1
Mt 3:1-12.
英語原文
Mt 3:1-12.
PREACHING AND MINISTRY OF JOHN. ( =
Mr 1:1-8; Lu 3:1-18).
For the proper introduction to this section, we must go to
Lu 3:1, 2.
Here, as BENGEL well observes, the curtain of the New Testament is, as it were, drawn up, and the greatest of all epochs of the Church commences. Even our Lord's own age is determined by it
(Lu 3:23).
No such elaborate chronological precision is to be found elsewhere in the New Testament, and it comes fitly from him who claims it as the peculiar recommendation of his Gospel, that "he had traced down all things with precision from the very first"
(Mt 1:3).
Here evidently commences his proper narrative.
Lu 3:1:
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar--not the fifteenth from his full accession on the death of Augustus, but from the period when he was associated with him in the government of the empire, three years earlier, about the end of the year of Rome 779, or about four years before the usual reckoning.
Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea--His proper title was procurator, but with more than the usual powers of that office. After holding it for about ten years, he was summoned to Rome to answer to charges brought against him; but ere he arrived, Tiberius died (A.D. 35), and soon after miserable Pilate committed suicide.
And Herod being tetrarch of Galilee--(See on
Mr 6:14).
and his brother Philip--a very different and very superior Philip to the one whose name was Herod Philip, and whose wife, Herodias, went to live with Herod Antipas (see on
Mr 6:17).
tetrarch of Ituræa--lying to the northeast of Palestine, and so called from Itur or Jetur, Ishmael's son
(1Ch 1:31),
and anciently belonging to the half-tribe of Manasseh.
and of the region of Trachonitis--lying farther to the northeast, between Iturea and Damascus; a rocky district infested by robbers, and committed by Augustus to Herod the Great to keep in order.
and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene--still more to the northeast; so called, says ROBINSON, from Abila, eighteen miles from Damascus.
Lu 3:2:
Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests--The former, though deposed, retained much of his influence, and, probably, as sagan or deputy, exercised much of the power of the high priesthood along with Caiaphas, his son-in-law
(Joh 18:13; Ac 4:6).
In David's time both Zadok and Abiathar acted as high priests
(2Sa 15:35),
and it seems to have been the fixed practice to have two
(2Ki 25:18).
the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness--Such a way of speaking is never once used when speaking of Jesus, because He was Himself The Living Word; whereas to all merely creature-messengers of God, the word they spoke was a foreign element. See on
Joh 3:31.
We are now prepared for the opening words of Matthew.
1. In those days--of Christ's secluded life at Nazareth, where the last chapter left Him.
came John the Baptist, preaching--about six months before his Master.
in the wilderness of Judea--the desert valley of the Jordan, thinly peopled and bare in pasture, a little north of Jerusalem.
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2. 说：你们要悔改——这字严格地说是心意改变，但在此处（以及凡与救恩有关的用法中），它首要所指的，乃是那种对罪的感觉——这种感觉使罪人逃避那将要来的忿怒，单从天上仰望拯救，并急切地接受所预备的救法。
因为天国近了——这一崇高的说法，其他福音书均未使用，却在这卷独具犹太色彩的马太福音中出现近三十次；它源自但以理所见人子驾着天上的云来到亘古常在者面前、领受普世国度之授权的伟大异象
(Da 7:13, 14)，
因此既能迎合民族的期望，又能将之导入正轨。一个以悔改为正当预备的国度，其本质必是属灵的。脱离罪恶——基督之国的大福
(Mt 1:21)——
只有对那些视罪为重担的人
(Mt 9:12)，
才显为宝贵。因此，约翰的大工，正是要唤醒这种感受，并指出一种迅速而宝贵的救法之盼望。
英語原文
2. And saying, Repent ye--Though the word strictly denotes a change of mind, it has respect here (and wherever it is used in connection with salvation) primarily to that sense of sin which leads the sinner to flee from the wrath to come, to look for relief only from above, and eagerly to fall in with the provided remedy.
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand--This sublime phrase, used in none of the other Gospels, occurs in this peculiarly Jewish Gospel nearly thirty times; and being suggested by Daniel's grand vision of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of days, to receive His investiture in a world-wide kingdom
(Da 7:13, 14),
it was fitted at once both to meet the national expectations and to turn them into the right channel. A kingdom for which repentance was the proper preparation behooved to be essentially spiritual. Deliverance from sin, the great blessing of Christ's kingdom
(Mt 1:21),
can be valued by those only to whom sin is a burden
(Mt 9:12).
John's great work, accordingly, was to awaken this feeling and hold out the hope of a speedy and precious remedy.
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3. 这人就是先知以赛亚所说的——
(Mt 11:3)。
在旷野有人声喊着说——（参见
Lu 3:2)；
其事工的场所与其粗犷的性质相称。
预备主的道，修直祂的路——这一预言在四福音中都被引用，表明它被视为一项伟大的独特预言，而所预言的先锋则被视为新旧两个时代的连接环。正如地上的君王一样，和平之君也要有人宣告祂即将来临、并为祂预备道路；这里所发的呼召——按其总意而言——乃是要人除去一切妨碍祂进展、阻碍祂完全得胜的障碍，无论那些障碍是公共的还是个人的，是外在的还是内心的。在路加福音中
(Lu 3:5, 6)，
这引文如此续下去：“一切山洼都要填满，大小山冈都要削平；弯弯曲曲的地方改为正直，高高低低的道路改为平坦；凡有血气的，都要看见神的救恩。”填平与修平在这里显然是比喻，其义已含于宣告的第一句话——“预备主的道。”其意是：一切障碍都当如此除去，好叫神在那名为“救主”者身上所预备的救恩，得以显给全世界看。（比较
Ps 98:3；Isa 11:10; 49:6; 52:10；Lu 2:31, 32；Ac 13:47）。
英語原文
3. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying--
(Mt 11:3).
