Chú giải Kinh Thánh

Mightier than I (ισχυροτερος μου). Ablative after the comparative adjective. His baptism is water baptism, but the Coming One "will baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire." "Life in the coming age is in the sphere of the Spirit. Spirit and fire are coupled with one preposition as a double baptism" (McNeile). Broadus takes "fire" in the sense of separation like the use of the fan. As the humblest of servants John felt unworthy to take off the sandals of the Coming One. About βασταζω see on Matthew 8:17.

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Will burn up with unquenchable fire (κατακαυσε πυρ ασβεστω). Note perfective use of κατα. The threshing floor, the fan, the wheat, the garner, the chaff (αχυρον, chaff, straw, stubble), the fire furnish a life-like picture. The "fire" here is probably judgment by and at the coming of the Messiah just as in verse Matthew 3:11. The Messiah "will thoroughly cleanse" (διακαθαριε, Attic future of -ιζω and note δια-). He will sweep from side to side to make it clean.

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Then cometh Jesus (τοτε παραγινετα ο Ιησους). The same historical present used in Matthew 3:1. He comes all the way from Galilee to Jordan "to be baptized by him" (του βαπτισθηνα υπο αυτου). The genitive articular infinitive of purpose, a very common idiom. The fame of John had reached Nazareth and the hour has come for which Jesus has waited.

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Would have hindered (διεκωλυεν). Rather "tried to prevent" as Moffatt has it. It is the conative imperfect. The two men of destiny are face to face for the first time apparently. The Coming One stands before John and he recognizes him before the promised sign is given.

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To fulfil all righteousness (πληρωσα πασαν δικαιοσυνην). The explanation of Jesus satisfies John and he baptizes the Messiah though he has no sins to confess. It was proper (πρεπον) to do so else the Messiah would seem to hold aloof from the Forerunner. Thus the ministries of the two are linked together.

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The Spirit of God descending as a dove (πνευμα θεου καταβαινον ωσε περιστεραν). It is not certain whether Matthew means that the Spirit of God took the form of a dove or came upon Jesus as a dove comes down. Either makes sense, but Luke (Luke 3:22) has it "in bodily form as a dove" and that is probably the idea here. The dove in Christian art has been considered the symbol of the Holy Spirit.

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To be tempted of the devil (πειρασθηνα υπο του διαβολου). Matthew locates the temptation at a definite time, "then" (τοτε) and place, "into the wilderness" (εις την ερημον), the same general region where John was preaching. It is not surprising that Jesus was tempted by the devil immediately after his baptism which signified the formal entrance upon the Messianic work. That is a common experience with ministers who step out into the open for Christ. The difficulty here is that Matthew says that "Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil." Mark (Mark 1:12) puts it more strongly that the Spirit "drives" (εκβαλλε) Christ into the wilderness. It was a strong impulsion by the Holy Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness to think through the full significance of the great step that he had now taken. That step opened the door for the devil and involved inevitable conflict with the slanderer (του διαβολου). Judas has this term applied to him (John 6:70) as it is to men (2 Timothy 3:3; Titus 2:3) and women (she devils, 1 Timothy 3:11) who do the work of the arch slanderer. There are those today who do not believe that a personal devil exists, but they do not offer an adequate explanation of the existence and presence of sin in the world. Certainly Jesus did not discount or deny the reality of the devil's presence. The word "tempt" here (πειραζω) and in Matthew 4:3 means originally to test, to try. That is its usual meaning in the ancient Greek and in the Septuagint. Bad sense of εκπειραζω in Matthew 4:7 as in Deuteronomy 6:16. Here it comes to mean, as often in the New Testament, to solicit to sin. The evil sense comes from its use for an evil purpose.

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Had fasted (νηστευσας). No perfunctory ceremonial fast, but of communion with the Father in complete abstention from food as in the case of Moses during forty days and forty nights (Exodus 34:28). "The period of the fast, as in the case of Moses was spent in a spiritual ecstasy, during which the wants of the natural body were suspended" (Alford). "He afterward hungered" and so at the close of the period of forty days.

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