John 3:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Christ showed this when He said to Pilate: "I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where the Jews always gather, and in secret I have said nothing" (Jn 8:20).

He said this then, and now He did it.

"After this," it says, "Jesus came with His disciples into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized."

At the feasts He came into the city in order to offer teaching there among the people and benefit them by miracles. After the feasts ended, He often withdrew to the Jordan, because great multitudes gathered there as well.

He always visited populous places, not from a desire to display Himself or from love of honor, but with the aim of bringing benefit to a greater number of people.

Since the evangelist later says that Jesus did not baptize, but His disciples did (Jn 4:2), it is clear that here too he says the same thing. Only His disciples baptized.

Why, you ask, did He not baptize Himself? John had already said beforehand: "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Jn 3:11).

But He was not yet giving the Holy Spirit. For this reason, of course, He did not baptize. The disciples did this because they desired to bring many to the saving teaching.

Will you ask why He Himself did not baptize? Learn this. John had previously said that He would baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11).

But He was not yet giving the Holy Spirit, because the time had not yet come.

Therefore, if He had baptized, He would either have baptized without the Spirit, and how then would He have differed from John? Or He would have given the Spirit before the time, which is unworthy of God, who does everything at the proper time.

When was the time to give the Spirit? The time after the Ascension.

For our nature in Christ Jesus had to appear before the Father without sin. After God had thus been reconciled with us, the Spirit was to be sent down as a rich and generous gift.

Indeed, to what boldness do they not go? What blasphemy do they not devise, who rise up against the sacred dogmas of the Church and "pervert all that is right," as it is written (Mic 3:9)?

To forestall their arrogant arguments, the wise Evangelist brings before us the holy Baptist himself, offering his disciples the resolution of the question.

Thus Christ baptizes through His disciples, and John does likewise, though not through others and not in the same springs in which Christ performed this. He baptized near Salim, as it is written, in one of the nearby neighboring springs.

By this distinction of water sources, I think, the Evangelist also presents the distinction in baptism. As if through a riddle, he indicates that baptism through John is not the same as baptism from our Savior Christ.

Yet it is near to it, as a kind of anticipation and preparation for the more perfect baptism.

The Law of Moses, it is said, "has a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things" (Heb 10:1).

For the writing of Moses, containing within itself the hidden seed of truth, is a prefiguration and foretelling of service in the Spirit. So also must baptism unto repentance be understood.

John learned through the dove what he had not known concerning the Lord, although he already knew Him. He learned something unknown concerning the Lord when he said to Him as He came to be baptized, "I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" (Mt 3:14).

The Lord answered him, "Permit it now," so that every righteousness might be fulfilled (cf. Mt 3:15).

Now the order of the reading compels us to return to this same John. He is the one foretold through Isaiah: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight" (cf. Is 40:3).

John bore this testimony concerning his Lord and, since He deigned to be so called, concerning his Friend. His Lord and Friend Himself also bore testimony concerning John.

Indeed, concerning John He said, "Among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist" (Mt 11:11). But since He placed Himself above him, in that wherein He was greater than John, He was God.

"But the least in the Kingdom of Heaven," He says, "is greater than he" (Mt 11:11). Less in age, but greater in authority, majesty, and glory, because "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (Jn 1:1).

In the preceding passages John bore such testimony concerning the Lord that, although he called Him the Son of God, he still did not call Him God. Yet neither did he deny this.

He was silent about His being God, but he did not deny that He is God. Regarding His being God, he did not keep silence in every respect. Perhaps we shall discover this in the course of today's reading.

He called Him the Son of God, and men were also called children of God (cf. Jn 1:12). He said that He had such greatness that John did not consider himself worthy to loose the straps of His sandals (cf. Jn 1:20, 27).

This greatness already allows us to understand much. The one above whom none born of women had arisen was not worthy, as he himself acknowledges and says, to loose the straps of His sandals.

For He was greater than all men and angels. Indeed, we find that an angel forbade a man to fall at his feet.

For example, in the Apocalypse, when an angel revealed something to John, who wrote this Gospel, John was struck by the greatness of what he saw and fell at the angel's feet.

But the angel said, "Rise, do not do this. Worship God. I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren" (cf. Rev 22:8-9).