The voice of one crying in the wilderness--(See on
Lu 3:2);
the scene of his ministry corresponding to its rough nature.
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight--This prediction is quoted in all the four Gospels, showing that it was regarded as a great outstanding one, and the predicted forerunner as the connecting link between the old and the new economies. Like the great ones of the earth, the Prince of peace was to have His immediate approach proclaimed and His way prepared; and the call here--taking it generally--is a call to put out of the way whatever would obstruct His progress and hinder His complete triumph, whether those hindrances were public or personal, outward or inward. In Luke
(Lu 3:5, 6)
the quotation is thus continued: "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Levelling and smoothing are here the obvious figures whose sense is conveyed in the first words of the proclamation--"Prepare ye the way of the Lord." The idea is that every obstruction shall be so removed as to reveal to the whole world the salvation of God in Him whose name is the "Saviour." (Compare
Ps 98:3; Isa 11:10; 49:6; 52:10; Lu 2:31, 32; Ac 13:47).
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4. 这约翰身穿骆驼毛的衣服——即以此编织而成。
腰束皮带——这是以利亚的先知装束
(2Ki 1:8；
并见
Zec 13:4)。
吃的是蝗虫——东方人所熟知的大蝗虫，是穷人的食物
(Le 11:22)。
野蜜——野蜂所造的蜜
(1Sa 14:25, 26)。
这种装束与饮食，加上旷野中尖锐的呼声，都使人回想起以利亚那严厉的日子。
英語原文
4. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair--woven of it.
and a leathern girdle about his loins--the prophetic dress of Elijah
(2Ki 1:8;
and see
Zec 13:4).
and his meat was locusts--the great, well-known Eastern locust, a food of the poor
(Le 11:22).
and wild honey--made by wild bees
(1Sa 14:25, 26).
This dress and diet, with the shrill cry in the wilderness, would recall the stern days of Elijah.
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5. 那时，耶路撒冷和犹太全地，并约旦河一带地方的人，都出去到约翰那里——从国都的中心到犹太省的边陲，这位传悔改的大有能力的传道者、即将来到之弥赛亚的先锋，他那呼声招来成群结队的悔改者和切切等候的人。
英語原文
5. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan--From the metropolitan center to the extremities of the Judean province the cry of this great preacher of repentance and herald of the approaching Messiah brought trooping penitents and eager expectants.
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6. 在约旦河里受他的洗，认他们的罪——大概是出声认罪。这洗礼立即成了他们自觉需要脱离罪恶、期待即将来到的拯救者、并预备好在祂显现时欢迎祂的公开印记。洗礼本身令他们震惊，也意在令他们震惊。他们对从异教归信之人的入教洗礼相当熟悉；但这针对犹太人自己的洗礼，对他们而言却全然新奇而陌生。
英語原文
6. And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins--probably confessing aloud. This baptism was at once a public seal of their felt need of deliverance from sin, of their expectation of the coming Deliverer, and of their readiness to welcome Him when He appeared. The baptism itself startled, and was intended to startle, them. They were familiar enough with the baptism of proselytes from heathenism; but this baptism of Jews themselves was quite new and strange to them.
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7. 约翰看见许多法利赛人和撒都该人也来受洗，就对他们说——他对这景象感到惊愕。
毒蛇的种类——“毒蛇之裔”，表达这两个教派对社会的致命影响。这两个党派的宗教原则与精神彼此完全对立，然而这位严厉的先知却同样指控二者为毒害国家宗教原则的人。在
Mt 12:34; 23:33
中，施洗者这一强烈的话，又由那位为诚信真实见证的，特别应用在法利赛人身上——唯有他们有足够的热心去主动扩散这毒。
谁指示你们——这观念是“给你们提示”。
逃避将来的忿怒呢？——“是什么把你们带到这里来的？”约翰多有所疑：吸引他们前来的，并非他们自己的属灵焦虑，而是这场运动的声势。“将来的忿怒！”这是何等的表达！在圣经中，神的“忿怒”是祂对罪之公义的愤慨，因此也对一切裙带上沾染罪的人发怒；这是出于祂的本性对一切道德之恶本质而永久的对立。这被称为“将来的忿怒”，并非因为它完全是未来的——因为作为当得的刑罚，它如今已落在罪人身上，其内外的影响在某种程度上现今已为人所经历——而是因为不悔改的罪人直到“大日的审判”，才被归结其下，才公开而无可挽回地被定罪，才承受其倾泻、尝尽其毫无掺杂、毫无指望的影响。从这个角度看，它是完全将来的忿怒，正如使徒在
1Th 1:10
所用明显不同的话所暗示的那样。这并不是说连真心悔改的人也是带着对“将来的忿怒”这一切看法才来受约翰的洗。他所说的是，这乃是这一行动本身的真实含义。从这个角度看，他用来表达这一行动的话何等惊人——逃避——犹如一个人看见一道烈怒的潮水向他急速滚来，惟有立即奔逃才得脱险！
英語原文
7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them--astonished at such a spectacle.
