Christ is baptized by John, A. D. 27. A. D. 27. Α. Μ. 4031. 14 But John forbade him, saying, || fulfil all righteousness. Then he suf- A. M. 4031. I have need to be baptized of thee, fered him. and comest thou to me? 15 And Jesus, answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and y Mark i. 10. the form of a sinner, and stooping to thee, my inferior; it becomes us-Me, and my disciples according to my example, to fulfil all righteousness-To do whatsoever is just, fit, and requisite in our circumstances. Or, it becometh every messenger of God, and even every follower of mine, to observe every divine appointment, and to honour every divine ordinance. I therefore offer myself to be baptized, that I may show my readiness to obey all God's nim that should come after him, that is, on himself. He, therefore, was baptized, 1st, to testify that he owned the Baptist as one commissioned by God to perform this office; 2d, that by this rite he might || profess his willingness to fulfil all righteousness; and, 3d, that by this he might be initiated into his prophetical office, and consecrated to the service of God. Therefore, though infants can neither be taught, nor believe, nor give the answer of a good conscience, at baptism, yet they may be baptized; || righteous precepts, and to justify God and approve his counsel, Luke vii. 29, 30, and celebrate his wisdom in sending thee to prepare his and my way, 1st, that by this ceremony they may be obliged to observe the laws of that Jesus, into whose name they are baptized, even as, under the Mosaic dispensa- || by calling men to repentance, and in that way fitting tion, the infant, by virtue of circumcision, became a debtor to observe the whole law of Moses, Acts xv. 5; Gal. v. 3; 2dly, that by this rite they may enter into covenant with God, of which they are declared || capable by Moses, Deut. xxix. 11. them for the blessings of my kingdom. "Our Lord's baptism tended," says Dr. Macknight, "to promote the ends both of his own mission and of his forerunner's, as it established the authority of both. It established John's mission, great honour being done Verse 14. But John forbade him-Out of mo-him by the Messiah's receiving his baptism. It es tablished our Lord's mission also; for after he was baptized, the testimonies of the Spirit and voice from heaven were given him in the presence of the desty he would have declined the service, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee-To receive a larger measure of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit from thee, and comest thou to me-on such || multitude assembled at Jordan. That these testi an occasion as this? It has been questioned, how monies should have been given on this occasion, raJohn knew him to be the Christ, before the Spirit | ther than on any other, was fit; because it was an descended on him? But this question will be easily || august manner of opening our Lord's ministry, was resolved, if it be considered that John was a prophet | the most public occasion that could be found, and filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. pointed him out as Messiah to the Baptist, who was No doubt he knew by a secret intimation from that || thereby qualified for the principal duty of his misSpirit, that he, who then came to him, was the per- ||sion, John i. 31." By this we are taught a holy exson on whom the Holy Ghost should descend, and || actness in the observance even of those institutions on whom he should abide in so large a measure, or, which owe their obligations merely to a divine aprather, without measure, that he might impart him ||pointment. Surely thus it becometh all his followers to others, such matters being frequently imparted to prophets by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Thus Simeon, having been told that he should not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ, had an intimation given him in the temple that the child Jesus was that Christ, Luke ii. 26-32; as had, also, Anna the prophetess. And Samuel, being told by God that on the morrow a man should come to him to be captain over his people Israel, 1 Sam. ix. 15, when Saul appeared, he had another intimation given him || respecting the person, the Lord saying, verse 17, Behold the man of whom I spake to thee. Just so the Baptist, being to testify, when he baptized with water, that another should baptize them with the to fulfil all righteousness. Jesus had no sin to wash away, and yet he was baptized. And God owned his ordinance so as to make it the season of pouring forth the Holy Spirit upon him. And where can we expect this sacred effusion, but in an humble attendance on divine appointments? Then he suffered him-He that sins through ignorance, will correct his error upon better information. Verse 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, &c.Hereby he was, 1st, installed into his ministerial office, as the priests were by washing, Exod. xxix. 4; Lev. viii. 6; 2d, engaged solemnly in the same military work with us against sin and Satan; 3d, admitted a member of the gospel Church, as he was be Holy Ghost, God tells him that of this he should || fore of the Jewish, by circumcision; 4th, he was see an evidence by the visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon Him who, from his fulness, was to impart this Spirit to all true believers; and when our Saviour came to be baptized, God tells him again, this was that very person. baptized as