The trinity in the baptism of jesus

THE TRINITY IN THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Matthew 3:16
As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the
water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and he saw
the Spirit of God descendinglike a dove and resting on
Him.
Matthew 3:17
And a voicefrom heaven said, "This is My beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased!"
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Heavenly Attestation Of The Sonship Of Jesus
Matthew 3:16, 17
P.C. Barker
The singular and thrilling event recordedin these verses is recordedalso by
St. Mark (Mark 1:9-11)and by St. Luke (Luke 3:21, 22) in an equally full

manner, while it is distinctly alluded to by St. John (John 1:32, 33). It is
remarkable that, though nothing is said either way, we are left to conclude
that the vision was confined to the two only - Jesus himself and John the
Baptist. From that time John, who had personally long known Jesus, knew
him for certain as the Messiah;and not only heralded the Christ, but could
point to him as the Christ (John 1:29, 30). Notice -
I. THE CRISIS AT WHICH THIS GLORIOUS ATTESTATION
OCCURRED. The first profound act of public, spontaneous self-humiliation is
alighted upon by the visit of a supernatural glorification. Immediately the act
of baptism was over, the heavens opened, the Dove sped down, the voice of the
Majestyhimself of all the universe uttered itself forth, and glory was poured
on Jesus.
II. THE CONSTITUENT PARTS OF IT.
1. The "heavens opened." We are certainly entitled by Scripture warrant, to
say the least, in order to help our weakerunderstanding and thought, to
considerheaven as a place, that place being the abode of God. These helps to
human imaginings of the Unknown will not discredit our faith in the Divine
omnipresence and in the fact that he is perfect Spirit; but they are needful to
our presentlimitations of apprehension of the dim, vast, uncomprehended.
2. The Spirit descended, and in the form of a dove. No doubt it was now that
an enormous accessionofthe Spirit was made to the human nature of Jesus
Christ, And the "bodily form" of the dove was to betokenalike the soft flight
and that tenderestgentleness ofthe Spirit, and the peace and love of him who
was now more fully replenished with the Spirit.
3. A voice from heaven speaks.It is here said "a" voice. But the words spoken
prove that it was none less than the voice of Heaven, the voice of the majesty
of the Father, of the Glory - God himself!
(1) Great is the impression of voice.
(2) Great may be the absolute charm of voice.

(3) Great beside all else is the fixed, distinct certainty of voice, as e.g.
compared with vision or with imagination.
God speaks in all creationwith ten thousand voices, it is true. But when he
speaks with that voice which utters words, the ear hears as in its ownright.
The words uttered by the voice of God assert
(a) the Sonship of Jesus;
(b) that he is the object of the Father's unqualified complacence;and
(c) because flint might be the complacence offeeling chiefly, by the analogyof
human relationship, the voice asserts the Father's perfect approbation as well.
III. THE GREAT OBJECT OF THIS ATTESTATION.It appears to have
been vouchsafedfor the absolute warranting of the faith of John the Baptist.
The simplicity, and what should seem in some light the narrowness, ofthis
objectinvest it to a very large extent with its greatness.
1. What a testimony of condescending graciousnessto that one man! He is to
live for Christ, to work for Christ, to die for Christ. And to furnish him with
exactly the enough satisfactionofevidence, faith, growing into knowledge,all
the grandestapparatus of Heavenis brought into use!
2. What a testimony of realconsiderationto the world! Is a greattrust
committed to earthly vessels?Is it a trust of critical and tremendous
responsibility? Are men, not angels, the ministers of truth, of life, of salvation
to their fellow-men, in the name of Christ? Then alike it is mercy for those
who are to be blessed, as for those who are to bless, that into these latter,
though they should stand but one by one, and follow one another in narrowest
line of succession, the whole force of absolute convictionshould be thrown by
Heaven's and God's own most approved methods. On this occasionwe cannot
doubt Jesus himself was refreshed with the vision of open heaven, with the
alighting on him of the holy Dove, with the voice of the Father, and the words
that voice spoke. But, in that John was the witness, and presumably the only
witness hereof, the significance canbe but one; and it is plain and most
striking. - B.

Biblical Illustrator
Heavens were opened unto Him.
Matthew 3:16
This greatsight
1. Greatin the Object.
2. Greatin the Person.
3. Greatin the Mysteries.
Trinity Sunday
F. Close, M. A.
I. THE THREE PERSONSIN THE HOLY TRINITY.
1. Jesus of.Nazareth.
2. The Holy Ghostmiraculously exhibited.
3. The Holy Father.
II. A VIVID REPRESENTATIONOF GOSPELSALVATION.
1. Here was salvationembodied in Jesus Christ.
2. The Holy Ghostfalls on Him.
3. The Holy Father's solemnattestationof the sufficiency of Christ and His
salvation.
III. THE PRIVILEGE OF BELIEVERS HERE CONFIRMED IN THE
PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST.
1. We view Him as our FederalHead and Representative.

2. In this capacityHe receivedthe Holy Ghost.
3. In this characterthe Fatherdelighted in Him, and also in His people.
(1)What a practicalview of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
(2)Have we a personal interestin this greatwork?
(3)Let the powerof these truths be seenin our lives.
(F. Close, M. A.)
Divine testimony to the Tri-unity of the Godhead
J. G. Angley, M. A.
I. Demonstrate from Scripture the Tri-unity of the Godhead.
II. Prove Christ's perfect union in the Godhead, as the true ground of
Christian faith.
III. How GREAT A BLESSING THIS GLORIOUS DOCTRINE IS FOR
ALL GOD'S PEOPLE. There may be mines of precious wealth, of minerals,
gold, silver, jewels, in a domain only partially known; so with this doctrine.
God the Father planned the way of redemption. God the Son willingly came to
accomplishour salvation. And God the Spirit guides us into all truth. The
whole Trinity joins in man's salvation.
1. How greatthe condescensionofJehovahthus to revealthe nature and
perfections of mercy.
2. How much all revelation testifies of God the Father's delight in His beloved
Son.
3. How God is well pleasedin the soul's salvation by Christ.
(J. G. Angley, M. A.)

Christ's baptism
J. Bennett, D. D., H. Budd, M. A., Ralph Erskine.
I. Christ's SUBMISSION to the ordinance of baptism.
1. Jesus humbly waits upon the Baptist. The fortitude with which to meet
publicity.
2. He is privately discoveredto John.
3. The Saviour meekly persists in His obedient resolution. How lovely this
conflict of humility!
4. Jesus atlast receives the sign from His forerunner.
II. The HONOURS Christ receivedat His baptism.
1. The opening of the heavens.
2. The descentof the Spirit followed.
3. The proclamation of the Fatherclosedthe scene of wonders.
(J. Bennett, D. D.)
I. HERE IS A DECLARATION OF THE DIGNITY AND ENDEAREDNESS
OF THE SAVIOUR, "My beloved Son."
1. The dignity of His Person.
2. The endearedness ofthe Son.
II. THE FATHER'S COMPLACENCYIN THE SON. Complacencytakes
place.
1. In Creation:"All things were made by Him."
2. In redemption: "He hath made us acceptedin the beloved."
3. The Father is well pleasedwith Christ in His incarnation and mediation.
4. He is well pleasedwith Him in all His people.

(H. Budd, M. A.)Here we have(1) the rising of the morning star, John the
Baptist;(2) The more glorious rising and shining of the Sun of Righteousness
Himself;(3) A messengerfrom heaven. The Spirit of Christ is a dove-like
Spirit. The dove was the fowl offered in sacrifice;so Christ offered Himself
without spot unto God.(4)A voice from heaven. As the Holy Ghostmanifests
Himself in the likeness ofa dove, so God the Father in a voice. This voice
speaks God's favour to Christ.
1. Expresses the relation He stands in to Him.
2. Expresses the affectionthe Father hath to Him. Observe God's favour to us
Is Him. He is My beloved Son, IN whom I am well pleased. Considerwhat
God is out of Christ, and what God is IN Christ.
I. WHAT GOD IS OUT OF CHRIST to the sinner.
(1)An angry God;
(2)a threatening God;
(3)a dishonoured God;
(4)a distant God.
II. WHAT GOD IS IN CHRIST.
(1)A reconciledGod;
(2)a promising God;
(3)a glorified God;
(4)a near God.
(Ralph Erskine.)
The arithmetic of heaven
Anon., BishopHall., Hacket., Hacket.

A gentleman, passing a church with Daniel Webster, askedhim, "How can
you reconcile the doctrine of the Trinity with reason?" The statesmanreplied
by asking, "Do you understand the arithmetic of heaven?" The application is
evident.
(Anon.)The heavens are never shut while either of the sacraments is duly
administered and received;neither do the heavens ever thus open without the
descentof the Holy Ghost.
(Bishop Hall.)
1. The Personthat did hear witness.
2. The manner how He testified to the honour of His Son.
3. The authority of that voice from heaven.
4. The Personto whom the witness is borne.
5. What is witnessedof Him in respectof Himself.
6. What is witnessedof Him in respectof our consolation, we the beloved in
Him.
(Hacket.)As the Father sent His voice from heaven to earth, let our lips be full
of prayers, that we may send our voice from earth to heaven.
(Hacket.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(16) The heavens were opened.—The narrative implies (1) that our Lord and
the Baptistwere 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 1:33-34), but there
is not the slightestground for supposing that there was any manifestationto
others. So in the vision near Damascus, St. Paul only heard the words and saw
the form of Him who spake them (Acts 9:7; Acts 22:9). That which they did
see served, as did the tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost, as an attestation
to the consciousness ofeach, of the reality of the gift imparted, and of its
essentialcharacter. Thatdescentofthe Spirit, “as it were a dove,” as St. Luke
adds (Luke 3:22), “in bodily form,” taught the Baptist, as it teaches us, that
the gift of supernatural powerand wisdom brought with it also the perfection
of the tenderness, the purity, the gentleness ofwhich the dove was the
acknowledgedsymbol. To be “harmless as doves” was the command the Lord
gave to His disciples (Matthew 10:16), and when they read this record, they
were taught as we are, “ofwhat manner of spirit” they were meant to be.
BensonCommentary
Matthew 3:16. And Jesus, whenhe was baptized, &c. — Hereby he was, 1st,
installed into his ministerial office, as the priests were by washing, Exodus
29:4; Leviticus 8:6; Leviticus 2 d, engagedsolemnlyin the same military work
with us againstsin and Satan; 3d, admitted a member of the gospelChurch,
as he was before of the Jewish, by circumcision; 4th, he was baptized as a
public person, the Head of his Church, in whom, and by virtue of whose
baptism, all his members are baptized spiritually, Romans 6:4; Colossians
2:12. Went up straightwayout of the water — Or, as the original, ανεβη απο
του υδατος, rather signifies, ascendedfrom the water, namely, went up from
the banks of Jordan. The heavens were opened unto him — For his sake,
appearing as if they had been rent asunder directly over his head. It is
probable they might resemble that opening of the heavens which we often see
in a time of great lightning, when the sky seems to divide, to make the fuller
and clearerwayfor the lightning: although, doubtless, this was much more
striking and glorious. And he saw — Christ himself saw, and also John the
Baptist, as appears by John 1:33-34;and by this he was further confirmed
that this was the very Christ: — the Spirit of God descending like a dove —
Not only in a hovering, dove-like motion, but, it seems, with a bright flame, in

