This is my beloved Son— As both St. Mark and St. Luke have it, Thou art my beloved Son, one would be inclined to follow those copies of St. Matthew which agree with them, rather than the more common reading. See Mills and Wetstein. Chemnitz, however, and some others, imagine that both sentences were pronounced, the voice uttering the words, Thou art my beloved Son, &c. while the Spirit was descending, as if they had been directed to Jesus alone; and that after the Spirit rested on Jesus, the voice, speaking to the Baptist and the multitude, said, This is my beloved Son, &c. On this supposition, which, without doubt, renders the miracle very remarkable, the words of the preceding verse may be well referred to the Baptist, as we have there observed. The Greek word 'Αγαπητος is frequently used by authors to denote an only Son, and the LXX make use of it when the word in the Hebrew signifies only, Genesis 22:12. Zechariah 12:10 and elsewhere. The original word ευδοκησα, expresses an entire acquiescence in what we love and approve. This passage is taken from Isaiah 42:1 with very little variation. See Psalms 2:7; Psalms 43:3 and Psalms 44:4. Wetstein, and Beausobre and Lenfant; and for more in the Inferences. It may be proper just to observe, that we have here a glorious manifestation of the ever-blessed Trinity; the Father speaking from heaven, the Son spoken to, and the Holy Ghost descending upon him.
Inferences.—It is surely matter of unspeakable thankfulness, that the kingdom of heaven should be erected among men, and that the only-begotten Son of God is the king and governor of that kingdom: how happy are we that it is preached among us, and we are called to it! It should be our great care to become not only nominal, but real members of it.
Repentance is the true preparation for the kingdom of heaven. We should therefore every moment be prepared for it, because this kingdom is every moment approaching nearer to us. If this kingdom be a kingdom of love, the repentance which prepares us for it must likewise be a repentance of love; that is, evangelical repentance, which flows from a sight of Christ, from a sense of his love, and the hope of forgiveness through him. Kindness is conquering; abused kindness is humbling and melting. The language of the truly penitent heart is, "What a wretch was I, to sin against such grace! against the law and love of such a kingdom!"
He who preaches repentance, ought to perform it himself, and to join the outward part to the inward: this persuades more than words. All is singular in St. John the Baptist (Matthew 3:4.), not to attract the esteem and praises of men, but to awaken their attention: with an awful severity of manners and of doctrine, he was sent before Christ to prepare his way. It is necessary that the law should introduce the Gospel; but the terrors of Moses and Elijah should render the mild and blessed Redeemer so much the more welcome to our souls. St. John the Baptist preaches in the wilderness: no place is so remote as to exclude us from the visits of divine grace; nay, commonly the sweetest intercourse which believers enjoy with heaven, is when they are withdrawn farthest from the noise and distractions of the world.
Behold the dreadful danger of all hypocrites, and unfruitful hearers of the word, whatever their pretences or their external privileges may be! Miserable they who shall be found in their sins! Their covenant relation to Abraham, their baptism with water, their mere external professions, will avail them nothing: God will abandon them to unquenchable flames.
Warned by this awful notice, may we forsake our sins, and bring forth the proper fruits of repentance: and that we may be prepared for the great and final trial, let us be earnest in our applications to our gracious Redeemer, that as we are baptized with water in his name, he would also baptize us with the Holy Ghost and with fire! That by the operations of his blessed Spirit, he would enkindle and quicken that divine life, that sacred love, that flaming yet well governed zeal for his glory, which distinguishes the true Christian from the hypocritical professor, and is indeed the real of God set upon the heart.
Our Lord's submitting himself to baptism, Matthew 3:13 should teach us a holy exactness and care in the observance of those positive institutions, which owe their obligation merely to a divine command; for thus also it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness, "every thing just and needful in itself, as well as every thing meet, decent, regular, exemplary, and of good report."
We behold at this baptism, the sacred Three, distinctly appearing in characters of personal and divine glory, and concurring in the great design of salvation! How inconsiderable and unworthy are the best of men, compared with Christ! And what exalted and endearing thoughts should we have of him, as the Son of God, and a Saviour of sinners; and as the Beloved of the Father, who makes us accepted in him!
