Luke 3:15-17

“ And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not; 16 John answered, saying unto them all: I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 17 Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable. ”

This portion is common to the three Syn. But the preamble, Luke 3:15, is peculiar to Luke. It is a brief and striking sketch of the general excitement and lively expectation awakened by John's ministry. The ἅπασιν of the T. R. contains the idea of a solemn gathering; but this scene is not the same as that of John 1:19 et seq., which did not take place till after the baptism of Jesus. In his answer John asserts two things: first, that he is not the Messiah; second, that the Messiah is following him close at hand. The art. ὁ before ἰσχυρότερος denotes this personage as expected.

To unloose the sandals of the master when he came in (Luke and Mark), or rather to bring them to him (βαστάσαι, Matt.) when he was disposed to go out, was the duty of the lowest class of slaves. Mark expresses its menial character in a dramatic way: κύψας λῦσαι, to stoop down and unloose. Each evangelist has thus his own shade of thought. If one of them had copied from the other, these changes, which would be at once purposed and insignificant, would be puerile. ῾Ικανός may be applied either to physical or intellectual capacity, or to moral dignity. It is taken in the latter sense here.

The pronoun αὐτός brings out prominently the personality of the Messiah. The preposition ἐν, which had not been employed before ὕδατι, is added before πνεύματι; the Spirit cannot be treated as a simple means. One baptizes with water, but not with the Spirit.

If the pardon granted in the baptism of water was not followed by the baptism of the Spirit, sin would soon regain the upper hand, and the pardon would be speedily annulled (Matthew 18:23-25). But let the baptism of the Spirit be added to the baptism of water, and then the pardon is confirmed by the renewal of the heart and life.

Almost all modern interpreters apply the term fire to the consuming ardour of the judgment, according to Luke 3:17, the fire which is not quenched. But if there was such a marked contrast between the two expressions Spirit and fire, the preposition ἐν must have been repeated before the latter. Therefore there can only be a shade of difference between these two terms. The Spirit and fire both denote the same divine principle, but in two different relations with human nature: the first, inasmuch as taking possession of all in the natural man that is fitted to enter into the kingdom of God, and consecrating it to this end; the second the image of fire is introduced on account of its contrariness to the water of baptism inasmuch as consuming everything in the old nature that is out of harmony with the divine kingdom, and destined to perish. The Spirit, in this latter relation, is indeed the principle of judgment, but of an altogether internal judgment. It is the fire symbolized on the day of Pentecost. As to the fire of Luke 3:17, it is expressly opposed to that of Luke 3:16 by the epithet ἄσβεστον, which is not quenched. Whoever refuses to be baptized with the fire of holiness, will be exposed to the fire of wrath. Comp. a similar transition, but in an inverse sense, Mark 9:48-49.

John had said, shall baptize you (Luke 3:16). Since this you applied solely to the penitent, it contained the idea of a sifting process going on amongst the people. This sifting is described in the seventeenth verse. The threshing-floor among the ancients was an uncovered place, where the corn, spread out upon the hardened ground, was trodden by oxen, which were sometimes yoked to a sledge. The straw was burnt upon the spot; the corn was gathered into the garner. This garner, in John's thought, represents the Messianic kingdom, the Church in fact, the earliest historical form of this kingdom, into which all believing Israelites will be gathered. Jewish presumption made the line of demarcation which separates the elect from the condemned pass between Israel and the Gentiles; John makes it pass across the theocracy itself, of which the threshing-floor is the symbol. This is the force of the διά in διακαθαριεῖ. Jesus expresses Himself in exactly the same sense, John 3:18 et seq. The judgment of the nation and of the individual are here mingled together, as in Luke 3:9; behind the national chastisement of the fall of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the people, is placed in the background the judgment of individuals, under another dispensation. The readings διακαθᾶραι and συναγαγεῖν, in order to purify, in order to gather, cannot be admitted. They rather weaken the force of this striking passage; the authority of א. B. and of the two documents of the Italic are not sufficient; lastly, the future κατακαύσει, which must be in opposition to a preceding future (δέ), comes in too abruptly.

The pronoun αὐτοῦ, twice repeated Luke 3:17 (His threshing-floor, His garner), leaves no doubt about the divine dignity which John attributed to the Messiah. The theocracy belongs to Jehovah. Comp. the expression, His temple, Malachi 3:1.