Luke 3:16 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Ver. 16-18. See Poole on "Matthew 3:11", See Poole on "Matthew 3:12", See Poole on "Mark 1:7", See Poole on "Mark 1:8". John the Baptist in these verses doth not only assure them that he was not the Christ, but also lets them know that Christ was coming amongst them, and that he was more excellent than he, and should baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire; with fire as the symbol of the Holy Ghost; so some understand it, expounding it as a prophecy of the descent of the Holy Ghost, Acts 2:3. Others possibly better expound it of the Holy Ghost working in the souls of believers as fire, purging them, and burning up their lusts and corruptions. And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people: by which words the evangelist lets us know, that what he and the other evangelists have reported concerning John's preaching was but the sum of it.