the shape of a dove, for St. Luke says, Luke 3:22, σωματικω ειδει, ωσει
περιστεραν, in a bodily shape, as a dove. See also John1:32. The Holy Spirit
descendedupon him in this form to signify what Christ Isaiah , 1 st, in his own
nature to them that come to him, meek and loving; 2d, in the executionof his
office, reconciling us to the Father, and bringing us goodtidings of peace and
reconciliation, as the dove brought Noahtidings of the deluge being assuaged;
3d, in the operations of his Spirit upon his people, whereby they are made
meek, lowly, and harmless as doves. And lighting upon him — As a visible
tokenof a new degree of the Holy Ghost’s operationin Christ, now at his
entrance upon his public employment, even of that Spirit by which, according
to the intimations God had given in his word, he was anointed in a peculiar
manner, and abundantly fitted for his public work. Psalm45:7; Isaiah 61:1.
And thus was Christ installed into his ministerial function, both by baptism
and the unction of the Holy Ghost, as the priests of old were by washing and
anointing.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
3:13-17 Christ's gracious condescensionsare so surprising, that even the
strongestbelievers at first canhardly believe them; so deep and mysterious,
that even those who know his mind well, are apt to start objections againstthe
will of Christ. And those who have much of the Spirit of God while here, see
that they need to apply to Christ for more. Christ does not deny that John had
need to be baptized of him, yet declares he will now be baptized of John.
Christ is now in a state of humiliation. Our Lord Jesus lookedupon it as well
becoming him to fulfil all righteousness,to own every Divine institution, and
to show his readiness to comply with all God's righteous precepts. In and
through Christ, the heavens are opened to the children of men. This descentof
the Spirit upon Christ, showedthat he was endued with his sacredinfluences
without measure. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,temperance. At Christ's baptism there
was a manifestationof the three Persons in the sacredTrinity. The Father
confirming the Son to be Mediator;the Son solemnly entering upon the work;
the Holy Spirit descending on him, to be through his mediation communicated
to his people. In Him our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable, forHe is the altar
that sanctifies everygift, 1Pe 2:5. Out of Christ, God is a consuming fire, but

in Christ, a reconciledFather. This is the sum of the gospel, whichwe must by
faith cheerfully embrace.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Out of the water- This shows that he had descendedto the river. It literally
means, "he went up directly from the water." The original does not imply that
they had descendedinto the river, and it cannot be proved, therefore, from
this passage, thathis baptism was by immersion; nor can it be proved that
even, if his baptism was by immersion, that therefore the same mode is
binding on people now. In order to demonstrate from this passage that
immersion is essential, it is necessaryto demonstrate:
(a) that he went into the river;
(b) that, being there, he was wholly immersed;
(c) that the fact that he was immersed, if he was, proves that all others must
be, in order that there could be a valid baptism.
Neither of these three things has ever been demonstrated from this passage,
nor canthey be.
The heavens were opened unto him - This was done while he was praying,
Luke 3:21. The ordinances of religionwill be commonly ineffectual without
prayer. If in those ordinances we look to God, we may expect that he will bless
us; the heavens will be opened, light will shine upon our path, and we shall
meet with the approbation of God. The expression, "the heavens were
opened," is one that commonly denotes the appearance of the clouds when it
lightens. The heavens appear to open or give way. Something of this kind
probably appeared to John at this time. The same appearance took place at
Stephen's death, Acts 7:56. The expressionmeans that he was permitted to see
far into the heavens beyond what the natural vision would allow.
To him - Some have referred this to Jesus, others to John. It probably refers
to John. See John 1:33. It was a testimony given to John that this was the
Messiah.
He saw - John saw.

The Spirit of God - See Matthew 3:11. This was the third person of the
Trinity, descending upon him in the form of a dove, Luke 3:22. The dove,
among the Jews, was the symbol of purity of heart, harmlessness,and
gentleness, Matthew 10:16;compare Psalm 55:6-7. The form chosenhere was
doubtless an emblem of the innocence, meekness, and tenderness of the
Saviour. The gift of the Holy Spirit, in this manner, was the public
approbation of Jesus John 1:33, and a sign of his being setapart to the office
of the Messiah. We are not to suppose that there was any change done in the
moral characterof Jesus, but only that he was publicly set apart to his work,
and solemnly approved by God in the office to which he was appointed.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
16. And Jesus whenhe was baptized, went up straightwayout of the water—
rather, "from the water." Mark has "out of the water" (Mr 1:10). "and"—
adds Luke (Lu 3:21), "while He was praying"; a grand piece of information.
Can there be a doubt about the burden of that prayer; a prayer sent up,
probably, while yet in the water—His blessedheadsuffused with the
baptismal element; a prayer continued likely as He stepped out of the stream,
and againstoodupon the dry ground; the work before Him, the needed and
expectedSpirit to restupon Him for it, and the glory He would then put upon
the Fatherthat sent Him—would not these fill His breast, and find silent vent
in such form as this?—"Lo, I come;I delight to do Thy will, O God. Father,
glorify Thy name. Show Me a tokenfor good. Let the Spirit of the Lord God
come upon Me, and I will preach the Gospelto the poor, and heal the broken-
hearted, and send forth judgment unto victory." While He was yet speaking—
lo, the heavens were opened—Mark says, sublimely, "He saw the heavens
cleaving" (Mr 1:10).
and he saw the Spirit of God descending—thatis, He only, with the exception
of His honored servant, as he tells us himself (Joh 1:32-34);the by-standers
apparently seeing nothing.
like a dove, and lighting upon him—Luke says, "in a bodily shape" (Lu 3:22);
that is, the blessedSpirit, assuming the corporealform of a dove, descended
thus upon His sacredhead. But why in this form? The Scripture use of this

emblem will be our best guide here. "My dove, my undefiled is one," says the
Song of Solomon (So 6:9). This is chaste purity. Again, "Be ye harmless as
doves," says Christ Himself (Mt 10:16). This is the same thing, in the form of
inoffensiveness towards men. "A consciencevoid of offense towardGod and
toward men" (Ac 24:16)expresses both. Further, when we read in the Song of
Solomon(So 2:14), "O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rocks, in the secret
places of the stairs (see Isa 60:8), let me see thy countenance, letme hear thy
voice;for sweetis thy voice, and thy countenance is comely"—itis shrinking
modesty, meekness, gentleness,that is thus charmingly depicted. In a word—
not to allude to the historicalemblem of the dove that flew back to the ark,
bearing in its mouth the olive leafof peace (Ge 8:11)—whenwe read (Ps
68:13), "Ye shall be as the wings of a dove coveredwith silver, and her
feathers with yellow gold," it is beauteousness thatis thus held forth. And was
not such that "holy, harmless, undefiled One," the "separate from sinners?"
"Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy lips;
therefore God hath blessedThee for ever!" But the fourth Gospelgives us one
more piece of information here, on the authority of one who saw and testified
of it: "Johnbare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like
a dove, and IT ABODE UPON Him." And lest we should think that this was
an accidentalthing, he adds that this lastparticular was expresslygiven him
as part of the sign by which he was to recognize and identify Him as the Son of
God: "And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the
same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending AND
REMAINING ON Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God" (Joh 1:32-34). And
when with this we compare the predicted descentof the Spirit upon Messiah
(Isa 11:2), "And the Spirit of the Lord shall restupon Him," we cannot doubt
that it was this permanent and perfect resting of the Holy Ghost upon the Son
of God—now and henceforwardin His official capacity—thatwas here visibly
manifested.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
See Poole on"Matthew 3:17".
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Jesus, whenhe was baptized,.... Christ, when he was baptized by John in
the river Jordan, the place where he was baptizing,
went up straightway out of the water. One would be at a loss at first sight for
a reasonwhy the Evangelistshould relate this circumstance;for after the
ordinance was administered, why should he stay in the water? what should he
do there? Everyone would naturally and reasonablyconclude, without the
mention of such a circumstance, that as soonas his baptism was over, he
would immediately come up out of the water. However, we learn this from it,
that since it is said, that he came up out of the water, he must first have gone
down into it; must have been in it, and was baptized in it; a circumstance
strongly in favour of baptism by immersion: for that Christ should go down
into the river, more or less deep, to the ankles, orup to the knees, in order
that John should sprinkle wateron his face, or pour it on his head, as is
ridiculously representedin the prints, can hardly obtain any credit with
persons of thought and sense. Butthe chief view of the Evangelistin relating
this circumstance, is with respectto what follows;and to show, that as soonas
Christ was baptized, and before he had well got out of the water,
lo the heavens were opened: and some indeed read the word "straightway", in
connectionwith this phrase, and not with the words "went up": but there is
no need of supposing such a trajection, for the whole may be rendered thus;
and Jesus, whenhe was baptized, was scarcelycome up out of the water, but
lo, immediately, directly, as soonas he was out, or rather before,
the heavens were openedto him; the airy heaven was materially and really
opened, parted, rent, or cloven asunder, as in Mark 1:10 which made way for
the visible descentof the Holy Ghostin a bodily shape. A difficulty arises here,
whether the words, "to him", are to be referred to Christ, or to John; no
doubt but the opening of the heavens was seenby them both: but to me it
seems that John is particularly designed, since this vision was upon his
account, and for his sake, and to him the following words belong; "and he",
that is,
John, saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: for
this is what was promised to John, as a sign, which should confirm his faith in

