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MARK 1:5 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Mark 1:4Mark 1:6
“And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.”
The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him — Mark's hyperbole communicates the scale of John's impact. The confession of sins while being baptized is the decisive action: these are people publicly owning their failure and aligning themselves with the coming kingdom through a visible, irreversible act. The entire geographic center of official Judaism — Judea and Jerusalem, the temple and its leadership — is drawn to this wilderness prophet who bypasses the temple system entirely. The irony is structural: the religious establishment that will ultimately reject Jesus is populated by people who were baptized in repentance awaiting him.

Church Fathers on Mark 1:5

According to the above-mentioned prophecy of Isaiah, the way of the Lord is prepared by John, through faith, baptism, and penitence; the paths are made straight by the rough marks of the hair-cloth garment, the girdle of skin, the feeding on locusts and wild honey, and the most lowly voice; whence it is said, 'John was in the wilderness.'

Pseudo-Jerome · 5th century

It is evident that John not only preached, but also gave to some the baptism of repentance; but he could not give baptism for the remission of sins [ed. note: vol 1, p. 97, note A]. For the remission of sins is only given to us by the baptism of Christ. It is therefore only said, 'Preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;' for he 'preached' a baptism which could remit sins, since he could not give it.

Bede · 8th century

The baptism of John had not remission of sins, but only brought men to penitence. He preached therefore the baptism of repentance, that is, he preached that to which the baptism of penitence led, namely, remission of sins, that they who in penitence received Christ, might receive Him to the remission of their sins.

Theophylact · 11th century
Read all 17 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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