Matthew 3:6 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 3:6 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.”

And they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. The baptism in the Jordan carries multiple layers of meaning. The Jordan is the boundary river Israel crossed into the promised land under Joshua — being baptized in the Jordan is a symbolic re-crossing of the threshold, a ritual reenactment of the entry into covenant. The confession of sins that accompanies the baptism communicates that the barrier to full covenant life is internal, not military or political. The baptism is not merely ceremonial washing but a whole-person immersion that represents the kind of thoroughgoing reorientation John preaches. 2 Chronicles 7:14 promises that if my people humble themselves and confess their sins, I will forgive — John's baptism enacts that humbling in the body of the Jordan.

Church Fathers on Matthew 3:6

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.
Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century

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.
Chrysostom · 4th century

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.…
Gloss (Glossa Ordinaria) · medieval compilation · interlin.

Read all 6 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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