90-34.
x 3 “ ‘ 4 περιστερὰν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἔμεινεν
697
34. κἀγὼ οὐκ
ἐπ αὐτόν.
ὔδειν αὐτόν: GAN 6 πέµψας µε βαπτίζειν "ἐν ὕδατι, ἐκεῖνός µοι n ver. 26. εἶπεν, Ep ὃν ἂν ἴδης τὸ Πνεῦμα καταβαῖνον καὶ µένον ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν,
οὗτός ἐστιν 6 βαπτίζων ἐν Πνεύματι
x Αγίω.
34. Kayo ἑώρακα,
‘ /΄ 4 Ls ων 4 3 ς εν aA - 3 και μεμαρτυρηκα οτι OUTOS ἐστιν ὁ ULOS TOU Θεοῦ.
“‘Have you ever seen it rain without clouds?”’). In what sense did the Baptist “‘see’’ the Spirit descending ? Origen distinctly declared that these words οἰκονομὶας τρόπῳ γέγραπται οὐχ ἱστορικὴν διήγησιν ἔχοντα ἀλλὰ θεωρίαν νοητήν, li. 239. The ὡς περιστερὰν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ does not necessarily involve that an actual dove was visible. It was not the dove which was to be the sign; but, as the Baptist affirms in ver. 33, the descent and abiding of the Spirit. John was scarcely the type of man who would be determined in an important course of action by the appearance of a bird. What he saw was the Spirit descending. This he can best have seer in the de- meanour of Jesus, in His lowliness and sympathy and holiness, all of which came to their perfect bloom at and in His baptism. It was the possession of this spirit by Jesus that convinced John that He could baptise with the Holy Spirit. That this conviction came to him at the baptism of Christ with a clear- ness and firmness which authenticated it as divine is guaranteed by the words of this verse. It was as plain to him that Jesus was possessed by the Spirit as if he had seen the Spirit in a visible shape alighting upon Him. Toa mind absorbed in this one idea it may have actually seemed as if he saw it with his bodily eyes. Ambrose, De Sacram.,i., 5, ‘‘ Spiritus autem sanctus non in veritate columbae, sed in specie columbae descendit de οοεῖο”’. The dove was in the East a sacred bird, and the brooding dove was symbolic of the quickening warmth of nature. In Jewish writings the Spirit hovering over the primeval waters is expressly compared to a dove: “Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas, sicut columba, quae fertur super pullos suos nec tangit illos’. Cf. also Noah’s dove as symbol of the new creation. (See Suicer, s.v., περιστερά, and Strauss, i., 362.) Such a symbol of the Spirit would scarcely have been imagined by the Baptist, who was all for stern and violent methods.—Ver, 33. κἀγὼ οὐκ qdew . . . ἐκεϊνός µοι εἶπεν Because of the importance of the identification of ‘the Messiah the Baptist reiterates that
his proclamation of Jesus was not a private idea for which he alone was responsible, On the contrary, He whe had sent him to baptise had given him this sign by which to recognise the Christ.—ég’ ὃν ἂν ἴδῃς . . . πνεύµατι ἁγίῳ. Lk. (iii. 16) adds καὶ πνρί, which occasions the well-known utterance in Ecce Homo: ‘“‘ Baptism means cleansing, and fire means warmth. How can warmth cleanse? The answer is that moral warmth does cleanse. No heart is pure that is not passionate ; no virtue is safe that is not enthusiastic. And such an enthusiastic virtue Christ was to in- troduce.” In affirming that the Christ baptises with the Holy Spirit, and that this is what distinguishes the Christ, the Baptist steps on to grouud where his affirmations can be tested by experience. This is the fundamental article of the Christian creed. Has Christ power to make men holy? History gives the answer. The essence of the Holy Spirit is communication: Jesus being the Christ, the anointed with the Spirit, must communicate it.—Ver. 34. κἀγὼ ἑώρακα - +. @. vidos τοῦ θεοῦὈ. ‘ And I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” The Synoptists tell us that a voice was heard at the baptism declaring ‘‘this is my beloved Son’’; and in the Temptation Satan uses the title. Nathanael at the very beginning of the ministry, and the demoniacs very little later, use the same designation. This was in a rigidly monotheistic com- munity and in a community in which the same title had been applied to the king, to designate a certain alliance and close relation between the human representa- tive and the Divine Sovereign. Whether the Baptist in his peculiar circumstances had begun to suspect that a fuller mean- ing attached to the title, we do not know. Unquestionably the Baptist must have found his ideas of the Messianic office expanding under the influence of inter- course with Jesus, and must more than ever have seen that this was a unique title setting Jesus apart from all other men. The basis of the application of the title to the Messiah is to be found ia 2 Sam, vii. 14, ‘I will be to him a Father