Matthew 3:7-17

3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees ¹  and Sadducees ²  coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 3:8 Therefore produce fruit ³  that proves your ⁴  repentance, 3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 3:10 Even now the ax is laid at ⁵  the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

3:11 “I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the one coming after me is more powerful than I am – I am not worthy ⁶  to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ⁷  3:12 His winnowing fork ⁸  is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, ⁹  but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.” ¹⁰ 

The Baptism of Jesus

3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan River. ¹¹  3:14 But John ¹²  tried to prevent ¹³  him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” 3:15 So Jesus replied ¹⁴  to him, “Let it happen now, ¹⁵  for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John ¹⁶  yielded ¹⁷  to him. 3:16 After ¹⁸  Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the ¹⁹  heavens ²⁰  opened ²¹  and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove ²²  and coming on him. 3:17 And ²³  a voice from heaven said, ²⁴  “This is my one dear Son; ²⁵  in him ²⁶  I take great delight.” ²⁷ 

[3:7]  ¹ sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

[3:7]  ² sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.

[3:8]  ³ sn Fruit worthy of repentance refers to the deeds that indicate a change of attitude (heart) on the part of John’s hearers.

[3:8]  ⁴ tn Grk “fruit worthy of.”

[3:10]  ⁵ sn Laid at the root. That is, placed and aimed, ready to begin cutting.

[3:11]  ⁶ tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”

[3:11]  ⁷ sn With the Holy Spirit and fire. There are differing interpretations for this phrase regarding the number of baptisms and their nature. (1) Some see one baptism here, and this can be divided further into two options. (a) The baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire could refer to the cleansing, purifying work of the Spirit in the individual believer through salvation and sanctification, or (b) it could refer to two different results of Christ’s ministry: Some accept Christ and are baptized with the Holy Spirit, but some reject him and receive judgment. (2) Other interpreters see two baptisms here: The baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to the salvation Jesus brings at his first advent, in which believers receive the Holy Spirit, and the baptism of fire refers to the judgment Jesus will bring upon the world at his second coming. One must take into account both the image of fire and whether individual or corporate baptism is in view. A decision is not easy on either issue. The image of fire is used to refer to both eternal judgment (e.g., Matt 25:41) and the power of the Lord’s presence to purge and cleanse his people (e.g., Isa 4:4-5). The pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, a fulfillment of this prophecy no matter which interpretation is taken, had both individual and corporate dimensions. It is possible that since Holy Spirit and fire are governed by a single preposition in Greek, the one-baptism view may be more likely, but this is not certain. Simply put, there is no consensus view in scholarship at this time on the best interpretation of this passage.

[3:12]  ⁸ sn A winnowing fork was a pitchfork-like tool used to toss threshed grain in the air so that the wind blew away the chaff, leaving the grain to fall to the ground. The note of purging is highlighted by the use of imagery involving sifting though threshed grain for the useful kernels.

[3:12]  ⁹ tn Or “granary,” “barn” (referring to a building used to store a farm’s produce rather than a building to house livestock).

[3:12]  ¹⁰ sn The image of fire that cannot be extinguished is from the OT: Job 20:26; Isa 34:8-10; 66:24.

[3:13]  ¹¹ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[3:14]  ¹² tc ‡ The earliest mss (א* B sa) lack the name of John here (“but he tried to prevent him,” instead of “but John tried to prevent him”). It is, however, clearly implied (and is thus supplied in translation). Although the longer reading has excellent support (Ì⁹⁶ א¹ C D^s L W 0233 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat[t] sy mae bo), it looks to be a motivated and predictable reading: Scribes apparently could not resist adding this clarification.

[3:14]  ¹³ tn The imperfect verb has been translated conatively.

[3:15]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “but Jesus, answering, said.” This construction with passive participle and finite verb is pleonastic (redundant) and has been simplified in the translation to “replied to him.”

[3:15]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Permit now.”

[3:15]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “permitted him.”

[3:16]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[3:16]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “behold the heavens.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[3:16]  ²⁰ tn Or “sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ourano") may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The same word is used in v. 17.

[3:16]  ²¹ tc ‡ αὐτῷ (autw, “to/before him”) is found in the majority of witnesses (א¹ C D^s L W 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat), perhaps added as a point of clarification or emphasis. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[3:16]  ²² sn The phrase like a dove is a descriptive comparison. The Spirit is not a dove, but descended like one in some sort of bodily representation.

[3:17]  ²³ tn Grk “and behold.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated here.

[3:17]  ²⁴ tn Grk “behold, a voice from the cloud, saying.” This is an incomplete sentence in Greek which portrays intensity and emotion. The participle λέγουσα (legousa) was translated as a finite verb in keeping with English style.

[3:17]  ²⁵ tn Grk “my beloved Son,” or “my Son, the beloved [one].” The force of ἀγαπητός (agaphtos) is often “pertaining to one who is the only one of his or her class, but at the same time is particularly loved and cherished” (L&N 58.53; cf. also BDAG 7 s.v. 1).

[3:17]  ²⁶ tn Grk “in whom.”

[3:17]  ²⁷ tn Or “with whom I am well pleased.”