[459] ["When some of them were sending."--R.]
[460] John i. 24.
[461] John i. 25.
[462] Matt. iii. 6.
[463] Is. i. 10.
[464] Amos ix. 7.
[465] 1 Tim. i. 9.
[466] [R.V., "worth of repentance," marg., "your repentance."]
[467] [sunthe ]
[468] The correct reading seems to be hote, "when," not hoti, "that."--R]
[469] John viii. 33.
[470] Matt. iii. 9.
[471] Is. li. 1, 2.
[472] Matt. iii. 10. [R.V., "And even now is the axe laid," etc.--R.]
[473] chersothnte.
[474] Zech. v. 1, LXX.
[475] Is. v. 5.
[476] See Amos v. 18; Jer. xvii. 15; Ezek. xii. 22, 27.
[477] Is. v. 19.
[478] lgon.
[479] Rom. ix. 28.
[480] atotels, self-executed.
[481] Matt. iii. 10.
[482] ananka.
[483] Matt. iii. 11. Comp. Luke iii. 16. [In neither passage is the preposition repeated in the Greek text. Chrysostom (see sec. 6) interprets "fire" as part of the blessing promised. So many modern commentators.--R.]
[484] [gnme.]
[485] [dnamin.]
[486] Ezek. i. 27.
[487] John i. 29; Engl. Vers. in marg. [So R.V. marg. The Greek phrase is ho aron, "he that taketh up."--R.]
[488] [atn nalaben is the better supported reading, but various conjectural emendations occur. "Himself to assume it," is the most literal rendering.--R.]
[489] John i. 34.
[490] John i. 33, 34. [ R.V. more correctly, "I have seen, and have borne witness," etc. The Greek perfects are to be taken in their grammatical sense, as the comment of Chrysostom implies.--R.]
[491] Matt. iii. 12.
[492] John xv. 1.
[493] [genn.]
[494] Mark x. 30; Luke xviii. 30.
[495] [phaloi, "worthless."--R.]
[496] philosopha.
[497] Matt. iii. 10.
[498] pristeroeid, see Is. xl. 15.
[499] [The better supported text seems to be ats, without ho christs; the latter is an explanatory gloss.--R.]
[500] "The Mystery:" i.e., Christ's Baptism by Fire, His dwelling in our hearts by His Spirit. Comp. Col. i. 26, 27; Eph. i. 9, 10; iii. 9.
[501] Heb. vi. 1, 2.
[502] ["The loosing of death, the abolition of sins," etc., "the entrance into Paradise," etc. The construction is the same throughout the list.--R.]
[503] 1 Cor. ii. 9.
[504] [See note 3 on sec. 6, p. 71.--R.]
[505] Is. xxix. 13; comp. Mark vii. 6.
[506] [The first clause stands independently in the Greek text, forming the conclusion of the preceding paragraph. The new exhortation begins, "But I beseech again," etc.--R.]
[507] stchon.
Homily XII.
Matt. III. 13.
"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan," etc.
With the servants the Lord, with the criminals the Judge, cometh to be baptized. But be not thou troubled; for in these humiliations His exaltation doth most shine forth. For He who vouchsafed to be borne so long in a Virgin's womb, and to come forth thence with our nature, and to be smitten with rods, and crucified, and to suffer all the rest which He suffered;--why marvellest thou if He vouchsafed also to be baptized, and to come with the rest to His servant. For the amazement lay in that one thing, that being God, He would be made Man; but the rest after this all follows in course of reason.
For this cause, let me add, John also by way of anticipation said all that he had said before, that he "was not worthy to unloose the latchet of His shoe;" and all the rest, as for instance, that He is Judge, and rewards every man according to his desert, and that He will bestow His Spirit abundantly on all; in order that when thou shouldest see Him coming to the baptism, thou mightest not suspect anything mean. Therefore he forbids Him, even when He was come, saying,
"I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me." [508] For, because the baptism was "of repentance," and led men to accuse themselves for their offenses, lest any one should suppose that He too "cometh to Jordan" in this sort of mind, John sets it right beforehand, by calling Him both Lamb, and Redeemer from all the sin that is in the world. Since He that was able to take away the sins of the whole race of men, much more was He Himself without sin. For this cause then he said not, "Behold, He that is without sin," but what was much more, He "that beareth the sin of the world," in order that together with this truth thou mightest receive that other with all assurance, and having received it mightest perceive, that in the conduct of some further economy He cometh to the baptism. Wherefore also he said to Him when He came, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?"
And he said not, "And art Thou baptized of me?" nay, for this he feared to say: but what? "And comest Thou to me?" What then doth Christ? What He did afterwards with respect to Peter, this did He then also. For so he too would have forbidden Him to wash his feet, but when he had heard, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter," and "thou hast no part with me," [509] he speedily withdrew from his determination, and went over to the contrary. And this man again in like manner, when he had heard, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness," [510] straightway obeyed. For they were not unduly contentious, but they manifested both love and obedience, and made it their study to be ruled by their Lord in all things.
