Bible Study series: Matthew 3:1-13.John was a ferocious prophet. What can we learn from him in our lives today?
A warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together. I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 3:1-12
1 In those days, John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 saying, “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven has drawn near!” 3 For he is the one spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying:
A voice shouting in the wilderness:
“Prepare the road of the Lord,
Make straight his paths!” [Is. 40:3]
4 John himself had his clothes of camel hair and leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around Jordan went out to him; 6 and confessing their sins, they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 Then, seeing many Pharisees and Sadducees were coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 So then produce fruit in keeping with repentance! 9 And do not think to say among yourselves, ‘We have Father Abraham.’ For I tell you that God is able from these rocks to raise up children to Abraham! 10 Already the axe is being plied to the root of the tree! Therefore, every tree not producing good fruit will be cut down and tossed into fire! 11 On the one hand, I baptize you with water for repentance; in contrast, the one coming after me is stronger than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry! He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire! 12 The winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear out his threshing floor and gather his wheat in the storehouse, and he will burn the chaff in unquenchable fire!” (Matthew 3:1-12)
Commentary
Jesus was and is the Son of God, so his status was and is much higher than John’s, but their prophetic message was similar.
| Topic / Message | John | Jesus |
| Brood of Vipers escaping judgment | 3:7 | 23:22; see also 12:34 |
| Repentance | 3:8 | 11:20-21; 12:41 |
| Produce Fruit Worthy of Repentance | 3:8, 10 | 7:16-20; 12:33; 21:41, 43 |
| True Children of Abraham | 3:9 | 8:11-12 |
| Fruitless Tree Cut Down | 3:10b | 7:19 |
| Judgment by Fire | 3:11-12 | 5:22; 13:40-42, 50; 18:8-9; 25:41 |
| Grain Gathered in Granary | 3:12 | 13:30 |
| Source: France, p. 98, slightly edited. | ||
Jesus proclaimed and ushered in the kingdom of God with great power and miracles, while John was Jesus’s forerunner and was silent (as far as we know) about the kingdom and did not work miracles.
1:
“in those days”: it is deliberately vague, but Turner (and others) estimate around A.D. 27-29.
Prof. Blomberg lays out the historical data:
Matthew first introduces what John was about and shows how he fulfilled Scripture. “In those days” (v. 1) refers to the days of Christ’s life; otherwise there is approximately a thirty-year gap from the preceding chapter. The exact date depends on establishing the year of the crucifixion (probably A.D. 30, though A.D. 33 is also possible) and then subtracting the three to four years of Jesus’ ministry that preceded his death (cf. references to annual Passovers in John 2:13; [5:1?]; 6:4; 13:1). Jesus’ age at the start of his ministry (“about thirty years,” Luke 3:23) fits better with the earlier date for his death. That it was the fifteenth year of Tiberius’s reign (Luke 3:1) fits somewhat better with the later date, though without ruling out the earlier one. The forty-six years since the beginning of the rebuilding of the temple (John 2:20) might point very precisely to A.D. 28, in which case John’s preparation for Jesus’ ministry probably began in the preceding year. (comment on 3:1-3)
John’s ministry was centered in the southern half of greater Israel. Some scholars say that around a million people were baptized by him, if they came from beyond those areas listed in v. 4.
2:
“repent”: it is the verb metanoeō (pronounced meh-tah-noh-eh-oh), and “to repent” literally means “to change (your) mind.” And it goes deeper than mental assent or agreement. Another word for repent is the Greek stem streph– (including the prefixes ana-, epi-, and hupo-), which means physically “to turn” (see Luke 2:20, 43, 45). That reality-concept is all about new life. One turns around 180 degrees, going from the direction of death to the new direction of life. It is giving one’s whole life to God in obedient discipleship (Turner).
Keener: “Yet John’s call is more radical; ‘his repentance’ refers not to a regular turning from sin after a specific act, but to a once-and-for-all repentance, the kind of turning from an old way of life to a new that Judaism associated with Gentiles converting to Judaism … here in view of the impending day of judgment (cf. 4:17; 11:20; 12:41; Acts 17:30-31; Rom. 2:4)” (p. 120). Even the descendants of Abraham must enter the kingdom by repentance and baptism just as Gentiles had to do (pp. 121-22, referring to F. F. Bruce’s comments).