Jesus, as the true Messiah, andwhich he himself says he saw, and upon which
he based the record and testimony he bore to Christ, as the Sonof God; see
John 1:32 not but that the descentof the Holy Ghost in this manner might be
seenby Christ, as well as John, according to Mark 1:10. The Spirit of God,
here said to descendand light on Christ, is the same, which in the first
creationmoved upon the face of the waters;and now comes down on Christ,
just as he was coming up out of the waters of Jordan, where he had been
baptized; and which the Jews (r) so often call , "the Spirit of the king Messiah,
and the spirit of the Messiah". The descentofhim was in a "bodily shape", as
Luke says in Luke 3:22 either in the shape of a dove, which is a very fit
emblem of the Spirit of God who descended, and the fruits thereof, such as
simplicity, meekness, love, &c. and also of the dove-like innocence, humility,
and affectionof Christ, on whom he lighted; or it was in some other visible
form, not expressed, which pretty much resembledthe hovering and lighting
of a dove upon anything: for it does not necessarilyfollow from any of the
accounts the Evangelists give of this matter, that the holy Spirit assumed, or
appearedin, the form of a dove; only that his visible descentand lighting on
Christ was , as a dove descends, hovers and lights; which does not necessarily
design the form of the creature, but the manner of its motion. However, who
can read this accountwithout thinking of Noah's dove, which brought in its
mouth the olive leaf, a tokenof peace and reconciliation, when the waters
were abated from off the earth? Give me leave to transcribe a passageI have
met with in the book of Zohar (s);
"a door shall be opened, and out of it shall come forth the dove which Noah
sent out in the days of the flood, as it is written, "and he sent forth the dove",
that famous dove; but the ancients speak not of it, for they knew not what it
was, only from whence it came, and did its message;as it is written, "it
returned not againunto him any more":no man knows whither it went, but it
returned to its place, and was hid within this door; and it shall take a crown in
its mouth, and put it upon the head of the king Messiah.''
And a little after, the dove is said to abide upon his head, and he to receive
glory from it. Whether this is the remains of some ancient tradition, these men
studiously conceal,concerning the opening of the heavens, and the descentof

the Spirit of God, as a dove, upon the Messiah;or whether it is hammered out
of the evangelic history, let the reader judge.
(r) BereshitRabba, fol. 2. 4. & 6. 3. Vajikra Rabba, fol. 156. 4. Zohar in Gen.
fol. 107. 3. & 128. 3. BaalHatturim in Gen. i. 2. Caphtor Uperah, fol. 113.
2.((s) In Num. fol. 68. 3, 4.
Meyer's NT Commentary
Matthew 3:16. Εὐθύς]which cannotbelong to ἀνεῴχθ. (Maldonatus, Grotius,
B. Crusius), nor can it be referred to βαπτισθείς by supposing a hyperbaton
(Fritzsche); see Kühner, II. 2, p. 642. Matthew would have written, καὶ εὐθὺς
βαπτισθείς. It belongs to ἀνέβη, beside which it stands:after He was baptized,
He went up straightway, etc. This straightwaywas understood at once as a
matter of course, but does not belong, however, merely to the descriptive, but
to the circumstantial style of the narrative, setting forth the rapid succession
(of events).
ἀνεῴχθησαναὐτῷ οἱ οὐρανοί]designates neithera clearing up of the heavens
(Paulus), nor a thunderstorm quickly discharging itself (Kuinoel, Ammon),
since the poetic descriptions, as in Sil. It. i. 535 ff., are quite foreign(see
Drackenborch, adSil. It. iii. 136;Heyne, ad Virg. Aen. iii. 198)to our simple
historicalnarrative; as, moreover, neither in the Gospelaccording to the
Hebrews, nor in Epiphanius, Haer. xxx. 13, nor in Justin, c. Tryph. 88,[384]is
a thunderstorm meant. Only an actual parting of the heavens, out of which
opening the Spirit came down, can be intended. Ezekiel1:1; John 1:51;
Revelation4:1; Acts 7:56; Isaiah64:1.
αὐτῷ does not refer to the Baptist (Beza, Heumann, Bleek, Kern, Krabbe, de
Wette, Baur), since Matthew 3:16 begins a new portion of the history, in
which John is no longer the subject. It refers to Jesus, and is the dative of
purpose. To Him the heavens open; for it was on Him that the Spirit was to
descend. Comp. Vulgate.

εἶδε] Who? not John, but Jesus, without ἐπʼ αὐτόνstanding for ἘΦʼ ΑὙΤΌΝ
(Kuinoel); Kühner, II. 1, p. 489 f.; Bleek on the passage. The Gospelaccording
to the Hebrews clearly referred ΕἾΔΕ to Jesus, with which Mark 1:10 also
decidedly agrees.[385]
ὡσεὶ περιστεράν] The element of comparisonis interpreted by modern writers
not as referring to the shape of the visibly descending Spirit, but to the
manner of descent, where partly the swiftness (Fritzsche), partly the soft,
gentle movement (Bleek)and activity (Neander), and the like, have been
imagined as referred to. But as all the four evangelists have preciselythe same
comparison(Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32), which, as a mere
representationof the manner of the descent, would be just as unessentialas it
would be an indefinite and ambiguous comparison; as, farther, Luke
expresslysays the Spirit descended, σωματικῷ εἴδει ὡσεὶ περιστερά, where,
by the latter words, the σωματ. εἴδει is defined more precisely(comp. the
Gospelaccording to the Hebrews in Epiphanius, Haer. xxx. 13 : εἴδε, namely,
Jesus, τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ἅγιονἐν εἴδει περιστερᾶς κατελθούσης;also
Justin, c. Tr. 88),—so thatinterpretation appears as a groundless attempt to
lessenthe miraculous element, and only the old explanation (Origen and the
Fathers in Suicer, Thes. s.v. περιστερά, Euth. Zigabenus, Erasmus, Luther),
that the form of a dove actually appeared, canbe receivedas the correctone.
So also Paulus (who, however, thought of a realdove which accidentally
appearedat the time!), de Wette, Kuhn (L. J. I. p. 319), Theile (zur Biogr.
Jesu, p. 48), Keim, Hilgenfeld, who compares 4 Esdr. Matthew 5:26. The
symbolic element of this divine σημεῖον(see remarks after Matthew 3:17)
rests just in its appearance in the form of a dove, which descends.
[384]In the Gospelaccording to the Hebrews:περιέλαμψεν τὸν τόπον φῶς
μέγα. Justin. κατελθόντος τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ πῦρ ἀνήφθη ἐν τῷ
Ἰορδάνῃ.

[385]Schmidt in the Jahrb. f. D. Th. 1869, p. 655, erroneouslysays:If Jesus
were the subject, ἐφʼ αὑτόνmust necessarilyhave been put. See Buttmann,
neut. Gr. p. 97 f. [E. T. 111 f.].
Expositor's Greek Testament
Matthew 3:16-17. The preternatural accompaniments. These have been
variously viewed as meant for the people, for the Baptist, and for Jesus. In my
judgment they concernJesus principally and in the first place, and are so
viewed by the evangelist. And as we are now making the acquaintance of
Jesus for the first time, and desiring to know the spirit, manner, and vocation
of Him whose mysterious birth has occupiedour attention, we may confine
our comments to this aspect. Applying the principle that to all objective
supernatural experiences there are subjective psychologicalexperiences
corresponding, we can learn from the dove-like vision and the voice from
heaven the thoughts which had been passing through the mind of Jesus atthis
critical period. These thoughts it most concerns us to know; yet it is just these
thoughts that both believers and naturalistic unbelievers are in dangerof
overlooking;the one through regarding the objective occurrencesas alone
important, the other because, denying the objective element in the experience,
they rush to the conclusionthat there was no experience atall. Whereas the
truth is that, whateveris to be said as to the objective element, the subjective
at all events is real: the thoughts reflectedand symbolised in the vision and
the voice.
Matthew 3:16. εὐθὺς may be connectedwith βαπτισθεὶς, with ἀνέβη, or with
ἠνεῴχθησανin the following clause by a hyperbaton (Grotius). It is commonly
and correctlytakenalong with ἀνέβη. But why saystraightwayascended?
Euthy. gives an answerwhich may be quoted for its quaintness: “Theysay
that John had the people under water up to the neck till they had confessed
their sins, and that Jesus having none to confess tarried not in the river”.
Fritzsche laughs at the goodmonk, but Schanz substantially adopts his view.
There might be worse explanations.—καὶ ἰδοὺ ἠνεῴχθησαν, etc. WhenJesus

ascendedout of the waterthe heavens openedand He (Jesus)saw the spirit of
God descending as a dove coming upon Him. According to many interpreters,
including many of the Fathers, the occurrence wasofthe nature of a vision,
the appearance ofa dove coming out of the heavens. ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς οὐκ εἶπεν
ὅτι ἐν φύσει περιστερᾶς, ἀλλʼ ἐν εἴδει περιστερᾶς—Chrys. Dove-like:what
was the point of comparison? Swiftmovement, according to some; softgentle
movement as it sinks down on its place of rest, according to others. The
Fathers insisted on the qualities of the dove. Euthy. sums up these thus:
φιλάνθρωπονγάρ ἐστι καὶ ἀνεξίκακον·ἀποστερούμενονγὰρτῶν νεοσσῶν
ὑπομένει, καὶ οὐδὲνἧττοντοὺς ἀποστεροῦντας προσίεται.Καὶ καθαρώτατόν
ἐστι, καὶ τῇ εὐωδίᾳ χαίρει. Whether the dove possessesall these qualities—
philanthropy, patient endurance of wrong, letting approach it those who have
robbed it of its young, purity, delight in sweetsmells—Iknow not; but I
appreciate the insight into the spirit of Christ which specifying such
particulars in the emblematic significance ofthe dove implies. What is the O.
T. basis of the symbol? Probably Genesis 8:9-10. Grotius hints at this without
altogetheradopting the view. Thus we obtain a contrastbetweenJohn’s
conceptionof the spirit and that of Jesus as reflectedin the vision. For John
the emblem of the spirit was the stormy wind of judgment; for Jesus the dove
with the olive leafafter the judgment by waterwas past.
Matthew 3:17. οὗτός ἐστιν: “this is,” as if addressedto the Baptist; in Mark
1:9, σὺ εἶ, as if addressedto Jesus.—ἐνᾧ εὐδοκ.: a Hebraism,: ָ‫פ‬ ‫ץ‬‫ב‬ְּ.—
εὐδόκησα, aorist, eitherto express habitual satisfaction, afterthe manner of
the Gnomic Aorist (vide Hermann’s Viger, p. 169), or to denote the inner
event = my goodpleasure decided itself once for all for Him. So Schanz; cf.
Winer, § 40, 5, on the use of the aorist. εὐδοκεῖν, according to Sturz, De
Dialecto MacedonicaetAlexandrina, is not Attic but Hellenistic. The voice
recalls and in some measure echoes Isaiah42:1, “BeholdMy servant, I uphold
Him; My chosenone, My soul delights in Him. I have put My spirit upon
Him.” The title “Son” recalls Psalm2:7. Taking the vision, the voice, and the
baptism togetheras interpreting the consciousnessofJesus before and at this
time, the following inferences are suggested. (1)The mind of Jesus had been
exercisedin thought upon the Messianic vocationin relation to His own

future. (2) The chief Messianic charismappearedto Him to be sympathy, love.
(3) His religious attitude towards God was that of a Son towards a Father. (4)
It was through the sense of sonship and the intense love to men that was in His
heart that He discoveredHis Messianic vocation. (5) Prophetic texts gave
direction to and supplied means of expressionfor His religious meditations.
His mind, like that of John, was full of prophetic utterances, but a different
class oforacles had attractions for Him. The spirit of John revelled in images
of awe and terror. The gentlerspirit of Jesus delightedin words depicting the
ideal servant of God as clothed with meekness,patience, wisdom, and love.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
16. the heavens]A literal translation of the Hebrew word, which is a plural
form.
he [Jesus]saw]We should infer from the text that the vision was to Jesus
alone, but the Baptist also was a witness as we learn from John 1:32. “And
John bare record, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it
abode upon him.” This was to John the sign by which the Messiahshould be
recognised.
Bengel's Gnomen
Matthew 3:16. Ἀνέβη εὐθύς, went up immediately) There was nothing to
detain Him longer. Thus also He rose immediately from the dead.—ἰδοὺ,
κ.τ.λ., lo, etc.) A novel and greatoccurrence.—Αὐτῷ, to Him) This implies far
more than if the Evangelisthad said “above Him.”—οἱ οὐρανοὶ, the heavens)
in the plural number.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 16. - And Jesus, whenhe was baptized. Combining the statements of the
synoptists, we may conclude that Jesus wentup from the waterat once,
praying as he went, and that, while he was going up and praying, the heavens
opened. Out of; from '(RevisedVersion); ἀπό; for, as it seems, he had not gone
fully out of the water. The heavens were opened unto him. So also the Revised

