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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Luke 3:22 - 3:22
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Descended (katabēnai). Same construction as the preceding infinitive.
The Holy Ghost (to pneuma to hagion). The Holy Spirit. Mar 1:10 has merely the Spirit (to pneuma) while Mat 3:16 has the Spirit of God (pneuma theou).
In a bodily form (sōmatikōi eidei). Alone in Luke who has also “as a dove” (hōs peristeran) like Matthew and Mark. This probably means that the Baptist saw the vision that looked like a dove. Nothing is gained by denying the fact or possibility of the vision that looked like a dove. God manifests his power as he will. The symbolism of the dove for the Holy Spirit is intelligible. We are not to understand that this was the beginning of the Incarnation of Christ as the Cerinthian Gnostics held. But this fresh influx of the Holy Spirit may have deepened the Messianic consciousness of Jesus and certainly revealed him to the Baptist as God’s Son.
And a voice came out of heaven (kai phōnēn ex ouranou genesthai). Same construction of infinitive with accusative of general reference. The voice of the Father to the Son is given here as in Mar 1:11, which see, and Mat 3:17 for discussion of the variation there. The Trinity here manifest themselves at the baptism of Jesus which constitutes the formal entrance of Jesus upon his Messianic ministry. He enters upon it with the Father’s blessing and approval and with the power of the Holy Spirit upon him. The deity of Christ here appears in plain form in the Synoptic Gospels. The consciousness of Christ is as clear on this point here as in the Gospel of John where the Baptist describes him after his baptism as the Son of God (Joh 1:34).