Luke 3:12

3:12 Tax collectors ¹  also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”

Luke 12:50

12:50 I have a baptism ²  to undergo, ³  and how distressed I am until it is finished!

Luke 3:21

The Baptism of Jesus

3:21 Now when ⁴  all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. And while he was praying, ⁵  the heavens ⁶  opened,

Luke 3:7

3:7 So John ⁷  said to the crowds ⁸  that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! ⁹  Who warned you to flee ¹⁰  from the coming wrath?

[3:12]  ¹ sn The tax collectors would bid to collect taxes for the Roman government and then add a surcharge, which they kept. Since tax collectors worked for Rome, they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked. Yet even they were moved by John’s call.

[12:50]  ² sn The figure of the baptism is variously interpreted, as some see a reference (1) to martyrdom or (2) to inundation with God’s judgment. The OT background, however, suggests the latter sense: Jesus is about to be uniquely inundated with God’s judgment as he is rejected, persecuted, and killed (Ps 18:4, 16; 42:7; 69:1-2; Isa 8:7-8; 30:27-28; Jonah 2:3-6).

[12:50]  ³ tn Grk “to be baptized with.”

[3:21]  ³ tn Grk “Now it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[3:21]  ⁴ tn Grk “and while Jesus was being baptized and praying.” The first of these participles has been translated as a finite verb to be more consistent with English style.

[3:21]  ⁵ tn Or “the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. In this context, although the word is singular, the English plural “heavens” connotes the Greek better than the singular “heaven” would, for the singular does not normally refer to the sky.

[3:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:7]  ⁵ sn The crowds. It is interesting to trace references to “the crowd” in Luke. It is sometimes noted favorably, other times less so. The singular appears 25 times in Luke while the plural occurs 16 times. Matt 3:7 singles out the Sadducees and Pharisees here.

[3:7]  ⁶ tn Or “snakes.”

[3:7]  ⁷ sn The rebuke “Who warned you to flee…?” compares the crowd to snakes who flee their desert holes when the heat of a fire drives them out.