abating of the water, so doth it now of the abating of the wrath of God, upon the preaching of the Gospel."
We must beware of supposing for a moment, that this vision of the Spirit descending was meant to imply, that our Lord first received the grace of the Holy Ghost at that particular time, or that He had not received it before in the same degree. We must not doubt that the Holy Ghost dwelt in Jesus " without measure " from the very time of His incarnation. The vision was meant to show the Church, that when Christ's ministry began, a fuUer revelation of all Three Persons in the Trinity was made at once to mankind. It was meant at the same time to be a formal testimony to John the Baptist that the Messiah was before him, — that this was the promised Saviour whom God had anointed with the Holy Ghost and sent into the world, ^-that the time of Christ's ministry had begun, — that He who had the Spirit to bestow on men was before him, — and that His entrance on His public work was attested by the presence both of the Father and the Holy Ghost, in short, by a manifestation of all three Persons in the Trinity at one time.
As a Levite, John doubtless was familiar with all the ceremo- nies by which the Jewish high priests and kings were solemnly inducted into their office. For his satisfaction, therefore, our Lord received visible attestation from heaven, and was pubhcly recognized as the Messiah, the anointed Priest, and King, and Prophet, before his forerunner's eyes.
Musculus on this verse remarks, " The Spirit did not descend on Christ's account, who was never separate, either from the Holy Spirit or fi om the Father, — but oa our account, that He who came to redeem the world, might be made manifest, through John's declaration of Him."
3Z. — [I knew himnot] The Greek word so rendered, both here and in the 31st verse, is hterally, "I had not known him." There is a difficulty connected with the expression which demands explanation. St. Matthew tells us, that when our Lord came to John to be baptized, John said to him, " I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" (Mait. iii. 14,) showing plainly by these words that he knew He was before him. And yet here we find John saying, " I knew him not." How can this apparent inconsistency be reconciled ?
Some think, as Chrysostom, that " John is speaking of former times, and not of the times near to his baptism."
Some think, as Augustine, that it means, '' I had not known till that day that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost, although I had long known him porsoaaUy, and had recognized him as the Christ of God. But when He came to be baptized,
JOHN CHAP. I. 6c
it was also revealed to me, that He would confer on men the great gift of the Holy Ghost."
Some think, as Brentiu^ and Beza, that it means, " I had not known Jesus by sight until the day when He came to be bap- tized. I knew that He had been born of the Virgin Mary, but was not personally acquainted with Him, having been myself brought up ' in the desert.' (Luke i. 80.) I had only been told by Him who senrt me to baptize, that whenever the Messiah came to be baptized, I should recognize Him by the descent of the Holy Ghost. When He did come, I received a secret reve- lation from God that Messiah stood before me, and under the power of that feeling I confessed my unworthiness to baptize Him. But when, at last I did baptize Him, I received a full con- firmation of my faith by beholding the promised sign of the descent of the Holy Ghost." Those who hold this view, think the case of Samuel receiving a secret revelation about Saul, an illustration of the matter. (1 Sam. ix. 15.)
Some think, as Poole, that it means, " I knew him not per- fectly and distinctly, though I had an impression when I first saw Him coming to be baptized, that He was One far greater than myself, and under that impression demurred to baptizing Him. After His baptism I saw clearly who He was."
The last explanation is perhaps the simplest, and most proba- ble. That John at one time did not know our Lord by sight at all, that he afterwards knew Him imperfectly, and that his per- fect knowledge of Him, His nature, ofl&ce, and work, was not attained till the time when the Spirit descended at His baptism, are points that seem clear. The time when he said, " I have need to be baptized of thee," would seem to be the time of im- perfect knowledge, when the fact that Jesus was the Messiah began to dawn upon him, and made him cry out, '' comest thou to me ?"
Chrysostom observes, that the expression is a proof '' that the miracles which they say belong to Christ's childhood are false, and the invention of those who bring them to notice. For if He had begun from His early age to work miracles, neither could John have been ignorant of Him, nor would the multitude have needed a teacher to make Him known."
[He that sent ine...same saidi] This expression indicates that John the Baptist had many special revelations of God concern- ing His work, of which we have no record given to us. He seems to have been taught and instructed like one of the old prophets.
[He which haptizeth loith ihe Holy Ghost] The remarkable