Version, but the RevisedVersion margin, with Westcottand Herr, rightly
omits "unto him." The words were inserted because it was thought that Jesus
alone saw the manifestation, as indeed we should have supposedif we had had
only the accountof St. Mark, who reads, "he saw" before "the heavens being
rent asunder" (but cf. John 1:32-34). To our Lord and to the Baptistthe
appearance was as though the sky really opened (cf. Ezekiel1:1; Acts 7:56).
The Spirit of God; recalling Genesis 1:2. "Messiahnow enters on his public
office, and for that receives, as true Man, the appropriate gifts. The Spirit by
whom men are sub jectively united to God descends upon the Word made
Flesh, by whom objectivelyGod is revealedto men" (Bishop Westcott, on
John 1:32). Like; as (Revised Version). The comparisonis hardly to the
gentleness ofthe descentof a dove, but to a visible appearance in bodily form,
as a dove (see parallel passagein Luke). Not, of course, that the Holy Spirit
was thus at all incarnate, but that either the appearance ofa dove was seenby
John's eyes only (cf. especiallyTheodore of Mopsuestia,in Meyer), or, as is
not unlikely (even though the suggestionbelongs ultimately to Paulus), a dove
really flew down and lighted on the Lord (Luke), and that this, to outsiders
merely a curious incident (cf. John 12:29), was to our Lord and the Baptist a
sign of spiritual blessing. A dove (περιστερά); any member of the pigeon tribe;
chosenbecause a symbol of deliverance (Genesis 8:8), of purity (Leviticus 5:7),
of harmlessness (Matthew 10:16), and of endearment (Song of Solomon6:9).
There is no evidence (cf. Edersheim, 'Life,' 1:287) that the dove was at this
period interpreted by Jews as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Targum on
Song of Solomon 2:12 paraphrasing "the voice of the turtle-dove ' by "the
voice of the Holy Spirit," dates in its present form from the eighth to the tenth
century. The dove mentioned (though probably by interpolation) in the
accountof Polycarp's death, appears to be a symbol of the soul (cf. Bishop
Lightfoot). Wichelhaus (as quoted by Kubel) says suggestively, "lamb and
dove - no kingdom in the world has these emblems on its escutcheon." And;
omit, with manuscripts. Lighting; coming (RevisedVersion), because it is
needless to translate a common Greek (ἐρχόμενον)by a rare English word.
Observe that it refers to the Holy Spirit, not to the dove as such. Upon him (so
Luke and John 1:32, 33;Mark more vaguely, "unto him").
Vincent's Word Studies

As a dove (ὡσεί περιστερὰν)
In the form of a dove, and not, as some interpret, referring merely to the
manner of the descent - swiftly and gently as a dove (compare Luke 3:22 "In a
bodily form, as a dove"). The dove was an ancient symbol of purity and
innocence, adoptedby our Lord in Matthew 10:16. It was the only bird
allowedto be offered in sacrifice by the Levitical law. In Christian art it is the
symbol of the Holy Spirit, and that in his Old Testamentmanifestations as
well as in those of the New Testament. From a very early date the dove
brooding over the waters was the type of the opening words of Genesis. An
odd fresco on the choir-walls of the Cathedralof Monreale, nearPalermo,
represents a waste ofwaters, and Christ above, leaning forward from the
circle of heaven with extended arms. From beneath him issues the divine ray
along which the dove is descending upon the waters. So Milton:
"Thou from the first
Wastpresent, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like sat'stbrooding on the vast abyss
And mad'st it pregnant."
In art, the double-headed dove is the peculiar attribute of the prophet Elisha.
A window in Lincoln College, Oxford, represents him with the double-headed
dove perched upon his shoulder. The symbol is explained by Elisha's prayer
that a double portion of Elijah's spirit might rest upon him.
It has been assertedthat, among the Jews, the Holy Spirit was presented
under the symbol of a dove, and a passage is citedfrom the Talmud; "The
Spirit of Godmoved on the face of the waters like a dove." Dr. Edersheim
("Life and Times of Jesus the Messia")vigorouslycontradicts this, and says
that the passage treats ofthe supposed distance betweenthe upper and the
lowerwaters, which was only three finger-breadths. This is proved by Genesis
1:2, where the Spirit of God is said to brood over the face of the waters, "just
as a dove broodeth over her young without touching them." "Thus the
comparisonis not betweenthe Spirit and the dove, but betweenthe closeness
with which a dove broods over her young without touching them, and the

supposedproximity of the Spirit to the lowerwaters without touching them."
He goes on to say that the dove was not the symbol of the Holy Spirit, but of
Israel. "If, therefore, rabbinic illustration of' the descentof the Holy Spirit
with the visible appearance ofa dove must be soughtfor, it would lie in the
acknowledgmentof Jesus as the ideal typical Israelite, the representative of
his people."
GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE BY HASTINGS
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS.
Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also
having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy
Ghostdescendedin a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out
of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I am well pleased. Luke iii.
21, 22.
1. THE Baptism of our Lord was the first event of His public life as
the Christ ; and on this accountalone it would have a peculiar
significance and importance. Previously to this time He had
lain hid in Galilee, in silent and secretpreparation for His public
work, dwelling beneath the roof of His earthly parents, and
subject to them, growing year by year in wisdom and in stature,

and in favour with Godand man. What were His occupations
and pursuits; how His soulwithin Him was exercisedand dis
ciplined in the prospectof the public duties assignedto Him as
Mediator; in what waythe one thought of glorifying His Father
by "obedience unto death" for His people was everbefore His
mind, waxing in greatness andawfulness as it was longerand
more fully contemplated ; how the coming events of His tempta
tion and agonyand Cross filled His holy human heart with
longing and wonderand fear as the time drew on and they
lookedthe nearer, we have not anywhere in Scripture been clearly
informed. The thirty years that elapsedbetweenHis birth and
His " showing unto Israel" are for us little else than a mysterious
blank. We cando no more than conjecture how His human
understanding, by the aid of the Old TestamentScriptures, which
spoke of Him in type and prophecy and promise, grew in the
knowledge ofthe greatwork given Him to do; and how His
human feelings of faith and love, and submission to His Father,
by acts of converse with Godin private, were disciplined and
strengthenedto enter upon it. It is but a glimpse that we get
of the extent to which the Child Jesus had, during His early
years, perfectedHimself in the Word of His God, when we see
ST. LUKE 10

146 THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
Him, at twelve years of age, sitting among the JewishDoctors in
the Temple, the Teacherratherthan the taught ; and we can only
guess by wayof inference how large a portion of His private
hours in youth was spent in secretcommunion with His Father,
when we read of how the habit had grown in mature age into the
spending of whole nights alone in prayer to God.
But although comparative darkness has been allowedto settle
down upon the history of the earthly life of Christ before He
grew to manhood, yet we can hardly err in believing that by
means of these two things namely, God speaking to His human
soul in the written Word, and His human soulholding converse
with God in prayer He was educatedfor the work in public
which lay before Him ; and that, although we may know but little
of the characterorthe successive steps ofit, yet there was a great
work of preparation going on in those early years, of which no
record is found in Scripture. And when this mysterious prepara
tion was at an end when the hidden discipline of His early years
had made perfect the Son of God for His destined enterprise

what was the event which terminated His secretand inaugurated
His public career;which closedup the history of Jesus as a
private man, and proclaimed the opening of His official life as the
Messiah, the sent of God ? We have the narrative of that event
in the passagebefore us.
2. The first meeting of Jesus and John is a unique scene.
They were of nearly the same age ; they were related according
to the flesh ; they were both men of prophetic endowment, sent
to produce in their native country a religious reformation. Yet,
in spite of these and other points of resemblance, there could not
have been two characters more absolutelycontrasted. Jesus
marked the contrastin the broadestway when He subsequently
said, " John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking
wine ; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come
eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold, a gluttonous man, and
a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners ! " John was the
child of the desert, courting solitude and avoiding human society;
Jesus followeda homely trade, appearedat marriages and feasts,
was a friend of women and children, and was as much at home
in the busy city as on the mountain top. John calledthe

ST. LUKE m. 21, 22 147
multitude out to the desertto hear him and did not condescend
to visit the haunts of men ; Jesus went to sinners where He could
find them, considering it His duty to seek as wellas to save that
which was lost. John had a searedlook ; he was a man who, after
severe struggles, hadobtained the mastery of himself and was
holding down a coarse nature by main force ; Jesus, onthe con
trary, was always innocentand spontaneous, genialand serene.
John, in short, was the Old Testamentpersonified, Jesus the
embodiment of the New ; and in John s shrinking from baptizing
Jesus, the spirit of the Old Testamentthe spirit of law, wrath
and austerity was doing homage to the spirit of the New
Testamentthe spirit of freedom and of love.
A voice by Jordans shore !
A summons stern and clear;
Reform ! be just ! and sin no more !
God s judgment draweth near !