a public person, the Head of his Church, in whom, and by virtue of whose baptism, all his members are baptized spiritually, Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12. Went up straightway out of the water-Or, as the original, ανεβη απο τε υδατος, rather signifies, Verse 15. Suffer it to be so now-In this my state || ascended from the water, namely, went up from the of humiliation: For thus-By this appearance in || banks of Jordan. The heavens were opened unto CHAPTER IV. in the wilderness. Christ's fasting and temptation A. M. 4031. he saw the Spirit of God descend-17 & And lo, a voice from heaven, A. M. 4031 ing like a dove, and lighting upon saying, This is my beloved Son, in A. D. 27. him: A. D. 27. whom I am well pleased. z Isa. xi. 2; xlii. 1; Luke iii. 22; John i. 32, 33. a John xii. 28. bPsa. ii. 7; Isa. xlii. 1; Chap. xii. 18; xvii. 5; Mark i. 11; him-For his sake, appearing as if they had been Verse 17. And lo! - As a further token of the dirent asunder directly over his head. It is probable vine regard to Christ, and of the glorious dignity of they might resemble that opening of the heavens his person, a voice from heaven, saying, to John, which we often see in a time of great lightning, || concerning Christ, This is my beloved Son, and to when the sky seems to divide, to make the fuller || Christ himself, Thou art my beloved Son, Luke and clearer way for the lightning: although, doubtless, this was much more striking and glorious. And he saw-Christ himself saw, and also John the Baptist, as appears by John, ch. i. 33, 34; and by this he was further confirmed that this was the very Christ: -the Spirit of God descending like a dove-Not only in a hovering, dove-like motion, but, it seems, with a bright flame, in the shape of a dove, for St. Luke says, ch. iii. 22, σωματικῳ είδει, ωσει περιστεραν, in a bodily shape, as a dove. See also John i. 32. The Holy Spirit descended upon him in this form to signify what Christ is, 1st, in his own nature to them that come to him, meek and loving; 2d, in the execution of his office, reconciling us to the Father, and bringing us good tidings of peace and reconciliation, as the dove brought Noah || tidings of the deluge being assuaged; 3d, in the operations of his Spirit upon his people, whereby they are made meek, lowly, and harmless as doves. And lighting upon him-As a visible token of a new degree of the Holy Ghost's operation in Christ, now at his entrance upon his public employment, even iii. 22. For it is not improbable that both sentences were pronounced; the voice uttering the words, Thou art my beloved Son, &c. while the Spirit was descending, as if they had been directed to Jesus alone, in answer to his prayer; and, after the Spirit rested on Jesus, the voice, speaking to the Baptist and the multitude, said, This is my beloved Son, &c. St. Luke informs us, that he was praying when this happened, and it is observable that all the voices from heaven, by which the Father bore witness to Christ, were pronounced while he was praying, or quickly after. Luke ix. 29, 35; John xii. 28. In whom I am well pleased-Or, in whom I delight, That is, whose character I perfectly approve, and in whom I acquiesce as the great Mediator, through whom will I show myself favourable unto sinful creatures. See Isa. xlii. 1. The original word properly signifies an entire acquiescence, or a special and singular complacency and satisfaction. This the Father took, in the person and undertaking of Christ; and this, through him, he takes in all true believers, who, by faith, are united to him, and made of that Spirit by which, according to the intima-members of his body. And O, how poor, in com tions God had given in his word, he was anointed parison of this, are all other kinds of praise, yea, and all other pleasures! To have the approbation, and be the delight of God; this is praise, this is pleasure indeed! This is, at once, true glory and true happiness, and is the highest and brightest CHAPTER IV. In this chapter we have, (1,) An account of Christ's fasting forty days, and being afterward assaulted in three different ways by Satan, but overcoming in each assault, 1-11. (2,) Of his beginning to preach in Galilee and parts adjacent, 12-17. (3,) Of his calling disciples to attend him, viz., Peter and Andrew, James and John, 18-22. (4,) Of his miraculously healing multitudes, and being greatly followed by the people for his cures and instructions, 23-25. THEN* was a Jesus led up of the Spirit into || 2 And when he had fasted forty days and the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. forty nights, he was afterward a hungered. * First Sunday in Lent, gospel, verse 1 to verse 12. a Mark i. 12, &c.; Luke iv. 1, &c. NOTES ON CHAPTER IV. Verse 1. Then-After the afore-mentioned glo- || rious manifestation of his Father's love, by which he was armed for the combat. Was Jesus led by the Spirit-By a strong impulse of the Spirit of God, of which he was full; into the wildernessVOL. I. (4) b1 Kings xviii. 12; Ezek. iii. 14; viii. 3; xi. 1, 24; xl. 2; xliii. 5; Acts viii. 39. Probably, the wilderness near Jordan, which, as Mr. Maundrell, who travelled through it, assures us, is a miserable and horrid place, consisting of high, barren mountains, so that it looks as if nature had suffered some violent convulsions there. Our Lord, probably, was assaulted in the northern part of it, 49 a Christ tempted of the devil Α. Μ. 4031 A. D. 27. A. D. 27. 