The heavens were opened when Christ was baptized; to teach us, that when we duly attend on God's ordinances, we may expect communion with him, and communications from him. What an encomium was that which was heard from the opening heavens: This is my beloved Son, in whom I delight! How poor are all other kinds of praise! To be the delight and joy of God, this is praise indeed; this is true glory; this is the highest, brightest light that holiness and virtue can appear in.
That holiness, and the virtues which flow from that blessed source, are objects of divine complacence, as it is a most important truth, so it is obvious to every pious soul: Christ is the foundation; holiness with all its concomitant virtues is the superstructure; and therefore what the poet says of virtue, when built on this foundation, and flowing from this source, is both beautiful and true:
If there's a Pow'r above us, (And that there is, all nature cries aloud Through all her works,) he must delight in virtue; And that which he delights in, must be happy.
ADDISON.
God must delight in holiness and its concomitant virtues, for the same reason that he delights in himself: for holiness is his own image and likeness, which, extinct in the first Adam, and revived in the second, even Jesus Christ our Lord, began her mysterious course at his incarnation, producing every virtuous fruit, and went on gradually through all her process, with the highest perfection in each degree; till she had finished the first stage, which is called the justice of the law, at his baptism by John, when the Almighty Father pronounced audibly to the lower world his approbation.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, Prophesy under the Old Testament closed with the promise of the coming of Elijah, that is, of one in his spirit and temper; and here we find that prophesy accomplished in John the Baptist, so called from the ordinance of baptism which he administered to his disciples; who appeared in those days, not immediately after the events related in the preceding chapter, but at about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years distance, during which time we never but once hear any thing of our blessed Lord, who lived in obscurity, and not improbably maintained himself by manual labour. We have,
1. The place where John opened his ministry, in the wilderness of Judaea; not a place literally uninhabited, but not so populous as the other parts of the country.
2. The doctrine he preached: repentance; a change of mind and principles, and of manners and practice, in both which respects the Jewish people were exceedingly corrupt: and this he urges on that evangelical consideration, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand; the kingdom of the Messiah, the Gospel dispensation, which affords the strongest engagements to draw the minds of sinners to return to God, from the views of the riches of his grace therein revealed.
3. Herein John fulfilled the prophesy delivered concerning him, Isaiah 40:3-4.—the voice of one crying, intimating the fervour and vehemence with which John preached, Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. As the harbinger, or herald, he goes before to clear the way for the King of glory, preaching that repentance which was so peculiarly needful at a time when the traditions of men had made God's word of no effect, and the corruption of the general practice was the natural effect of their corrupt principles; and pointing them from their sinful courses to him who was the way, the truth, and the life, by whom alone they could be saved. Note; (1.) The ways of sin are crooked ways, which lead down to death and hell. (2.) Nothing can save us from them, but repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4. His garb and diet were austere, as his word was piercing. He seemed an uncouth courtier to prepare the way of the eternal King. A rough garment, girt with a leathern girdle, was his clothing, as being the promised Elias; and his meat was plain and abstemious, such as the wilderness afforded, locusts and wild honey. Note; They who preach mortification and repentance to others, should themselves show a becoming indifference to this world, and the gratifications of it.
5. A numerous auditory attended his ministry, struck by the singularity of his appearance and manners, and, above all, by the power of the word he preached. Multitudes from Jerusalem, Judaea, and the country beyond Jordan, resorted to him, a general expectation of the Messiah being now raised through the land; and so far were many affected with his discourses, that they made profession of repentance, confessed their sins, and were baptized in Jordan. But among the multitude of professors, the sequel shewed there were few real penitents. Uncommon zeal and striking delivery will often collect an audience, and excite curiosity; but we must sincerely yield to the power of divine grace, before we can be really converted.