And mark how He urges him on that very ground which chiefly caused him to look doubtfully on what was taking place; in that He did not say, "thus it is just," but "thus it becometh." For, inasmuch as the point unworthy of Him was in his mind chiefly this, His being baptized by His servant, He stated this rather than anything else, which is directly opposed to that impression: as though He had said, "Is it not as unbecoming that thou avoidest and forbiddest this? nay, for this self-same cause I bid thee suffer it, that it is becoming, and that in the highest degree."
And He did not merely say, "suffer," but He added, "now." "For it will not be so forever," saith He, "but thou shalt see me such as thou desirest; for the present, however, endure this." Next He shows also how this "becometh" Him. How then doth it so? "In that we fulfill the whole law;" and to express this He said, "all righteousness." For righteousness is the fulfilling of the commandments. "Since then we have performed all the rest of the commandments," saith He, "and this alone remains, it also must be added: because I am come to do away the curse that is appointed for the transgression of the law. I must therefore first fulfill it all, and having delivered you from its condemnation, in this way bring it to an end. It becometh me therefore to fulfill the whole law, by the same rule that it becometh me to do away the curse that is written against you in the law: this being the very purpose of my assuming flesh, and coming hither."
2. "Then he suffereth Him. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him." [511]
For inasmuch as many supposed that John was greater than He, because John had been brought up all his time in the wilderness, and was son of a chief priest, and was clothed with such raiment, and was calling all men unto his baptism, and had been born of a barren mother; while Jesus, first of all, was of a damsel of ordinary rank (for the virgin birth was not yet manifest to all); and besides, He had been brought up in an house, and held converse with all men, and wore this common raiment; they suspected Him to be less than John, knowing as yet nothing of those secret things;--and it fell out moreover that He was baptized of John, which thing added support to this surmise, even if none of those mentioned before had existed; for it would come into their mind that this man was one of the many (for were He not one of the many, He would not have come with the many to the baptism), but that John was greater than He and far more admirable:--in order therefore that this opinion might not prevail with the multitude, the very heavens are opened, when He is baptized, and the Spirit comes down, and a voice with the Spirit, proclaiming the dignity of the Only Begotten. For since the voice that said, "This is my beloved Son," would seem to the multitude rather to belong to John, for It added not, "This that is baptized," but simply This, and every hearer would conceive it to be said concerning the baptizer, rather than the baptized, partly on account of the Baptist's own dignity, partly for all that hath been mentioned; the Spirit came in form of a dove, drawing the voice towards Jesus, and making it evident to all, that This was not spoken of John that baptized, but of Jesus who was baptized.
And how was it, one may say, that they did not believe, when these things came to pass? Because in the days of Moses also many wonderful works were done, albeit not such as these; and after all those, the voices, and the trumpets, and the lightnings, they both forged a calf, and "were joined unto Baal-peor." And those very persons too, who were present at the time, and saw Lazarus arise, so far from believing in Him, who had wrought these things, repeatedly attempted even to slay Him. Now if seeing before their eyes one rise from the dead, they were so wicked, why marvel at their not receiving a voice wafted from above? Since when a soul is uncandid and perverse, and possessed by the disease of envy, it yields to none of these things; even as when it is candid it receives all with faith, and hath no great need of these.
Speak not therefore thus, "They believed not," but rather inquire, "Did not all things take place which ought to have made them believe?" For by the prophet also God frames this kind of defense of His own ways in general. That is, the Jews being on the point of ruin, and of being given over to extreme punishment; lest any from their wickedness should calumniate His providence, He saith, "What ought I to have done to this vineyard, that I have not done?" [512] Just so here likewise do thou reflect; "what ought to have been done, and was not done?" And indeed whensoever arguments arise on God's Providence, do thou make use of this kind of defense, against those who from the wickedness of the many try to raise a prejudice against it. See, for instance, what astonishing things are done, preludes of those which were to come; for it is no more paradise, but Heaven that is opened.
But let our argument with the Jews stand over unto some other time; for the present, God working with us, we would direct our discourse to what is immediately before us.
3. "And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and lo! the heavens were opened unto Him." [513]
Wherefore were the heavens opened? To inform thee that at thy baptism also this is done, God calling thee to thy country on high, and persuading thee to have nothing to do with earth. And if thou see not, yet never doubt it. For so evermore at the beginnings of all wonderful and spiritual transactions, sensible visions appear, and such-like signs, for the sake of them that are somewhat dull in disposition, and who have need of outward sight, and who cannot at all conceive an incorporeal nature, but are excited only by the things that are seen: that so, though afterward no such thing occur, what hath been declared by them once for all at the first may be received by thy faith.
For in the case of the apostles too, there was a "sound of a mighty wind," [514] and visions of fiery tongues appeared, but not for the apostles' sake, but because of the Jews who were then present. Nevertheless, even though no sensible signs take place, we receive the things that have been once manifested by them. Since the dove itself at that time therefore appeared, that as in place of a finger (so to say) it might point out to them that were present, and to John, the Son of God. Not however merely on this account, but to teach thee also, that upon thee no less at thy baptism the Spirit comes. But since then we have no need of sensible vision, faith sufficing instead of all. For signs are "not for them that believe, but for them that believe not."