O generation of vipers--"Viper brood," expressing the deadly influence of both sects alike upon the community. Mutually and entirely antagonistic as were their religious principles and spirit, the stern prophet charges both alike with being the poisoners of the nation's religious principles. In
Mt 12:34; 23:33,
this strong language of the Baptist is anew applied by the faithful and true Witness to the Pharisees specifically--the only party that had zeal enough actively to diffuse this poison.
who hath warned you--given you the hint, as the idea is.
to flee from the wrath to come?--"What can have brought you hither?" John more than suspected it was not so much their own spiritual anxieties as the popularity of his movement that had drawn them thither. What an expression is this, "The wrath to come!" God's "wrath," in Scripture, is His righteous displeasure against sin, and consequently against all in whose skirts sin is found, arising out of the essential and eternal opposition of His nature to all moral evil. This is called "the coming wrath," not as being wholly future--for as a merited sentence it lies on the sinner already, and its effects, both inward and outward, are to some extent experienced even now--but because the impenitent sinner will not, until "the judgment of the great day," be concluded under it, will not have sentence publicly and irrevocably passed upon him, will not have it discharged upon him and experience its effects without mixture and without hope. In this view of it, it is a wrath wholly to come, as is implied in the noticeably different form of the expression employed by the apostle in
1Th 1:10.
Not that even true penitents came to John's baptism with all these views of "the wrath to come." But what he says is that this was the real import of the step itself. In this view of it, how striking is the word he employs to express that step--fleeing from it--as of one who, beholding a tide of fiery wrath rolling rapidly towards him, sees in instant flight his only escape!
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8. 你们要结出果子——正确的读法显然是“果子”；
来，与悔改的心相称——即那与真悔改者相称的果子。约翰如今既蒙赐识透人心的恩赐，便如公义的执事、爱灵魂的人，在此指引他们当如何显明并实行其悔改（倘若它是真的）；在随后的经文里则警告他们，倘若不是，他们的危险何在。
英語原文
8. Bring forth therefore fruits--the true reading clearly is "fruit";
meet for repentance--that is, such fruit as befits a true penitent. John now being gifted with a knowledge of the human heart, like a true minister of righteousness and lover of souls here directs them how to evidence and carry out their repentance, supposing it genuine; and in the following verses warns them of their danger in case it were not.
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9. 不要自己心里说：有亚伯拉罕为我们的祖宗——这是那民族致命地安枕其上的枕头，最终将之撞碎的礁石。
我告诉你们，神能从这些石头中给亚伯拉罕兴起子孙来——即：“不要以那痴心妄想自欺，以为神离了你们便不能成就祂对亚伯拉罕后裔的应许；我告诉你们，纵使你们全都灭亡，神能从这些石头中给亚伯拉罕兴起后裔，正如祂当年能把亚伯拉罕本人从被凿出的磐石中取出来，从被挖出的坑穴中取出来一样”
(Isa 51:1)。
虽然这位严厉的发言者说话时也许指着周围赤裸的泥丘上的碎石（如 STANLEY 的西奈与巴勒斯坦所言），但他所要指明的，显然是外邦人的蒙召——那时他们在罪中如石般死寂，对自己的光景同样毫无知觉——以取代不信而被剥夺产业的以色列（见
Mt 21:43；Ro 11:20, 30)。
英語原文
9. And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father--that pillow on which the nation so fatally reposed, that rock on which at length it split.
for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham--that is, "Flatter not yourselves with the fond delusion that God stands in need of you, to make good His promise of a seed to Abraham; for I tell you that, though you were all to perish, God is as able to raise up a seed to Abraham out of those stones as He was to take Abraham himself out of the rock whence he was hewn, out of the hole of the pit whence he was digged"
(Isa 51:1).
Though the stern speaker may have pointed as he spoke to the pebbles of the bare clay hills that lay around (so STANLEY'S Sinai and Palestine), it was clearly the calling of the Gentiles--at that time stone-dead in their sins, and quite as unconscious of it--into the room of unbelieving and disinherited Israel that he meant thus to indicate (see
Mt 21:43; Ro 11:20, 30).
