This text (as is generally observed) is a clear proof of the trinity of persons or subsistences in the one Divine Being: here was the Father speaking from heaven, the Son baptized and come out of the water, the Holy Ghost descending in the form or shape of a dove.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

16. And Jesus when he was baptized,went up straightway out of the waterrather, “from thewater.” Mark has “out of the water” (Mr1:10). “and”adds Luke (Lu3:21), “while He was praying”; a grand piece ofinformation. Can there be a doubt about the burden of that prayer; aprayer sent up, probably, while yet in the waterHis blessed headsuffused with the baptismal element; a prayer continued likely as Hestepped out of the stream, and again stood upon the dry ground; thework before Him, the needed and expected Spirit to rest upon Him forit, and the glory He would then put upon the Father that sentHimwould not these fill His breast, and find silent vent in suchform as this?”Lo, I come; I delight to do Thy will, O God.Father, glorify Thy name. Show Me a token for good. Let the Spirit ofthe Lord God come upon Me, and I will preach the Gospel to the poor,and heal the broken-hearted, and send forth judgment unto victory.”While He was yet speaking

lo, the heavens wereopenedMark says, sublimely, “He saw the heavens cleaving”(Mr 1:10).

and he saw the Spirit of Goddescendingthat is, He only, with the exception of His honoredservant, as he tells us himself (Joh1:32-34); the by-standers apparently seeing nothing.

like a dove, and lightingupon himLuke says, “in a bodily shape” (Lu3:22); that is, the blessed Spirit, assuming the corporeal formof a dove, descended thus upon His sacred head. But why in this form?The Scripture use of this emblem will be our best guide here. “Mydove, my undefiled is one,” says the Song of Solomon (So6:9). This is chaste purity. Again, “Be ye harmlessas doves,” says Christ Himself (Mt10:16). This is the same thing, in the form of inoffensivenesstowards men. “A conscience void of offense toward God and towardmen” (Ac 24:16) expressesboth. Further, when we read in the Song of Solomon (So2:14), “O my dove, that art in the clefts of therocks, in the secret places of the stairs (see Isa60:8), let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; forsweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely”it isshrinking modesty, meekness, gentleness, that is thus charminglydepicted. In a wordnot to allude to the historical emblem of thedove that flew back to the ark, bearing in its mouth the olive leafof peace (Ge 8:11) whenwe read (Ps 68:13), “Yeshall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her featherswith yellow gold,” it is beauteousness that is thus heldforth. And was not such that “holy, harmless, undefiled One,”the “separate from sinners?” “Thou art fairer than thechildren of men; grace is poured into Thy lips; therefore God hathblessed Thee for ever!” But the fourth Gospel gives us one morepiece of information here, on the authority of one who saw andtestified of it: “John bare record, saying, I saw the Spiritdescending from heaven like a dove, and ITABODE UPON HIM.”And lest we should think that this was an accidental thing, he addsthat this last particular was expressly given him as part of the signby which he was to recognize and identify Him as the Son of God: “AndI knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the samesaid unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending ANDREMAINING ON HIM,the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw andbare record that this is the Son of God” (Joh1:32-34). And when with this we compare the predicted descent ofthe Spirit upon Messiah (Isa 11:2),”And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,” wecannot doubt that it was this permanent and perfect resting of theHoly Ghost upon the Son of Godnow and henceforward in His officialcapacitythat was here visibly manifested.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And Jesus, when he was baptized,…. Christ, when he was baptized by John in the river Jordan, the place where he was baptizing,

went up straightway out of the water. One would be at a loss at first sight for a reason why the Evangelist should relate this circumstance; for after the ordinance was administered, why should he stay in the water? what should he do there? Everyone would naturally and reasonably conclude, without the mention of such a circumstance, that as soon as his baptism was over, he would immediately come up out of the water. However, we learn this from it, that since it is said, that he came up out of the water, he must first have gone down into it; must have been in it, and was baptized in it; a circumstance strongly in favour of baptism by immersion: for that Christ should go down into the river, more or less deep, to the ankles, or up to the knees, in order that John should sprinkle water on his face, or pour it on his head, as is ridiculously represented in the prints, can hardly obtain any credit with persons of thought and sense. But the chief view of the Evangelist in relating this circumstance, is with respect to what follows; and to show, that as soon as Christ was baptized, and before he had well got out of the water,

lo the heavens were opened: and some indeed read the word “straightway”, in connection with this phrase, and not with the words “went up”: but there is no need of supposing such a trajection, for the whole may be rendered thus;

and Jesus, when he was baptized, was scarcely come up out of the water, but lo, immediately, directly, as soon as he was out, or rather before,

the heavens were opened to him; the airy heaven was materially and really opened, parted, rent, or cloven asunder, as in Mr 1:10 which made way for the visible descent of the Holy Ghost in a bodily shape. A difficulty arises here, whether the words, “to him”, are to be referred to Christ, or to John; no doubt but the opening of the heavens was seen by them both: but to me it seems that John is particularly designed, since this vision was upon his account, and for his sake, and to him the following words belong; “and he”, that is,

John, saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: for this is what was promised to John, as a sign, which should confirm his faith in Jesus, as the true Messiah, and which he himself says he saw, and upon which he based the record and testimony he bore to Christ, as the Son of God; see Joh 1:32 not but that the descent of the Holy Ghost in this manner might be seen by Christ, as well as John, according to Mr 1:10. The Spirit of God, here said to descend and light on Christ, is the same, which in the first creation moved upon the face of the waters; and now comes down on Christ, just as he was coming up out of the waters of Jordan, where he had been baptized; and which the Jews r so often call

, “the Spirit of the king Messiah, and the spirit of the Messiah”. The descent of him was in a “bodily shape”, as Luke says in Lu 3:22 either in the shape of a dove, which is a very fit emblem of the Spirit of God who descended, and the fruits thereof, such as simplicity, meekness, love, c. and also of the dove-like innocence, humility, and affection of Christ, on whom he lighted or it was in some other visible form, not expressed, which pretty much resembled the hovering and lighting of a dove upon anything: for it does not necessarily follow from any of the accounts the Evangelists give of this matter, that the holy Spirit assumed, or appeared in, the form of a dove; only that his visible descent and lighting on Christ was

, as a dove descends, hovers and lights; which does not necessarily design the form of the creature, but the manner of its motion. However, who can read this account without thinking of Noah’s dove, which brought in its mouth the olive leaf, a token of peace and reconciliation, when the waters were abated from off the earth? Give me leave to transcribe a passage I have met with in the book of Zohar s;

“a door shall be opened, and out of it shall come forth the dove which Noah sent out in the days of the flood, as it is written, “and he sent forth the dove”, that famous dove; but the ancients speak not of it, for they knew not what it was, only from whence it came, and did its message; as it is written, “it returned not again unto him any more”: no man knows whither it went, but it returned to its place, and was hid within this door; and it shall take a crown in its mouth, and put it upon the head of the king Messiah.”

And a little after, the dove is said to abide upon his head, and he to receive glory from it. Whether this is the remains of some ancient tradition, these men studiously conceal, concerning the opening of the heavens, and the descent of the Spirit of God, as a dove, upon the Messiah; or whether it is hammered out of the evangelic history, let the reader judge.

r Bereshit Rabba, fol. 2. 4. & 6. 3. Vajikra Rabba, fol. 156. 4. Zohar in Gen. fol. 107. 3. & 128. 3. Baal Hatturim in Gen. i. 2. Caphtor Uperah, fol. 113. 2. s In Num. fol. 68. 3, 4.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Spirit of God descending as a dove ( ). It is not certain whether Matthew means that the Spirit of God took the form of a dove or came upon Jesus as a dove comes down. Either makes sense, but Luke (Lu 3:22) has it “in bodily form as a dove” and that is probably the idea here. The dove in Christian art has been considered the symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

As a dove [ ] . In the form of a dove, and not, as some interpret, referring merely to the manner of the descent – swiftly and gently as a dove (compare Luk 3:22 ” In a bodily form, as a dove “). The dove was an ancient symbol of purity and innocence, adopted by our Lord in Mt 10:16. It was the only bird allowed to be offered in sacrifice by the Levitical law. In Christian art it is the symbol of the Holy Spirit, and that in his Old Testament manifestations as well as in those of the New Testament. From a very early date the dove brooding over the waters was the type of the opening words of Genesis. An odd fresco on the choir – walls of the Cathedral of Monreale, near Palermo, represents a waste of waters, and Christ above, leaning forward from the circle of heaven with extended arms. From beneath him issues the divine ray along which the dove is descending upon the waters. So Milton :

“Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove – like sat’st brooding on the vast abyss And mad ‘st it pregnant.”

In art, the double – headed dove is the peculiar attribute of the prophet Elisha. A window in Lincoln College, Oxford, represents him with the double – headed dove perched upon his shoulder. The symbol is explained by Elisha ‘s prayer that a double portion of Elijah ‘s spirit might rest upon him.

It has been asserted that, among the Jews, the Holy Spirit was presented under the symbol of a dove, and a passage is cited from the Talmud : “The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters like a dove.” Dr. Edersheim (” Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah “) vigorously contradicts this, and says that the passage treats of the supposed distance between the upper and lower waters, which was only three finger – breadths. This is proved by Gen 1:2, where the Spirit of God is said to brood over the face of the waters, “just as a dove broodeth over her young without touching them.” ” Thus the comparison is not between the Spirit and the dove, but between the closeness with which a dove broods over her young without touching them, and the supposed proximity of the Spirit to the lower waters without touching them. “He goes on to say that the dove was not the symbol of the Holy Spirit, but of Israel.” If, therefore, rabbinic illustration of the descent of the Holy Spirit with the visible appearance of a dove must be sought for, it would lie in the acknowledgment of Jesus as the ideal typical Israelite, the representative of his people. ”

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And Jesus, when he was baptized,” (Baptistheis de ho leous) “And Jesus when he had been immersed,” or been baptized, submerged in the waters of the Jordan River, by John the Baptist, who was sent from God, Joh 1:6, to baptize Jesus, as well as others, Joh 1:31-34.

