Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 3:14

"But John would have hindered him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" — Matthew 3:14 (ASV)

During the time John the Baptist was preaching to the crowds and baptizing them, Jesus came from Galilee also to be baptized.

Verses 14–15 are peculiar to this gospel. John tried to deter Jesus from his baptism, insisting that he stood in need of baptism by Jesus. Earlier John had difficulty baptizing the Pharisees and Sadducees because they were not worthy of his baptism. Now he has trouble baptizing Jesus. Why? John’s baptism signified repentance and confession of sin. Whether John knew Jesus well, we do not know. It is, however, inconceivable that his parents had not told him of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth some three decades earlier . At the very least John must have recognized that Jesus, to whom he was related, whose birth was more marvelous than his own, and whose knowledge of Scripture was prodigious even as a child , outstripped him. John the Baptist was a humble man; conscious of his own sin, he could detect no sin Jesus needed to repent of and confess. So John thought that Jesus should baptize him.