“kingdom of heaven”: Matthew substitutes “heaven” (literally heavens or plural) nearly every time (except for 12:28; 19:24; 21:31, 43, where he uses kingdom of God). Why? Four possible reasons: (1) Maybe some extra-pious Jews preferred the circumlocution or the roundabout way of speaking, but this answer is not always the right one, for Matthew does use the phrase “kingdom of God” four times; (2) the phrase “kingdom of heaven” points to Christ’s post-resurrection authority; God’s sovereignty in heaven and earth (beginning with Jesus’s ministry) is now mediated through Jesus (28:18); (3) “kingdom of God” makes God the king (26:29) and leaves less room to ascribe the kingdom to Jesus (16:28; 25:31, 34, 40; 27:42), but the phrase “kingdom of heaven” leaves more room to say Jesus is the king Messiah. (4) It may be a stylistic variation that has no deeper reasoning behind it (France). In my view the third option shows the close connection to the doctrine of the Trinity; the Father and Son share authority, after the Father gives it to him. The kingdom of heaven is both the kingdom of the Father and the kingdom of the Messiah (Carson). And, since I like streamlined interpretations, the fourth one also appeals to me.
“has drawn near”: this is in the perfect tense, indicating a present reality has now come on the scene. The reality is embodied in Jesus. Note also that Jesus never says the kingdom” by itself, without a qualifier like “of God” or “of heaven” or “your kingdom.” This kingdom belongs to God.
Now let’s go for a general consideration of the kingdom of heaven / God. As noted in other verses that mention the kingdom in this commentary, the kingdom is God’s active power, authority, rule, reign and sovereignty. He exerts all those things over all the universe but more specifically over the lives of people. It is his invisible realm, and throughout the Gospels Jesus is explaining and demonstrating what it looks like before their very eyes and ears. It is gradually being manifested from the realm of faith to the visible realm, but it is not political in the human sense. It is a secret kingdom because it does not enter humanity with trumpets blaring and full power and glory. This grand display will happen when Jesus comes back. In his first coming, it woos people to surrender to it. We can enter God’s kingdom by being born again (John 3:3, 5), by repenting (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:5), by having the faith of children (Matt. 18:4; Mark 10:14-15), by being transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son whom God loves (Col. 1:13), and by seeing their own poverty and need for the kingdom (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20; Jas. 2:5). The kingdom has already come in part at his First Coming, but not yet with full manifestation and glory and power until his Second Coming.
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
Bible Basics about the Kingdom of God
Questions and Answers about Kingdom of God
Basic Definition of Kingdom of God
1 Introducing the Kingdom of God (begin a ten-part series)
3:
One of Matthew’s main theme is the fulfillment of Scripture. It is difficult to find a chapter without a quotation in it. Here he quotes from Isaiah 40:3. An alternative translation can be: “A voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths!’” “way” is just the standard word for “road.” But fulfillment is more than quoted verses. Jesus fulfills the patterns and themes and principles of Scripture. Examples: He is the new temple. He is the once-and-for-all sacrifice. He fulfills the Davidic kingdom and launches a higher and better one.
So Jesus’s fulfillment of the Old comes in many shapes and sizes and patterns.
Messianic Prophecies (table of quoted verses)
4:
John was an austere man, and his clothing and diet prove it. Believe it or not, the locust was a ceremonially clean animal, which means it could be eaten (Lev. 11:20-23). They were roasted or broiled and seasoned with salt (as we like our prawns or shrimp), or they were dried in the sun and coated with honey and vinegar or powdered and mixed wheat flour and served as pancakes (France p. 106). Great source of protein (apparently)!
Clean and Unclean Food in Leviticus 11 from a NT Perspective
5:
As noted in v. 1, his ministry was centered in the southern half of greater Israel. If everyone there and in the northern parts (like Nazareth and the larger towns in the north) went out to be baptized by John, then maybe over a million people were touched by his ministry. Now that’s a revival!
