Matthew Henry Commentary Luke 3

The scope and design of John's ministry were to bring the people from their sins and to their Savior. He came preaching, not a sect or party, but a profession; the sign or ceremony was washing with water. By the words used here, John preached the necessity of repentance for the remission of sins, and that the baptism of water was an outward sign of that inward cleansing and renewal of heart, which accompany or are the effects of true repentance, as well as a profession of it.

Here is the fulfillment of the Scriptures, Isaiah 40:3, in the ministry of John. When a way is made for the gospel into the heart, by taking down high thoughts and bringing them into obedience to Christ, by leveling the soul and removing all that hinders us in the way of Christ and His grace, then preparation is made to welcome the salvation of God. Here are general warnings and exhortations which John gave.

The guilty, corrupted race of mankind has become a generation of vipers, hateful to God and hating one another. There is no way of fleeing from the wrath to come but by repentance; and by a change in our way, the change of our mind must be shown. If we are not really holy, both in heart and life, our profession of religion and relation to God and His church will be of no avail to us at all; the more severe will our destruction be if we do not bring forth fruits meet for repentance.

John the Baptist gave instructions to various kinds of people. Those who profess and promise repentance must show it by reformation, according to their positions and circumstances. The gospel requires mercy, not sacrifice; and its design is to engage us to do all the good we can and to be just to all people. And the same principle which leads people to forgo unjust gain, leads them to restore what is gained by wrongdoing.

John tells the soldiers their duty. People should be cautioned against the temptations of their occupations. These answers declared the present duty of the inquirers and immediately formed a test of their sincerity. Since no one can or will accept Christ's salvation without true repentance, the evidence and effects of this repentance are marked out here.

John the Baptist disowned being the Christ himself but confirmed the people in their expectations of the long-promised Messiah. He could only exhort them to repent and assure them of forgiveness upon repentance; however, he could not work repentance in them, nor confer remission on them.

It is fitting for us to speak so highly of Christ, and so humbly of ourselves. John could do no more than baptize with water, as a sign that they ought to purify and cleanse themselves. But Christ can, and will, baptize with the Holy Ghost; He can give the Spirit to cleanse and purify the heart, not only as water washes off the dirt on the outside, but as fire clears out the dross that is within and melts down the metal, so that it may be cast into a new mold.

John was an affectionate preacher; he pleaded earnestly; he pressed matters home to his hearers. He was a practical preacher; spurring them to their duty and directing them in it. He was a popular preacher; addressing the people according to their capacity. He was an evangelical preacher.

In all his exhortations, he directed people to Christ. When we press duty upon people, we must direct them to Christ for both righteousness and strength. He was a copious preacher; he did not hesitate to declare the whole counsel of God. But a full stop was put to John's preaching when he was in the midst of his usefulness. Herod, having been reproved by him for many evils, shut John up in prison.

Those who injure the faithful servants of God add even greater guilt to their other sins.

Christ did not confess sin, as others did, for he had none to confess; but he prayed, as others did, and kept up communion with his Father. Observe, all the three voices from heaven, by which the Father bore witness to the Son, were pronounced while he was praying, or soon after, Luke 9:35; John 12:28.

The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and there came a voice from heaven, from God the Father, from the excellent glory. Thus was a proof of the Holy Trinity, of the Three Persons in the Godhead, given at the baptism of Christ.

Matthew's list of the forefathers of Jesus showed that Christ was the son of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth are blessed, and heir to the throne of David. Luke, however, shows that Jesus was the Seed of the woman who should break the serpent's head, and traces the line up to Adam, beginning with Eli (or Heli), the father, not of Joseph, but of Mary. The apparent differences between the two evangelists in these genealogies have been resolved by learned scholars.

But our salvation does not depend upon our being able to resolve these difficulties, nor is the Divine authority of the Gospels at all weakened by them. The list of names ends thus, Who was the son of Adam, the son of God; that is, the offspring of God by creation. Christ was both the son of Adam and the Son of God, so that he might be a proper Mediator between God and the sons of Adam, and might bring the sons of Adam, through him, to be the sons of God.

All flesh, as descended from the first Adam, is as grass, and withers as the flower of the field; but he who partakes of the Holy Spirit of life from the Second Adam has that eternal happiness which by the gospel is preached to us.