Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
The baptism of Jesus
3:15As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,
3:16John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
3:17His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
3:21Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,
3:22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
[15]Προσδοκῶντος δὲ τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ διαλογιζομένων πάντων ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν περὶ τοῦ ᾿Ιωάννου, μήποτε αὐτὸς εἴη ὁ Χριστός,
[16]ἀπεκρίνατο ὁ ᾿Ιωάννης ἅπασι λέγων· ἐγὼ μὲν ὕδατι βαπτίζω ὑμᾶς· ἔρχεται δὲ ὁ ἰσχυρότερός μου, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς λῦσαι τὸν ἱμάντα τῶν ὑποδημάτων αὐτοῦ· αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν Πνεύματι ῾Αγίῳ καὶ πυρί.
[17]οὗ τὸ πτύον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ διακαθαριεῖ τὴν ἅλωνα αὐτοῦ, καὶ συνάξει τὸν σῖτον εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην αὐτοῦ, τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ.
[21]᾿Εγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ βαπτισθῆναι ἅπαντα τὸν λαὸν καὶ ᾿Ιησοῦ βαπτισθέντος καὶ προσευχομένου ἀνεῳχθῆναι τὸν οὐρανὸν
[22]καὶ καταβῆναι τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ῞Αγιον σωματικῷ εἴδει ὡσεὶ περιστερὰν ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν, καὶ φωνὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ γενέσθαι λέγουσαν· σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα.
Comments
The lection begins on a note of collective hope and expectation (15). St John gives his considered response, as if they crowd have spoken to him or he has read their mind; that is the import of ἀπεκρίνατο (16). The female dove (cf. περιστεράν, 22) may suggest gentle flight as against the brusqueness of a male περιστερός, a courier-pigeon.
[15] Προσδοκῶντος: προσδοκάω, ‘expect’, ‘await’ can be used abs. in cl. Gk, as here (LSJ s.v. 4). The Engl. tr. ‘the people were filled with expectation’ is therefore accurate.
διαλογιζομένων: διαλογίζομαι, mid. voice, ‘consider, ponder’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. I.2). The people were wondering ‘in their hearts’.
[16] ἀπεκρίνατο: 3rd pers. sg., mid. aor. <ἀποκρίνομαι, ‘I answer’; LXX almost always and NT freq. uses the pass. aor. ἀπεκρίθην (LSJ s.v. IV. 1 &3; EDNT s.v. 1); but in LXX (3 Ki 2.1) the mid. aor. signals solemn language (LSJ s.v. IV.3); the tone of the Baptist’s reply is also solemn.
‘The preposition ἀπό in the sense of “suitable, based upon (an evaluation)” underscores the element of circumspect selection and judgment’ (EDNT ibid.). John distills his thoughts into an answer in an implied dialogue.
ὕδατι βαπτίζω: ‘with water I baptise’. The word-order emphasises the instrument or means, ‘water’.
ἐν Πνεύματι ῾Αγίῳ: ‘in Holy Spirit’ corresponds to, and contrasts with, ‘with water’. Cf. 22, τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ῞Αγιον, ‘the Holy Spirit’.
[17] διακαθαριεῖ: 3rd pers. sg., διακαθαρίζω, ‘I purge thoroughly’, perhaps a koine form of cl. Gk διακαθαίρω (cf. LSJ s.v. διακαθαίρω,I); ‘clean out’ (NT). The preverb δια- denotes completeness, ‘cleaning out through and through’, cf. the Engl. tr. ‘to clear’.
κατακαύσει: 3rd pers. sg. fut. κατακαίω, ‘I burn completely’ (already in Homer & in cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. I.1). The preverb κατά- denotes complete burning. Again the Engl. tr. is less vivid (‘will burn’).
[22] περιστερὰν: περιστερά, ‘female dove’.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 