Luke 3:7-9

“ Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. ”

What a stir would be produced at the present day by the preaching of a man, who, clothed with the authority of holiness, should proclaim with power the speedy coming of the Lord, and His impending judgment! Such was the appearance of John in Israel.

The expression that came forth (Luke 3:7) refers to their leaving inhabited places to go into the desert (comp. Luke 7:24). In Matthew it is a number of Pharisees and Sadducees that are thus accosted. In that Gospel, the reference is to a special case, as the aor. εἶπεν, he said to them, shows. But for all this it may have been, as Luke gives us to understand, a topic on which John ordinarily expatiated to his hearers. The reproachful address, generation of vipers, expresses at once their wickedness and craft. John compares these multitudes who come to his baptism, because they regard it as a ceremony that is to ensure their admission into the Messianic kingdom, to successive broods of serpents coming forth alive from the body of their dam. This severe term is opposed to the title children of Abraham, and appears even to allude to another father, whom Jesus expressly names in another place (John 8:37-44). Keim observes, with truth, that this figurative language of John (comp. the following images, stones, trees) is altogether the language of the desert. What excites such lively indignation in the forerunner, is to see people trying to evade the duty of repentance by means of its sign, by baptism performed as an opus operatum. In this deception he perceives the suggestion of a more cunning counsellor than the heart of man. ῾Υποδείκνυμι : to address advice to the ear, to suggest. The choice of this term excludes Meyer's sense: “Who has reassured you, persuading you that your title children of Abraham would preserve you from divine wrath?”

The wrath to come is the Messiah's judgment. The Jews made it fall solely on the heathen; John makes it come down on the head of the Jews themselves.

Therefore (Luke 3:8) refers to the necessity of a sincere repentance, resulting from the question in Luke 3:7. The fruits worthy of repentance are not the Christian dispositions flowing from faith; they are those acts of justice, equity, and humanity, enumerated Luke 3:10-14, the conscientious practice of which leads a man to faith (Acts 10:35). But John fears that the moment their conscience begins to be aroused, they will immediately soothe it, by reminding themselves that they are children of Abraham. Μὴ ἄρζησθε, literally, “do not begin...,” that is to say: “As soon as my voice awakens you, do not set about saying...” The μὴ δόζητε, do not think, in Matthew, indicates an illusory claim. On the abuse of this title by the Jews, see John 8:33-39; Romans 4:1; James 2:21. It is to the posterity of Abraham, doubtless, that the promises are made, but the resources of God are not limited. Should Israel prove wanting, with a word He can create for Himself a new people. In saying, of these stones, John points with his finger to the stones of the desert or on the river banks. This warning is too solemn to be only an imaginary supposition. John knew the prophecies; he was not ignorant that Moses and Isaiah had announced the rejection of Israel and the calling of the Gentiles. It is by this threatening prospect that he endeavours to stir up the zeal of his contemporaries. This word contained in germ the whole teaching of St. Paul on the contrast between the carnal and the spiritual posterity of Abraham developed in Romans 9 and Galatians 3. In Deuteronomy the circumcision of the flesh had already been similarly contrasted with the circumcision of the heart (Deu 30:6).

In Luke 3:7-8 Israel is reminded of the incorruptible holiness of the judgment awaiting them; Luke 3:9 proclaims it at hand. ῎Ηδη δὲ καί : “ and now also. ” The image is that of an orchard full of fruit trees. An invisible axe is laid at the trunk of every tree. This figure is connected with that of the fruits (Luke 3:8). At the first signal, the axe will bury itself in the trunks of the barren trees; it will cut them down to the very roots. It is the emblem of the Messianic judgment. It applies at once to the national downfall and the individual condemnation, two notions which are not yet distinct in the mind of John. This fulminating address completely irritated the rulers, who had been willing at one time to come and hear him; from this time they broke all connection with John and his baptism. This explains the passage (Luke 7:30) in which Jesus declares that the rulers refused to be baptized. This rejection of John's ministry by the official authorities is equally clear from Matthew 21:25: “ If we say, Of God; he will say, Why then did ye not believe on him? ” The proceeding of the Sanhedrim, John 1:19 et seq., proves the same thing.