2) “Went up straightway out of the water” (euthus anebe apo tou hudatos) “Went up immediately out of (and) away from the water of the Jordan River;” Nothing short of the waters of immersion, or a burial beneath the surface of the waters of the Jordan River, accurately portrays how Jesus was baptized. He went up praying, Luk 3:21-22.

3) “And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him,” (kai idou eneochthesan hoi ouranoi) “And behold the heavens were opened,” unto or with reference to Jesus and John’s baptizing Him. The heavens disclosed, made visible to John, the Holy Spirit descending to rest upon Jesus to give sanction to His identity and message, Eze 1:1; Act 7:56; Act 10:11; Rev 19:11.

4) “And he saw the Spirit of God,” (kai eiden pneuma theou) “And he (John the Baptist) saw (the) Spirit of God,” visually, in a physical form of -manifestation, appearing to both Jesus and John, Joh 1:32.

5) “Descending like a dove,” (karabainon hosei peristeran) “Coming down as or similar to a dove,” in body for a symbol of purity, beauty, peace and harmlessness, to identify him as the Redeemer, Isa 11:2; The dove form was bodily seen by Jesus and John the Baptist, Luk 3:22; Mat 10:16.

6) “And lighting upon him:” (erchomenon ep’ auton) “Being come down upon him:” upon Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. By this, John’s understanding of who Jesus was, was confirmed and a promise of God was fulfilled to him, Joh 1:32-34. This Holy Spirit descent on Jesus was a permanent one for the rest of His life, Isa 11:2.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

16. And, lo, the heavens were opened to him. The opening of the heavens sometimes means a manifestation of heavenly glory; but here it means also a cleft, or opening, of the visible heaven, so that John could see something beyond the planets and stars. The words of Mark can have no other meaning, he saw the heavens cleft asunder (296) An exact inquiry into the way in which this opening was made, would be of no importance, nor is it necessary. It is sufficient for us to believe, that it was a symbol of the Divine presence. As the Evangelists say that John saw the Holy Spirit, it is probable that the opening of the heavens was chiefly on his account. Yet I do not hesitate to admit that Christ also, so far as he was man, received from it additional certainty as to his heavenly calling. This appears to be the tendency of the words of Luke: while Jesus was praying, the heaven was opened, (Luk 3:21 🙂 for, though his prayers were always directed towards the benefit of others, yet as man, when he commenced a warfare of so arduous a description, he needed to be armed with a remarkable power of the Spirit.

But here two questions arise. The first is, why did the Spirit, who had formerly dwelt in Christ, descend upon him at that time? This question is answered by a passage of the prophet Isaiah, which will be handled in another place.

“

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord God hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted,” (Isa 61:1.)

Though the grace of the Spirit was bestowed on Christ in a remarkable and extraordinary manner, (Joh 3:34,) yet he remained at home as a private person, till he should be called to public life by the Father. Now that the full time is come, for preparing to discharge the office of Redeemer, he is clothed with a new power of the Spirit, and that not so much for his own sake, as for the sake of others. It was done on purpose, that believers might learn to receive, and to contemplate with reverence, his divine power, and that the weakness of the flesh might not make him despised.

(296) “ Il vid les cieux mi-partir, ou se fendre.” — “ He saw the heavens divided in the middle, or deft.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(16) The heavens were opened.The narrative implies (1) that our Lord and the Baptist were either alone, or that they alone saw what is recorded. The heavens were opened to him as they were to Stephen (Act. 7:56). The Baptist bears record that he too beheld the Spirit descending (Joh. 1:33-34), but there is not the slightest ground for supposing that there was any manifestation to others. So in the vision near Damascus, St. Paul only heard the words and saw the form of Him who spake them (Act. 9:7; Act. 22:9). That which they did see served, as did the tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost, as an attestation to the consciousness of each, of the reality of the gift imparted, and of its essential character. That descent of the Spirit, as it were a dove, as St. Luke adds (Luk. 3:22), in bodily form, taught the Baptist, as it teaches us, that the gift of supernatural power and wisdom brought with it also the perfection of the tenderness, the purity, the gentleness of which the dove was the acknowledged symbol. To be harmless as doves was the command the Lord gave to His disciples (Mat. 10:16), and when they read this record, they were taught as we are, of what manner of spirit they were meant to be.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

16. Baptized How he was baptized is not said. His coming out of the water aids us not in guessing how, for the preposition properly signifies from. Nor if Jesus waded into and out of the water, would it in the least aid the matter. Thousands in ancient and modern times have been baptized by affusion, as they are represented in ancient pictures, standing or kneeling in the bed of a stream. But at any rate, the mode of his baptism was such as to make it the symbol and picture of the spiritual baptism which forthwith descended upon him in dovelike form.

And he saw That is, Jesus saw the dovelike Spirit. And John says that he saw it Joh 1:32. There is no proof for the opinion of some that it was unseen by many others. Like a dove That is, in a dovelike shape, as Luke beyond all equivocation declares in a bodily shape like a dove. That is, the Spirit invested itself with a dove form, in order to make itself visible to their senses. It assumed the form of a dove, as that bird was to the minds of those spectators the emblem of innocence. We cannot understand the purpose of commentators who endeavour to mar the beauty of this gracious manifestation by talking of its not being a dovelike form, but forsooth a quivering motion, (of what?) like a dove!

And here have we not a striking illustration of the Incarnation? As the Holy Spirit the third hypostasis in the Trinity, assumes the bodily form of a dove by way of self-manifestation to the eyes of men, so what difficulty in supposing that the second person of the Trinity should become God manifest in the flesh in a human form? So, many a time in the Old Testament, the angel of Jehovah, or rather the angel-Jehovah, being no other than Jehovah manifest, is described as appearing to the patriarchs. In Eden Jehovah-God walked in the garden, and pronounced sentence upon Adam. Jacob wrestled with God “face to face” at Peniel. The angel-Jehovah appeared to Moses, and said, “I am the God of thy Father.” And revealing his name, to be uttered to Pharaoh, he says: “Thus shalt thou say, I AM hath sent me unto you.” The most learned doctors in the Church, in all ages, have agreed, and that on most reliable ground, that this personage so at various times appearing, was no other than the Son of Man, seen at last in vision by Daniel, (chap. 7,) invested with “an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.” Few persons, at any rate, feel any difficulty in supposing, or at least comprehending and conceiving, that these angelic forms were visible embodiments of the person of Jehovah. What greater difficulty is there in conceiving that the person of Jesus should have been as truly the visible representative manifestation, or embodiment, of the same Divine Being?

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And Jesus when he was baptised, went up immediately from the water, and lo, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him,’

Having been baptised by John, Jesus came out of the water, and immediately ‘the Heavens were opened’. Nothing visible would have been seen which was being described in these words. The opening of the Heavens was a way of speaking of God acting from Heaven. God as it were opens the door of Heaven so that Heaven may break through on earth. But the only thing that was actually visible was ‘the Spirit of God’ (Luke – ‘the Holy Spirit’) coming down from Heaven like a dove and settling on Jesus. Luke makes absolutely clear that what was seen was something ‘physical’ with an appearance almost like a dove. While too much dogmatism is ruled out, what is important is that something that appeared physical was actually seen. A phenomenon was actually observed.

The Spirit of God (or the Lord) coming on someone is a common feature in the Old Testament where the Spirit comes on charismatic leaders (the Judges, Saul and David), on prophets, on the coming Righteous King (Isa 11:1-4), on the Servant of YHWH (Isa 42:1-4), and on the Anointed Prophet (Isa 61:1-2). The idea of the Servant of YHWH is most apposite in view of Mat 12:18-21, because it is clearly something that Matthew has in mind. On the other hand it is the Coming King Who has been most in view up to this point in Matthew. We can really discount the Spirit coming on the charismatic leaders and the prophets as being too closely associated with what happened, for there was no thought that they would receive the Spirit in order to pass Him on to many as a means of transforming the people of God, (it is true that the Spirit of Moses is passed on from Moses to seventy elders, but that is simply a larger example of what happened when Elijah passed on the Spirit on to Elisha. It was an empowering of men appointed for a particular service, not a general effusion of the Spirit). And mention of the Spirit coming on people ends with David. Thus we may see it here as indicating that the Coming King, Servant and Prophet of Isaiah was being authenticated as the King and Servant by the Voice from Heaven, and as the Prophet by Jesus’ words in Luk 4:18. This also ties in with Matthew’s continual and pointed emphasis on Isaiah’s prophecies from Mat 3:3 to Mat 13:17, a passage which then continues through to Mat 20:28. In other words Jesus is to fill to the full the prophecies concerning the King, the Servant and the Prophet in Isaiah.

That then was a most momentous event. But what is even more startling is the reference to the Spirit visibly descending (in Luke ‘in bodily form’). This is unique in Scripture. The whole pattern of references to the Spirit in the Old Testament point to the fact that He represents the invisible activity of God revealed in its results. The Spirit is never seen. It is the Angel of YHWH Who is seen, but not the Spirit. When the Spirit works something happens and men are aware that it is due to the Spirit of God simply because of the results. But the Spirit is never visibly ‘seen’, only His effective working is seen. The same also applies in the New. (The fire at Pentecost is not actually said to be the Spirit. It is God appearing in fire. The Spirit does the filling for the purposes of prophecy and tongues – Act 2:1-4). No wonder then that Luke felt that he had to emphasise the unique fact of what happened by calling it ‘bodily’. It was almost incredible for anyone who knew the Scriptures that the Spirit would come visibly. It must here therefore indicate something very special indeed, something that was totally unique, and with a unique significance.

