Matthew 3:11

Whose shoes, etc.] the office of the meanest slave. 'A slave unlooses his master's shoe, and carries it after him; does what he needs for the bath, undresses, washes, anoints, rubs, redresses him, and puts on his shoes.'

With the Holy Ghost, and with fire] St. Mark omits 'and with fire.' John says, in effect, 'I can bring you to repentance, but no further. My baptism gives no grace. It only symbolises the greater baptism which Jesus will give. His baptism will give you “the Holy Ghost,” i.e. new spiritual life, and inward sanctification, and “Fire,” i.e. holy fervour and zeal in God's service': cp. Acts 2:3. John here refers directly to Christian Baptism, the spiritual efficacy of which he contrasts with the inefficacy of his own.

12. St. Mark omits this v. Whose fan (or, 'shovel')] Jesus holds in His hand the winnowing fan of judgment, for He is the judge of quick and dead. Here John passes far beyond Jewish ideas about the Messiah. His floor] RV 'threshing-floor': not merely Palestine, but the universe. His wheat] i.e. good persons. The garner] heaven. The chaff] the wicked. Unquenchable fire] i.e. Gehenna, hell.