“Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan,”
Matthew 3:5 — Greek Interlinear
Church Fathers on Matthew 3:5
Having described the preaching of John, he goes on to say, 'There went out to him,' for his severe life preached yet more loudly in the desert than the voice of his crying.
For it was wonderful to see such fortitude in a human body; this it was that chiefly attracted the Jews, seeing in him the great Elias. It also contributed to fill them with wonder that the grace of Prophecy had long failed among them, and now seemed to have at length revived.
This baptism was only a forerunning of that to come, and did not forgive sins. [ed. note: Tertullian (de Bapt. 10. 11) S. Jerome (adv. Lucifer. 7) S. Gregory (Hom. in Evang. vii. 3) Theophylact in Marc. ch. i. S. Augustine (de Bapt. e Donat. v. 10) considered that S. John’s baptism gave a sort of suspensive or implicit remission, to be realized in the Atonement; and S. Cyril . Hieros. Cat. iii. 7-9. S. Greg . Nyss. in laud. Bas. t. 3. p. 482. vid. Dr. Pusey on Baptism, Ed. 2.…