It has been a much-disputed point, respecting the manner of administering the ordinance of baptism, whether by immersion or sprinkling; and where the form is rested upon, instead of the power of godliness, there is room open for abundant debate. I must confess, for my own part, I see no reason to suppose such immense multitudes were all dipped in Jordan, nor how it would be practicable to provide dipping garments for them; nor does the word βαπτιζω (baptizo) convey the same meaning as βαπτω (bapto), but rather seems to intimate sprinkling or pouring water upon them; and the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which this baptism of John's prefigured, would lead us strongly to that meaning of the word. But while we should avoid all rigid censures on those who differ from us in these ceremonials, and see that, in whatever manner baptism be administered, we do not rest upon the ordinance, it is an essential concern, that our souls be really partakers of the thing signified, even sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, and saved by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.
2nd, The Pharisees and Sadducees were men of very different characters; the one pretended uncommon sanctity, and were rigid observers of the rituals of religion, deriving their name from that separation of themselves from other men in which they gloried. The Sadducees, on the other hand, so denominated from their master Sadok, were the very reverse; avowedly infidel in their principles, and, it is to be feared, as licentious in their practice. Yet many of both these sects, either struck with John's preaching, or more probably to gain the higher veneration with the people, who were strongly engaged in John's favour as a prophet sent from God, applied to him for baptism; and to them he addresses his discourse.
1. He opens with a most severe reproof, and mortifying appellation: O generation of vipers, specious, yet venomous as a serpent, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? either from their temporal calamities which were approaching, and which their repentance might have averted; or from the eternal ruin which they had provoked by their pride, hypocrisy, infidelity, and wickedness. Note; (1.) To fly from the wrath to come, is every sinner's great concern; but none will take the warning, till they see and feel the imminence of their danger. (2.) Ministers must deal plainly and freely with men's consciences; nor must the self-righteous formalist be addressed with less severity than the abandoned sinner.
2. He admonishes them of their duty. Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: without which all the water in the river would never profit them any thing; for all who are baptized unto repentance must see, that in all humility and lowliness of mind, in all patience and perseverance in well-doing, in all holy conversation and godliness, they prove the truth of the grace which is in them; else shall the baptized sinner be as the heathen man and the publican.
3. He cautions them against trusting on their external privileges, on which he knew they depended for acceptance before God. Because they were Abraham's children they flattered themselves with safety, and thought repentance in their case unnecessary: but John would undeceive them; and pointing perhaps to those stones which Joshua set up in Jordan, Judges 4:20 assured them that God could from these raise up children to Abraham, and needed not his descendants after the flesh to compose his church. Note; (1.) Many flatter themselves, that their being members of the visible church, and having partaken of baptism and the Lord's supper, will stand them in stead in the day of God, who will find themselves woefully disappointed. (2.) Ministers must lay open those refuges of lies to which the self-righteous and the sinner betake themselves, and rouse those to a sense of their danger, who rock themselves asleep in vain imaginations. (3.) The nearer we are related to great and good men, so far from being a protection to us, it will but aggravate our guilt if we degenerate from their piety.
4. He gives them fair warning. The time was short ere judgment would begin at the house of God; the axe was now laid to the root of the tree, by the preaching of the Gospel. If they rejected the counsel of God, and refused to repent and amend their ways, then they were marked for ruin, as trees which bear no fruit, fit only for fuel. The temporal judgments of God shall consume them with their city; or, worse, the eternal wrath of God shall overwhelm them in hell, Note; The day of grace is a precious season not to be trifled with; our eternity of happiness or misery depends on our neglect or improvement of it.
5. He directs them to that glorious Personage whose forerunner he was, acknowledging his pre-eminence in all things. He could indeed call them to repentance, and administer baptism to those who made profession of it; but from a greater than himself the grace of repentance flows; concerning whom he owns that he was not worthy to perform the meanest offices to him, even to carry his shoes after him: so lowly are the saints of God in their own eyes. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire; either at the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:3; Acts 2:47 or his influences, like fire, should purify, warm, and enliven their souls. Or, as some suggest, this baptism may refer to the judgments that he would pour out on the impenitent, when having, like the husbandman, separated the wheat, his faithful people, from the chaff of hypocrites and unfaithful professors, he would burn up the latter with unquenchable fire. Note; (1.) The operations of God's Spirit in the believer's heart, like fire, illuminate his understanding, consume his vile affections, and raise him, as the flame mounts upwards, to high and heavenly things. (2.) The church is Christ's floor; in it there is a mixed multitude of good and bad, faithful and hypocrites, as the chaff and wheat lying together: but the day is near when the separation shall be made; sometimes even here by the divine word and providence; assuredly at Christ's appearing, when the eternal state of men shall be determined. The faithful saints of God shall then be gathered as the wheat into God's garner in heaven, separated from all chaff for ever; and the impenitent be consigned to the everlasting burnings.
