Matthew 3:13-17

The Baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:9 *, Luke 3:21 f.).

Matthew 3:14 f. (Mt. only) meets the objection to the acceptance by a sinless Jesus of a baptism connected with repentance (p. 661). Jesus maintains (suffer it now) that a temporary necessity must be acknowledged. Until the new revelation is ready, all righteousness, i.e. Divine ordinances, must be duly observed. For John's sense of unworthiness cf. Luke 5:8 (Peter). The message of the voice (Matthew 3:17) is a combination of Psalms 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1 (the Gr. word for servant also means child), where the context speaks of the spirit. Read, therefore, This is my Son, the Beloved, the Beloved being a Messianic title (Ephesians 1:6). There is some reason for holding that the original announcement was simply, Thou art my Son (cf. Cod. Bezæ in Luke 3:22), and that we have here the influence of the Transfiguration narrative, an influence much expanded in the Ebionite Gospel and Justin (Tryph. 88) by reference to a light. Jesus Himself probably realised His Sonship before His Messiahship. There is nothing in Mt. (especially if we omit Matthew 3:14 f; cf. Matthew 11:2 *), as there is nothing in Mk. and Lk., to suggest that vision or voice came to anyone but Jesus.