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10. 现在——甚至已经。
斧子已经放在——“在”。
树根上——仿佛随时准备砍下：这是对迫近审判的生动比喻，唯有按下一节所描述的方式才能逃避。
凡不结好果子的树，就砍下来，丢在火里——如此针对个人、个别的话，几乎不能被理解为任何像耶路撒冷即将被毁那样的全国性审判——随之而来的是犹太政体的瓦解和选民独特特权的褫夺；尽管那将是更可怕报应投在前面的暗影。那在另一节被称为“不灭的”的“火”，除了那不肯悔改者将来所要受的“折磨”——其“烟雾往上冒，直到永永远远”——并为审判之主亲口称为“永刑”
(Mt 25:46)
的之外，别无其他。“丢”或“扔在火里”这字里也包含何等公义愤慨的力量！
第三福音在此补充了
Lu 3:10-16
中以下重要细节。
Lu 3:10：
众人——即群众。
问他说：这样我们当作什么呢？——即：当如何显明我们悔改的真诚。
Lu 3:11：
约翰回答说：有两件衣裳的，就分给那没有的；有食物的——即粮食、口粮。
也当这样行——这是针对当时盛行的贪婪与自私。（比较登山宝训中相应的训诲，
Mt 5:40-42)。
Lu 3:12：
又有税吏来要受洗，问他说：夫子——即教师。
我们当作什么呢？——我们悔改的真实当以何种特殊方式显明？
Lu 3:13：
约翰说：除了例定的数目，不要多取——这是针对使税吏成为笑柄的那种勒索。（见
Mt 5:46；Lu 15:1)。
Lu 3:14：
兵丁——更当译作“又有兵丁”——这字意指“现役兵丁”。
也问他说：我们当作什么呢？约翰说：不要*以强暴待人——即恐吓。这字意为“彻底摇动”，大概指勒索钱财或其他财物。
也不要讹诈人——即以琐碎或虚假的借口，恶意地作告密者。
自己有钱粮就当知足——或作“口粮”。WEBSTER 与 WILKINSON 说，我们可把这视为对兵变的警告，军官们惯以赏赐和馈赠来镇压兵变。这样，足以显明他们悔改的“果子”，正是对当时盛行之罪的抵挡——尤其是悔改者所属阶层的罪——以及相反之灵的彰显。
Lu 3:15：
百姓期待——处于一种兴奋的状态，期待某种新事。
基督来临的时候，众人心里都猜想约翰会不会是基督——更当译作“他自己会不会是基督”。这一句的结构意味着：他们几乎不敢如此想，却又忍不住自问会不会是；这既表明约翰在唤醒人对弥赛亚即将显现之期待上何等成功，也表明他本人的品格何等受人尊崇甚至敬畏。
Lu 3:16：
约翰说——也许是答复我们在
Joh 1:19
以下所读到的从耶路撒冷来的那个代表团，也许是在另一次场合，为消除那些他所知正在民间滋长、有损他蒙福之主的印象。
对众人说——以庄严的声明。
（我们如今回到第一福音书。）
英語原文
10. And now also--And even already.
the axe is laid unto--"lieth at."
the root of the trees--as it were ready to strike: an expressive figure of impending judgment, only to be averted in the way next described.
therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire--Language so personal and individual as this can scarcely be understood of any national judgment like the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, with the breaking up of the Jewish polity and the extrusion of the chosen people from their peculiar privileges which followed it; though this would serve as the dark shadow, cast before, of a more terrible retribution to come. The "fire," which in another verse is called "unquenchable," can be no other than that future "torment" of the impenitent whose "smoke ascendeth up for ever and ever," and which by the Judge Himself is styled "everlasting punishment"
(Mt 25:46). What a strength, too, of just indignation is in that word "cast" or "flung into the fire!"
The third Gospel here adds the following important particulars in
Lu 3:10-16.
Lu 3:10:
And the people--the multitudes.
asked him, saying, What shall we do then?--that is, to show the sincerity of our repentance.
Lu 3:11:
He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat--provisions, victuals.
let him do likewise--This is directed against the reigning avarice and selfishness. (Compare the corresponding precepts of the Sermon on the Mount,
Mt 5:40-42).
Lu 3:12:
Then came also the publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master--Teacher.
what shall we do?--In what special way is the genuineness of our repentance to be manifested?
Lu 3:13:
And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you--This is directed against that extortion which made the publicans a byword. (See on
Mt 5:46;
Lu 15:1).
Lu 3:14:
And the soldiers--rather, "And soldiers"--the word means "soldiers on active duty."
likewise demanded--asked.
of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man--Intimidate. The word signifies to "shake thoroughly," and refers probably to the extorting of money or other property.
neither accuse any falsely--by acting as informers vexatiously on frivolous or false pretexts.
and be content with your wages--or "rations." We may take this, say WEBSTER and WILKINSON, as a warning against mutiny, which the officers attempted to suppress by largesses and donations. And thus the "fruits" which would evidence their repentance were just resistance to the reigning sins--particularly of the class to which the penitent belonged--and the manifestation of an opposite spirit.
Lu 3:15:
And as the people were in expectation--in a state of excitement, looking for something new
and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not--rather, "whether he himself might be the Christ." The structure of this clause implies that they could hardly think it, but yet could not help asking themselves whether it might not be; showing both how successful he had been in awakening the expectation of Messiah's immediate appearing, and the high estimation and even reverence, which his own character commanded.
Lu 3:16:
John answered--either to that deputation from Jerusalem, of which we read in
Joh 1:19,
&c., or on some other occasion, to remove impressions derogatory to his blessed Master, which he knew to be taking hold of the popular mind.
saying unto them all--in solemn protestation.
(We now return to the first Gospel.)
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11. 我是用水给你们施洗，叫你们悔改——（见
Mt 3:6)；
但那在我以后来的，能力比我更大——在马可和路加福音中更为强调——“但有一位能力比我大的要来”
(Mr 1:7；Lu 3:16)。
祂的鞋——即凉鞋。
我也不配提——凉鞋由最卑微的仆人解系并携带。
祂要用圣灵——强调的“祂”：“唯独祂”，排除了其他一切人，“要用圣灵给你们施洗”。
与火——“我绝不会妄图僭取弥赛亚的尊荣；我能为那‘在我以后来的、能力比我大的’所作的最卑微的服事，对我而言已是过高的尊荣；我不过是仆人，主人却要来；我只是施行外表洁净的象征；唯独祂以内里的实际赐人，这是祂独有的特权。”何等美好的灵，这位基督仆人自始至终都与众不同！
给你们施洗——把这视为与圣灵的洗不同的一种洗——即对不悔改者以地狱之火施洗——是极不自然的。然而这正是教父中 ORIGEN 的看法；现代学者中有 NEANDER、MEYER、DE WETTE、LANGE。把它指为大日焚烧地和其上工程的火，也好不了多少。据我们看，显然它不过是圣灵在灵魂上运行之火的性质——搜寻、焚烧、炼净、升华——正如几乎所有优秀注释家所理解的。这样，在连续两句中，最熟悉的两个象征——水与火——被用来表明圣灵在灵魂上同样的洁净之工。
英語原文
11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance--(See on
Mt 3:6);
but he that cometh after me is mightier than I--In Mark and Luke this is more emphatic--"But there cometh the Mightier than I"
(Mr 1:7; Lu 3:16).
whose shoes--sandals.