One thing that it does suggest is that for the first time ‘the Spirit of God’ is being portrayed as in some way distinctive from the One Who sent Him. He has proceeded from the Father, and yet is in some way distinct from the Father. For here He is in visible form. It also appears to indicate that when Jesus receives the Spirit it is not as a kind of temporary loan from the Father, with Himself as an extension of the Father, (as the war leaders and prophets had been an extension of God’s mighty arm, or had been enclothed with Him – for ‘the Spirit of God clothes Himself with Gideon’), but as an outright giving of the Spirit to be under His control. Symbolically the Spirit has, as it were, come from the Father and has come to the earthly Jesus. He Himself can therefore drench men in the Holy Spirit on the basis of His own will precisely because the Holy Spirit now proceeds from Him.

How long it took those closest to Jesus to recognise that this experience indicated this fact we do not know, but it does explain why John the Baptiser was able to declare, ‘I saw and bear witness that this is the Son of God’ (Joh 1:34). He instinctively recognised the significance of what he had seen. None but the true and only beloved Son could receive the Spirit in this completeness, going far beyond anything experienced on earth before.

By this God was indicating, not just that Jesus was filled with the Spirit, but that the Spirit was on earth in bodily form in Jesus, as in no other before or since. In Jesus earth and Heaven had been combined from the beginning through His birth (Mat 1:18; Mat 1:20), and now they were uniquely combined for His future task. By it God was indicating what the situation now was. Jesus in His physical presence was the spiritual connection between earth and Heaven (compare Joh 3:13), with all the resources of God available to Him on earth. That did not mean, of course, that He acted separately from the Father. Indeed He would go out of His way to emphasise that He and His Father always acted together (Joh 5:19; Joh 9:3-4). But it drew out that He could be compared with no other. All others received the Spirit by measure. He alone received the Spirit in all His fullness (Joh 3:34). And that was why Matthew saw so clearly that in the presence of the King there was the activity of the Spirit, whether on earth or in Heaven. That was why Jesus could cast out evil spirits by the Spirit of God (Mat 12:28). It was in this way that the Kingly Rule of Heaven was now on earth in all who enjoyed the Spirit’s working as gifted to them by Jesus (Mat 11:27). (The Apostles would also cast out evil spirits by the Spirit of God as imparted to them by Jesus – Mat 10:1)

‘Like a dove.’ More strictly we should say ‘like a bird’, such as a dove or a pigeon. Bird types were not then as strictly differentiated as they are today. This would be a reminder of the Spirit of God hovering over creation when God began His creative work (Gen 1:2), and may thus be seen as indicating that God was as it were beginning a new creative work. It would also be a reminder of the dove who returned to the ark with the symbol of coming fruitfulness in its beak (Gen 8:11), the symbol that judgment was at least temporarily put aside and of a new opportunity for creation to begin again. But important too is the idea that it was no eagle Who descended here. Here it was a gentle bird with peaceful intent (compare Mat 10:16). It symbolised what would lie beneath the activity of ‘the Holy Spirit and fire’. The idea is quite remarkable. No combination of pictures could better express the ministry of Jesus. The dove depicts the One Who is meek and lowly in heart (Mat 11:29), the One Who does not break the bruised reed or quench the still smoking flax (Mat 12:20), Who through His Spirit gives life to those who seek Him (Joh 6:63), producing righteousness within them through the soft refreshing rain of the Holy Spirit (Isa 44:1-4), and yet the fire depicts One Who is harsh with sin, and will if necessary refine it with fire (Mat 3:12; Mal 3:3), and Who in the end will be harsher still with those who harden themselves against repentance and must receive the full weight of His fiery judgment (Mat 3:13; Isa 5:24; Isa 66:16; Isa 66:24; Eze 15:6-7; Eze 22:21-22).

‘He saw’ almost certainly refers to John, as the voice in the third person in Mat 3:17 makes clear. This was a manifestation to John as well as to Jesus. Whether anyone else saw it we do not know.

We should recognise that this was the initial true ‘Pentecost’. This was the moment from which the Holy Spirit’s mighty work would blossom out from the King and would fan out to those of Israel who were ready to receive Him. What happened at the ‘other’ Pentecost (and in the Upper Room – Joh 20:22) would be a repeating of this on the whole body of Christ (and on the whole band of Apostles) at the time. But there, if the signs are to be seen as indicating the Holy Spirit and not the God of Sinai Himself, the dove was replaced by the wind and fire, possibly based partly on John’s symbolism.

The coming of the Holy Spirit on Jesus was like a coronation. It was an anointing of Him (already the Anointed One) as God’s Messiah (Act 4:27; Act 10:38). It was the revelation that now, from Him, the Holy Spirit would reach out to all around Him, through His words, through His healings, through His casting out of evil spirits, and through His whole life (Luk 4:18-19; Isa 61:1-2). From now on the rain of the Spirit would fall and the fire of the Spirit would burn, and it would make many responsive and fruitful, would purify many, and would sadly cause others to wither and die. For now that the King was present and operative, men must either enter under His Kingly Rule and obey His words, or they must turn from His Kingly Rule and refuse to acknowledge Him. And sadly even some who professed to come under His Kingly Rule would not in fact do so. They would draw near to Him with their lips and honour Him with their mouths but their hearts would be far from Him. There would even be those who drew back and remained no longer with Him (Mat 15:8; Mat 7:21-22; Joh 6:66).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The occasion must needs be marked by preternatural accompaniments:

v. 16. 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:

v. 17. and, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Here was a revelation of the divine essence. As soon as Jesus had been baptized, He at once walked up the bank away from the river. His baptism had been necessary, but the miracle which was now to take place was even more important as manifesting the relationship obtaining between Him and the other persons of the Godhead. In a wonderful manner, causing a surprised exclamation in the evangelist’s narrative, the heavens were opened, a most glorious apparition, since it was an actual happening and not a vision, as in the case of Jacob, Stephen, and others, Gen 28:12; Act 7:55-56; Act 10:11. And he, John, saw the Spirit of God descending in a bodily shape like a dove upon Jesus, Joh 1:32-34; Luk 3:22. It is an idle speculation to inquire why the dove was chosen, and to find the comparison in the perfect gentleness, purity, and fullness of life of this bird. Let us rather emphasize the fact that God wanted to convey the idea of an unlimited imparting of the Holy Spirit to His Son, according to His human nature, Psa 45:8; Heb 1:9; Act 10:38. And the marvels were not yet ended. Once more Matthew calls out: Behold! God the Father is now also manifested by a voice from heaven, identifying both Him and the Son. See Isa 42:1; Psa 2:7. This man that was thus plainly distinguished and set apart from all the rest of the people there present is the true Son of God, beloved of Him in a unique sense. It is an eternal act of loving contemplation with which the. Father regards the Son. It is with the consciousness of the Father’s good pleasure, His full and unequivocal consent and blessing, that Christ enters upon His ministry. The Triune God, at the baptism of Jesus, set the seal of His approval upon the work of redemption.

Summary. In the course of John the Baptist’s ministry, during which he had occasion to administer a sharp rebuke to the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus also received Baptism at his hands, whereupon there occurred a marvelous revelation of the Triune God.

The Baptism Of John

When John the Baptist came into the wilderness of Judea with his message and baptism of repentance, he was not foisting upon the people a new and strange ceremony of which they had never heard. On the contrary, divers washings, many different kinds of Levitical baptisms, had been known to the Jews since the time of Moses. The rite originated in the ceremonial lustration of the unclean, Gen 35:2; Exo 19:10; Num 19:7; and was soon extended to embrace every form of Levitical purifying that was done with water, Heb 9:10.

One of the earliest forms of religious ablutions was the baptism of the priests at their consecration, Exo 29:1-9; Exo 40:12. There is an allusion to this washing of the priests in Heb 10:22. Any defilement of the body contracted by the priests after their installation, in the daily performance of their duties, especially by contact of their hands and feet with unclean things, had to be removed by washing these members when they entered the sanctuary, Exo 30:17-21; Exo 40:30-32. Two passages of the psalms refer to this custom, Psa 26:6; Psa 73:13. If an Israelite had touched the carcass of an animal or carried any part thereof, he was considered unclean and had to wash his clothes and his body. Lev 11:24-28; Lev 5:2; Lev 22:4-6. There was a baptism of those who had recovered from leprosy, Lev 13:6-34. On the great day of atonement the high priest performed very careful ablutions, both at the beginning and at the conclusion of his ministrations, Lev 16:4-24. The man who had led the scapegoat into the wilderness and likewise he who had carried forth without the camp the bullock and the goat for a sin-offering, were required to bathe their flesh in water. Lev 16:26-28. When Levites were consecrated, they were sprinkled with water. Num 8:5-7. The priest and the two laymen that had prepared the ashes of the red heifer had to bathe their flesh in water. Num 19:7-10. There were also other ceremonial washings or baptisms, with which the Jews were familiar, Lev 15:1-29; Num 1:11-22; Deu 21:1-9; Deu 23:10-11.

But the most interesting of the Jewish religious washings was the baptism of proselytes, who, after being instructed in certain parts of the Law, and having made fresh profession of their faith, were then immersed in water, after which they were considered full-fledged Israelites in all things. It is this ceremony to which the baptism of John, in its outward form was related.

Another interesting question is that concerning the difference, if any, between the baptism of John and that instituted by Christ. It must be noted, on the one hand, that there are many points of agreement. John baptized by divine command, Luk 3:2-3; Joh 1:33; Mat 21:25; Luk 7:30. His was a baptism in and with water. Mat 3:11; Mar 1:8; Luk 3:16; Joh 1:26; Joh 3:23. It was, finally, a baptism unto repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, Mar 1:4; Luk 3:3. In all these features it agreed with the Baptism of Christ.

