Matthew 3

The Bible never tells us why John the Baptist didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps and become a priest in the Jerusalem Temple. He would have had a comfortable life then. But he chose the lonely life of an isolationist, self-sacrificing prophet who lived in the Judean badlands. We can only guess why he did this. What would you guess?

John the Baptist quotes Isaiah, a prophet who lived 700 years before the time of Jesus, and he applies the quotation to himself. “I’m the one the prophet Isaiah was talking about” (Matthew 3:3). Old Testament experts say the section of Isaiah that Matthew quoted was written for Jews exiled in Babylon, in what is now Iraq. That is why the chapter begins with “Comfort my people. . . . Make way for the LORD” (Isaiah 40:1, 3). Do you think Isaiah had any idea that someone would take his words out of context and apply them to someone else centuries later? And why do you think John the Baptist did this?

It’s rare that Bible writers describe a person’s fashion sense and eating habits. Matthew reports this about John the Baptizer. “John wore clothes made from camel’s hair. He tied a leather belt around his waist. For food, he ate locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4). Why do you think Matthew reported this?

John’s idea of baptizing people seems to come from out of nowhere. Perhaps the closest thing to that are the Jewish cleansing rituals that required people to take a bath to purify themselves before they went to worship at the Temple. These baths washed away impurities caused by such things as menstruation, bleeding after childbirth, or touching a corpse. Do you think baptism is anything like that—a ritual that washes away our impurities?

Calling the top religious leaders a “nested knot of poisonous snakes” (Matthew 3:7) seems a bit much. What do you think John the Baptist was trying to do with that?

John told the people, “I baptize you with water . . . He’ll baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 3:11). Some students of the Bible say this suggests that once the Holy Spirit comes, we don’t need to get baptized with water anymore. How do you react to that?

Matthew says that when Jesus was baptized, he saw “the Spirit of God coming down like a dove, landing on him” (Matthew 3:16). The footnote to Mark’s report of this event (Mark 1:10) suggests that Jesus saw a vision of the Holy Spirit coming down to him like a dove. But the Gospel of Luke says, “The Holy Spirit came down in physical form, like a dove” (Luke 3:22). There’s no indication that either writer had ever met Jesus. Both seem to have collected their information about Jesus from various sources. Matthew, however, was a disciple of Jesus, and early church leaders said he wrote this anonymously written Gospel. How do you react to the apparent inconsistency in the reports?

After Jesus was baptized, Matthew says, “A voice from the sky said, ‘This is my Son. I dearly love him. He’s my Delight’” (Matthew 3:17). Luke 3:22 reports a similar quote. But one ancient manuscript adds to Luke’s quote, “Today I have begotten you.” Some Bible experts say that this addition suggests that on the day Jesus was baptized, God adopted Jesus as his. A Christian group known as Ebionites taught this idea early in the Christian movement. How do you react to the fact that this phrase shows up in an ancient copy of the Gospel of Luke?

LIFE APPLICATION. Why do you think some Christians get baptized and some don’t?