3 And when the tempter came to || God, command that these stones be A. Μ. 4031. him, he said, If thou be the Son of made bread. near the sea of Galilee, because he is said by Luke || saulted with hunger, as any man is at any time for to be returning to Nazareth, from whence he came want of food. Thus he was fitted for the ensuing to be baptized. To be tempted of the devil-That is, || trial of his trust in God. And, as an ancient writer the chief of the devils, Satan, the everlasting ene-observes, We are then especially to expect tempta tions, when we are alone, and when we are in straits and exigencies, from which we see no ordinary way of deliverance, which was the case with Christ. For he was hungry, and in a wild wilderness, where was no food, and was at last fed miraculously by angels ministering unto him. my of God and man. The proper meaning of the original word here, and in other places of the Old and New Testaments, translated to tempt, is to try. Hence we sometimes, as Gen. xxii. 1, read of God's || tempting men, as well as of the devil's tempting them. But there is this difference between the temptations, or trials, that are immediately from God, and those that are from Satan, by God's permission. We are tempted, or tried, by God, that our righteousness, our faith, love, patience, and every grace and virtue, may be manifested, approved, and further increased: and therefore, as James says, Blessed is the man who, in this sense, endureth temptation. But the devil tempts, or tries us, in expectation of finding us insincere, or unstable, and with a view to lead us into sin by his subtlety and power; in which sense God, who cannot be tempted with evil, or see any thing desirable in it, tempteth no man. Doubtless, it must have been || for some very great and good ends that the Holy Spirit thus moved our Lord to repair into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. For though, by his repairing thither, he might partly intend to enjoy a devout retirement, that as man he might give vent to those sacred passions which the late grand | occurrences of the descent of the Spirit upon him, and the miraculous attestation of a voice from heaven, had such a tendency to inspire; yet no doubt he foresaw that this season of intercourse with heaven would be followed by a violent assault from hell, and he went into the wilderness with a view also to meet and combat with the grand adversary of mankind. Probably, as Theophylact observes, one | the devil? Could there be any doubt of this? We Verse 3. And when the tempter came to him-In a visible shape and appearance, to tempt him outwardly, as he had done inwardly before. For it appears from the account which Mark and Luke have given us of this matter, that our Lord had been tempted by the devil invisibly during the whole of the above-mentioned forty days-but now, it seems, he came to him in a visible form, probably in the human, as one that desired to inquire further into the evidences of his mission. Accordingly he said, If thou be the Son of God-In such an extraordinary sense as thou hast been declared to be, and if thou art indeed the promised Messiah, expected under that character, command that these stones be made bread-To relieve thy hunger, for in such circumstances it will undoubtedly be done. Thus Satan took advantage of our Lord's distress to tempt him to doubt his being the Son of God in the sense in which he had just been declared to be so; and it seems the object of this first temptation was, to excite in his mind a distrust of the care and kindness of his heavenly Father, and to induce him to use unwarranted means to relieve his hunger. But it is objected here, If Christ were God, why should he be tempted? Was it to show that God was able to overcome the temptations of answer, he was man, very man, as well as God, "of a reasonable soul, and human flesh subsisting," and grand end might be to teach us that when we have consecrated ourselves to God's service, and have been favoured with peculiar marks of divine accept-it was only as man that he was tempted. If it be replied, that seeing his human nature was personally united to the divine, it must still be superfluous to show that even his human nature, thus influenced, should be able to baffle the assaults of Satan: Irenæus, an eminent father of the second century, answering this very objection, then made by the Ebionites, (the elder brethren of the Photinians and Socinians,) observes that, as he was man, that he might be tempted, so he was the Word, that he might be glorified; the Word, (or Godhead,) being quiescent in his temptation, crucifixion, and death. These words being preserved and cited, says Dr. Whitby, by Theodoret, show that the latter fathers approved of this solution of this difficulty. Among the reasons ance, and the consolations of his Spirit, we must expect temptations; and to teach us, by our Lord's example, how we may best and most effectually resist them, even by an unshaken faith, 1 Pet. v. 9; and by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, Eph. vi. 17. 2d, Our Lord was tempted thus, that his perfect holiness might be tried and approved. 3d, That Satan might be conquered, which he never had perfectly been by any man before.. 