Matthew 3:1-10

The Ministry of John (3:1-10).

The ministry of John is first described. He has come to the Judaean wilderness with a message of fruitfulness and hope, calling for a change of heart towards God and towards sin, and this in accordance with the words of Isaiah. And his call is for them to openly admit their sins and produce the fruit that demonstrates true repentance. But attached to his message is also a warning of what will happen to those who do not. This smaller passage is also in the form of a chiasmus:

a And in those days comes John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea (Matthew 3:1),

b Saying, “Repent you, for the Kingly Rule of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2).

c For this is he who was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make you ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 3:3).

d Now John himself had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:4).

c Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about the Jordan, and they were baptised of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matthew 3:5).

b “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance, and think not to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham to our father,' for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Matthew 3:8).

a “And even now the axe lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bring forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Matthew 3:10).

Note how in ‘a' John has gone out into the wilderness of Judaea, and in the parallel the spiritual ‘wilderness of Judaea' is described. In ‘b' he calls for repentance, and in the parallel calls for fruit worthy of repentance. In ‘c' he is the one whom makes ready the way of the Lord, and in the parallel is described how he does it by baptising the repentant and warning the rebels. Centrally in ‘d' his prophetic status as the coming Elijah (Malachi 4:5) is made clear.