“And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. The voice from heaven — the bat qol of Jewish tradition, the divine voice that speaks from heaven — identifies Jesus with a statement that combines two Old Testament texts. This is my beloved Son echoes Psalm 2:7, the royal coronation psalm where God declares to the anointed king: you are my Son, today I have begotten you. With whom I am well pleased echoes Isaiah 42:1, the servant song: here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. Jesus is simultaneously the Davidic king of Psalm 2 and the servant of Isaiah 42 — the one who will reign and the one who will suffer. The Trinity is present: the Son in the water, the Spirit descending, the Father speaking. Before his ministry begins, Jesus is publicly identified and commissioned by the voice of God.
Church Fathers on Matthew 3:17
Not as before by Moses and the Prophets, neither in type or figure did the Father teach that the Son should come, but openly shewed Him to be already come, 'This is my Son.'
Or, that from these things thus fulfilled upon Christ, we might learn that after the washing of water the Holy Spirit also descends on us from the heavenly gates, on us also is shed an unction of heavenly glory, and an adoption to be the sons of God, pronounced by the Father’s voice.
The mystery of the Trinity is shewn in this baptism. the Lord is baptized; the Spirit descends in the shape of a dove; the voice of the Father is heard giving testimony to the Son.
Read all 10 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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