It is remarkable that they were confessing their sins. That means they went in the water, spelling out their sins in front of John and possibly the audience. In Judaism at the time, people went into water and self-baptized. Here John baptized them. I wonder what would happen if we confessed our sins at our public baptism! It may prove embarrassing! But it is part and parcel of revival.
“sins”: it comes from the noun hamartia (pronounced hah-mar-tee-ah). A deep study reveals that it means a “departure from either human or divine standards of uprightness” (BDAG, p. 50). It can also mean a “destructive evil power” (ibid., p. 51). In other words, sin has a life of its own. Be careful! In the older Greek of the classical world, it originally meant to “miss the mark” or target. Sin destroys, and that’s why God hates it, and so should we. The good news: God promises us forgiveness when we repent.
Bible Basics about Sin: Word Studies
Human Sin: Original and Our Committed Sin
6:
“baptized”: it is the verb baptizō (pronounced bahp-tee-zoh), and it means “to dip in or under water”; it can refer to being “soaked in wine.” It is related to the briefer verb baptō, which means “to dip in water”; it is related to the Latin verb immergere or immerse. One can dip cloth in dye or a bucket in the well to draw water—those illustrate baptō. It can even be used of a ship that sank (Liddell and Scott). The OT refers to water as a cleansing agent and as a picture of forgiveness, spiritual purity, and eschatological blessing (Turner): Ps. 51:6-9; Isa. 4:4; 44:3; Jer. 4:11-14; Ezek. 36:24-27; Zech. 13:1)
7:
“Pharisees”:
“Sadducees”:
See this post for more about them (in alphabetical order):
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
Both groups were the Watchdogs of Theology and Behavior (David E. Garland, Luke: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Zondervan, 2011], p. 243). The problem which Jesus had with them can be summed up in Eccl. 7:16: “Be not overly righteous.” He did not quote that verse, but to him they were much too enamored with the finer points of the law, while neglecting its spirit (Luke 11:37-52; Matt. 23:1-36). Instead, he quoted this verse from Hos. 6:6: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7). Overdoing righteousness damages one’s relationship with God and others. It’s called self-righteousness.
“offspring of vipers!” John used harsh language to the crowds. The fact that they claimed Abraham as their father was no guarantee of God’s favor.
Be cautious about using such harsh language one-on-one in private conversations! I saw someone on youtube standing up in a large church and rebuking a pastor who was not known for preaching Scripture as a fiery Baptist or Pentecostal would do. That so-called “prophet” was completely out of order. Prophetic words must be done decently and orderly and in a community context of other people who can judge the prophecy or revelation (1 Cor. 15:40).
John the Baptist was speaking to a crowd of people and now a subset of them (Pharisees and Sadducees) who came to his ministry. The crowd flow went to him. He did not break into a synagogue and interrupt and shout and piously hold up a Torah scroll.
“warned”: the verb in some contexts means “show, prove, set forth.” The basic stem deik– means “to show.” “Who showed you to flee from the coming wrath?” In this context, however, it means “warn.”
The wrath of God is coming. Wrath means “judicial reckoning.” God does not fly off the handle and lose his temper. No, picture him as an English judge with a white wig on. Let’s learn a lesson. It took hundreds of years before God judged his people, the ancient Israelites. He sent numerous prophets to warn them about the coming judgment. But they refused to repent, except a remnant. His judgment-wrath came by deporting them, but he allowed a remnant to return to the land of Israel, seventy years later.
God’s wrath is judicial, implemented after he slooooowly evaluates all of the facts and thoughts and actions.
It is not like this:
(Source)
But like this:
(Source)
That is a picture of God in judgment. That is his wrath. He does not look like he is filled with uncontrollable rage.
That is a picture of God in judgment.
