EXCURSUS ON NOTES TO ST. MATTHEW. I. — ON THE HISTORY OF OUR LORD’S LIFE TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF HIS MINISTRY (MATTHEW 3). A BRIEF review of the events that affected more or less directly the human life of the Christ will, it is believed, be helpful to most readers. Of the early childhood we have no... [ Continue Reading ]
III. (1) JOHN THE BAPTIST. — For the birth and early life of the forerunner of the Christ, see Notes on. Luke 1. The manner in which he is mentioned here shows that his name was already well known to all readers of the Gospel. So, in like manner, Josephus names him as popularly known by the same tit... [ Continue Reading ]
REPENT. — Etymologically, the word “repent,” which has as its root-meaning the sense of pain, is hardly adequate as a rendering for the Greek word, which implies change of mind and purpose. In the Greek version of the Old Testament, the word is used of divine rather than human repentance, _i.e.,_ of... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS HE. — The words are those of the Evangelist, not of the Baptist, though the latter also used them to describe his own office (John 1:23). In each case the reference shows how strongly the great second part of Isaiah had impressed itself on the minds of men. To the Baptist, brooding over the... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS RAIMENT OF CAMEL’S HAIR. — The dress was probably deliberately adopted by the Baptist as reviving the outward appearance of Elijah, who was “a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather” (2 Kings 1:8); and the “rough garment,” that had been characteristic of the prophet’s life even at a later... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE REGION ROUND ABOUT JORDAN. — This would include the whole length of the river-valley, and would therefore take in parts of Peræa, Samaria, Galilee, and Gaulonitis.... [ Continue Reading ]
WERE BAPTIZED. — The Greek tense implies continual succession. Crowd after crowd passed on, and still they came _confessing their sins_ — _i.e.,_ as the position of the word implies, in the closest possible connection with the act of immersion. The Greek word (sometimes used for “confessing” in the... [ Continue Reading ]
PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES. — It is desirable to give, once for all, a sufficient account of these two sects to explain their relation to each other and to the teaching of our Lord. (1.) THE PHARISEES. Singularly enough, the name appears for the first time in the Gospel history. Josephus, who tells us... [ Continue Reading ]
FRUITS (BETTER, _FRUIT_) MEET FOR REPENTANCE. — The English version is ambiguous and not happy, suggesting the thought of the “fruit” as preparing the way for repentance. The thought is, however, “by coming to the baptism you profess repentance; bring forth, therefore, fruit _worthy of repentance —... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE ABRAHAM TO (BETTER, _AS_) OUR FATHER. — The boast seems to have been common, as in John 8:33, and was connected with the belief that this alone, or taken together with the confession of the creed of Israel “the Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4), would be enough to ensure for every... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW. — Rather, _already._ The present of an act no longer future. THE AX IS LAID UNTO THE ROOT OF THE TREES. — The symbolism which saw in “trees” the representatives of human characters, of nations, and institutions, had been recognised in Isaiah’s parable of the vine (Isaiah 5:1), in Jeremiah’s of... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH WATER UNTO REPENTANCE. — The “I” is emphasized, as also the baptism with water, as contrasted with that which was to follow. The result of John’s baptism, even for those who received it faithfully, did not go beyond the change of character and life implied in “repentance.” The higher powers of... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSE FAN IS IN HIS HAND. — The scene brought before us is that of the large hardened surface which was the “threshing-floor” of the East, the sheaves of corn thrown over it, the oxen treading on them, the large winnowing fan driving on them the full force of the strong current of air, leaving the w... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN COMETH JESUS. — We are brought here face to face with the question which the legend just quoted sought to answer, and cannot altogether turn aside from it: Why did the Lord Jesus come to the baptism of John? The Sinless One had no sin to confess, no need of repentance. We cannot even ascribe to... [ Continue Reading ]
JOHN FORBAD HIM. — Better, _sought to hinder Him._ Here again we have a question which we cannot fully answer. Did John thus forbid Him, as knowing Him to be the Christ? If so, how did that knowledge come? Had they known each other before, in youth or manhood? Or did a special inspiration reveal the... [ Continue Reading ]
SUFFER IT TO BE SO NOW. — The “now” is emphatic, at the present time, in contrast with what was to follow. Hereafter, John should be the receiver and not the giver, but as yet there was a fitness in each retaining his position (the words “it becometh _us_” seem to refer to both, not to the speaker o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEAVENS WERE OPENED. — The narrative implies (1) that our Lord and the Baptist were either alone, or that they alone saw what is recorded. “The heavens were opened to _him”_ as they were to Stephen (Acts 7:56). The Baptist bears record that he too beheld the Spirit descending (John 1:33), but th... [ Continue Reading ]
A VOICE FROM HEAVEN. — The words were heard, so far as the record goes, as the sign was seen, by our Lord and the Baptist only. It was a testimony to them, and not to the multitude. The precise force of the latter clause, _in whom I was well pleased,_ points (to speak after the manner of men) rather... [ Continue Reading ]