A voice by Galilee,
A holier voice I hear;
Love God ! thy neighbour love ! for see,
God s mercy draweth near !
voice of Duty ! still
Speak forth ; I hear with awe ;
In thee I own the sovereignwill,
Obey the sovereignlaw.
Thou higher voice of Love,
Yet speak Thy word in me ;
Througl i duty let me upward move
To Thy pure liberty! 1
3. The application by Jesus for baptism perplexed John ; and
it is a perplexity even to this day. It is not, indeed, entirely

without parallel in the life of Christ ; for His circumcision,
which took place when He was eight days old, raises the same
difficulty. The difficulty is that He should have participated in
an ordinance which symbolized the removal of sin. But in this
case it is more urgent, because He made the application Himself.
Only two explanations seemreally to touch the quick. The
1 Samuel Longfellow.
one is that John s baptism had a positive as wellas a negative
side. It was not only the baptism of repentance, but a rite of
dedication. It was a renewalof the national covenant, the
inauguration of a new era, the gatewayof the Kingdom of God.
Now, although Jesus had no part in the sin from which baptism
cleansed, He had part in this positive enthusiasm ; He was the
very Personto lead the way into the new era. The other
explanation, which may very easilybe combined with this one,
is that He receivedbaptism as a representative Person. Although
sinless Himself, He was a member of a sinful nation, of whose

sin He was keenlyconscious more so than any other whom
John baptized and He went along with the rest of the nation
in making confession. In short, He was in this actrehearsing
beforehand the greatact of His death, when He bore in His own
body on the tree the sins of the world.
^| Tintoret has thrown into his picture of the Baptism of
Christ his utmost strength; and it becomes noble in his hands
by his most singularly imaginative expression, not only of the
immediate fact, but of the whole train of thought of which it is
suggestive ;and by his considering the Baptism not only as the
submission of Christ to the fulfilment of all righteousness, but
as the opening of the earthly struggle with the prince of the
powers of the air, which instantly beginning in the temptation,
ended only on the Cross. The river flows fiercely under the
shadow of a greatrock. From its opposite shore, thickets of close
gloomy foliage rise againstthe rolling chasmof heaven, through
which breaks the brightness of the descending Spirit. Across
these, dividing them asunder, is stretcheda horizontal floor of
flaky cloud, on which stand the hosts of heaven. Christ kneels
upon the water, and does not sink; the figure of St. John is
indistinct, but close beside his raisedright arm there is a spectre
in the black shade ; the Fiend, harpy-shaped, hardly seen, glares

down upon Christ with eyes of fire, waiting his time. Beneath
this figure there comes out of the mist a dark hand, the arm
unseen, extended to a net in the river, the spars of which are in
the shape of a cross. Behind this the roots and under stems of the
trees are cut awayby the cloud, and beneath it, and through
them, is seena vision of wild, melancholy, boundless light, the
sweepof the desert ; and the figure of Christ is seentherein alone,
with His arms lifted as in supplication or ecstasy, borne of the
Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil. 1
1 Ruskin, Modern Painters ( Works, iv. 268).
ST. LUKE in. 21, 22 149
I.
THE CIRCUMSTANCESOF THE BAPTISM.
Before we attempt to enter into the meaning of the Baptism
of Jesus, whetherfor Himself or for us, it will be well to bring
before our minds the events that took plnce on the occasionofit,

as they are reported by St. Luke. These events are: (1) the
Prayer, (2) the Opening of the Heavens, (3) the Descentofthe
Spirit, and (4) the Voice.
i. The Prayer.
There is one peculiarity about the life of our Lord Jesua
Christ which everybody must have noticedwho has carefully read
the four Gospels, namely, that He was a man of much prayer.
He was mighty as a preacher; for even the officers who were sent
to arrest Him said, " Neverman spake like this man." But He
appears to have been even mightier in prayer, if such a thing
could be possible. We do not read that His disciples ever asked
Him to teachthem to preach, but we are told that, " as he was
praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one ofhis disciples
said unto him, Lord, teachus to pray." He had no doubt been
praying with such wonderful fervour that His disciples realized
that He was a master of the holy art of prayer, and they therefore
desired to learn the secretfor themselves. The whole life of our
Lord Jesus Christ was one of prayer. Though we are often told
about His praying, we feel that we scarcelyneedto be informed
of it, for we know that He must have been a man of prayer. His
acts are the acts of a prayerful man ; His words speak to us like

the words of one whose heart was constantlylifted up in prayer
to His Father. You could not imagine that He would have
breathed out such blessings upon men if He had not first breathed
in the atmosphere of heaven. He must have been much in
prayer or He could not have been so abundant in service and so
gracious in sympathy.
1. St. Luke informs us that Jesus rose out of the waters
praying. This is a solemnhint as to the spirit in which all
Divine ordinances ought to be received. When we come to the
i5o THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
font seeking baptism either for ourselves orfor others, when we
sit at the Lord s Table, when we are on our wayto church, when
we open Gods holy Word as we take part in every such
ordinance we may learn from Jesus how to conduct ourselves :
the beststate of mind is, to be engagedin prayer.
2. What may we suppose He was praying for? If we
remember the nature of the ordinance in which He was partici

pating and the stage ofHis own development which He had
reached, canwe doubt that He was praying for the coming of the
Kingdom of God and for strength to play His own part in its
inauguration ? That generally.
But now, more particularly, what should He have been praying
about? Clearly, if He came to St. John as claiming to be no
exceptionto the multitude, He would fashion His prayer after the
likeness ofthat of the multitude. And of what kind were their
feelings and utterances as they descendedinto the waters of
Jordan ? They were " confessing their sins." They had been
moved to do something outside the Law, because they felt a
burden which no law could remove "the weary weightof all
their unintelligible " selves. Whenevery commandment had been
kept, there still remained the consciousnessofnot having realized
their own capacities,ofhaving fallen below the level of what they
might have been, what they were intended to be. This is the
guilt born of our very dignity ; it haunts the worthiestmost ; it is
felt even by the meanestof us in hours of self-scrutiny. What
could the carpenters Son know of it ? Little or nothing, if He
were playing a part pretending to heroism ; much, if He were a
genuine man; much also, if He were genuinely Divine; very
much, therefore, if He were genuinely both God and Man in one

Person. Then He could have intense perceptions, would enter
into the minds of others, and understand through sympathy what
He did not learn by experience ; then, knowing no sin, He could
be " made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of
God in him."
ii. The Opening of the Heavens.
The answerto His prayer came suddenly and impressively .
While He was yet speaking, His Fatherin heavenheard, and
ST. LUKE in. 21, 22 151
three wonders happened : first the heavens were opened ; secondly
the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descendedon Him ; and,
thirdly, a voice came from heaven, saying : " Thou art my beloved
Son ; in thee I am well pleased."
1. What is meant by the opening ? The language used by the
Evangelists is very graphic, suggesting that there was the appear
ance of a rent being made in the blue vault, by which the

invisible things which lie within were disclosed. But what does
this mean to us, who are wellaware that the visible heavenis not
what it was thought to be by the infant mind of the race the
floor of a celestialpalace, the occupants and furnishings of which
might be seenif an opening were made in the ceiling of our
earthly abode ?
The opening of the heavens was a magnificent emblem: it
gave, at the very beginning of the Saviour s ministry, a vision,
and, as it were, an epitome, of the whole work He came to do.
He saw, it may be, for a brief moment, the glorious realm from
which He had come to earth, and to which, through sorrow and
toil, He was to make His wayagain. The heavens were opened
to Him, as our Representative and Forerunner, thus giving us the
assurance thatevery obstacle opposing our return to God would
be overcome, and a way made for us into the very home of His
dearestchildren.
2. This opening of the heavens is one of the most beautiful
and significantcircumstances connectedwith our Lord s visible
ministry. Alas ! that it should be with so many a poor and
almost forgottenthing, like the gleamof the lightning, or the
shining of the summer-day of a hundred years ago. With too

many men the question is not, " Is heavenopen above us, that we
may have commerce there ? " but, " Is the earth open around us,
that we may gather thence our comforts and our gains ? Is the
seasongood? Are the fields fruitful ? Will the times soon
mend ? Will the click of machinery be heard ere long in full
work in our mills, and the hum of revived trade in our towns ? "
These questions are goodand rig) it. A man is not worthy of his
place in this greatcomplex growing world if he does not feelan
interest in such questions as these. But there are other questions
IS* THE BAPTISM OF JESUS
of wider scope whichought to arise in men s hearts, and for
answerto which they ought to listen as for life.
There are not a few who have tried hard to make this world,
out of what seemedto them its abundant riches, supply all their
need without Jesus Christ : but who have been baffled beatenat
every turn. They have gained only to lose. Theyhave rejoiced,
only to feel more acutely the pang of the after vexation. They
have striven and suffered and sorrowed, only to get for inheritance

that old bequest, which Solomon, so long dead, is bequeathing
still "allis vanity." In their desolationthey begin to think,
and to ask, " Is it God who tells us that all is vanity ? Is He
the King of an empty Universe ? Is there with Him, in His gift,
nothing better than the things we have won and lost ? " And the
answercomes that there is a way opened to Himself ; that He
disappoints only that He may fulfil ; He takes awaythe less that
He may give the more ; He darkens earth that He may show us
heaven ; He has reservedHimself and His fulness for our eternal
portion. Lo ! the heavens are opened to them and, wise at last,
they find their inheritance there.
iii. The Descentof the Spirit.
1. The New Testamentlike the Old begins with the Spirit.
Yet there is a difference in their beginnings. The Spirit of the
Old Testamentcomes outfrom the darkness ; it has to form the
light by which we are to see it. But the Spirit of the New
comes from light already created; it descends from the opened
heavens. The Spirit of the Old Testamentmoves on the face of
troubled waters ; the Spirit of the New alights and reposes onthe
calm bosom of the Son of Man. No wonderthe Spirit of the
New Testamentis like a dove ; it has itself found peace in the

heart of its own creation; it has reachedin the soul of Jesus its
Sabbath of rest.
2. The Holy Spirit, says St. Luke, "descendedin a bodily
form, as a dove, upon him." What, asks Stalker, was the dove
which descendedon Jesus? Was there a real dove, which,
attractedby His gentleness, alightedon Him, as such creatures
when domesticatedwill sometimes do on persons to whom they
are drawn by kindness and amiability ? Or was the dove a
ST. LUKE in. 21, 22 153
form of light which glided, with dove-like motion, down on His
head to point Him out, as at Saul s conversiona light above the
brightness of the sun shone round about him ? An ancientlegend
says that the whole valley of the Jordan was illuminated.
These questions are not easilyanswerednow. At an earlier
time Keble could say" It is probable that the appearance offire,
or of a bright cloud, which had takenin former times the shape
of a pillar guiding the Israelites, and which afterwards took that

of fiery tongues lighting on the Apostles, now hovered over the
BlessedJesusin somewhatof the form of a dove, with wings
spreading overHim ; and we may be certainthat it came down
with the gentle steadymotion of a dove."
Alford is quite explicit : " The Holy Spirit descendednot
only in the manner of a dove, but in bodily form (Luke) : which I
cannot understand in any but the literal sense, as the bodily
shape of a dove, seenby the Baptist. There can be no objection
to this, the straightforwardinterpretation of the narrative, which
does not equally apply to the Holy Spirit being visible at all,
which John himself asserts Him to have been (John i. 32-34),
even more expresslythan is assertedhere. Why the Creator
Spirit may not have assumedan organized body bearing
symbolical meaning, as well as any other material form, does not
seemclear. This was the ancient, and is the only honest, inter
pretation. The express assertionofLuke, and the fact that all
four Evangelists have used the same expression, whichthey would
not have done if it were a mere tcrtium comparationis, are surely
a sufficient refutation of this rationalizing (and, I may add,
blundering) interpretation." l
iv. The Voice.