4th, That Christ might become a merciful and faithful high priest, one who can succour his people in time of need, and pity them when they happen to fall by temptation. The apostle assigns this reason expressly, Heb. ii. 17, 18. And, 5th, That assurance might be given to his people of an everlasting vic-assigned of our Lord's temptation, one is, the con tory over, and deliverance from, the power of Satan. Verse 2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights-As Moses, the giver, and Elias, the restorer of the law, had done before: he was afterward a hungered-That is, he was as sharply as solation of his members conflicting with the adversary of their souls. For, in that he suffered, being tempted, he can sympathize with, and succour those that are tempted; affording them the same Spirit that was in him, that they may resist the devil with Christ is tempted of the CHAPTER IV. devil in the wilderness A. M. 4031. 4 But he answered and said, It is || 6 And saith unto him, If thou be A. M. 4031 A. D. 27. written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up dinto the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, e A. D. 27. the Son of God, cast thyself down: 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, • Deut. viii. 3. d Neh. xi. 1, 18; Isa. xlviii. 2; lii. 1; Chap. xxvii. 53; Rev. xi. 2. Psa. xci. 11, 12. the same weapons, and overcome him with the same assistance, by which he, in his human nature, combated and conquered. Now this ground of comfort would be wholly taken from us, if Christ overcame Satan merely by virtue of that nature, by which he was απειραςος κακων, James i. 13, incapable of being overcome by temptation. But if, with Irenæus, we affirm that the divinity was then quiescent in him, and that he overcame Satan by virtue of the Spirit | given to him, we, who have the same unction from the Holy One, may also hope to do it by his aid. Verse 4. It is written-There is no better way of answering the tempter, than by opposing the word of God to his temptations. This is that sword of prevent people falling off, and somewhere on the edge of this we may suppose that Satan placed Christ, in his attacking him with this temptation. This, in some parts of it, and particularly over the porch, was so exceedingly high that one could hardly bear to look down from it. And saith, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down-Thereby to show to all the people about the temple, that thou art indeed the Son of God; which they will fully believe when they shall see thee fly without falling, or fall without being hurt. As in the former assault, Satan tempted Christ to distrust the care of divine providence, so he now tries to persuade him to presume upon it, and to expose himself to danger unnecesdestroy himself, and try whether God would pre the Spirit that must put him to flight. The Church ||sarily; nay, in effect, to take the direct course to of Rome, therefore, by taking from the people the word of God, disarm them as to the spiritual com-serve him as his Son. For it is written, &c.-In bat. Man shall not live by bread alone-These words are quoted from Deut. viii. 3, and signify that bread, or ordinary sustenance, is not necessary to support the life of man; that God can feed and sustain him by other means: but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man liveThat is, by whatsoever he shall appoint for his suste-pect to be sustained by it, even without food, now the former temptation the devil did not quote Scripture, but having been repelled in that assault by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, he here takes up the same weapon. He shall give his angels charge concerning thee-As if he had said, Since thou trustest so much in providence as to exnance; or even by his bare word. Therefore, it is throw thyself down, to give more undoubted evinot needful that I should work a miracle to procuredence of thy dependance upon it: and, as the miracle bread, without any intimation of my Father's will. will be a full proof that thou art the Son of God, and will undeniably convince the people of it, so thou canst have no room to doubt of thy safety, the Scripture having declared that his angels shall take care of thee. Jerome, and many after him, have well observed here, that though Satan quotes Scrip this kind merely in compliance with thy sugges-ture, he does it falsely. He artfully leaves out the tions. Here we are taught, in imitation of Christ, always to maintain such an humble dependance on the divine blessing, as never to venture out of the way of it, be our necessity ever so urgent. words, In all thy ways. To throw himself down, and fly through the air, was none of our Lord's ways. He had no call, no warrant, from God, to decline the stairs by which he might go down from Verses 5-7. Then the devil taketh him up into the the top of the temple, and precipitate himself from holy city-That is, the city Jerusalem, frequently the battlements thereof. God had never granted, called the holy city in Scripture, see Neh. xi. 1; Isa. nor even promised to any, the protection of angels lii. 1; Dan. ix. 24; and that with great propriety, as in sinful and forbidden ways; nor adjudged that his being for ages the place of the special residence of special providence should watch over and preserve Jehovah. It has been supposed by many, that them, who should voluntarily throw themselves into Satan transported our Lord through the air, but dangers which they might lawfully avoid. Add to whether he did or not cannot be determined from this, that Satan seems to mock our Saviour's true this passage, the original word, παραλαμβανει, sig- use of Scripture by this abuse