Matthew 3:13-17
Christ revealed as God’s servant
3:13Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.
3:14John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
3:15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.
3:16And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him.
3:17And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
[13] Τότε παραγίνεται ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἀπὸ τῆς Γαλιλαίας ἐπὶ τὸν ᾿Ιορδάνην πρὸς τὸν ᾿Ιωάννην τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ.
[14] ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιωάννης διεκώλυεν αὐτὸν λέγων· ἐγὼ χρείαν ἔχω ὑπὸ σοῦ βαπτισθῆναι, καὶ σὺ ἔρχῃ πρός με;
[15] ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπε πρὸς αὐτόν· ἄφες ἄρτι· οὕτω γὰρ πρέπον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν πληρῶσαι πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην· τότε ἀφίησιν αὐτόν·
[16] καὶ βαπτισθεὶς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἀνέβη εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀνεῴχθησαν αὐτῷ οἱ οὐρανοί, καὶ εἶδε τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ καταβαῖνον ὡσεὶ περιστερὰν καὶ ἐρχόμενον ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν·
[17] καὶ ἰδοὺ φωνὴ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν λέγουσα· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα.
Comments
[13] τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι: βαπτισθῆναι, aor. pass. inf. of βαπτίζομαι, ‘Ι am baptised’ < βαπτίζω, ‘Ι baptise’. The inf. is construed with an article in the genitive (‘articular infinitive’), and indicates purpose, ie. ‘in order to be baptised’. In cl. Greek, βαπτίζω occurs only in the pass. voice, meaning ‘I am drenched, soaked’. In late (early Roman imperial period) Greek, β. = ‘I immerse, dip, submerge’ (Montanari s.v.).
[14] διεκώλυεν αὐτὸν: < διακωλύω, ‘I impede, obstruct’, a strong sense of ‘prevent’. διεκώλυεν is a ‘conative imperfect’, i.e. ‘he tried hard, he sought to prevent him’.
ἐγὼ χρείαν ἔχω ὑπὸ σοῦ βαπτισθῆναι, καὶ σὺ ἔρχῃ πρός με;: St John, taken aback, asks a pointed question. The inclusion of the personal pronouns ἐγὼ and σὺ throws emphasis on the contrasting ‘I’ and ‘you’. καὶ is adverbial (contrastive), i.e., ‘and yet’. ‘I should be baptised by you, and yet/ whilst you come to me?’
[15] ἄφες ἄρτι·: αφίημι, a class. vb. = ‘allow, permit’. ἄρτι = ‘right now’ (of the present), a classical usage.
[16] ἀνέβη εὐθὺς: < ἀναβαίνω, a compound vb., ἀνά + βαίνω, ‘go up’ (cl. Greek). Here ἀνέβη, aor. = ‘came out’ (of the water); in Greek you can also come up/ out’ of the underworld (cf. EDNT p. 74, s.v. ἀναβαίνω).
εὐθὺς (lit. ‘straight’), adv. here = ‘straightaway, immediately’. Christ, after being immersed (βαπτισθεὶς), at once came out of the water.
ἀνεῴχθησαν αὐτῷ οἱ οὐρανοί: ἀνεῴχθησαν, aor. pass., ἀνοίγω (cl. vb). ἀνεῴχθησαν = ‘were opened’. οἱ οὐρανοί is unclassical; cl. Greek used the sg. oὐρανός, ‘sky’. The pl. first occurs in LXX Greek (Ps. 96.6).
αὐτῷ: ‘were opened’ to or for him (dat. of advantage).
καταβαῖνον ὡσεὶ περιστερὰν: καταβαῖνον, neuter pres. part., καταβαίνω, ‘I come or go down, descend’, the opposite of ἀναβαίνω. The part. καταβαῖνον is governed by εἶδε (‘he saw’), and is therefore ‘supplementary’. ‘He saw the Spirit of God coming down’ presupposes the cosmology of the ancient Near East according to EDNT, s.v. καταβαίνω, p. 255: the world was divided vertically into the firmament, the water, and heaven over the flat earth, and beneath it the world of the dead. God in heaven descends, καταβαίνει.
There is spatial movement in this pericope: Christ ‘goes or comes up’ (ἀναβαίνει) straightaway (temporal but also directional), and then the Spirit ‘comes or goes down’ (καταβαίνει).
περιστερὰν: acc. of περιστερά, female ‘common pigeon or dove’. (The male dove is περιστερός.) The noun π. depends on Πνεῦμα, the direct obj. of εἶδε.
ὡσεὶ: lit. ‘as if’; here = ‘just like’, ‘as’.
An afterthought: In the Orthodox Church, the main theme of Epiphany is the revelation of the Epiphany. This is echoed in the dismissal hymn of the day:
Apolytikion of Holy Epiphany in the First Tone
‘Lord, when You were baptised in the Jordan, the veneration of the Trinity was revealed. For the voice of the Father gave witness to You, calling You Beloved, and the Spirit, in the guise of a dove, confirmed the certainty of His words. Glory to You, Christ our God, who appeared and enlightened the world.’
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 