A "voice from heaven" was a familiar method of communi
cating the will of God. Forexamples of such voices in the Old
Testamentsee Gen. xxi. 17, xxii. 11, 15; Ex. xix. 19, xx. 22;
1 Kings xix. 12, 13. In the Gospels the Father s Voice is heard
thrice at the Baptism and the Transfiguration(cf. 2 Pet. i. 17)
and before the Passion(Johnxii. 28). The Voice was audible or
articulate only to those who had " ears to hear" (John v. 37, xii.
29).
1 H. Alford, The Greek Testament, i. 25.
The voice does not proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, as a legend
would probably have represented. No such proclamation was
needed either by Jesus or by the Baptist. The descentof the
Spirit had told John that Jesus was the Christ (John i. 33). This
voice from heaven, as afterwards at the Transfiguration (ix. 35),
and againshortly before the Passion(Johnxii. 28), followed
closelyupon Christ s prayer, and may be regarded as the answer

to it. His humanity was capable of needing the strength which
the heavenly assurance gave.To callthis voice from heaven the
Bath-Kol of the Rabbis, or to treat it as analogous to it, is mis
leading. The Rabbinic Bath-Kol, or " Daughter-voice,"is regarded
as an echo of the voice of God ; and the Jews likedto believe
that it had been granted to them after the gift of prophecy had
ceased. The utterances attributed to it are in some cases so
frivolous or profane that the more intelligent Rabbis denounced it
as a superstition.
II.
THE MEANING OF THE BAPTISM.
i. Its Meaning to Christ Himself.
For Jesus Himself the Baptism was a transfiguring moment
one of the cardinal points in the development of His humanity,
marking His transition from the life of a private man to the
careerof a public teacher. Some suppose that it was at this
point that He became fully conscious ofHis unique relationship
to God and graspedin all its majesty the plan of His subsequent
career. There is more unanimity in the belief that it was now

that He was endowedwith the miraculous powers of which He
was to make use in His ministry. In the Gospels His miracles
are ascribedto the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that His own
Divine powerwas not at work in them ; it means that His human
nature required to be potentiated by specialgifts of the Holy
Spirit, in order to be a fit organ through which His Divinity might
act. And perhaps it was at this time that these gifts were con
ferred.
1. The Baptism was the Fathers witness to His Sonship. " A
voice came out of heaven, Thon art my beloved Son." That voice
ST. LUKE in. 21, 22 155
was to assure not Himself indeed but others of His Sonship. In
all probability the consciousnessofHis Sonship had flushed upon
Him in His childhood, perhaps at His first visit to the Temple,
when He uttered the memorable words, " Wist ye not that I must
be about my Father s business ? " (Luke ii. 49).
TJ Even though He may have neededno assurance ofHis

Sonship, there are many of God s children who do. There are
many ways in which the assurancemay be given. I know we
are not to wait for any gracious illapse ofthe Holy Ghostbefore
we claim our place in the family of God through faith in Jesus
Christ. I know, too, that there are various degrees ofassurance,
and various ways in which that assurance is borne in upon the
newborn soul. There is an assurance whichmay be gainedby
looking first at the Cross, and being convincedby the Spirit as I
gaze upon Him who hangs there that judgment will not be twice
demanded,
First at my bleeding Surety s hands,
And then againat mine.
And this assurance is deepenedwhen I see the empty tomb, and
hear the triumphant cry, " He is not here, but is risen." " Who
is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercessionforus " (Horn. viii. 34). All this is true, and
most reassuring truth it is ; and yet there is anotherway in
which assurance is borne in upon the soul; it is that of which
the Apostle speaks in Horn. viii. 16 "The Spirit himself beareth
witness with our spirit " the direct witness of the Holy Ghost to

the soulthat we are born again, and that we are no more servants
but sons, and " if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-
heirs with Christ ; if so be that we sutler with him, that we may
be also glorified together" (Rom. viii. 17). And this is the witness
that the baptism of the Holy Ghost bestows. 1
Our Masterall the work hath done
He asks of us to-day ;
Sharing His service, everyone
Share too His sonshipmay.
Lord, I would serve and be a son ;
Dismiss me not, 1 pray.-
1 E. W. Moore, The Spirit s Seal, 32.
* T. T. Lynch, The Rivulet, 2.
(1) As a witness to His Sonship it had both a retrospective
and a prospective reference. Jesushad left behind all the doings
of those quiet, peacefulyears, and was at the dividing line between

private and public life. He was leaving behind Him the years of
His obscurity, and coming out into the fierce light that ever beats
upon a public teacher. And there, at the parting of the ways,
God lit up all the years that had gone, with the sweet words of
approval, " Thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I am well pleased."
It could not have been a pronouncement upon the temptation in
the wilderness ; that was as yet an untried pathway. It could
not have been a declarationof the Divine pleasure with Gethse-
mane s garden and Calvary s Cross ; they were still to be reached.
No, it must have been a reference to the past, so that whatever
else we know, or do not know, about the hidden years of the lite
of Jesus, this one thing is certain, that through them all He
pleasedGod ; for God put His sealupon them when they were
closing behind Him, and the new years were opening before Him,
saying, " I am well pleased."
(2) But it was also a prophecy of the future. Our Lord s
public ministry lay betweentwo Calvarys : it not only culminated
in Calvary, it started from it. The baptism in Jordanwas
nothing less than an anticipation, a prophecy, of the Cross itself;
it was the deepestact of self-abasementofwhich our blessed
Lord was capable. As the sinner s representative, He felt bound
to take the sinner s place, to be treated, in short, as the sinner

needed to be treated. Therefore whenthe Baptist, instinctively
recoiling from administering an ordinance emblematic of the
washing awayof sin to Him who " knew no sin," exclaimed, " I
have need to be baptized of thee, and comestthou to me ? " the
answerhe receivedwas, " Suffer it to be so now ; for thus it
becomethus to fulfil all righteousness."As if He would say, " I
am in the sinner s place to-day ; I must acceptto the full all that
that position involves, or I shall fail in that uttermost obedience
to the Fathers will, apart from which my work of redemption
cannot be achieved." We cannotfathom the depth of self-
abasementwhich this descentinto Jordan involved to Him who
was none other than the brightness of His Father s glory and the
express image of His Person; but we see how God estimatedit
when we read that, as Jesus came up out of the water, " the
ST. LUKE m. 21, 22 157
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him."
2. The Baptism was His consecrationfor His work. The rite

of baptism had two significations. In the case ofa Gentile it
signified the putting away of idolatry, and the acceptanceofthe
worship of Jehovah. In the case ofthe Jew it signified the
removal of his imcleanuess. In both these instances the meaning
was the washing away of sin. Then the secondsignificance was
consecrationto office. In our Saviour s case this is at leastthe
chief meaning. We have only to look at His life to see how far
this was realized. For righteousness sake,orfulfilment of a rite
which was observedby the nation, the Saviour stoodbefore the
multitude and receivedthe ordinance, repeating the prayer usual
on such occasions. This was the commencementof a series of
acts of consecrationwhich terminated in Gethsemane and on the
Cross.
(1) It was a consecrationforthe conflict that lay before Him.
Was it not significantthat immediately after the receptionof the
Holy Spirit He should be brought into a personalencounterwith
the evil spirit ? that immediately after such a manifestationof
Divine favour there should he such a manifestation of Satanic
power? that face to face and foot to foot in the solitudes of the
wilderness the SecondAdam should have to grapple with our
Adversary, to fight our battle and win our cause ?

(2) It was a consecrationforthe service He had to accomplish.
This was the opening of Christ s missionary career. Up to this
time He had lived a life of obscurity in Nazareth. He was
content for thirty out of the thirty-three years He spent on earth
to be unknown outside the little circle of His own immediate
friends and acquaintances, so unknown that Nathanaelsaid
"Canthere any goodthing come out of Nazareth ? " (John i. 46).
Thirty years preparation for three years service ! His hour
had come, and the Divine voice bade Him enter on His ministry
of toil.
(3) It was a consecrationto the suffering that He had to
undergo. His life henceforth was to be a living martyrdom.
Suffering was to be His lot. As has been truly said, " God had
one Sonwithout sin, but not one without suffering."
If The sufferings of Christ were altogetherdistinct from ours.
We suffer, knowing that we have deservedmore than we can evei
bear. He suffered, knowing that He had deservednothing. We

suffer for others sin, knowing that evenin our purest experience
we have some sympathy with sin. He suffered, conscious ofno
such sympathy. Many a martyr, following his Lord s example,
has gone to as bitter a physical death as his Lord, singing as he
went. Jesus wentto His death, shrinking and sore amazed, and
in a horror of fear before it. It was the burden He bore there
that broke Him down. It was your sins and mine that bowed
Him as they never bowed, never can bow, us clown. He was
" made sin for us." " This is my body broken for you." " The
Son of man giveth his life instead of many." " By his stripes we
are healed." " The chastisementof our peace was laid upon him."
" We all like sheephad gone astray; we had turned every one to
his ownway," and " the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all." That is what takes the sting and curse out of life for me.
That uproots the weed; that repairs the breach; that sweetens
the sour. The fact that there are thistles in this world of Gods,
and that they have to be takenout of it, is not so difficult to
understand when a pierced hand has been pulling up thistles in
the heart s acre. 1
ii. Its Meaning to us.

1. In the narrative of the Baptism, as has often been observed,
we have the participation of the three Persons of the Trinity.
There flows from it therefore a threefold blessing to men.
(1) Divine reconciliationis assuredto us in this manifestation
of the Son of God. To the personal "Jesus" is now to be added
the title of the Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One. In the
inn at Bethlehem, in the workshopat Nazareth, we see Jesus.
In this baptism at Jordan, in His ministry in Galilee and Judrea,
we behold the Christ. In His PersonHe assures us of reconcilia
tion betweenGod and man. Without Him sin would for ever
bar our admission into the presence of the MostHigh. But He
is the Righteous One, who not only has done no sin, but has
fulfilled all righteousness.
(2) Divine renewalis assuredto us in the manifestation of the
Spirit of God. Thus did the Fatheranoint the Son with the Holy
Ghostand with power (Acts x. 38) ; and though the sight of this
1 B. W. Barbour, Thoughts, 52.

