Bible Commentaries
Matthew 3

Verses 1-17

B. III 1-IV 11 The Messianic Prelude. III 1-12 Herald of the Messlas (Mark 1:2-8; Luke 3:1-18) —1-6. ’In those days’ (Mt’s vague formula is given precision in Luke 3:1) an ascetic who achieved fame and respect among his compatriots ( Jos., Ant.18, 5, 2; 21, 2, 6) inaugurated his penitential message in the mountainous, and district cast of the JerusalemHebron road. He demanded a change of heart (µeta??eîte) as the necessary disposition for receiving an imminent divine gift—’ the kingdom of the heavens’ (’of God’ throughout Mk & Lk, but Mt’s form is probably the Baptist’s and our Lord’s; cf. Lagrange 4,7). This realm and rule of God is the goal of Messianic prophecy (cf. §67d). John preached penance preparatory to the kingdom because he was the divinely appointed herald to the king. He personified the disembodied voice, Isaiah 40:3, that heralded the return from pagan Babylon and the establishment of the new religious era of Judaism, itself a foretaste of, and preparation for, the new era declared by John.

4. The garb suggests the prophet. John’s outer garment is woven of camel-hair; cf.Zach 13:4. He wears a loincloth (possibly ’girdle’, RSR 23 [ 1933] 589-98) of skin; cf. Elias, 4 Kg 1:8. His food is of the simplest the easily caught locust (a winged insect some two inches long, eaten still by Bedouin) and the insipid tree-gum (perhaps of the tamarisk, common on the Jordan banks). He baptizes in the Jordan near Jericho, of easy access from the capital. It was his impressive proclamation of the kingdom that drew the crowds, Jos., Ant.18, 5, 2. His baptism was not the Jewish ceremonial bath removing Gentile defilement, a rite too narrow for John’s horizon (cf. 9); nor had it the ipso facto efficacy of Christ’s sacramental baptism. It held a place between the two, characteristic of its period which was one of transition from ’ceremonial washings’ to the ’better times’ of inner, sacramental, re-birth; cf.Hebrews 9:10. By accepting it the Jews acknowledged, in formal ritual fashion, their conviction that the kingdom was at hand and their willingness to admit and (implicitly) to remedy past guilt. Thus they became subjects of the era of preparation announced by John and this act of willing submission would earn God’s grace.

7-10. Mt, having given, 2, the two themes of John’s preaching, now proceeds to expand them in the Baptist’s own words. The first theme, penance, is urged against the Pharisees and Sadducees. Neither of these two parties could afford to ignore the popular religious movement. The Pharisees (i.e. Separatists—from the common herd by reason of their legalistic punctilio) stood for the Law and for the traditions that had accrued to it. They held no official religious or political position in the Jewish State; as professional and orthodox ’holy men’ their influence with the people was enormous. The Sadducees (i.e. sons of Sadoq’, representative of the priestly line; cf.3 Kg 2:35; 1 Par 6:8-15; Esd. 3:2, Ez 40:46) were the rationalists of the day, Matthew 22:23, and, as such, unpopular. Nevertheless, almost all members of the priestly families, including the highpriest himself, were Sadducees. Both parties were concerned in the Jewish governing body, the Sanhedrin (more powerful now than under Herod). The-highpriests were members of that assembly and the Pharisees exercised a strong influence in it through the scribes (see on 2:4). The Pharisees though loathing the occupying Power prudently repressed their nationalism; the more cynical Sadducces were indifferent to any regime provided it left them in office. The Pharisees were, perhaps, more concerned with the religious aspect of the Baptist’s movement but, like the Sadducees, they would fear its taking a political turn disastrous alike to the State and to their own interests. They come, therefore, as spies not as devotees and John knows it. He ironically asks: Who can have taught the Teachers? They have clearly come with subtle and venomous intent (’vipers’, cf.Psalms 13:3). They cannot escape the coming wrath of the Messianic judgement without a profound change of heart with its appropriate change of life (’fruit corresponding to repentance’, Joiion). Provoked, evidently, by their pompous attitude the Baptist interjects: ’Bear not the appearance of those inwardly saying " We are the sons of Abraham!"’ They are priding themselves on a divine gift in receiving which they were as passive as the stones on the river bank. He then, 10, resumes the invitation of 8. The axe of the Messianic judgement already threatens the fruitless trees but there is still a short time for repentance. The ’fire’ that awaits the felled trees is not explicitly the fire of hell but a metaphor indicating in general the punishment reserved for those who do not take the present opportunity.

