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 concern Jesus 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 occupied our attention, we may confine our comments to this aspect. Applying the principle that to all objective supernatural experiences there are subjective psychological experiences 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 at this critical period. These thoughts it most concerns us to know; yet it is just these thoughts that both believers and naturalistic unbelievers are in danger of overlooking; the one through regarding the objective occurrences as alone important, the other because, denying the objective element in the experience, they rush to the conclusion that there was no experience at all. Whereas the truth is that, whatever is to be said as to the objective element, the subjective at all events is real: the thoughts reflected and symbolised in the vision and the voice.

Matthew 3:16. εὐθὺς may be connected with βαπτισθεὶς, with ἀνέβη, or with ἠνεῴχθησαν in the following clause by a hyperbaton (Grotius). It is commonly and correctly taken along with ἀνέβη. But why say straightway ascended? Euthy. gives an answer which may be quoted for its quaintness: “They say 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 good monk, but Schanz substantially adopts his view. There might be worse explanations. καὶ ἰδοὺ ἠνεῴχθησαν, etc. When Jesus ascended out of the water the heavens opened and 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 was of the nature of a vision, the appearance of a 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? Swift movement, according to some; soft gentle 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: φιλάνθρωπον γάρ ἐστι καὶ ἀνεξίκακον · ἀποστερούμενον γὰρ τῶν νεοσσῶν ὑπομένει, καὶ οὐδὲν ἧττον τοὺς ἀποστεροῦντας προσίεται. Καὶ καθαρώτατόν ἐστι, καὶ τῇ εὐωδίᾳ χαίρει. Whether the dove possesses all these qualities philanthropy, patient endurance of wrong, letting approach it those who have robbed it of its young, purity, delight in sweet smells I know not; but I appreciate the insight into the spirit of Christ which specifying such particulars in the emblematic significance of the dove implies. What is the O. T. basis of the symbol? Probably Genesis 8:9-10. Grotius hints at this without altogether adopting the view. Thus we obtain a contrast between John's conception of the spirit and that of Jesus as reflected in the vision. For John the emblem of the spirit was the stormy wind of judgment; for Jesus the dove with the olive leaf after the judgment by water was past.

Matthew 3:17. οὗτός ἐστιν : “this is,” as if addressed to the Baptist; in Mark 1:9, σὺ εἶ, as if addressed to Jesus. ἐν ᾧ εὐδοκ.: a Hebraism,: הָפֵץ בְּ. εὐδόκησα, aorist, either to express habitual satisfaction, after the manner of the Gnomic Aorist (vide Hermann's Viger, p. 169), or to denote the inner event = my good pleasure 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 Macedonica et Alexandrina, is not Attic but Hellenistic. The voice recalls and in some measure echoes Isaiah 42:1, “Behold My servant, I uphold Him; My chosen one, My soul delights in Him. I have put My spirit upon Him.” The title “Son” recalls Psalms 2:7. Taking the vision, the voice, and the baptism together as interpreting the consciousness of Jesus before and at this time, the following inferences are suggested. (1) The mind of Jesus had been exercised in thought upon the Messianic vocation in relation to His own future. (2) The chief Messianic charism appeared to 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 discovered His Messianic vocation. (5) Prophetic texts gave direction to and supplied means of expression for His religious meditations. His mind, like that of John, was full of prophetic utterances, but a different class of oracles had attractions for Him. The spirit of John revelled in images of awe and terror. The gentler spirit of Jesus delighted in words depicting the ideal servant of God as clothed with meekness, patience, wisdom, and love.