JOHN BAPTIST PREACHES IN THE WILDERNESS OF JUDÆA Mark 1:2-8; Luke 3:1-18; John 1:15-34 St Matthew alone names the coming of the Pharisees and Sadducees. St Mark’s brief account contains no additional particulars. St Luke adds the special directions to the various classes—people—publicans and soldie... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΤΑΙ͂Σ ἩΜΈΡΑΙΣ ἘΚΕΊΝΑΙΣ. See Luke 3:1, where the time is defined. ἸΩΆΝΝΗΣ Ὁ ΒΑΠΤΙΣΤΉΣ. So named by the other Synoptists and by Josephus: in the fourth gospel he is called simply John, a note of the authenticity of St John’s gospel. Josephus mentions the great influence of John and speaks of the cr... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΕΤΑΝΟΕΙ͂ΤΕ. More than ‘feel sorrow or regret for sin,’ it is rather ‘change the life, the heart, the _motive_ for action.’ It was a call to self-examination and reality of life. Ἡ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΊΑ ΤΩ͂Ν ΟΥ̓ΡΑΝΩ͂Ν. St Matthew alone uses this expression, but he also employs the equivalent phrase, ἡ βασιλεία... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙᾺ for ὑπό, see ch. Matthew 2:17. 3. ΔΙΆ. See note on ch. Matthew 2:5. ΔΙᾺ ἩΣΑΪ́ΟΥ ΤΟΥ͂ ΠΡΟΦΉΤΟΥ. The reference in Isaiah 40:3 is to the promised return from Babylon. A herald shall proclaim the joyous news on mountains and in the desert through which the return should be. This incident in the n... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ ἜΝΔΥΜΑ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂ Κ.Τ.Λ. A kind of tunic or shirt coarsely woven of camel’s hair, ‘one of the most admirable materials for clothing, it keeps out the heat, cold and rain.’ _Recovery of Jerusalem_, p. 445. ἈΚΡΊΔΕΣ ΚΑῚ ΜΈΛΙ ἌΓΡΙΟΝ. Thomson, _Land and Book_, pp. 419, 420, states that though tolerated,... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΒΑΠΤΊΖΟΝΤΟ were ‘immersed;’ (the tense marks the successive instances). βαπτίζω, a strengthened form of βάπτω, like some other leading Christian words (e.g. Χριστός, ἀγάπη, μετάνοια), is rare in the Classics; it is used in different figurative senses by Plato, e.g. of a boy ‘drowned with questions,... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΑΡΙΣΑΊΩΝ. The name signifies ‘Separatists;’ the party dates from the revival of the National life, and observances of the Mosaic Law under the Maccabees. Their ruling principle was a literal obedience to the written law and to an unwritten tradition. Originally they were leaders of a genuine reform... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΟΙΉΣΑΤΕ. Aorist imperative, denoting complete and immemediate action. See Donaldson _Gk. Gram._ 427 (_a_). ΜΕΤΆΝΟΙΑ. Rare in classical writers, joined by Thuc. with ἀναλογισμός (III. 36). Cp. also μετάνοια δεινὴ τοὺς Ἀθηναίους καὶ πόθος ἔσχε τοῦ Κιμῶνος, and Plut. p. 452, ἡ νουθεσία καὶ ὁ ψόγος ἐμπ... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜῊ ΔΌΞΗΤΕ ΛΈΓΕΙΝ, ‘do not presume to say.’ For this use of δοκεῖν cp. Philippians 3:4, εἴ τις δοκεῖ ἄλλος πεποιθέναι ἐν σαρκί, ἐγὼ μᾶλλον. ΠΑΤΈΡΑ ἜΧΟΜΕΝ ΤῸΝ ἈΒΡΑΆΜ. The Jewish doctors taught that no one who was circumcised should enter Gehenna. ἘΚ ΤΩ͂Ν ΛΊΘΩΝ. Stones are regarded as the most insens... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜῊ ΠΟΙΟΥ͂Ν, ‘if it bring not forth.’ ἘΚΚΌΠΤΕΤΑΙ, ‘is being cut down,’ the work has already begun. ἐκκόπτειν, used specially of cutting down trees. Cp. ἔκκοψον αὐτήν, Luke 13:7, and πίτυς μούνη πάντων δενδρέων ἐκκοπεῖσα βλαστὸν οὐδένα μετίει, Hdt. VI. 37. ἐκ denotes completion of act. ΚΑΡΠῸΝ ΚΑΛΌΝ.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ὝΔΑΤΙ. Either (1) ‘in water,’ the surrounding element is water; or better (2) ‘with water,’ ἐν being used of the instrument as frequently in Hellenistic Greek. Cp. ἐν μαχαιρᾷ�, ch. Matthew 26:52. ἐν τίνι αὐτὸ�; Mark 9:50. And occasionally in the classical period, as ἐν τόμᾳ σιδάρου, Soph. _Tr._ 8... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΤΎΟΝ, also called λικμός or λίκνον, Lat. _vannus_, was the instrument by which the corn after being threshed was thrown up against the wind to clear it of chaff. Cp. _Il._ XIII. 588–90. ὡς δʼ ὃτʼ ἀπὸ πλατέος πτυόφιν μεγάλην κατʼ ἀλωὴν θρώσκωσιν κύαμοι μελανόχροες ἢ ἐρέβινθοι πνοιῇ ὑπὸ λιγυρῇ καὶ... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠῚ ΤῸΝ ἸΟΡΔΆΝΗΝ. Probably at “Ænon near to Salim” (John 3:23), a day’s journey from Nazareth, ‘close to the passage of the Jordan near Succoth and far away from that near Jericho.’ _Sinai and Palestine_, p. 311. Cp. also John 1:28, where the correct reading is: ταῦτα ἐν Βηθανίᾳ ἐγένετο πέραν τοῦ Ἰο... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS COMES TO BE BAPTIZED OF JOHN Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:32-34. St Luke adds two particulars: that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus (1) “in a bodily shape,” and (2) “while He was praying.” In the fourth Gospel, where John Baptist’s own words are quoted, the act of baptism is not name... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙΕΚΏΛΥΕΝ, ‘was preventing,’ or, ‘endeavoured to prevent.’... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΠΟΚΡΙΘΕΊΣ. ἀποκρίνομαι is the Attic word in this sense. (ὑποκρίνοιντο, Thuc. VII. 4, is a possible exception.) ὑποκρίνομαι Homeric and Ionic. Alexandrine Greek here, contrary to the general rule, follows the Attic rather than the Homeric use. ὑποκρίνομαι occurs once only in the N.T. (Luke 20:20), a... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ΟΥ̓ΡΑΝΟΊ. A literal translation of the Hebrew word, which is a plural form. ΚΑῚ ΕἾΔΕΝ. 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... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΩΝῊ ἘΚ ΤΩ͂Ν ΟΥ̓ΡΑΝΩ͂Ν. Thrice during our Lord’s ministry it is recorded that a voice from heaven came to Him. The two other occasions were at the Transfiguration and in the week of the Passion (John 12:28). ἈΓΑΠΗΤΌΣ, in the Gospels always in reference to Christ the beloved Son of God, (Mark 12:6 an... [ Continue Reading ]