The Wrath of God in the New Testament
Do I Really Know God? He Shows Wrath
The Wrath of God in the Old Testament
Everyone Shall Be Judged by Their Works and Words
Bible Basics about the Final Judgment
In this case, John is warning of the judgment of God, if God’s people reject their Messiah. They did—at least national Israel did in their leaders—and God placed them and Judaism (temple) under judgment (Luke 19:41-45; 21:20-24; 23:26-31; Matt. 21:33-45), though numerous individual priests (Acts 6:7) and thousands of Jews of Jerusalem and Judea converted (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 21:20). God loves people, but he is not enamored with systems. Now the gospel has been handed over to the Gentiles (and some Messianic Jews) to spread the gospel around the globe, well beyond the tiny nation of Israel. The church—not Israel—is the main focus of God’s strategy to reach the planet with the gospel. Judaism and Israel (today) are not equipped to do this.
8:
“fruit”: in so many cases with humans in Scripture, the noun means observable behavior. Repentance, as noted in v. 3, must be a 180-degree turn around. Please do not believe the foolishness that says God does not require a change of heart that does not work out into righteous behavior. God requires righteous behavior. All the old things must drop off like dead leaves, and new and spring leaves must grow. It can take time in some lives, but change must come. Over time, the new leaves, new life, push out the dead leaves. Producing fruit as a sign of repentance is used in Matthew’s Gospel elsewhere: 3:10; 7:16-20; 12:33; 13:8, 23, 26; 21:19, 33-44 (Turner).
“in keeping” it could be translated as “worthy.” Produce fruit worthy of the reality of repentance or God’s work in your life. He wants to work in you to look more like Christ (Rom. 8:29; Eph. 4:24; Phil. 3:10). Paul in Acts 26:20: “I have announced repentance and turning to God and doing works worthy of repentance” (Acts 26:20, my translation).
9:
You can claim a spiritual heritage, but you must repent of your own sins. As the old saying goes, “God has no grandchildren. He has only children.”
Abraham was the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4-6). At the end of the Gospel, Jesus is about to commission his disciples to go in all the nations (28:19). But we are not there yet in Matthew’s story. For now, Jesus is called to the lost sheep of Israel (Matt. 10:6; 15:24). After his resurrection, he will go global. He will welcome many people into Abraham’s newly reconfigured, remade global family, Jew and Gentile,
Don’t rest on your chosen status. Back in the Neo-charismatic days, young people walked around with T-shirts saying “the Chosen Generation.” Maybe, but it came across as arrogant, because generations come and go, and one is no better than the other, in God’s eternal perspective. Yes, the Jews could claim they had Abraham as their father—and claim the Scriptures from Moses throughout all the devotional Psalms and the rest of the Wisdom Literature and histories, so they were enlightened with the true God’s truths. But God does not care one bit about people’s heritage when they get sloppy and lazy about their lives now. “My ancestry has five generation of preachers!” But if you don’t live righteously in the present, so what? God can raise up many preachers from the stones around you.
10:
Picture yourself as a tree. If you don’t produce good fruit, then it has to be cut down. Luke repeats this sobering truth in Luke 6:43-45 and 13:6-9. Pray that God would pluck the bad fruit from our tree and cause good fruit to grow in our life.
“When God’s people become fruitless, divine judgment is imminent. This is as true today as it was in the first century. The idea of fiery judgment is prominent in Matthew (Matt. 3:12; 5:22, 29-30; 10:28; 13:42, 50; 18:9; 23:15, 33; 25:41). The emphasis is that all people will be judged on the basis of their fruit / works” … (Osborne on 3:10).
Everyone Shall Be Judged by Their Works and Words
11:
John was not worthy to carry Jesus’s sandals. “The dirt on the feet was unclean, and only non-Hebrew slaves took off or ‘carried’ the master’s sandals. Disciples acted virtually as slaves in most aspects, but they were not required to take off the master’s sandals …. Therefore, John is saying, ‘I’m not even worthy to be his slave’” (Osborne, on. 3:11).
Baptism is occasioned by repentance (not the other way). Repentance comes first, then baptism.