I am not worthy to bear--The sandals were tied and untied, and borne about by the meanest servants.
he shall baptize you--the emphatic "He": "He it is," to the exclusion of all others, "that shall baptize you."
with the Holy Ghost--"So far from entertaining such a thought as laying claim to the honors of Messiahship, the meanest services I can render to that 'Mightier than I that is coming after me' are too high an honor for me; I am but the servant, but the Master is coming; I administer but the outward symbol of purification; His it is, as His sole prerogative, to dispense the inward reality." Beautiful spirit, distinguishing this servant of Christ throughout!
and with fire--To take this as a distinct baptism from that of the Spirit--a baptism of the impenitent with hell-fire--is exceedingly unnatural. Yet this was the view of ORIGEN among the Fathers; and among moderns, of NEANDER, MEYER, DE WETTE, and LANGE. Nor is it much better to refer it to the fire of the great day, by which the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Clearly, as we think, it is but the fiery character of the Spirit's operations upon the soul--searching, consuming, refining, sublimating--as nearly all good interpreters understand the words. And thus, in two successive clauses, the two most familiar emblems--water and fire--are employed to set forth the same purifying operations of the Holy Ghost upon the soul.
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12. 祂——簸箕。
手里拿着簸箕——预备使用。这无非就是福音的传讲——如今正要开始——其效果将是把实在的与属灵上无价值的分开，正如麦子借簸箕与糠秕分开。（比较
Mal 3:1-3
中类似的描绘）。
要扬净祂的场——即打谷场；也就是有形的教会。
把麦子——即祂真心诚意的圣徒；因其坚固的价值而如此称呼（比较
Am 9:9；Lu 22:31)。
收在仓里——即“他们父的国”，正如我们的主在麦子与稗子的比喻中优美地解释这“仓”
(Mt 13:30, 43)。
把糠——即虚浮无价值的宗教认信者，缺乏一切坚实的宗教原则与品格（见
Ps 1:4)。
用不灭的火烧尽了——这表面上矛盾的比喻何等独特：被烧尽，却是用不灭的火烧；前者表达构成人真实生命的一切之彻底毁灭，后者表达在那可怕光景中之持续存在的知觉。
路加补充了以下重要细节
(Lu 3:18-20)：
Lu 3:18：
约翰又用许多别的话劝百姓，传教他们——表明我们在此所有的不过是他的教导的概要。除了我们在
Joh 1:29, 33, 34; 3:27-36
所读到的之外，那偶尔提到的他曾教导门徒祷告
(Lu 11:1)——
别处一字未提——也表明他的教导何等多样。
Lu 3:19：
只是分封的王希律，因他兄弟腓力的妻子希罗底的缘故，并因他所行的一切恶事，受了约翰的责备——最后这一分句给我们一项重要事实，仅见于此，表明这位施洗者对其王者听众何等彻底地忠诚；又表明当他说了如此直白的话，那情欲的奴仆却“多照着行，并乐意听他”
(Mr 6:20)，
其良心必有何等强烈的挣扎。
Lu 3:20：
又添了一件，就是把约翰收在监里——然而约翰这次下监并非在此后不久发生；此处记载它，只是因为这位福音书作者不打算再回头讲他的历史，直到有机会记述他从监牢所在的马盖鲁斯打发人见基督
(Lu 7:18，
等等）。
英語原文
12. Whose fan--winnowing fan.
is in his hand--ready for use. This is no other than the preaching of the Gospel, even now beginning, the effect of which would be to separate the solid from the spiritually worthless, as wheat, by the winnowing fan, from the chaff. (Compare the similar representation in
Mal 3:1-3).
and he will throughly purge his floor--threshing-floor; that is, the visible Church.
and gather his wheat--His true-hearted saints; so called for their solid worth (compare
Am 9:9; Lu 22:31).
into the garner--"the kingdom of their Father," as this "garner" or "barn" is beautifully explained by our Lord in the parable of the wheat and the tares
(Mt 13:30, 43).
but he will burn up the chaff--empty, worthless professors of religion, void of all solid religious principle and character (see
Ps 1:4).
with unquenchable fire--Singular is the strength of this apparent contradiction of figures:--to be burnt up, but with a fire that is unquenchable; the one expressing the utter destruction of all that constitutes one's true life, the other the continued consciousness of existence in that awful condition.
Luke adds the following important particulars
(Lu 3:18-20):
Lu 3:18:
And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people--showing that we have here but an abstract of his teaching. Besides what we read in
Joh 1:29, 33, 34; 3:27-36,
the incidental allusion to his having taught his disciples to pray
(Lu 11:1)
--of which not a word is said elsewhere--shows how varied his teaching was.
Lu 3:19:
But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done--In this last clause we have an important fact, here only mentioned, showing how thoroughgoing was the fidelity of the Baptist to his royal hearer, and how strong must have been the workings of conscience in that slave of passion when, notwithstanding such plainness, he "did many things, and heard John gladly"
(Mr 6:20).