Nevertheless, there was a difference between the baptism of John and that of Christ. When Paul came to Ephesus and found certain disciples that had merely been baptized unto John’s baptism, he baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus, Act 19:1-16. The chief points of difference between the two baptisms are indicated in this passage. John’s baptism is consistently called a “baptism, of repentance. ” It was administered to adults only, to such as confessed their sins, as had reached the age of discretion, Mat 3:6; Mar 1:5, whereas the Baptism of Christ is for all people, including the children, Act 2:39-41; Col 2:11. The Baptism of Jesus works and transmits the forgiveness of sins as a gift which has been earned; the baptism of John points forward to the winning of this precious boon through the redemption to be made through Jesus Christ. In short, the baptism of John was typical, preparatory, as was his preaching; the glorious fulfillment has come in and with Christ.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 3:16. The heavens were opened unto him That is to say, to John; to whose view, as well as to that of the Saviour, this wonderful vision was presented. St. Mark has so expressed it, as plainly to refer the seeing it to Christ; and John the Baptist has in another place assured us, that he saw it, and took particular notice of it, as the sign he was directed to observe, as the distinguishing characteristic of the Messiah. See Joh 1:32; Joh 1:34. The Greek word , rendered straightway in our version, denotes the immediate opening of the heavens after our Lord’s baptism. See Blackwall’s Sacred Classics, vol. 1: p. 89. The Spirit of God is said here to have descended like a dove: in St. Luke it is added, , in a corporeal form; a phrase which might have been used with propriety, though there had not been, as is generally supposed, any appearance of the shape of the animal here mentioned, but only a lambent flame falling from heaven, with a hovering, dove-like motion, which Dr. Scott and others suppose to have been all. But Justin Martyr says expressly, that it was in the form of a dove; adding that all Jordan shone with the reflection of the light; and Jerome calls it, the appearance of a dove. It resembled a dove, says Wetstein, both in appearance and flight. See Hammond, and Whit

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 3:16 . ] which cannot belong to . (Maldonatus, Grotius, B. Crusius), nor can it be referred to by supposing a hyperbaton (Fritzsche); see Khner, II. 2, p. 642. Matthew would have written, . It belongs to , beside which it stands: after He was baptized , He went up straightway, etc. This straightway was understood at once as a matter of course, but does not belong, however, merely to the descriptive , but to the circumstantial style of the narrative, setting forth the rapid succession (of events).

] designates neither a clearing up of the heavens (Paulus), nor a thunderstorm quickly discharging itself (Kuinoel, Ammon), since the poetic descriptions, as in Sil. It. i. 535 ff., are quite foreign (see Drackenborch, ad Sil. It . iii. 136; Heyne, ad Virg. Aen . iii. 198) to our simple historical narrative; as, moreover, neither in the Gospel according to the Hebrews, nor in Epiphanius, Haer . xxx. 13, nor in Justin, c. Tryph . 88, [384] is a thunderstorm meant. Only an actual parting of the heavens , out of which opening the Spirit came down, can be intended. Eze 1:1 ; Joh 1:51 ; Rev 4:1 ; Act 7:56 ; Isa 64:1 .

does not refer to the Baptist (Beza, Heumann, Bleek, Kern, Krabbe, de Wette, Baur), since Mat 3:16 begins a new portion of the history, in which John is no longer the subject. It refers to Jesus , and is the dative of purpose. To Him the heavens open; for it was on Him that the Spirit was to descend. Comp. Vulgate.

] Who? not John, but Jesus , without standing for (Kuinoel); Khner, II. 1, p. 489 f.; Bleek on the passage. The Gospel according to the Hebrews clearly referred to Jesus, with which Mar 1:10 also decidedly agrees. [385]

] The element of comparison is interpreted by modern writers not as referring to the shape of the visibly descending Spirit, but to the manner of descent , where partly the swiftness (Fritzsche), partly the soft, gentle movement (Bleek) and activity (Neander), and the like, have been imagined as referred to. But as all the four evangelists have precisely the same comparison (Mar 1:10 ; Luk 3:22 ; Joh 1:32 ), which, as a mere representation of the manner of the descent, would be just as unessential as it would be an indefinite and ambiguous comparison; as, farther, Luke expressly says the Spirit descended, , where, by the latter words, the . is defined more precisely (comp. the Gospel according to the Hebrews in Epiphanius, Haer . xxx. 13 : , namely, Jesus, ; also Justin, c. Tr . 88), so that interpretation appears as a groundless attempt to lessen the miraculous element, and only the old explanation (Origen and the Fathers in Suicer, Thes. s.v. , Euth. Zigabenus, Erasmus, Luther), that the form of a dove actually appeared , can be received as the correct one. So also Paulus (who, however, thought of a real dove which accidentally appeared at the time!), de Wette, Kuhn ( L. J. I. p. 319), Theile ( zur Biogr. Jesu , p. 48), Keim, Hilgenfeld, who compares 4 Esdr. Mat 5:26 . The symbolic element of this divine (see remarks after Mat 3:17 ) rests just in its appearance in the form of a dove , which descends.

[384] In the Gospel according to the Hebrews: . Justin. .

[385] Schmidt in the Jahrb. f. D. Th . 1869, p. 655, erroneously says: If Jesus were the subject, must necessarily have been put. See Buttmann, neut. Gr . p. 97 f. [E. T. 111 f.].

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Here is everything that is solemn, sublime, and glorious to be contemplated in this transaction: but of the scene itself; we can only behold with the most profound reverence and holy awe, without attempting to be wise above what is written. We behold the testimony of that glorious doctrine which is the foundation of our holy faith: that there are Three which bear record in heaven; the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY GHOST, and these Three are One. 1Jn 5:7 . And here they distinctly manifested themselves at the baptism of the LORD JESUS. Here is the FATHER, by a voice from heaven, manifesting himself. Here is GOD the SON, incarnate in the Water. And here is GOD the HOLY GHOST, manifesting his person in the likeness of a Dove, hovering over the person of CHRIST. What can be more conclusive and satisfactory, in proof of this precious doctrine of our most holy faith?

In addition to the testimony this scripture brings, of the personality of the HOLY THREE in ONE, let not the Reader overlook the testimony it also brings of their perfect approbation of redemption-work. JEHOVAH is not only well pleased with CHRIST; but in CHRIST: all that are in CHRIST. CHRIST and his members: CHRIST and his church. And the whole persons of the GODHEAD, take the same delight and complacency together. For it is said, GOD was in CHRIST reconciling the world to himself. 2Co 5:19 . that is, the whole three persons, constituting the One Eternal, undivided JEHOVAH, were in CHRIST. GOD the FATHER was, and is, in CHRIST: for so saith the LORD JESUS. Believest thou not that I am in the FATHER, and the FATHER in me? Believe me, that I am in the FATHER, and the FATHER in me. Joh 14:10-11 . GOD the SON was, and is, in CHRIST. For GOD the SON, in his own eternal power and GODHEAD, had his Almighty hand in the work and purpose of redemption, as much as the person of GOD the FATHER, or GOD the H0LY GHOST. Neither could there have been any access to the Person of GOD the SON, as GOD, more than to the person of the FATHER, or the person of the HOLY GHOST, without CHRIST, as the God-Man-Mediator.

The SON of GOD doth not lose the glory and perfection of his essential divinity, because of his infinite condescension, in assuming our nature for the purpose of redemption. And it is most exceedingly necessary, that in contemplating the great object of faith, true believers in CHRIST should everlastingly keep in view the GODHEAD of the SON of GOD, as one of the glorious persons constituting JEHOVAH; while we keep no less in view, that the SON of GOD, in his twofold nature, of GOD, and Man, in one person, becomes the CHRIST of GOD, in whom, and through whom, and by whom, we have access to JEHOVAH: FATHER, SON, and HOLY GHOST, in grace here, and glory forever.

In like manner GOD the HOLY GHOST was, and is, in CHRIST. Not simply in his anointings, and endowments, without measure, given to CHRIST, in the qualifying him for the vast undertaking he came to perform; but as One of the glorious persons of the GODHEAD, was, and is in CHRIST, reconciling the world to himself, in common with the FATHER, and the SON. So that, as JEHOVAH, in his three-fold character of person; FATHER, SON, and HOLY GHOST, were all alike concerned in the indignity shewn by the fall of man; so all alike were concerned in the recovery, by the glorious undertaking, and accomplishment of salvation by CHRIST JESUS. Such are the scriptural views of this most sublime subject. before we desire further information, let it be considered, that it is proposed to us as an article of faith, and not for our full investigation. Perhaps it is impossible, in the present imperfect state of being, to know more. The LORD be praised for what he hath thought proper to reveal. And with this measure of knowledge, may the LORD give grace to both Writer, and Reader, of this Poor Man’s Commentary, to be thankful.

I will only detain the Reader with a short observation more upon those verses, just to notice the descent of the HOLY GHOST, which both the LORD JESUS, and his servant John, saw in the form of a dove. Some visible appearance, to make it personal, was thought necessary. I presume not to say wherefore it was necessary, but only humbly propose the enquiry. Was it because in after ages heresies would spring up in the church, in denying the personality of GOD the SPIRIT? And was the LORD pleased, by way of giving his assurance to the glorious truth in the minds of his people, thus to assume a personal appearance? Let the Reader remember, I do not presume to determine the point: I only humbly ask the question. But whether I am right or not, certain it is, that both JESUS, and John, saw the SPIRIT of GOD descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. Joh 1:32-34 . Like a dove, I apprehend means as a dove lighting down, or hovering over.

There is a great beauty in this Scripture. The appearance of the HOLY GHOST shall not be in the form of a man: for this was specially belonging to the SON of GOD; but of a dove. And a dove was, of all the other creatures of GOD, the most suited, both to represent that glorious person, who thus descended and. abode upon CHRIST, and CHRIST himself. For, not to notice the meekness and gentleness of the dove, and the loving affections of its nature, it is worth remarking, that the dove hath no gall, neither talons. Sweet emblems of manifesting the frame of GOD the HOLY GHOST himself, when anointing JESUS in our nature, to the blessed offices he hath communicated to our nature! And sweet emblem, no less to shew, how JESUS should manifest to his people the tenderness and love of his heart, as doves do to each other. Reader! recollect what the Evangelist records of the LORD JESUS immediately after this descent of the HOLY GHOST, and never lose sight of it through life. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, (said that sweet SAVIOR) because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor: he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted; to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the LORD. Luk 4:18-19 .