Blomberg is right:
The phrase “for repentance” could suggest that one must be baptized to be saved, but this interpretation flounders on New Testament teaching elsewhere (e.g., Acts 3:19; Rom 3:23–24; Eph 2:8–9). Interestingly, even Josephus [first-century Jewish historian] recognizes this (Ant. 18.5.2) when he writes that John taught that his followers “must not employ [baptism] to gain pardon for whatever sins they committed, but as a consecration of the body implying that the soul was already thoroughly cleansed.” (comments on 3:11-12)
John: baptized in water;
Jesus: (still) baptizes with Holy Spirit and fire. He is our baptizer in the Spirit (see Matt. 3:11; John 1:34. He sends his Spirit to overflowing in us. He causes us to be born again and to be empowered for ministry and a consecrated life.
Baptized, Filled, and Full of the Spirit: What Does It All Mean?
“fire”: it means that God purges his people and puts his word in them, so they have to share it. Here is Jeremiah’s testimonial: “But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak anymore of his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jer. 29:9). Also see Is. 4:4, Zech. 13:9, and Mal. 3:2-4 for more images of burning and purging. It is also a signifier for judgment. Let it purify you so you can survive judgment. (see Luke 3:16 and John 1:34).
Holy Spirit and fire may be a concept that goes together as a unit, so it’s the Holy Spirit-fire or the Holy-Spirit-and-fire.
“Spirit”: He is the third person of the Trinity. After Pentecost, he is sent into the hearts of everyone who repents and confesses Jesus was Lord. He causes these repentant people to be born again. They can also have a subsequent infilling of the Spirit (Acts 2:4, 4:8, 31; Eph. 5:17).
Here are some of my posts on a more formal doctrine of the Spirit (systematic theology):
The Spirit’s Deity and Divine Attributes
The Spirit in the Life of Christ
The Spirit in the Church and Believers
Here is Jesus baptizing disciples with the Spirit and fire:
1 And when the Feast of Pentecost had fully come, all of them were together in that one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there was a sound like the rush of an extra-strong wind. The whole house was filled where they were sitting, 3 and tongues as fire were seen by them, were distributed among them, and settled on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them inspiration to speak and declare. (Acts 2:1-4, my tentative translation)
Baptized, Filled, and Full of the Spirit: What Does It All Mean?
These OT passages speak of an eschatological outpouring of the Spirit:
until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. (Is. 32:15, ESV)
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants. (Is. 44:3, ESV)
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezek. 36:26-27, ESV)
And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God. (Ezek. 39:29, ESV)
“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit. (Joel 2:28-29, ESV)
In the previous three passages, the promise was given to Israel. In Joel’s prophecy, the Spirit is poured out in all flesh or all of humanity. Each of those above passages speak of obeying the law of God and living righteously. Now this obedience comes from the inside out and by the power of the indwelling Spirit. Don’t let any teacher tell you that you don’t have to worry about living righteously. You absolutely do. So does right believing always lead to right living? Maybe, but anyone who believes right could also live wrong. True, right living is done by the overflow and outflow of the Spirit in conformity to Scripture.
The Spirit in the Old Testament
12:
The grain has been gathered from the fields. Jesus is about to toss it up in the air. The chaff is lighter and will be blown away, while the wheat grains are heavier and will fall straight down. Yet the chaff will accumulate off to the side, and it has to be cleaned up from the threshing floor. It can be used for fuel in the fire. The wheat is the righteous, while the chaff is the wicked. This is a strong image with forceful, sobering words.
Note that it is his threshing floor and his wheat. The chaff is not his. The metaphor of throwing away chaff or stubble is found in the OT, particularly when the OT was produced over the centuries in an agrarian society: Ps. 1:4; 35:5; Is. 41:15-16; and so on. The stubble is burned up: Mal. 4:1.
Grow App for Matthew 3:1-12
1.. John baptized in water, Jesus with the Holy Spirit and fire. Have you experienced water baptism? What about Spirit baptism?
RELATED
9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel
1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
Reconciling Matthew’s and Luke’s Genealogies: Mission: Impossible?
Common Details in Matthew’s and Luke’s Birth Narratives
SOURCES
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 