Lu 3:20:
Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison--This imprisonment of John, however, did not take place for some time after this; and it is here recorded merely because the Evangelist did not intend to recur to his history till he had occasion to relate the message which he sent to Christ from his prison at Machærus
(Lu 7:18,
&c.).
13
Mt 3:13-17.
太3:13-17.
基督的受洗 与随即 圣灵降在 他身上
（=
可1:9-11；路3:21, 22；约1:31-34）。
基督的受洗
（太3:13-15）。
13. 当下耶稣从加利利来到约旦河，见了约翰，要受他的洗——摩西鲁莽地预早于神的呼召，要拯救他的百姓，为此不得不逃出为奴之家，在隐藏中等候了另外四十年
（出2:11
等等）。这位比摩西更大的却不是这样。祂如今已在拿撒勒静居了将近三十年，为祂公开的事工渐渐成熟，平静地等候父所定的时刻。如今这时刻到了；而从加利勒利到约旦河的这一行动，无疑是自祂降世以来天上最为关注的一步。路加
（路3:21）
有一处重要的补充——「众百姓都受了洗，耶稣也受了洗」等等——暗示耶稣等到那天所有其他前来受洗的人都处理完毕才上前，免得显得只是众人中的一员。因此，正如祂骑驴进入耶路撒冷，「从来没有人骑过的」
（路19:30），
葬在「从来没有人葬过的」坟墓里
（约19:41），
在受洗之事上祂也要「与罪人分别出来」。
英語原文
Mt 3:13-17.
BAPTISM OF CHRIST AND DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT UPON HIM IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER. ( =
Mr 1:9-11; Lu 3:21, 22; Joh 1:31-34).
Baptism of Christ
(Mt 3:13-15).
13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him--Moses rashly anticipated the divine call to deliver his people, and for this was fain to flee the house of bondage, and wait in obscurity for forty years more
(Ex 2:11,
&c.). Not so this greater than Moses. All but thirty years had He now spent in privacy at Nazareth, gradually ripening for His public work, and calmly awaiting the time appointed of the Father. Now it had arrived; and this movement from Galilee to Jordan is the step, doubtless, of deepest interest to all heaven since that first one which brought Him into the world. Luke
(Lu 3:21)
has this important addition--"Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus being baptized," &c.--implying that Jesus waited till all other applicants for baptism that day had been disposed of, ere He stepped forward, that He might not seem to be merely one of the crowd. Thus, as He rode into Jerusalem upon an ass "whereon yet never man sat"
(Lu 19:30),
and lay in a sepulchre "wherein was never man yet laid"
(Joh 19:41),
so in His baptism, too. He would be "separate from sinners."
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14. 约翰想要拦住他——宁可说「正（在）拦阻他」，或「企图拦阻他」。
说：我当受你的洗，你反倒上我这里来吗？——（约翰如何认出祂，鉴于他说本不认识祂，请见约翰福音1:31-34的注释。）
这篇极不寻常之言的重点全在代词：「怎么！夫子要来受仆人的洗——无罪的救主要来就罪人？」要明白约翰的话中确实包含此意，只需留意他显然视耶稣为自己不需要洁净、反而有资格赐洁净给需要的人。而他对基督的其他一切见证岂不都完全证实此意？但若在这见证基督的荣耀中错过其背后那美好的灵性，将是遗憾——「主啊，我要给你施洗吗？我能下得了手作这事吗？」——这令我们想起彼得在晚餐桌上的惊呼：「主啊，你洗我的脚吗？」却没有彼得下一番话中那种虚假谦卑与僭妄的味道：「你永不可洗我的脚」
（约13:6, 8）。
英語原文
14. But John forbade him--rather, "was (in the act of) hindering him," or "attempting to hinder him."
saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?--(How John came to recognize Him, when he says he knew Him not, see on
John 1. 31-34.)
The emphasis of this most remarkable speech lies all in the pronouns: "What! Shall the Master come for baptism to the servant--the sinless Saviour to a sinner?" That thus much is in the Baptist's words will be clearly seen if it be observed that he evidently regarded Jesus as Himself needing no purification but rather qualified to impart it to those who did. And do not all his other testimonies to Christ fully bear out this sense of the words? But it were a pity if, in the glory of this testimony to Christ, we should miss the beautiful spirit in which it was borne--"Lord, must I baptize Thee? Can I bring myself to do such a thing?"--reminding us of Peter's exclamation at the supper table, "Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?" while it has nothing of the false humility and presumption which dictated Peter's next speech. "Thou shalt never wash my feet"
(Joh 13:6, 8).
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15. 耶稣回答说：你暂且许我——「这事暂且如此」；意即「你退避，也不足为奇，因为表面上的不相称实在惊人；但在眼前这事上，照所吩咐的去作吧。」
因为我们理当这样——「我们」，不是「我和你」之意，也不是「一般人」之意，而是如
约3:11
中的用法。
尽诸般的义——若按斯克里文纳译为「各样的条例」，或按坎贝尔译为「各样的制度」，意义便显而易见；「诸般的义」或对一切所吩咐之事（包括洗礼）的遵从，也同样带出此意。事实上，若这就是意思，我们的译本或许最能把开首的「这样」一词的力量表达出来。但我们倾向于认为我们主的意思不止于此。割礼与洗礼的意义似乎根本相同。若我们对我们主受割礼的论述（见
路2:21-24的注释）
是正确的，祂似乎是 说：「如此我将自己献给律法全部的义——如此以象征开始并应许成全它一切。」请思想者深思此事。
于是约翰许了他——怀着真正的谦卑，顺服高于自己对宜不宜之判断的权威。
英語原文
15. And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now--"Let it pass for the present"; that is, "Thou recoilest, and no wonder, for the seeming incongruity is startling; but in the present case do as thou art bidden."