ST. LUKE in. 21, 22 159
heavenly effluence in dove-like form appears to have been seen
only by Christ Himself and the Baptist, yet the witness is for us.
The very emblem of the dove is full of teaching as to the character
of the Christian renewal. We sing to the Holy Spirit :
Come as the dove, and spreadThy wings,
The wings of peace and love.
But this emblem is never used in Scripture except in connexion
with the Sonof God. It is only in Him that the Spirit of
Holiness can dwell with sinners. Yet even so the dove tells us
of the perfectpurity in Christ for us; and likewise the effects of
this bestowalofthe Spirit upon Jesus revealthe same truth. By
that Spirit He wrought His miracles and spoke His words of
grace, and after His resurrection that Spirit was sentin His name,
bringing to the world life and powerand holiness. Sin is, so to
speak, the hiatus of human nature, and the Spirit ministers that
holiness which is lacking.
(. )) Lastly, Divine restorationis assuredto us by the testimony

of the Father: " Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well
pleased." The self-same words are repeatedtowards the close of
our Lord s ministry, on the Mount of Transfiguration. St. Peter,
writing many years afterwards, doubly assures us thereof, saying,
" He receivedfrom God the Father honour and glory, when there
came such a voice to him from the excellentglory, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am wellpleased. And this voice which
came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the
holy mount" ( 2 Pet. i. 17, 18). And, in addition to this testi
mony of words, we have the still more substantialtestimony
given by the Father to the Sonwhen He raisedHim from the
dead (1 Pet. i. 21), and set Him at His own right hand in the
heavenly places (Eph. i. 20). So we sing in the Te Deum," When
Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of Death, Thou didst open
the kingdom of heaven to all believers." Forthe Father, to use
the inspired words of the Apostle Paul, " hath blessedus with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."
^| " All alone, so Heaven has willed, we die " : but, as travellers
are cheeredon a solitaiy road when they see the footprints that
they know belongedto loved and trusted ones who have trodden
it before, that desolate loneliness is less lonely when we think

that He became dead. He will come to the shrinking single soul,
as He joined Himself to the sad travellers on the road to Emmaus,
and " our hearts " may burn within us even in that last hour of
their beating if we can remember who has become dead and
trodden the road before us. 1
If Christ is made the law of the law, the sin of sin, the death
of death, that He might redeem from the curse of the law, justify
me and quicken me. While He is the law, He is also liberty ;
while He is sin, He is righteousness;while He is death, He is
life. For in that He suffered the law to accuse Him, sin to con
demn Him, and death to devour Him, He abolishedthe law, He
condemned sin, He destroyeddeath, He justified and saved me. 2
2. But there is value in the Baptism for us in this also, that
He is our example.
(1) He is our example of Faith. "What things soeverye
desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall

have them" (Mark xi. 24). The Saviour left it all with God.
It was believing prayer. Was His faith disappointed ? It could
not be. Heavenopened upon Him. The Holy Dove descended.
The mighty deed was done. This is our pattern. Christ fulfilled
the conditions, and according to His faith it was unto Him.
Surely from that open heavena voice speaks to us, " The promise
is to you and to your children " : " Go and do thou likewise."
Tf To as many of us as by His grace to us are true believers
on Him and in His blood, our Lord s own faith in His Fatherand
in His Fathers word to Him is a subject of the intensest interest,
the most edifying meditation, and the most transporting reflection.
To as many of us as believe there is no subject in heaven or on
earth like our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the true learning.
This is the true knowledge.This is the true science and
philosophy ; and not falsely so called. This is the wisdomthat
cometh from above. This is the wisdomof God in a mystery.
This, Father, is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. 3
If It was in Gethsemane and on Calvary that the faith of our
Substitute came to its absolute perfection. Loaded down to
death and hell with the sin of the world, our Saviour s faith in

His Fathers sure word of promise was such that His burdened
heart rose victorious above all the tremendous load that was laid
1 Alexander Maclaren. 2 Luther, Commentary on Galatians, 204.
8 A. Why to, The Walk, Conversation, and CharacterofJesus Christ our
Lord, 181.
ST. LUKE in. 21, 22 161
upon Him. Our Saviour had the fullest assurance offaith, the
fullest assurance that His Father who had begun such a good
work in Him and by Him would not leave it till He had perfected
it in the day of Christ. And thus it was that, as Bengelsays, " the
most fragrant part of Christ s sin-atoning sacrifice was His un
shakentrust in His Fathers faithfulness and love." 1
^| Mr. Erskine had a strong conviction that in Romans iii. 22
" the faith of Christ " meant " the faith of Christ in His Father."
I mentioned that this was identically the view entertained by
Mr. Dunbar Heath, who was deprived of his benefice for holding

this amongstother doctrines. Mr. Erskine had never heard of
him. 2
(2) Of Obedience. Jesus receivedthe Holy Spirit at a time of
uttermost obedience. Do not imagine that it is such a simple
thing to receive the Spirit in His fulness. It is simple when the
conditions are fulfilled, but not otherwise. And the first condi
tion is obedience. See Acts v. 32 "the Holy Ghost, whom God
hath given " (not to every one)" to them that obey him." So in
Matt. iii. 15, " Sutler it to be so now : for thus it becometh us to
fulfil all righteousness."It was quite unnecessary, from the
human standpoint, for Christ to be baptized by John, but the
Lord yielded to it.
TJ Christ is not a teacherof the law, like Moses, but a disciple
who would be obedient to the law, that through such subjection
and obedience He might redeem those who were under the law. 3
^| " Compassedwith infirmity," appointed to suffering, our
Lord entered into the deepestexperience of humanity, and
attained the secretofperfect obedience to the will of God. We
may see in our suffering Lord how through sanctifiedsuffering
we attain harmony with the eternalwill. One of the greatestof

modern artists reminds his young brethren that artistic perfection
is reached, not through easyand pleasantexercises,but through
battles and agonies. How much more the immortal perfection of
the spirit ! Let me not resent the discipline of trial. A famous
traveller tells us that it is a principle thoroughly believed in by all
Asiatics, that the bitterer the remedy the more efficacious it is.
This may not be true in physic, but it is certainly true in morals,
when our sorrows are ordained by God and accompaniedby His
1 A. Whyte.
2 DeanStanley, in Letters of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, ii. 291,
8 Luther, Table-talk (ed. by Fbrstemann), i. 352.
ST. LUKE II
grace. Let me not, then, wearthe fools cap in the schoolof
suffering, but fully learn the greatlessons ofsubmission, patience,
trust. 1

(3) Of Prayer. It was at a time of prayer that Christ received
the Spirit. Prayeris the condition of receiving the Spirit. " Yet
for all this will I be inquired of by them, to do it for them"
(Ezek. xxxvi. 37). We shall never know what this baptism means
unless we obey, believe, and pray.
U I rejoice to know of your interest in the greattheme the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I am now more and more persuaded
that the greatestthings are possible if only we have His power
resting upon us. I have seensuch a demonstration in my church
last year as I never witnessedbefore. We met morning after
morning in the early year simply to pray for the powerof the
Holy Ghost. We were looking for a revival. When I made my
plea for foreign missions, I astonishedmy conservative brethren
by asking ten thousand dollars this year for our contribution.
Only a few wealthy men among us, and they not likely to do
largely. But when the collectionwas gatheredtwenty thousand
dollars came, nobody asked, no solicitationmade. It was simply
a greatimpulse of the Spirit, and the astonishment of all still
continues. Now is coming a gracious ingathering of souls."

PAUL C. JONG
<Acts 19:l-3>
“And it happened, while Apollos was at
Corinth, that Paul, having passedthrough the
upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding
some disciples he saidto them, ‘Did you
receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’So
they said to him, ‘We have not so much as
heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.’ And he
said to them, ‘Into what then were you
baptized?’ So they said, ‘Into John’s
baptism.’”
Why does the Bible say, “From
the days of John the Baptist until now
the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence,
and violent men take it by force?’’

Becausepeople cantake the Kingdom
of Heaven by the faith in the beautiful gospel
that says that Jesus blottedout all the sins
of the world through His baptism by John
and His blood on the Cross.
What kind of gospeldid Paul preach? He
preachedthe gospelof Jesus’baptism and His
blood. Acts 19:1 says, “And it happened, while
Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed
through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And
finding some disciples he said to them, ‘Did you
receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”’
However, these people believed in Jesus while
leaving out the meaning of Jesus’baptism. They
53 Did You Receive the Holy Spirit When You Believedin Jesus?
didn’t know the beautiful gospelthat leads to the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul’s
question, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when

you believed? ” was a very unfamiliar question to
some disciples at Ephesus. Other people would
have askedthem, “Did you believe in Jesus?”
But Paul askedthe question in this extraordinary
way so that they could receive the Holy Spirit by
renewing their faith in the beautiful gospel.
Paul’s ministry was to preachthe beautiful
gospelof Jesus’baptism and His blood. Paul,
Peterand John also testified to Jesus’baptism by
John the Baptist.
Let’s take a look at the apostles’ testimonyto
the gospelofbaptism. First Paul testified,
“Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin
live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as
many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death?” (Romans 6:2-3) and
“Foras many of you as were baptized in to
Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
The apostle Peteralso testifiedto the gospelof

Jesus’baptism in 1 Peter3:21, saying, “There is
also an antitype which now saves us — baptism
(not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the
answerof a goodconsciencetowardGod),
through the resurrectionof Jesus Christ, who has
gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers having been
made subject to Him. ”
John the Apostle also testifiedto this beautiful
gospelin 1 John 5:5-8. “Who is he who
overcomes the world, but he who believes that
Jesus is the Son of God? This is He who came by
waterand blood — Jesus Christ; not only by
water, but by waterand blood. And it is the Spirit
who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.
For there are three that bear witness in heaven:
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and
these three are one. And there are three that bear
witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the

blood; and these three agree as one. ”
John the Baptistplayed a crucial role in
completing the beautiful gospel. The Bible says
the following about John the Baptist in Malachi
3:1-3 and Matthew 11:10-11. Johnthe Baptist
was the representative of mankind and he was
the prophesiedElijah to come, as written in the
Old Testament. In the Old Testament, a sin
offering was killed to shed its blood after taking
awaythe sins of a man by the laying on of his
hands. In the New Testament, however, Jesus
was the sin offering who took awayall the sins
of the world through His baptism and died on the
Cross to pay the wages ofsin. Jesus saved
mankind because Johnthe Baptist passedall the
sins of the world on to Him through the baptism
in the Jordan River.
God planned two kinds of greatdeeds in order
to save mankind from their sins and He fulfilled

them all. The first was to have Jesus come into
this world through the body of the virgin Mary,
and to have Him baptized and crucified to take
awayall the sins of the world. The secondwas to
have John the Baptistborn through Elizabeth.
God causedthese two events to occurin order to
save mankind from their sins. This was the work
planned by God in the Trinity. Godsent John the
Baptist into this world six months prior to Jesus,
then sent Jesus Christ, the Saviorof mankind,
into this world to free mankind from judgment
for their sins.
Jesus bore witness to John the Baptist in
Matthew 1 1:9. “But what did you go out to see ?
A prophet? Yes, I sayto you, and more than a
prophet. ” Furthermore, when John the Baptist,
who passedall the sins of the world on to Jesus,
saw Him the next day, he bore witness by saying,
“Behold!The Lamb of God who takes awaythe
sin of the world! ’’ (John 1:29)