11-12. John now turns to address the crowd (cf.Luke 3:15f.) who conjecture his Messiahship to assure them that he and his baptism will not bear comparison with the real Messias and the baptism to come. John is less than a slave, unworthy to bear his shoes. His baptism is only an expression of, and stimulus to, repentance; the baptism of the coming Messias will be a steeping in the Holy Spirit, a profoundly purifying fire (cf. the Messianic purification of Malachi 3:2f.), not merely touching the surface like water. ’And fire’,(being without the preposition, is explanatory of ’Holy Spirit’). John thus foretells the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:3, of which the sacrament of Baptism is one means. This purifying action on the individual soul produces a distinction between those who accept and those who refuse it. Hence the Messianic action is like a winnowing-fan (or fork): the grain is thrown into the air and the wind carries off the light chaff. The perspective is final: those not purified by the fire of the Spirit will be consumed by the fire of the wrath of God, Isaiah 66:24.

III 13-17 Baptism of the Messias Son of God (Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21f.)—Our Lord comes from Nazareth, 2:23, to associate himself by baptism with all who thus expressed their readiness for the Messianic era. As his kinsman, Luke 1:36, John very probably knew him personally. He is evidently aware of the sanctity of Jesus and (as Mt suggests, cp. 11, 14) of his Messiahship. Of this last, however, John was not formally assured until after the Baptism, John 1:33. The strange inversion of roles shocks John (Mt only), but our Lord assures him that for this occasion (??t?) it must be accepted since it is the divine will (’Justice’: d??a??s??ð, i.e. observance of the due order established by God). ’ Why had the institutor of the new Baptism to receive the old. . . . ? This is precisely the tuestion that Mt answers and the one that lies at the root of his gospel. It is not by a coincidence that this same evangelist has here, 15, used "fulfil" as in 2:15, 17, 23; 5:17. Jesus did not come as a revolutionary innovator, he came to perfect the old order. Just as he submitted himself to the Law, so he accepted the conditions preparatory to the Messianic age—the principal condition appearing as a baptism of repentance. It was God’s design for a period of transition’, Lagrange.

16-17. Where others had delayed in order to confess their sins, 6, the innocent Christ does not, but, being baptized, ’forthwith’ leaves the water. The heavens (the clouds ?) were torn apart, Mark 1:10, like a veil before him to give passage to the descending and approaching Spirit. The shape of a dove is fitting for the brooding and creative Spirit (Genesis 1:2 note). Its appearance at this decisive moment in conjunction with the voice of the Father and the person of the Son would symbolize, for a Christian writer familiar with Baptism and its formula, the second creation—the re-birth through water and the Holy Ghost. Whether the dove was seen and the voice heard by the bystanders is not clear, but the Baptist’s function as herald of the Messias and his own words, John 1:32-34, suggest at least that it was John alone who saw the full significance of both. The words of the Voice, cf.Isaiah 42:1 but note the significant substitution of ’Son’ for ’Servant’, do not imply that the divine sonship of our Lord dates from the Baptism. Had this been Mt’s intention he would aptly have completed his echo of Psalms 2:7 (’Thou art my son’) with its following words: ’This day 1 have begotten thee’. It is the voice of the Father testifying to John (and the bystanders?) and at the same time encouraging his incarnate Son with a new expression of his love. The descent of the Spirit is the Son’s investiture for his heroic office; cf.Isaiah 42:1; 61:1; Luke 4:18.