for thus it becometh us--"us," not in the sense of "me and thee," or "men in general," but as in
Joh 3:11.
to fulfil all righteousness--If this be rendered, with SCRIVENER, "every ordinance," or, with CAMPBELL, "every institution," the meaning is obvious enough; and the same sense is brought out by "all righteousness," or compliance with everything enjoined, baptism included. Indeed, if this be the meaning, our version perhaps best brings out the force of the opening word "Thus." But we incline to think that our Lord meant more than this. The import of circumcision and of baptism seems to be radically the same. And if our remarks on the circumcision of our Lord (see on
Lu 2:21-24)
are well founded, He would seem to have said, "Thus do I impledge Myself to the whole righteousness of the Law--thus symbolically do enter on and engage to fulfil it all." Let the thoughtful reader weigh this.
Then he suffered him--with true humility, yielding to higher authority than his own impressions of propriety.
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圣灵降在受洗的救赎主身上
（太3:16, 17）。
16. 耶稣受了洗，随即从水里上来——宁可说「从水边」。马可作「从水里上来」
（可1:10）。
「正」——路加补充
（路3:21）——
「祷告的时候」；这是一条极其宝贵的信息。那祷告的负担还有什么可疑问的呢？那祷告可能还在水里时就发出——祂可称颂的头被洗礼的水漫道；那祷告可能随着祂走出溪流、重站干地而继续；祂面前的工作，为这工作所需并期待的圣灵要临到祂，以及祂那时将要加于差祂来者身上的荣耀——这些岂不充满祂的心胸，以无声的方式如以下这样发出？——「看哪，我来了；我乐意照你的旨意行。父啊，愿你的名为圣。赐我一个蒙恩的凭据。愿主神的灵临到我，我就传福音给贫穷人，医治伤心的人，将公理传于得胜。」正说话的时候——
天忽然为他开了——马可崇高地说：「天向他裂开了」
（可1:10）。
他就看见神的灵——即唯独他看见，除了他那蒙尊敬的仆人之外，正如他自己所说
（约1:32-34）；
旁观者显然什么也没看见。
彷佛鸽子降下，落在他身上——路加说「形状仿佛鸽子」
（路3:22）；
意即可称颂的圣灵取了鸽子的有形躯体，如此降在祂神圣的头上。但为何是这形状？圣经对这象征的用法是我们这里最好的指引。「我的鸽子，我的完全人，只有这一个」，所罗门雅歌说
（歌6:9）。
这是纯洁的贞净。再者，「要驯良似鸽子」，基督自己说
（太10:16）。
这是同样的事，以对人无伤的形式表达。「对神对人常存无亏的良心」
（徒24:16）
两者兼备。再者，当我们读到雅歌
（歌2:14），
「我的鸽子啊，你在磐石穴中，在陡严的隐密处（参
赛60:8），求你容我得见你的面貌，得听你的声音；因为你的声音柔和，你的面貌秀美」——所描绘的动人地是退逊、温柔、和顺。总而言之——不必提及那只鸽子飞回方舟、嘴里饱含着平安的橄欍叶的历史象征
（创8:11）——当我们读到
（诗68:13），
「你们如同鸽子展翅上飞，银子遮盖它，金子镀其羽毛」，所彰显的乃是美丽。而那「圣洁、无邪、无玷污、与罪人分别出来」的那位，岂非如此？「你比世人更美；在你嘴里满有恩惠；所以神赐福给你，直到永远！」但第四本福音书在此给我们另一条信息，是由一位看见并为之作证者所说的：「约翰作见证说：我看见圣灵彷佛鸽子从天降下，住在他的身上。」为免我们以为这是偶然之事，他补充说这末一细节是特别作为记号的一部分赐给他，使他藉此认出并鉴定祂是神的儿子：「我先前不认识他；只是那差我来用水施洗的，对我说：你看见圣灵降下来，住在谁的身上，谁就是用圣灵施洗的。我看见了，就证明这是神的儿子」
（约1:32-34）。
当我们把这与预言中圣灵要降在弥赛亚身上
（赛11:2），
「耶和华的灵必住在他身上」一比较，便不能怀疑，这里所可见地显现的，正是圣灵在神儿子身上——如今以后在祂职分上的身仜——那永久而完全的内住。
英語原文
Descent of the Spirit upon the Baptized Redeemer
(Mt 3:16, 17).
16. And Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway out 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 blessed head suffused with the baptismal element; a prayer continued likely as He stepped out of the stream, and again stood upon the dry ground; the work before Him, the needed and expected Spirit to rest upon Him for it, and the glory He would then put upon the Father that 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 token for good. Let the Spirit of the Lord God come upon Me, and I will preach the Gospel to 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--that is, 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 blessed Spirit, assuming the corporeal form of a dove, descended thus upon His sacred head. 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 conscience void of offense toward God 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, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely"--it is shrinking modesty, meekness, gentleness, that is thus charmingly depicted. In a word--not to allude to the historical emblem of the dove that flew back to the ark, bearing in its mouth the olive leaf of peace
(Ge 8:11)
--when we read
(Ps 68:13),
"Ye shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold," it is beauteousness that is 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 blessed Thee for ever!" But the fourth Gospel gives us one more piece of information here, on the authority of one who saw and testified of it: "John bare 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 accidental thing, he adds that this last particular was expressly given 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 descent of the Spirit upon Messiah
(Isa 11:2),
"And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him," we cannot doubt that it was this permanent and perfect resting of the Holy Ghost upon the Son of God--now and henceforward in His official capacity--that was here visibly manifested.
