XVIII.
Jesus Baptized by John in the Jordan.
(Jordan East of Jericho, Spring of
a.d. 27.)
A Matt. III. 13–17; B Mark I. 9–11;
C Luke III. 21–23.
b 9 And { a 13 Then}
b it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came {
a cometh} b from Nazareth of Galilee,
a to the Jordan [Tradition fixes upon a ford of Jordan
east of Jericho as the place where Jesus was baptized. It is the same section
of the river which opened for the passage of Israel under Joshua, and later for
Elijah and Elisha. This ford is seventy or eighty miles from Nazareth] unto
John, to be baptized of him [He set out from Nazareth, intending to be
baptized. Such was his intention before he heard John preach, and he was
therefore not persuaded to do it by the preaching. His righteousness was not
the result of human persuasion.] b and was baptized of John
in [Greek “into.” The body of Jesus was immersed or plunged
into the river] 14; a But John would have hindered
him [It seemed to John too great an honor for him to baptize Jesus, and too
great a humiliation for Jesus to be baptized. There is some dispute as to how
John came to know this righteousness of Christ, which prompted his protest. The
one natural explanation is, that the intimacy of the two families indicated at
the beginning of Luke's account had been kept up, and John knew the history of
his kinsman], saying, I have need to be baptized of thee [those
are most fit to administer an ordinance who have themselves deeply experienced
the need
83of it], and comest thou to me? [John felt
that he needed Jesus' baptism, but could not think that Jesus needed his. The
words “I,” “thee,” “thou,” and
“me,” show that John contrasted the baptizers as well as the
baptisms. As a human being he marveled that the Son of God should come to him
to be immersed. The comings of Jesus and the purposes for which he comes are
still the greatest marvels which confront the minds of men. Moreover, it should
be noted that this protest of John's needed to be made, for it saved Jesus from
being baptized without explanation, as if he were a sinner. Baptism without
such explanation might have compromised our Lord's claim as the sinless one.]
15 But Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer
it now [Permit me for this moment to appear as your
inferior. The future will make plain and clear the difference between us, both
as to our missions and our natures. The words show a Messianic consciousness on
the part of Jesus]: for thus it becometh us [Some take the word
“us” as referring to Jesus and John, but the clause “to
fulfil all righteousness” shows that “us” refers to Jesus,
and he uses the plural to show that it also becometh all of us] to fulfil
all righteousness [Jesus came not only to fulfill all the requirements of
the law, but also all that wider range of righteousness of which the law was
only a part. 1. Though John's baptism was no part of the Mosaic ritual, it was,
nevertheless, a precept of God, given by his prophet (John i. 33). Had Jesus neglected or refused to obey this
precept he would have lacked a portion of the full armor of righteousness, and
the Pharisees would have hastened to strike him at this loose joint of his
harness (Matt. xxi. 23–27). 2.
It was the divinely appointed method by which the Messiahship of Jesus was to
be revealed to the witness John (John i. 33,
34). We should note here that those who fail to obey God's ordinance
of baptism fail (1) to follow the example of Jesus in fulfilling the divine
will and precepts; (2) to obey one of the positive commands of almighty God
spoken by his own Son.] Then he suffereth him. [John's humility
84caused him to shrink from this duty, but did not make him willfully
persist in declining it. Humility ceases to be a virtue when it keeps us from
performing our allotted tasks.] c 21 Now it came to
pass, when all the people were baptized [This may mean that, on the day of
his baptism, Jesus was the last candidate, and hence his baptism was the most
conspicuous of all; but it more probably means that Jesus was baptized in the
midst of John's work—at the period when his baptism was in greatest
favor], that, Jesus also having been { a 16
And Jesus, when he was} c baptized, and praying [All
divine ordinances should be accompanied with prayer. Luke frequently notes the
times when Jesus prayed. Here, at the entrance of his ministry, he prayed, and
at the last moment of it he also prayed (Luke
xxiii. 46). In his highest exultation at the transfiguration
(Luke ix. 29), and in the lowest depths
of humiliation in Gethsemane (Luke xxii.
41), he prayed. He prayed for his apostles whom he chose (Luke vi. 12), and for his murderers by whom he was
rejected (Luke xxiii. 34). He prayed
before Peter confessed him (Luke ix. 18
), and also before Peter denied him—Luke
xxii. 32], b 10 And straightway
coming up out of { a went up straightway from}
b the water [the two prepositions, “out of”
and “from,” show that Jesus was not yet fully out of the river, and
that the vision and the voice were immediately associated with his baptism]
, a and lo, b he saw [The
statement that he saw the Spirit descending, which is also the language
of Matthew, has been taken by some as implying that the Spirit was invisible to
the multitude. But we know from John's narrative that it was also seen by John
the Baptist (John i. 33, 34), and if it
was visible to him and to Jesus, and it descended, as Luke affirms, in a bodily
shape like a dove (Luke iii. 22), it
would have required a miracle to hide it from the multitude. Moreover, the
object of the Spirit's visible appearance was to point Jesus out, not to
himself, but to others; and to point him out as the person concerning whom the
voice from heaven was uttered. No doubt, then, the Spirit was visible and
audible to all who
85were present 22] the heavens rent asunder [for],
a the heavens were { c heaven
was} a opened unto him [The heavens open at the
beginning of Jesus' ministry to honor him, and at the end of it to receive him.