The Bible has many records of John, who
baptized Jesus, and we should strive to gain
better knowledge ofhim. John the Baptist came
into the world before Jesus. His role was to fulfill
the beautiful gospel, whichwas God’s plan. The
Bible says that Jesus acceptedall the sins of the
world from John and that John passedthem on to
Him to fulfill God’s will.
We callhim John the Baptist because he
baptized Jesus. Whatmeaning does the baptism
of Jesus by John really have? The word
“baptism” implies “to be washed.” Since all the
sins of the world were transferred to Jesus
through His baptism, they have been washed
away. Jesus’baptism had the same meaning as
“the laying on of hands” that the sin offering
receivedin the Old Testament. The spiritual
meaning of baptism is “to pass on to,” “to be
washed” or“to be buried.” Jesus’baptism by
John was an act of redemption to take awaythe

sins of all the people in the world.
Jesus’baptism has the same significance as
the laying on of hands, which was the method of
passing sins on to the sin offering in the Old
Testament. In other words, the people of Israel
passedtheir yearly sins on to the sin offering on
the Dayof Atonement through the laying hands
on of the high priest. This sacrifice in the Old
Testamenthad the same function as Jesus’
baptism and His death on the Cross.
God appointed the Day of Atonement as the
time to take awaythe sins of the Israelites. On
the tenth day of the seventh month, the high
priest passedall the yearly sins of the people
onto the head of the sin offering by laying his
hands on the sacrifice to atone for the sins of the
people. This was the sacrificialsystemthat God
established. It was the only way to pass the sins
of the people on to the sin offering, and
transferring the sin by the laying on of hands was

the everlasting law that God had established.
“Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of
the live goat, confess overit all the iniquities of
the children of Israel, and all their transgression,
concerning all their sins, putting them on the
head of the goat, and shall send it awayinto the
wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The
goatshall bear on itself all their iniquities to an
uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat
in the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:21-22).
In the Old Testament, a sinner laid his hands
on the head of a sin offering and passedhis sins
on to it in order to be forgiven. And on the Day
of Atonement, Aaron the high priest, as the
representative of all Israelites, laid his hands on
the head of the sacrifice to pass on the sins of
Israel. Then the offering was killed after it took
on their sins.
It has the same spiritual meaning as the

baptism ( Baptisma in Greek means “to be
washed, to be buried, to pass”)that Jesus
receivedfrom John in the New Testament. Just
as the high priest in the Old Testamentlaid his
hands on the sin offering to pass on the sins of
the people of Israel, so all the sins of humanity
were passedon to Jesus through His baptism by
John the Baptist. Jesus then died on the Cross to
atone for our sins. This is the beautiful gospelof
truth.
Just as Aaron the high priest offeredthe
sacrifice for atonementin place of the people of
Israel, John the Baptist, one of the descendants of
Aaron, carried out the task as the representative
of mankind by baptizing Jesus, and thereby
passing all the sins of mankind on to Him. God
describedsuch a wonderful plan of His love in
the Bible as follows in Psalms 50:4-5, “He shall
call to the heavens from above, and to the earth,
that He may judge His people: Gather My saints

togetherto Me, those who have made a covenant
with Me by sacrifice. ” Amen, Hallelujah.
History of the Church saidthat there was no
Christmas for the first two centuries in the early
church. The early church Christians along with
Jesus’Apostles had only commemoratedJanuary
6th as “the Day of Jesus’Baptism” at the Jordan
by John the Baptist. Why did they lay such a
greatemphasis on Jesus’baptism in their beliefs?
The answeris the very key to the Christianity of
Apostolic tradition. But I hope for you not to be
confusedwith the waterbaptism of believers and
the Baptism of Jesus.
The baptism of believers as it exists today has
a very different meaning from the baptism Jesus
receivedfrom John. Therefore, we should all
have the same faith as Jesus’disciples if we want
to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We

should all receive the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit by believing in Jesus Christ’s baptism,
which He receivedfrom John, and in His blood
on the Cross.
If the early church thought of baptism as an
extremely important ritual, it was due to their
pivotal faith in Jesus’baptism, and we should
nowadays also considerJesus’baptism by John
as indispensable component to our salvation.
Furthermore, we must reachand keepthe right
faith of perfect knowledge, whichsays that Jesus
had to be crucified due to His baptism by John.
We should bear in mind that the Holy Spirit
begins to dwell in us when we believe that Jesus
was baptized, died on the Cross and was
resurrectedto become our Savior. Jesus’baptism
by John and His blood on the Cross has such a
specialmeaning in the beautiful gospel.
The fail-safe way for us to receive the Holy

Spirit is to believe in the beautiful gospelof
Jesus’baptism and blood. Jesus’baptism
cleansedallthe sins of mankind at once. It was
the baptism of redemption that leads us to
receive the Holy Spirit. Since some people don’t
realize the power of Jesus’baptism, they
understand it as mere ceremony.
Jesus’baptism forms part of the beautiful
gospel, which tells of how He took awayall the
sins of the world and acceptedthe judgment for
them by shedding blood on the Cross. Anyone
who believes in the words of this beautiful
gospelbecomes a member of the church, which
is a possessionofthe Lord, and enjoys the
blessings ofthe Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a
gift from God to those who have been forgiven
for their sins.
With His baptism, Jesus became “the Lamb of

God who takes awaythe sins of the world” well
enough (John 1:29). In John 1:6-7 it says, “There
was a man sent from God, whose name was
John. This man came for a witness, to bear
witness of the Light, that all through him might
believe. ” In order to believe in Jesus as our
Savior, who took awayall our sins, we must
understand John’s ministry and testimony as it is
written in the Bible. Then we will be able to
believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. In order to
receive the Holy Spirit, we also need our strong
faith heartened by his testimony. Therefore, to
complete the beautiful gospelof truth, we must
believe in Jesus’baptism by John and in His
blood on the Cross.
In Matthew 11:12 it is written that, “And from
the days of John the Baptist until now the
kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the
violent take it by force. ” This passageis known
as one of the most difficult passagesin the Bible.

Howeverwe have to pay attention to the phrase
“from the day of John the Baptist.” It surely
proclaims that the ministry of John was directly
connectedwith Jesus’ministry for our salvation.
Jesus wants us to enter the Kingdom by bold
faith, as bold as violent men. We sin every day,
we are fragile but He permits us to enter His
Kingdom by the daring faith regardless ofour
wickedness. So this passagemeans that people
can take the kingdom of heavenby the faith in
the beautiful gospelthat says that Jesus blotted
out all the sins of the world through His baptism
by John and His blood on the Cross. In other
words, it means that Heavencan be taken
through the bold faith in this beautiful gospelof
Jesus’baptism and blood.
Jesus’baptism took away all our sins, and our
faith in it guarantees that we will receive the

indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We must preach
this gospelto our neighbors, relatives,
acquaintances, andto everyone else in the world.
We must have faith in the beautiful gospelthat
says that the sins of the world were transferred to
Jesus through His baptism. Through our faith we
will obtain the bliss of redemption and the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’baptism took away all our sins and His
blood was the judgment of the sin. We must
explain to non-believers the beautiful gospelof
the waterand the Spirit. Only by doing so, will
they come to believe in the gospeland receive
the Holy Spirit. I want you to believe it. Only by
having faith in Jesus’baptism by John and His
blood on the Cross canman be forgiven for all
his sins and receive the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit.
Everyone can become a son of the Lord, in
whom the Holy Sprit dwells, and one of our

brothers and sisters by believing in the beautiful
gospelof the water and the Spirit. You should
have the same faith in the beautiful gospelas
Paul had. I thank the Lord for giving us this
beautiful gospeland praise Him. Amen. El
<Acts 3:19>
“Repenttherefore and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out, so that times of
refreshing may come from the presence of the
Lord.”
What kind of faith did
the apostles have?
They believed in both the baptism
of Jesus and His blood
on the Cross.

Looking at the disciples of Jesus Christ, the
extent of their faith when they had the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit was clearly different from their
faith when they did not. Their flesh did not look
any different, but after receiving the Holy Spirit,
their lives were totally changedby the light of
Jesus Christ.
The town where I live has beautiful mountains
and lakes. Looking atsuch lovely scenery, I
become filled with satisfactionand wonderthat I
cannot but thank the Lord for such creations. The
brilliance of the crystal-clearwaterglistening in
the sun makes my heart full and the world around
me seemlike gold.
But there are places where such scenic beauty
does not manifest itself. There are places where
the skyis crystal clear, but the waterunder the
sunlight looks more like a swamp. There is no
brilliance in such a sight. Looking at a lake like
this, I thank the Lord for His beautiful gospel

62 Those Who Have the Same Faith as That of the Disciples of Jesus
that cleansedmy sins and obtained for me the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
As the surface of the swampy lake is not able
to reflect light, so we may also be remote from
the light of God and be unwittingly headed
towards an unknown destiny owing to our sinful
nature. But if the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts,
we will be revealedas children of God and be led
to teachthe gospelto other people. Becausewe
acceptedHis light, we will come to shine as
lights.
Likewise, afterJesus’resurrection, His
disciples receivedthe Holy Spirit and became
children and apostles ofthe light. The light of the
Holy Spirit is a greatblessing to all and therefore
most people wish to receive the Holy Spirit.
The Faith of the apostle Paul

What kind of faith did Paul have? Paul, in his
confessionoffaith, saidthat he was educatedand
thoroughly trained under Gamaliel, one of the
greatestteachersofthe law at that time, strictly
according to the law of his fathers. But he
confessedthat even with the law, he could not be
savedfrom his sins and that he was, in fact, a
persecutorof Jesus, our Savior. One day he met
Jesus on the way to Damascus and became an
evangelistof His gospel. He had faith in Jesus
Christ as the Son of God, who came into this
world, was baptized by John to cleanse allthe
sins of the world, and bled on the Cross in order
to take with Him all the judgments on those sins.
In other words, Paul had in his heart faith in the
forgiveness ofsin.
Jesus’disciples believed that Jesus’baptism
by John and His blood on the Cross was to
63 Those Who Have the Same Faith as That of the Disciples of Jesus

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