3rdly, Christ, who had hitherto lived in obscurity, began now to enter upon his glorious work; and, in order thereto, comes to John to be baptized, whose preaching had raised men's expectations concerning the glorious Person of whom he spake. Not that Christ needed this baptism; but he would shew his approbation of it, as well as receive that public testimony which John on this occasion was appointed to bear to him.
1. John, who knew Jesus by divine revelation, John 1:33 appears unwilling to admit his Master to the ordinance of baptism which he administered. He who had no sin, could surely need no repentance. Besides, counting himself unworthy of pouring water upon him, from whom himself needed the greater baptism of the Spirit, he would humbly have excused himself from the office. I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? Note; (1.) The most holy souls are ever the most humble. (2.) Christ's condescensions are so amazing, that our faith is sometimes ready to stagger at the view of them. (3.) The greatest saints and prophets have need of the baptism of Jesus; both of the sprinkling of his blood, and of the influences of his Spirit to purify their hearts, or to preserve them pure; and they are always most sensible of their wants. (4.) They who preach repentance to others, had need be deeply concerned to be baptized with the Holy Ghost themselves, lest, after having been the means of saving others, they themselves should be cast away.
2. The Lord over-rules John's objection. In his present state of humiliation it became him to submit to this among other divine institutions, that he might in all things be a pattern of righteousness; and therefore John must for the present comply. Nor does he any longer hesitate, but admitted him to baptism accordingly, fully satisfied in the will and wisdom of his Lord. Note; (1.) It is becoming to countenance and encourage every good work; and those who may be higher in wisdom and grace than their teachers, are bound nevertheless to attend their ministry, and let an example to others. (2.) Christ fulfilled all righteousness, ceremonial as well as moral; and by his obedience to the death of the cross, is become the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (3.) There are often reasons for the divine procedure, concerning which we must be content to be ignorant. Thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.
3. God is pleased to bear a signal attestation to the glory of the Redeemer on this occasion. Immediately as he went up from the river's brink, or from the water, where he had been baptized, the heavens were opened, a chasm being made in the firmament, as if the everlasting doors were wide unfolded; and John, as well as Jesus, beheld the visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon him, in a hovering, dove-like motion; and it rested upon or over his head. He being constituted the great prophet of his people, as the man Christ Jesus, had the Spirit without measure, bestowed upon him, to enable him for the discharge of his office; and in him, as the head of his church, all fulness dwells, that he may thence communicate both gifts and graces to his faithful members according to their wants. And besides the visible appearance here described, an audible voice was heard from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; God's Son, not by creation as angels, or by adoption as the saints, but by a filiation peculiar to himself, being eternal as the Father, yet standing in this relation towards him;—beloved, because the express image of his person, and now become incarnate for our redemption: therefore God the Father delighted in him, expressing his intire satisfaction in his undertaking: in whom I am well pleased; which he could never say in this high sense of any of the sons of men beside, all having sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jesus alone is the one glorious character on which God can look with intire approbation; and for whose sake it is, as having made the atonement, that any of the sons of men can find acceptance before God. Because he is well-pleased with Jesus, he has now opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers in him; and whosoever cometh to God by him shall be in no wise cast out. Thus, while every other character, considered in a state of nature, from the first man to the last, must be God's abhorrence, since altogether born in sin, we may notwithstanding be sure of acceptance in this Beloved, when we by faith receive him as God hath sent him forth to us, as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; our all in all.