Christ is the opener of heaven for all men], and he saw the Spirit of
God descending [the Spirit came upon Jesus to give him the miraculous power
which he afterward exerted—Luke iv.
14] as a dove [That is, like a dove. All four evangelists are
careful to inform us that it was not an actual dove], and coming upon
him; c 22 and the Holy Spirit descended in
a bodily form [Lightfoot suggests that the Spirit thus descended that he
might be revealed to be a personal substance and not merely an operation of the
Godhead, and might thus make a sensible demonstration as to his proper place in
the Trinity], as a dove [The descent of the Spirit upon Jesus was
in accordance with prophecy (Isa. xi. 2; xli.
1). The dove shape suggests purity, gentleness, peace, etc. Jesus
makes the dove a symbol of harmlessness (Matt. x.
15). In fact, the nature of this bird makes it a fit emblem of the
Spirit, for it comports well with the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. v. 22, 23). The nations of the earth emblazon
eagles upon their banners and lions upon their shields, but He who shall gather
all nations into his kingdom, appeared as a Lamb, and his Spirit appeared under
the symbol of a dove. Verily his kingdom is not of this world. It
86
is a kingdom of peace and love, not of bloodshed and ambition. Noah's dove bore
the olive branch, the symbol of peace, and the Holy Spirit manifested Jesus,
God's olive branch of peace sent into this world—Ps. lxxii. 7; Luke ii. 14; John xiv. 27; Eph. ii. 11–18
], upon him, a 17 and lo, a voice
c came a out of the heavens, {
c heaven} [Voices from heaven acknowledged the person of Christ
at his birth, his baptism, his transfiguration and during the concluding days
of his ministry. At his baptism Jesus was honored by the attestation of both
the Spirit and the Father. But the ordinance itself was honored by the sensible
manifestation of each several personality of the Deity—that the three
into whose name we ourselves are also baptized], a
saying, This is { b thou art} [The “this
is,” etc. of Matthew are probably the words as John the Baptist reported
them; the “thou art,” etc., of Mark and Luke are the words as Jesus
actually heard them. The testimony of the Father is in unreserved support of
the fundamental proposition of Christianity on which the church of Christ is
founded (Matt. xvi. 15–18). On
this point no witness in the universe was so well qualified to speak as the
Father, and no other fact was so well worthy the honor of being sanctioned by
his audible utterance as this. The testimony of Christ's life, of his works, of
the Baptist, and of the Scriptures might have been sufficient; but when the
Father himself speaks, who shall doubt the adequacy of the proof?]
a my beloved Son [See also Matt.
xvii. 5. The Father himself states that relationship of which the
apostle John so often spoke (John i. 1).
Adam was made (Gen. i. 26), but Jesus
was begotten (Ps. ii. 7). Both were sons
of God, but in far different senses. The baptism of Jesus bears many marked
relationships to our own: 1. At his baptism Jesus was manifested as the Son of
God. At our baptism we are likewise manifested as God's children, for we are
baptized into the name of the Father, and are thereby permitted to take upon
ourselves his name. 2. At his baptism Jesus was fully commissioned as the
Christ. Not anointed with material oil, but divinely consecrated and qualified
by the Spirit and accredited by the Father. At baptism we also
87
received the Spirit (John iii. 5; Acts ii. 38; xix.
1–6), who commissions and empowers us to Christian
ministry—Acts i. 8; I. John iii. 24
], in whom { c in thee} [Some make the
phrases “in whom” and “in thee” to mean more than
simply a declaration that God is pleased with Jesus. They see in it also
the statement that the Father will be pleased with all who are “in
Christ Jesus”—Eph. i. 6]
a I am well pleased [It is no slight condemnation to be
well pleasing to God (Job iv. 18). It
is the Christian's joy that his Saviour had this commendation of the Father at
the entrance upon his ministry.] c 23 And Jesus
himself, when he began to teach,
was about thirty years of age. [The age when a Levite entered upon God's
service (Num. iv. 3, 47); at which Joseph
stood before Pharaoh (Gen. xli. 46); at
which David began to reign (II. Sam. v. 4
). Canon Cook fixes the date of Christ's baptism in the spring A. U. C. 780.
Wiseler in the summer of that year, and Ellicott in the winter of that year.]
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