11.
Τότε ἀφίησιν αὐτόν. 16. Καὶ
: this means more than meets the ear, more than could be explained to a man like John. The Baptist had a passion for righteousness, yet his concep- tion of righteousness was narrow, severe, legal. Their ideas of righteousness sepa- rated the two men by a wide gulf which is covered over by this general, almost evasive, phrase: all righteousness or every form of it. The ial form meant is not the mere compliance with the ordinance of baptism as administered by an accredited servant of God, but something far deeper, which the new era will unfold. John did not understand that love is the fulfilling of the law. But he saw that under the mild words of Jesus a earnest purpose was hid. So at length he yielded—rére ἀφίησιν αὐτόν.
Vv. 16,17. The preternatural accom- paniments. These have been variously viewed as meant for the people, for the Baptist, and for Jesus. In my judgment they concern Jesus principally and in the first place, and are so viewed by the evangelist. And as we are now making the acquaintance of Jesus for the first time, and desiring to know the spirit, manner, and vocation of Him whose mysterious birth has occupied our attention, we may confine our comments to this aspect. Applying the peers that to all objective supernatural experi- ences there are subjective psychological experiences corresponding, we can learn from the dove-like vision and the voice from heaven the thoughts which had been passing through the mind of Jesus at this critical period. These hts it most concerns us to know; yet it is just these thoughts that both believers and naturalistic unbelievers are in danger of overlooking ; the one through regard- ing the objective occurrences as alone important, the other because, denying the objective element in the experience, they rush to the conclusion that there was no experience at all. Whereas the truth is that, whatever is to be said as to the objective element, the subjective at
16—17.
~ e x4 , Lae a / ae μμ; βαῖνον ὡσεὶ * περιστεράν, καὶ ἐρχόμενον ἐπ αὐτόν. φωνὶὴ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν λέγουσα, “'Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ vids µου ὁ ἀγαπητός,
ἐν ᾧ "εὐδόκησα.” 2
1 SSB omit και.