of applying it, not to nifying no more than that he took him along with instruct but to deceive, separating the protection of him. And setteth him on a pinnacle of the tem- God's providence from man's duty, and extending ple-That is, one of the battlements, for it is not to be the promise of the former to those who neglected supposed that our Lord stood on the point of a spire. || the latter; and putting God upon working a miraThe roof of the temple, like that of their houses, cle, to declare that which he had already made sufwas flat, and had a kind of balustrade round it, to || ficiently evident. We learn from our Lord's ex Christ is tempted of the ST. MATTHEW. devil in the wuaerness. A. M. 4031. f Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy || give thee, if thou wilt fall down and A. M. 4031. A. D. 27. God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I worship me. A. D. 27. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, & Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. f Deuteronomy vi. 16. - Deuteronomy vi. 13; x.20; | Joshua xxiv. 14; 1 Samuel vii. 3. ample here, that it is never right to expose ourselves the more with their splendour, and on a sudden prevail upon him, which otherwise they would not have been so likely to do. And saith unto himWith the most egregious impudence, falsehood, and pride; All these things will I give thee-All this glory and power, and all these possessions, if thou wilt fall down and worship me-The devil now showed clearly who he was, and therefore Christ, in answering this suggestion, calls him by his proper name, Satan, which, though he undoubtedly knew him, he had not done before. We may learn from hence not to conclude we are utterly abandoned of God when we are assaulted with horrible temptations; Christ himself, we see, was tempted even to worship the devil: but in such cases let us, like Jesus, resolutely repel the temptation, rather than parley with it. Dr. Doddridge observes, that, if we suppose Satan, in these two last temptations, to have worn the form of an angel of light, it will make them both appear more plausible; "for thus it, nor express any doubt of God's power or good- || he might pretend, in the former, to take charge of ness toward me; nor shall I act as the Israelites did, when they said, Ex. xvii. 7, Is the Lord among us or not? when he had given them ample proof that he was present with them, and had taken, and would take care of them, and provide for them. It is to be observed that the above precept, respecting tempting God, does not forbid too much, but too || little confidence in God, and the calling in question his presence with, and care over his people. But in the general, to make an undue and unwarrantable trial of God, is to tempt him, whether the trial respect his power or goodness. See Num. xiv. 22; Psa. lxxviii. 18; Isa. vii. 12; chap. xvi. 1. Verses 8, 9. Again the devil taketh him up-In what way is not said; into an exceeding high mountainProbably one of the mountains in the wilderness, and from that eminence, partly by the advantage of Christ in his fall, as one of his celestial guards; and in this latter to resign to him a province which God had committed to his administration and care." And this, he thinks, may not be inconsistent "with supposing that he first appeared as a man, (it may be as a hungry traveller, who pretended to ask the miracle of turning stones into loaves for his own supply,) for angels, under the Old Testament, had often worn a human form." Verse 10. Then saith Jesus, Get thee hence, Satan -The expression, Υπαγε, Σατανα, plainly expresses Christ's authority over Satan, as well as his detestation of so vile a suggestion: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, &c. It would therefore be unlawful to worship thee, who art no other than a mere creature, even though thou wast indeed his deputy on earth; and how much more the place, from which he might behold many mag- || then must it be so, as thou art, in reality, the great nificent buildings, rich fields, pleasant meadows, hills covered with wood and cattle, rivers rolling through the fertile valleys, and washing the cities as they passed along; and partly by an artful visionary representation, showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them-Whatsoever was gay, splendid, or glorious, either in respect of the hon- || ours, riches, or pleasures of the world; their great and opulent cities, sumptuous edifices, costly attire, equipage, pomp, and splendour; displaying to his view one of the finest prospects that the most plea- || avowed enemy of God and man! for such, under all thy disguise, I well know thee to be. It appears from these words, that religious worship, or service, is due to God alone, and cannot be lawfully given to a creature. From whence we must infer, that Christ is not a mere creature: for all men are to honour him, even as they honour the Father, John v. 23. And all the angels of God are commanded to worship him, Heb. i. 6: and it is given as the character of all Christians, 1 Cor. i. 2, that they call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord: and Col. surable and triumphant scenes could furnish out; | iii. 24, That they serve the Lord Christ. As to the and all this, not one after another, but in a moment answer made by some to this irrefragable argument of time, that so they might amaze and affect him || in favour of our Lord's divinity, it appears from this |