REFLECTIONS

WELCOME, John the Baptist, thou faithful herald of thy LORD! As the star of the morning becomes the sure pledge of day; so thy coming plainly foretold the LORD of his temple was at hand, But thrice welcome, yea, everlastingly and eternally welcome, thou glorious Sun of Righteousness, precious LORD JESUS, art thou in thy arising, with healing in thy wings, to all thy people. Oh! do thou, LORD, thou great Baptizer with the HOLY GHOST, bring my soul, and the souls of all thy redeemed, under the continual and unceasing baptisms of thy Spirit: fill our hearts, fill our houses, fill thy church, thy whole people, with grace!

And from this blessed unction given to the souls of thy people, grant, LORD, to everyone, grace, according to the measure of the gift of CHRIST; that we may bless and adore the HOLY THREE IN ONE, who bear record in heaven; for the record given in this chapter, to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, on his entering upon his public ministry, at his holy baptism. And may the LORD mercifully grant, that the whole church of GOD, through divine teaching, may be enabled to keep in unceasing remembrance, the FATHER’S testimony to his dear Son. And while my soul, and the souls of all his redeemed, are thus continually hearing, and receiving, the precious assurance of GOD’S being well pleased with his dear SON, for his redeeming love to his church, and his finished salvation for his people; oh, for grace to love Him, whom JEHOVAH, in all the persons of the GODHEAD, loves; and to delight in Him, in whom JEHOVAH delighteth. Precious LORD JESUS! I would say, Whom have I in heaven but thee; and there is none upon earth my soul desireth but thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

16 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:

Ver. 16. And Jesus when he was baptized ] Many of the ancients held that the day of Epiphany was the day of our Saviour’s baptism. But that, I think, is but a conjecture. The Habassines, a kind of mongrel Christians in Africa, baptize themselves every year on that day in lakes or ponds; thereby to keep a memorial of our Saviour’s baptism in Jordan. This is (as Tyndal was wont to say of a like matter) to pass by the provision, and lick the sign post.

Went up straightway out of the water ] And stood upon the shore, apart from the company, that all might see and hear what was now to be done. St Luke addeth, Luk 3:21 that he fell there upon his knees and prayed; thereby teaching us, with what deep devotion we are to receive the sacraments, which are given us of God to signify, as by sign; to assure, as by seal; and to convey, as by instrument, Jesus Christ and all his benefits. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are there one in covenanting and working thy salvation. Stir up thyself therefore to hope and faith at the sacrament: speak to thy faith, as Deborah did to herself, Jdg 5:12 ; “Awake, awake, Deborah, utter a song:” give glory to God, lay claim to the covenant: lean on Christ’s bosom at that supper, and bethink thyself, with Esther at the feast, what suit thou hast to commence, what Haman to hang up, what lust to subdue, what grace (chiefly) to get growth in, &c. But for most communicants, urge them to prayer before, in, and after sacrament, and they must say (if they say truly), as David did of Saul’s armour, I cannot go with these, for I have not been accustomed to them, 1Sa 17:39 .

And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him ] As he was praying; for prayer is the key of heaven, wherewith we may take out of God’s treasury plentiful mercy for ourselves and others. He cannot possibly be poor that can pray,Rom 10:12Rom 10:12 . One said of the Pope, that he could never want money so long as he could hold a pen in his hand: of the faithful Christian it may safely be affirmed, he cannot want any good thing while he can call to God for it. If he can find a praying heart, God will find a pitying heart and a supplying hand. Now he is worthily miserable that will not make himself happy by asking. The ark and the mercy seat were never separated. God never said to Israel, “Seek ye me in vain,” Isa 45:19 . The hand of faith never knocked at heaven’s gates, but they were opened, and the Spirit descended, though not so visibly as here at the baptism of our Saviour, nor a voice heard so audibly from heaven as then, yet as truly and effectually to the support of the poor suppliant: who while he prayeth in the Holy Ghost, Jdg 1:20 , receiveth new supplies of the Spirit, , Phi 1:19 ; Eph 4:16 and is sweetly, but secretly, sealed up thereby to the day of redemption.

And he saw the Spirit of God descending ] From the Father (who spake from the most excellent glory, 2Pe 1:17 ) upon the Son, who stood upon the shore, so that here was concilium augustissimum, a most majestical meeting of the three persons in Trinity, about the work of man’s redemption, as once about his creation: Gen 1:26 ; “Let us make man.” The Hebrews interpret it, “I and my judgment hall;” by which phrase the Trinity of old was implied. For a judgment hall in Israel consisted of three at least; which, in their close manner of speech, they applied to God, but their posterity understood it not. And as in the matter of man’s creation and redemption, so likewise of his sanctification, remarkable is that of the apostle, 1Co 12:4-7 , where the diversities of gifts are said to be of the Spirit; the diversities of ministries (whereby these gifts are administered) of the Lord, that is, of Christ; and the diversities of operations (effected by the gifts and ministries) to be of God the Father.

Like a dove, and lighting upon him ] This was shadowed of old, by Noah’s dove lighting upon the ark; and serveth to denote Christ’s innocence, purity, love to his little ones, , saith Aristotle; a and another thus:-

” Felle columba caret, rostro non caedit, et ungues

Possidet innocuos puraque grana legit. “

That was more than ridiculous, nay, it was blasphemous, that those pilgrims that went to Jerusalem to fight in the Holy War (as they called it) did carry a goose before them, pretending it to be the Holy Ghost. These were drunk with the wine of the whore of Babylon’s abominations; and not filled with the Spirit, as St Stephen was, and Barnabas, and others of old; as of late, among many, that famous Beza, de quo collegae saepe dicebant, eum sine felle vivere. And himself reports of himself and his colleagues, in an epistle to Calvin, that, disputing with a Spanish Jesuit about the Eucharist, “the Jesuit” (saith he) “called us vulpes, et simias, et serpentes (foxes, apes, serpents). My answer was this, Non magis nos credere, quam transubstantiationem.” To not greatly believe us than transubstantiation. So that angel John Bradford (as one calleth him), when he reasoned with Alphonsus a Castro; the friar was in a wonderful rage, and spake so high that the whole house rang again, chafing with om and cho, saith Mr Fox. But Bradford answered him with meekness of wisdom, and, like the waters of Shiloah at the foot of Sion, ran softly, Isa 8:6 . He had been baptized with that Holy Ghost that descended upon our Saviour, who received not the Spirit by measure, but had a fulness, not of abundance only, but also of redundance, Joh 1:14 .

a , , . Herdfield.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

16. ] On this account I would make the following remarks. (1) The appearance and voice seem to have been manifested to our Lord and the Baptist only . They may have been alone at the time: or, if not, we have an instance in Act 9:7 , of such an appearance being confined to one person, while the others present were unconscious of it. We can hardly however, with some of the Fathers, say, that it was , or , , Theod. Mopsuest [25] , or ‘Aperiuntur cli non reseratione elementorum, sed spiritualibus oculis, quibus et Ezechiel in principio voluminis sui apertos eos esse commemorat.’ Jerome in loc. (2) The Holy Spirit descended not only in the manner of a dove, but ( [26] 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. All the modern explanations of the . as importing the manner of coming down, belong, as Meyer has rightly remarked, to the vain rationalistic attempt to reduce down that which is miraculous. 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.

[25] Mopsuest. Theodore, Bp. of Mopsuestia, 399 428

[26] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25 , the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified , thus, ‘ Mk.,’ or ‘ Mt. Mk.,’ &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others .

belongs to , not to ., nor to . It is the first member of the conjunctive clause of which is the second as we say, the moment that Jesus was gone up out of the water, behold. (3) Two circumstances may be noticed respecting the manner of the descent of the Spirit: ( ) it was, as a dove: the Spirit as manifested in our Lord was gentle and benign . Lord Bacon (Meditationes Sacr, cited in Trench on the Miracles, p. 37) remarks: “Moses edidit miracula, et profligavit gyptios pestibus multis: Elias edidit, et occlusit clum ne plueret super terram: Elisus edidit, et evocavit ursas de deserto qu laniarent impuberes: Petrus Ananiam sacrilegum hypocritam morte, Paulus Elymam magum ccitate percussit: sed nihil hujusmodi fecit Jesus. Descendit super eum Spiritus in forma columb, de quo dixit, Nescitis cujus Spiritus sitis. Spiritus Jesu, spiritus columbinus: fuerunt illi servi Dei tanquam boves Dei triturantes granum, et conculcantes paleam: sed Jesus agnus Dei sine ira et judiciis.” On the history of this symbol for the Holy Spirit, see Lcke’s Comm. on John, vol. i. 425. ( ) This was not a sudden and temporary descent of the Spirit, but a permanent though special anointing of the Saviour for his holy office. It ‘ abode upon Him ,’ Joh 1:32 . And from this moment His ministry and mediatorial work (in the active official sense) begins. , the Spirit carries Him away to the wilderness: the day of His return thence (possibly; but see notes on Joh 1:29 ) John points Him out as the Lamb of God: then follows the calling of Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael, and the third day after is the first miracle at the marriage in Cana. But we must not imagine any change in the nature or person of our Lord to have taken place at his baptism. The anointing and crowning are but signs of the official assumption of the power which the king has by a right independent of, and higher than these. (4) The whole narrative is in remarkable parallelism with that of the Transfiguration. There we have our Lord supernaturally glorified in the presence of two great prophetic personages, Moses and Elias, who speak of His decease, on the journey to which He forthwith sets out (ch. Mat 17:22 , compared with Mat 19:1 ); and accompanied by the same testimony of the voice from heaven, uttering the same words, with an addition accordant with the truth then symbolized. (5) In connexion with apocryphal additions, the following are not without interest: , . . . Justin Martyr, Dial. 88, p. 185. The author of the tract ‘de Rebaptismate,’ among the works of Cyprian, blames the spurious book called ‘Petri Prdicatio,’ for relating, among other things, of Christ, “cum baptizaretur, ignem super aquam esse visum, quod in evangelio nullo est scriptum.” (ch. 9) The Ebionite gospel, according to Epiphanius, Hr. xxx. 13, vol. i. p. 138, added, after , . . ; , . . , . , . Jerome gives the following opening of the narrative from the gospel according to the Hebrews: “Ecce mater domini et fratres ejus dicebant ei Joannes baptista baptizat in remissionem peccatorum: eamus et baptizemur ab eo. Dixit autem eis Quid peccavi ut vadam et baptizer ab eo? nisi forte hoc ipsum quod dixi ignorantia est.”

