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| John I. 24, 25. Of the Baptism of John, that of Elijah, and that of Christ.
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13. John I. 24,
25. Of the Baptism of John, that of Elijah, and that of
Christ.
And they that were sent were of the Pharisees. And
they asked him, and said unto him,4889
“Why
baptizest thou then, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the
prophet?” Those who sent from Jerusalem the priests and
levites who asked John these questions, having learned who John was
not, and who he was, preserve a decent silence, as if tacitly assenting
and indicating that they accepted
what was said, and saw that baptism was suited to a voice crying in the
wilderness for the preparing of the way of the Lord. But the
Pharisees being, as their name indicates, a divided and seditious set
of people, show that they do not agree with the Jews of the metropolis
and with the ministers of the service of God, the priests and
levites. They send envoys who deal in rebukes, and so far as
their power extends debar him from baptizing; their envoys ask, Why
baptizest thou, then, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the
prophet? And if we were to stitch together into one statement
what is written in the various Gospels, we should say that at this time
they spoke as is here reported, but that at a later time, when they
wished to received baptism, they heard the address of John:4890
“Generations of vipers, who hath
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore
fruits worthy of repentance.” This is what the Baptist says
in Matthew, when he sees many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to
his baptism, without, it is clear, having the fruits of repentance, and
pharisaically boasting in themselves that they had Abraham for their
father. For this they are rebuked by John, who has the zeal of
Elijah according to the communication of the Holy Spirit. For
that is a rebuking word, “Think not to say within yourselves, We
have Abraham for our father,” and that is the word of a teacher,
when he speaks of those who for their stony hearts are called
unbelieving stones, and says that by the power of God these stones may
be changed into children of Abraham; for they were present to the eyes
of the prophet and did not shrink from his divine glance. Hence
his words: “I say unto you that God is able of these stones
to raise up children to Abraham.” And since they came to
his baptism without having done fruits meet for repentance, he says to
them most appropriately, “Already is the axe laid to the root of
the tree; every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire.” This is as much as to say to
them: Since you have come to baptism without having done fruits
meet for repentance, you are a tree that does not bring forth good
fruit and which has to be cut down by the most sharp and piercing axe
of the Word which is living and powerful and sharper than every
two-edged sword. The estimation in which the Pharisees held
themselves is also set forth by Luke in the passage:4891
“Two men went up to the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. And the
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank Thee
that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or
even as this publican.” The result of this speech is that
the publican goes down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee,
and the lesson is drawn, that every one who exalts himself is
abased. They came, then, in the character in which the
Saviour’s reproving words described them, as hypocrites to
John’s baptism, nor does it escape the Baptist’s
observation that they have the poison of vipers under their tongue and
the poison of asps, for “the poison of asps is under their
tongue.”4892
The figure of
serpents rightly indicates their temper, and it is plainly revealed in
their better question: “Why baptizest thou then, if thou
art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” To these
I would fain reply, if it be the case that the Christ and Elijah and
the prophet baptize, but that the voice crying in the wilderness has no
authority to do so, “Most harshly, my friends, do you question
the messenger sent before the face of Christ to prepare His way before
Him. The mysteries which belong to this point are all hidden to
you; for Jesus being, whether you will or not, the Christ, did not
Himself baptize but His disciples, He who was Himself the
prophet. And how have you come to believe that Elijah who is to
come will baptize?” He did not baptize the logs upon the
altar in the times of Ahab,4893
though they needed
such a bath to be burned up, what time the Lord appeared in fire.
No, he commands the priests to do this for him, and that not only once;
for he says, “Do it a second time,” upon which they did it
a second time, and “Do it a third time,” and they did it a
third time. If, then, he did not at that time himself baptize but
left the work to others, how was he to baptize at the time spoken of by
Malachi? Christ, then, does not baptize with water, but His
disciples. He reserves for Himself to baptize with the Holy
Spirit and with fire. Now Heracleon accepts the speech of the
Pharisees as distinctly implying that the office of baptizing belonged
to the Christ and Elijah and to every prophet, for he uses these words,
“Whose office alone it is to baptize.” He is refuted
by what we have just said, and especially by the consideration that he
takes the word “prophet” in a general sense;4894
| 4894 By not noticing
the difference between “a prophet” and “the
prophet.” Vide supra, p. 356. | for he cannot show that any of the prophets
baptized. He adds, not incorrectly, that the Pharisees put the
question from malice, and not from a desire to learn.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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