17
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17. 从天上有声音说：这是——马可与路加以直接形式给出：「你是。」
（可1:11；路3:22）。
我的爱子，我所喜悦的——动词用过去式表示绝对的倾心，是对祂一次而永远的感受。这里的英文至少对现代耳朵而言不够有力。「我所喜悦」也许最接近那显然意指的、不可言喻的倾心；这一译法更应首选，因为它将立即把思想带回那篇威严的弥赛亚预言——天上的声音显然暗指它
（赛42:1），
「看哪，我的仆人，我所扶持、所拣选、心里所喜悦的。」其随后的话也不可忽视：「我已将我的灵赐给他；他必将公理传给外邦。」（七十士译本如对大多数弥赛亚预言一样曲解了此节，摇入「雅各」一词，将其应用于犹太人）。这声音是否被旁观者听见？从马太的形式看，人或以为如此设计；但似乎并非如此，可能唯有约翰听见并看见那大洗礼中的特殊之处。因此，「你们要听他」一句，如变像山上那样，并未在此附加。
英語原文
17. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is--Mark and Luke give it in the direct form, "Thou art."
(Mr 1:11; Lu 3:22).
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased--The verb is put in the aorist to express absolute complacency, once and for ever felt towards Him. The English here, at least to modern ears, is scarcely strong enough. "I delight" comes the nearest, perhaps, to that ineffable complacency which is manifestly intended; and this is the rather to be preferred, as it would immediately carry the thoughts back to that august Messianic prophecy to which the voice from heaven plainly alluded
(Isa 42:1),
"Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; Mine Elect, IN WHOM MY SOUL DELIGHTETH." Nor are the words which follow to be overlooked, "I have put My Spirit upon Him; He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." (The Septuagint perverts this, as it does most of the Messianic predictions, interpolating the word "Jacob," and applying it to the Jews). Was this voice heard by the by-standers? From Matthew's form of it, one might suppose it so designed; but it would appear that it was not, and probably John only heard and saw anything peculiar about that great baptism. Accordingly, the words, "Hear ye Him," are not added, as at the Transfiguration.
Mt 3:1-12.
约翰的传道与事奉。 （ =
Mr 1:1-8；Lu 3:1-18）。
关于本段的恰当引言，须参阅
Lu 3:1, 2。
这里，正如 BENGEL 所精辟指出的，新约的帷幕仿佛被揭开，教会最伟大的时代就此开始。连主自己的年龄也是据此确定的
(Lu 3:23)。
新约别处再无如此详尽的年代精确性；而这恰好出自那位声称“从起初都详细考察了”乃是其福音书独到之处的人
(Mt 1:3)。
显然，他正式的叙事正由此开始。
Lu 3:1：
凯撒提庇留在位第十五年——不是从他奥古斯都死后完全登基算起，而是从他与其父共同治理帝国之时算起，比通常的计算早三年，约在罗马建城 779 年末，亦即比通常算法约早四年。
本丢·彼拉多作犹太巡抚——他的正式头衔是procurator（巡抚），但其权力却超过该职的常规。任职约十年之后，他被召往罗马应对控告；但未及抵达，提庇留已死（主后 35 年），不久之后，可怜的彼拉多便自杀了。
希律作加利利分封的王——（参见
Mr 6:14）。
他兄弟腓力——这位腓力与那位名为希律·腓力的截然不同，远胜于他；后者的妻子希罗底去与希律·安提帕同居（参见
Mr 6:17）。
作以土利亚分封的王——位于巴勒斯坦东北，其名源自以实玛利之子以突（Itur 或 Jetur）
(1Ch 1:31)，
古时属玛拿西半支派。
和特拉可尼地方——更在东北，介于以土利亚与大马士革之间；是一岩石嶙峋、盗贼出没之地，奥古斯都将其交予大希律以维持秩序。
吕撒聂作亚比利尼分封的王——更在东北；据 ROBINSON 所言，此名得自距大马士革十八英里的亚比拉（Abila）。
Lu 3:2：
亚那和该亚法作大祭司——前者虽已被废黜，仍保留相当影响力，并且可能以撒珥（sagan，副职）的身份，与其女婿该亚法一同行使大祭司的多项职权
(Joh 18:13； Ac 4:6)。
大卫时代，撒督与亚比亚他同任祭司
(2Sa 15:35)，
看来设二职乃是固定的惯例
(2Ki 25:18)。
神的话临到撒迦利亚的儿子约翰，在旷野里——当论到耶稣时，从不用这种说法，因为祂自己就是那活着的道；而对于一切仅仅是受造之神使者，他们所说的话原是外加于他们的元素。参见
Joh 3:31。
如今我们已预备好研读马太的开头几句。
1. 那时——即基督在拿撒勒隐居生活之时，也就是上一章所留下的情形。
施洗的约翰出来，传道——比他的主早约六个月。
在犹太的旷野——即约旦河的荒凉谷地，人烟稀少、牧场贫瘠，在耶路撒冷以北约略之处。