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 3:16-17 . The preternatural accompaniments . These have been variously viewed as meant for the people, for the Baptist, and for Jesus. In my judgment they concern Jesus principally and in the first place, and are so viewed by the evangelist. And as we are now making the acquaintance of Jesus for the first time, and desiring to know the spirit, manner, and vocation of Him whose mysterious birth has occupied our attention, we may confine our comments to this aspect. Applying the principle that to all objective supernatural experiences there are subjective psychological experiences corresponding, we can learn from the dove-like vision and the voice from heaven the thoughts which had been passing through the mind of Jesus at this critical period. These thoughts it most concerns us to know; yet it is just these thoughts that both believers and naturalistic unbelievers are in danger of overlooking; the one through regarding the objective occurrences as alone important, the other because, denying the objective element in the experience, they rush to the conclusion that there was no experience at all. Whereas the truth is that, whatever is to be said as to the objective element, the subjective at all events is real: the thoughts reflected and symbolised in the vision and the voice.

Mat 3:16 . may be connected with , with , or with in the following clause by a hyperbaton (Grotius). It is commonly and correctly taken along with . But why say straightway ascended? Euthy. gives an answer which may be quoted for its quaintness: “They say that John had the people under water up to the neck till they had confessed their sins, and that Jesus having none to confess tarried not in the river”. Fritzsche laughs at the good monk, but Schanz substantially adopts his view. There might be worse explanations. , etc. When Jesus ascended out of the water the heavens opened and He (Jesus) saw the spirit of God descending as a dove coming upon Him. According to many interpreters, including many of the Fathers, the occurrence was of the nature of a vision, the appearance of a dove coming out of the heavens. , Chrys. Dove-like: what was the point of comparison? Swift movement, according to some; soft gentle movement as it sinks down on its place of rest, according to others. The Fathers insisted on the qualities of the dove. Euthy. sums up these thus: , . , . Whether the dove possesses all these qualities philanthropy, patient endurance of wrong, letting approach it those who have robbed it of its young, purity, delight in sweet smells I know not; but I appreciate the insight into the spirit of Christ which specifying such particulars in the emblematic significance of the dove implies. What is the O. T. basis of the symbol? Probably Gen 8:9-10 . Grotius hints at this without altogether adopting the view. Thus we obtain a contrast between John’s conception of the spirit and that of Jesus as reflected in the vision. For John the emblem of the spirit was the stormy wind of judgment; for Jesus the dove with the olive leaf after the judgment by water was past.

Mat 3:17 . : “this is,” as if addressed to the Baptist; in Mar 1:9 , , as if addressed to Jesus. .: a Hebraism,: . , aorist, either to express habitual satisfaction, after the manner of the Gnomic Aorist ( vide Hermann’s Viger , p. 169), or to denote the inner event = my good pleasure decided itself once for all for Him. So Schanz; cf. Winer, 40, 5, on the use of the aorist. , according to Sturz, De Dialecto Macedonica et Alexandrina , is not Attic but Hellenistic. The voice recalls and in some measure echoes Isa 42:1 , “Behold My servant, I uphold Him; My chosen one, My soul delights in Him. I have put My spirit upon Him.” The title “Son” recalls Psa 2:7 . Taking the vision, the voice, and the baptism together as interpreting the consciousness of Jesus before and at this time, the following inferences are suggested. (1) The mind of Jesus had been exercised in thought upon the Messianic vocation in relation to His own future. (2) The chief Messianic charism appeared to Him to be sympathy, love. (3) His religious attitude towards God was that of a Son towards a Father. (4) It was through the sense of sonship and the intense love to men that was in His heart that He discovered His Messianic vocation. (5) Prophetic texts gave direction to and supplied means of expression for His religious meditations. His mind, like that of John, was full of prophetic utterances, but a different class of oracles had attractions for Him. The spirit of John revelled in images of awe and terror. The gentler spirit of Jesus delighted in words depicting the ideal servant of God as clothed with meekness, patience, wisdom, and love.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

out of = away from. Greek. apo. App-104.

from. Greek. apo.

lo. Figure of speech Asterismos (App-6), for emphasis.

He saw: i.e. the Lord saw.

the Spirit of God. Note the Articles, and see App-101.

God. See App-98.

like = as if. Greek. hosei = sis it were (not homoios = resembling in form or appearance): referring to the descent, not to bodily form as in Mar 1:10. In Luk 3:22 hosei may still be connected with the manner of descent, the bodily form referring to the Spirit.

dove. See note on “fire”, Mat 3:11.

lighting = coming.

upon. Greek. epi. App-104.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

16. ] On this account I would make the following remarks. (1) The appearance and voice seem to have been manifested to our Lord and the Baptist only. They may have been alone at the time: or, if not, we have an instance in Act 9:7, of such an appearance being confined to one person, while the others present were unconscious of it. We can hardly however, with some of the Fathers, say, that it was ,-or , , Theod. Mopsuest[25],-or Aperiuntur cli non reseratione elementorum, sed spiritualibus oculis, quibus et Ezechiel in principio voluminis sui apertos eos esse commemorat. Jerome in loc. (2) The Holy Spirit descended not only in the manner of a dove, but ([26] 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. All the modern explanations of the . as importing the manner of coming down, belong, as Meyer has rightly remarked, to the vain rationalistic attempt to reduce down that which is miraculous. 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.

[25] Mopsuest. Theodore, Bp. of Mopsuestia, 399-428

[26] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25, the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified, thus, Mk., or Mt. Mk., &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others.

belongs to , not to ., nor to . It is the first member of the conjunctive clause of which is the second-as we say, the moment that Jesus was gone up out of the water, behold. (3) Two circumstances may be noticed respecting the manner of the descent of the Spirit: () it was, as a dove:-the Spirit as manifested in our Lord was gentle and benign. Lord Bacon (Meditationes Sacr, cited in Trench on the Miracles, p. 37) remarks:-Moses edidit miracula, et profligavit gyptios pestibus multis: Elias edidit, et occlusit clum ne plueret super terram: Elisus edidit, et evocavit ursas de deserto qu laniarent impuberes: Petrus Ananiam sacrilegum hypocritam morte, Paulus Elymam magum ccitate percussit: sed nihil hujusmodi fecit Jesus. Descendit super eum Spiritus in forma columb, de quo dixit, Nescitis cujus Spiritus sitis. Spiritus Jesu, spiritus columbinus: fuerunt illi servi Dei tanquam boves Dei triturantes granum, et conculcantes paleam: sed Jesus agnus Dei sine ira et judiciis. On the history of this symbol for the Holy Spirit, see Lckes Comm. on John, vol. i. 425. () This was not a sudden and temporary descent of the Spirit, but a permanent though special anointing of the Saviour for his holy office. It abode upon Him, Joh 1:32. And from this moment His ministry and mediatorial work (in the active official sense) begins. , the Spirit carries Him away to the wilderness: the day of His return thence (possibly; but see notes on Joh 1:29) John points Him out as the Lamb of God: then follows the calling of Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael, and the third day after is the first miracle at the marriage in Cana. But we must not imagine any change in the nature or person of our Lord to have taken place at his baptism. The anointing and crowning are but signs of the official assumption of the power which the king has by a right independent of, and higher than these. (4) The whole narrative is in remarkable parallelism with that of the Transfiguration. There we have our Lord supernaturally glorified in the presence of two great prophetic personages, Moses and Elias, who speak of His decease,-on the journey to which He forthwith sets out (ch. Mat 17:22, compared with Mat 19:1); and accompanied by the same testimony of the voice from heaven, uttering the same words, with an addition accordant with the truth then symbolized. (5) In connexion with apocryphal additions, the following are not without interest: , … Justin Martyr, Dial. 88, p. 185. The author of the tract de Rebaptismate, among the works of Cyprian, blames the spurious book called Petri Prdicatio, for relating, among other things, of Christ, cum baptizaretur, ignem super aquam esse visum, quod in evangelio nullo est scriptum. (ch. 9) The Ebionite gospel, according to Epiphanius, Hr. xxx. 13, vol. i. p. 138, added, after ,- . . ; , . . , . , . Jerome gives the following opening of the narrative from the gospel according to the Hebrews: Ecce mater domini et fratres ejus dicebant ei Joannes baptista baptizat in remissionem peccatorum: eamus et baptizemur ab eo. Dixit autem eis Quid peccavi ut vadam et baptizer ab eo? nisi forte hoc ipsum quod dixi ignorantia est.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 3:16. , went up immediately) There was nothing to detain Him longer. Thus also He rose immediately from the dead.-, …, lo, etc.) A novel and great occurrence.-, to Him) This implies far more than if the Evangelist had said above Him.- , the heavens) in the plural number.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Jesus

For the first time the Trinity, foreshadowed in many ways in the O.T., is fully manifested. The Spirit descends upon the Son, and at the same moment the Father’s voice is heard from heaven.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

Jesus: Mar 1:10

lo: Eze 1:1, Luk 3:21, Act 7:56

and he: Isa 11:2, Isa 42:1, Isa 59:21, Isa 61:1, Luk 3:22, Joh 1:31-34, Joh 3:34, Col 1:18, Col 1:19

Reciprocal: Exo 40:9 – the anointing oil Exo 40:12 – General Lev 5:7 – two turtledoves Son 2:14 – my dove Mat 12:18 – I will Mat 28:19 – the name Luk 4:1 – full Joh 1:32 – I saw Joh 1:51 – Hereafter Act 1:2 – through Act 8:39 – were 1Ti 3:16 – justified 1Jo 5:7 – The Father 1Jo 5:9 – for Rev 4:1 – a door

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE VOICE OF THE SPIRIT

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 3:16-17

I. Why did Christ need this manifestation of the Spirit?

(a) That witness might be borne to His Sonship. It was to assure, not Himself indeed, but others, of His Sonship. Though He needed no assurance of His Sonship, there are many of Gods children who do.

(b) To equip Him for conflict. 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? (St. Mat 4:1). Never let us forget that it is after the choicest seasons of Divine blessing that we may except the fiercest onslaughts of Satanic rage.

(c) To anoint Him for service. This was the opening of Christs missionary career. Up to this time He had lived a life of obscurity in Nazareth. If Christ needed this anointing, how much more must you and I need it also? How can we expect our service to succeed without it.

(d) To strengthen Him for suffering. His life henceforth was to be a living martyrdom. Suffering was to be His lot, and suffering is the portion still of those who are to be followers of the Lamb that was slain. We want strength to suffer, and we shall never get it except through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost.

II. The manner of this wonderful baptism of the Spirit.How did the Holy Spirit descend upon Christ? As a dove

(a) Swiftly; (b) sensibly; (c) symbolically.

The dove speaks to us of heavenly-mindedness and purity and peace.

III. The conditions of the reception of the Holy Spirit.They are found in the circumstances in which Christ received the Spirit.

(a) He received the Holy Ghost at a time of uttermost obedience. The first condition is obedience (see Act 5:32).

(b) It was a time of deepest humiliation. He went down among the common people (St. Luk 3:21). Have you thought what Christs baptism meant for Him? We know that this man is a sinner (St. Joh 9:24). How did they know? Because He had submitted to the baptism of John. Christ lost His reputation at Jordan. Have we ever followed Christ so far? Have we been willing to lose our reputation for His sake, perhaps never regaining it entirely?

(c) It was at a time of prayer that Christ received the Spirit (St. Luk 3:21). Christ was praying. And yet some actually tell us that we must not pray for the Holy Spirit to come down! Prayer is the condition of receiving the Spirit.

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.

The Rev. E. W. Moore.

Illustration

Rowland Hill on one occasion found himself in the company of some professedly Christian officials of the church where he had been preaching, when the conversation turned upon amusements. One of those present advocated theatre-going as a suitable amusement for Christian people. Mr. Hill expressed some surprise, and the speaker, perceiving that his views were not acceptable, attempted to modify them by saying, Oh, well, Mr. Hill, I only go now and then for a treat. Indeed, replied Mr. Hill, I know what kind of bird that is that feeds on carrion for a treat! Is it not sad to see how eyen Christian people can come to God for salvation and go somewhere else for pleasure?

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

3:16

If Jesus went up out of the water it was necessary that lie go down into it, and that would agree with the definition of “baptize” as given at verse 6. The heavens were opened unto hint and he saw the Spirit in the form of a dove. This together with Joh 1:32-34 indicates that Jesus and John were the only witnesses of this remarkable event. It was fitting that John be permitted to see it since that was the sign the Lord had given him by which he was to recognize the One for whom all this preparatory work was being done.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

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 Jesus being baptized.] I. That Christ conversed upon earth two-and-thirty years and a half (as many years as David lived at Jerusalem; compare 2Sa 5:5), is proved hence: — 1. That he was baptized when he had now completed his twenty-ninth year, and had newly begun his thirtieth. That the words of Luke imply, He began to be about thirty years old. Which words, although they are applied by some Christians to I know not what large latitude, — yet in the Jewish schools, and among that nation, they would not admit, certainly, of another sense than we produce. For there this axiom holds, The first day of the year is reckoned for that year. And, questionless, Luke speaks with the vulgar. For let it be supposed that the evangelist uttered these words in some Jewish school, “N. was baptized beginning to be about thirty years old”: how could it be understood by them of the thirtieth complete (much less of the thirty-first, or thirty-second, as some wrest it)? When the words beginning to be about; do so harmoniously agree with the said axiom, as scarcely any thing can do more clearly. 2. That, from his baptism to his cross, he lived three years and a half. This is intimated by the angel Gabriel, Dan 9:27; “In the half of a week” (that is, in three years and a half) “he shall make the sacrifice and oblation to cease”; and it is confirmed from the computation in the evangelists, but especially in John, who clearly mentioneth four Passovers (Joh 2:13; Joh 5:1; Joh 6:4; and Joh 13:1) after his forty days’ fast, and not a little time spent in Galilee.

II. Therefore, we suppose Christ was baptized about the feast of Tabernacles, in the month Tisri, at which time we suppose him born; and that John was born about the feast of the Passover, and at that time began to baptize. For when Christ lived two-and-thirty years and a half, and died at the feast of the Passover, you must necessarily reduce his birth to the month Tisri, and about the time of the feast of Tabernacles: and when John the Baptist was elder than he by half a year, you must necessarily suppose him born about the feast of the Passover. But of these things we have said something already.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Mat 3:16. From the water. Mark: out of. They probably stood in the water, but as both accounts do not so assert, this is not the essential fact.

And lo, the heavens were opened. How, cannot be explained. Doubtless some miraculous appearance in the sky. Lange even suggests that the stars appeared. Heaven, which was closed by the first Adam, is opened again over the second.

Unto him and he saw, i.e., Jesus; though John also saw it (Joh 1:33). The two statements are not contradictory, but point to a real appearance, seen by both the persons who were concerned in this solemn inauguration. Unto Him may also mean for him, for his advantage.

The Spirit of God. Only a Person could be thus embodied.

Descending as a dove. Luke says, in a bodily form, as a dove. This statement, in which all four Evangelists agree, is to be understood literally. A temporary embodiment of the Holy Spirit occurred to publicly inaugurate our Lord as the Messiah. The accidental, or even Providential, appearance of a real dove would not call for such marked mention in all four Gospels. The dove symbolizes perfect gentleness, purity, fulness of life and the power of communicating it.

Coming upon him. John (Joh 1:32) says: it abode upon Him; the outward sign was temporary, the anointing was permanent. His active ministry now begins.

The baptism with the Holy Ghost of One conceived by the Holy Ghost, is a Divine mystery. In one light it was but the outward sign of that which was His already. At the same time our Lord had a human development (comp. Luk 2:40; Luk 2:52; Heb 5:8). It may aid us in apprehending the fact that the Son of God became a real man, to regard this event as marking the age of maturity; the attainment of the full consciousness of his nature and mission as the God-Man and Saviour. The time had come for Him to begin His official work, that time was marked by the visible sign of the Holy Ghost, here -spoken of; the Divine Spirit now entered into some new relation with the Incarnate Son, with respect to the work of salvation, and the God-Man received some internal anointing for His work corresponding to the outward sign.

Mat 3:17. And lo, a voice out of the heavens. Heard by all who stood by, as on the mount of transfiguration (chap. Mat 17:5).

This is. A declaration to John that this is the Messiah. Matthew, who pays special attention to the proof of the Messiahship of Jesus, probably gives the exact language; Mark and Luke give the substance: Thou art.

My beloved Son, lit, My Son the beloved! Used in a unique sense. No one else was or could be a Son, or Beloved, as this Person was. The Divine nature and eternal Sonship of Christ are obviously implied.

In whom. This clause is taken from Isa 42:1. See the direct quotation in chap. 12, 18.

I was well pleased. The clause might be paraphrased: On whom I fixed my delight. This means perfect complacency. The original indicates a past time, not a continued state. The latter sense is a possible one, declaring the eternal good pleasure of the Father in the Son, but this would be only a repetition of the previous declaration. The more grammatical sense points to the complacency of the Father in the Son, when He assumed the office of Mediator (comp. Eph 1:4; Joh 17:24). Hence the reference is to the past, not to the time of his baptism. His preexistence is implied, and the meaning is peculiarly appropriate in the circumstances. The Godhead eternally existing as Trinity was manifested, as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to us and for us in this occurrence, as throughout the economy of redemption. The revelation of the Trinity at the baptism of Jesus gives special significance to the formula of baptism: in (or into) the name of the Father, etc. By this attestation to his Sonship and Messiahship, Jesus was anointed as Prophet, Priest, and King. That such an occasion should involve miraculous events was to be expected. The supernatural becomes the natural in the life of a Divine human Person.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Here we have the solemn inauguration of Christ into his prophetic office, accompanied with a threefold miracle.

1. The opening of the heavens.

2. The descent of the Holy Ghost upon him, like as a dove descends.

3. God the Father’s voice concerning his son.

The heavens were opened to shew that heaven, which was closed and shut against us for our sins, is now opened to us, by Christ’s undertaking for us. As the first Adam shuts us out of heaven, the second Adam lets us into it; he opened heaven, to us by his meritorious passion, and he keeps it open by his prevailing intercession.

Next, the Holy Ghost descends like a dove upon our Savior: here we have an evidence of the blessed Trinity; the Father speaks from Heaven, the Son comes out of the water,

Hence we gather, That the Holy Ghost is not a quality, or an operation, but a person, and a person really distinct from the Father and the Son.

But why did the Holy Spirit now descend upon Christ, seeing he was mow truly and really God?

Answer The divinity of Christ was quiescent in him, till he entered upon his prophetic office at thirty years old, and after.

And the Holy Ghost now descends, first, for the designation of his person, to shew that Christ was the person set apart for the work and office of a mediator.

Secondly, For the qualification of his person for the performance of his office. This was Christ’s unction, Isa 61:1 when he was anointed above his fellows, to be the king, priest and, prophet of his church.

Last of all, We have the audible voice of God the Father pronouncing,

1. The nearness of Christ’s relation to himself, This is my Son, not by adoption, but by eternal generation.

2. The endearedness of his person, This is my beloved Son.

3. The fruit and benefit of this near and dear relation unto us; In him I am well pleased.

Note, 1. That there is no possibility for any person to please God out of Christ; both our persons and our performances find acceptance only for his sake.

2. That in and through Christ, God is well pleased with all believers: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, &c.

Lord! what revivng news is this to thy church, to hear that her head and husband, her surety, mediator, and intercessor, is that only Son of God in whom his soul is delighted and ever well pleased! That Son who always pleased thee, and by and through whom thou art well pleased with, and reconciled to, thy offending creatures!

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 3:16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, &c. Hereby he was, 1st, installed into his ministerial office, as the priests were by washing, Exo 29:4; Lev 8:6; Leviticus 2 d, engaged solemnly in the same military work with us against sin and Satan; 3d, admitted a member of the gospel Church, as he was before of the Jewish, by circumcision; 4th, he was baptized as a public person, the Head of his Church, in whom, and by virtue of whose baptism, all his members are baptized spiritually, Rom 6:4; Col 2:12. Went up straightway out of the water Or, as the original, , rather signifies, ascended from the water, namely, went up from the banks of Jordan. The heavens were opened unto him For his sake, appearing as if they had been rent asunder directly over his head. It is probable they might resemble that opening of the heavens which we often see in a time of great lightning, when the sky seems to divide, to make the fuller and clearer way for the lightning: although, doubtless, this was much more striking and glorious. And he saw Christ himself saw, and also John the Baptist, as appears by Joh 1:33-34; and by this he was further confirmed that this was the very Christ: the Spirit of God descending like a dove Not only in a hovering, dove-like motion, but, it seems, with a bright flame, in the shape of a dove, for St. Luke says, Luk 3:22, , , in a bodily shape, as a dove. See also Joh 1:32. The Holy Spirit descended upon him in this form to signify what Christ Isaiah , 1 st, in his own nature to them that come to him, meek and loving; 2d, in the execution of his office, reconciling us to the Father, and bringing us good tidings of peace and reconciliation, as the dove brought Noah tidings of the deluge being assuaged; 3d, in the operations of his Spirit upon his people, whereby they are made meek, lowly, and harmless as doves. And lighting upon him As a visible token of a new degree of the Holy Ghosts operation in Christ, now at his entrance upon his public employment, even of that Spirit by which, according to the intimations God had given in his word, he was anointed in a peculiar manner, and abundantly fitted for his public work. Psa 45:7; Isa 61:1. And thus was Christ installed into his ministerial function, both by baptism and the unction of the Holy Ghost, as the priests of old were by washing and anointing.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 16

Like a dove. But why in this form? The Scripture use of this emblem will be our best guide here. “My dove, my undefiled, is one,” says the Song (Song of Solomon 6:9). This is chaste purity. Again, Be ye harmless as doves,” says Christ himself (Matthew 10:16). Further, when we read the Song (Song of Solomon 2:14) “O my dove that art in the clefts of the rocks in the secret places of the stairs (see Isaiah 60:8), let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely,”–it is shrinking modesty, meekness gentleness, that is thus charmingly depicted. In a word, when we read (Psalms 68:13), “Ye shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold,” it is beauteousness that is thus held forth. And was not such that “Holy, harmless, undefiled One,” the “Separate from sinners”? And when with John 1:32-34 we compare the predicted descent of the Spirit upon Messiah (Isaiah 11:2), “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,” we cannot doubt that it was this permanent and perfect resting of the Holy Ghost upon the Son of God–now and thenceforward in his official capacity–that was here visibly manifested.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto {o} him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

(o) To John.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The Greek text stresses the fact that Jesus’ departure from the water and God’s attestation of Him as the Messiah occurred at the same time. The NIV translation gives this sense better than the NASB.

The person who saw the Spirit descending was evidently Jesus. Jesus is the person in the immediately preceding context. John the Evangelist recorded that John the Baptist also saw this (Joh 1:32), but evidently no one but Jesus heard the Father’s voice. In fact the baptism of Jesus appears to have been a private affair with no one present but John and Jesus. The phrase "the heavens were opened" or "heaven was opened" recalls instances of people receiving visions from God. In them they saw things unseen by other mortals (e.g., Isa 64:1; Eze 1:1; cf. Act 7:56; Rev 4:1; Rev 19:11). The phrase implies that new revelation will follow to and through Jesus. What Jesus saw was the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, not in a dove-like fashion, descending on Him (cf. Luk 3:22). This is the first explicit identification of the Holy Spirit and a dove in Scripture. It was an appropriate symbol because of its beauty, heavenly origin, freedom, sensitivity, purity, and peaceful nature.

"The descent of the Spirit upon Jesus denotes the divine act whereby God empowers him to accomplish the messianic ministry he is shortly to begin (Mat 4:17). Such empowerment, of course, is not to be construed as Jesus’ initial endowment with the Spirit, for he was conceived by the Spirit. Instead, it specifies in what way Jesus proves to be the mightier One John had said he would be (Mat 3:11). It also serves as the reference point for understanding the ’authority’ with which Jesus discharges his public ministry. Empowered by God’s Spirit, Jesus speaks as the mouthpiece of God (Mat 7:28-29) and acts as the instrument of God (Mat 12:28)." [Note: Kingsbury, p. 52.]

In Isa 42:1 the prophet predicted that God would put His Spirit on His Servant. That happened at Jesus’ baptism. Matthew’s account shows fulfillment though the writer did not draw attention to it as such here. When God’s Spirit came on individuals in the Old Testament, He empowered them for divine service. That was the purpose of Jesus’ anointing as well (Luk 4:14; Luk 5:17; cf. Luk 24:49).

An audible revelation followed the visual one (Mat 3:17). The voice from heaven could be none other than God’s. After 400 years without prophetic revelation, God broke the silence. He spoke from heaven to humankind again. Matthew recorded God’s words as a general announcement (cf. Mat 17:5). The other evangelists wrote that God said, "You are my beloved Son" (Mar 1:11; Luk 3:22). Evidently the accounts in Mark and Luke contain the actual words God used, the ipisissima verba, whereas Matthew gave a free quotation of God’s words, the ipisissima vox. These Latin terms mean essentially "own words" and "own voice" respectively. As used in New Testament studies, the former phrase indicates a verbatim quotation and the latter a free quotation. The former refers to the words the speaker in the narrative used and the latter to the words of the writer who interpreted the speaker’s words. Matthew probably gave a free quotation because he used what happened at Jesus’ baptism as evidence of His messiahship.

"Had the crowds heard the voice from heaven, it is inexplicable why one segment of the public does not at least entertain the idea that Jesus is the Son of God. And had John heard the voice from heaven, it is odd that his question of Mat 11:2-3 contains no hint of this. On the contrary, it reflects the selfsame view of Jesus that John had expressed prior to the baptism, namely, that Jesus is the Coming One (Mat 3:11-12)." [Note: Ibid., p. 51.]

The words God spoke identified Jesus as the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. The term "Son of God" was one that God used of David’s descendant who would follow him on Israel’s throne (2Sa 7:13-14; Psa 2:7; Psa 89:26-29; cf. Mat 1:20; Mat 2:15; Mat 4:3; Mat 4:6). God’s commendation also linked Jesus with the Suffering Servant at the commencement of His ministry (Isa 42:1; Isaiah 53). The Beloved One is equivalent to the One with whom the Father was "well pleased" (Isa 42:1). Gen 22:2 may also be behind this announcement since that verse describes Isaac as Abraham’s beloved only son (cf. Psa 2:7; Isa 42:1). Consequently, Son of God is a messianic title. [Note: Allen, p. 29.] Notice the involvement of all three members of the Trinity in Jesus’ baptism. This indicates its importance.

"For the first time the Trinity, foreshadowed in many ways in the O.T., is clearly manifested." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., p. 995.]

In this one statement at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, God presented Him as the Davidic Messiah, the Son of God, the representative of the people, and the Suffering Servant. Matthew had presented Jesus in all of these roles previously, but now God the Father confirmed His identity.

". . . God’s baptismal declaration at Mat 3:17 reveals itself to be climactic within the context of Mat 1:1 to Mat 4:16 because this is the place where God’s understanding of Jesus as his Son ceases to be of the nature of private information available only to the reader and becomes instead an element within the story that henceforth influences the shape of events. To illustrate this, notice how the words Satan speaks in Mat 4:3; Mat 4:6 (’If you are the Son of God . . .’) pick up directly on the declaration God makes in the baptismal pericope (’This is my beloved Son . . .’)." [Note: Kingsbury, p. 44, and footnote 2.]

"Because Matthew so constructs his story that God’s evaluative point of view is normative, the reader knows that in hearing God enunciate his understanding of Jesus, he or she has heard the normative understanding of Jesus, the one in terms of which all other understandings are to be judged. In Matthew’s story, God himself dictates that Jesus is preeminently the Son of God." [Note: Ibid., p. 52.]

"He did not become Son of God at His baptism, as certain heretical teachers in the early Church maintained; but it was then that He was appointed to a work which He alone could perform, because of His unique relationship with His Father." [Note: Tasker, p. 50.]

Matthew passed over all the incidents of Jesus’ childhood, including His appearance at the temple (Luk 2:41-50), because his interests were selective and apologetic rather than merely historical. He introduced Jesus as the messianic King of Israel who fulfilled Old Testament prophecy and received divine confirmation from God with an audible word from heaven (cf. Exo 20:1). [Note: See S. Lewis Johnson Jr., "The Baptism of Christ," Bibliotheca Sacra 123:491 (July-September 1966):220-29.]

In chapter 1 Matthew stressed the glories of Messiah’s person. In chapter 2 he gave a preview of the reception He would receive as Israel’s Messiah. In chapter 3 he introduced the beginning of His ministry with accounts of His earthly forerunner’s heralding and His heavenly Father’s approbation.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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