Thus an angel forbade a man to fall at his feet. Is it not clear that He is above all angels, when such a man confesses that he is unworthy to loose the straps of His sandals?

Yet John spoke more clearly, declaring that our Lord Jesus Christ is God. We want to discover this in the course of today's reading. Perhaps this is what we sing: "God reigns over all the earth" (cf. Ps 46:3).

Those who think that He rules only in Africa are deaf to this. For this was spoken concerning Christ, when it was said, "God reigns over all the earth."

Who else is our King, if not our Lord Jesus Christ? He is our King. And what do you hear in the same psalm, in the verse following what has just been sung?

"Sing praises to our God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing praises" (Ps 46:7). The One whom the psalm called God, it also called our King.

"Sing praises to our God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing with understanding" (cf. Ps 46:7-8). And lest you think He reigns only in one land, you sing to Him: "For God is the King of all the earth" (Ps 46:8).

How, then, is He King of all the earth, when He was revealed in one part of the earth, in Jerusalem, in Judea? There He dwelt among men, was born, was nursed, grew, ate, drank, kept watch, and slept.

There He sat weary by the well, was seized, scourged, spat upon, crowned with thorns, crucified upon the tree, pierced with a spear, died, and was buried. How, then, was He King of all the earth?

What was visible in that place was flesh. Flesh was shown to fleshly eyes. In mortal flesh, immortal majesty lay hidden.

With what eyes can one behold the immortal majesty that entered into union with flesh? There are other eyes, inner eyes.

Tobit, for example, was entirely blind, yet, though blind in bodily eyes, he gave instruction in life to his son (cf. Tob 4:3 and following).

The son held his father's hand so that he might walk with his feet. The father gave counsel to his son so that he might keep the way of righteousness.

Here I see eyes, and there I recognize eyes. The eyes of the one giving counsel for life are higher than the eyes of the one holding the hand.

Jesus asked about such eyes when He said to Philip, "Have I been with you so long, and you do not know Me?" (Jn 14:9). He spoke of such eyes when He said, "Philip, he who has seen Me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9).

These are the eyes of understanding, the eyes of the mind. Therefore, when the psalm said, "For God is King over all the earth" (cf. Ps 46:3), it immediately added, "Sing with understanding" (Ps 46:8).

For when I say, "Sing praises to our God, sing praises," I confess God as our King. But you saw our King among men as a man. You saw Him suffering, crucified, and dead.

Something was hidden in that flesh, which you could see with bodily eyes. What, then, was hidden there? Sing with understanding. Do not seek with the eyes what is perceived by the mind.

Sing with the tongue, lingua, because He is flesh among you. But since "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14), direct the sound of the word to the flesh and the gaze of the mind to God.

Sing with understanding, and you will see that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

Let John also bear testimony: "After this Jesus came with His disciples into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized" (Jn 3:22).

Having been baptized, He baptized. He did not baptize with the baptism by which He Himself had been baptized.

The Lord gives Baptism, having Himself received baptism from a servant. He thereby opened the way of humility and prepared for the Lord's Baptism, that is, for His own Baptism, by giving an example of humility.

He did not refuse the baptism of a servant. In the baptism of a servant the way was prepared for the Lord. The baptized Lord opened the way for those who come to Him.

Let us hear Him Himself: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6). If you seek the truth, here is the way for you, because the way and the truth are one.

He is where you are going, and He is why you are going. You do not go by one way to another thing. You do not go by one way to Christ. You go to Christ through Christ.

How do you go through Christ to Christ? Through Christ the man to Christ God. Through the Word made flesh to the Word who in the beginning was God with God.

You go from what man ate to what the angels eat every day. For it is written: "He gave them bread from heaven; man ate the bread of angels" (Ps 77:24-25).

Who is the bread of angels? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (Jn 1:1). How did man eat the bread of angels? "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14).

But since, brethren, we have said that the angels eat, do not think that they do this by biting off pieces. If you think so, you must suppose that God, whom the angels eat, is somehow torn into pieces.

Who tears truth apart? Yet someone will again say to me, "Who eats righteousness, and how does he eat it?" For it is said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Mt 5:6).

The food you eat according to the flesh, in order to strengthen yourself and restore your powers, is destroyed and disappears. Eat righteousness, and you will be strengthened while it remains unharmed.

So too these bodily eyes of ours are strengthened by looking at this bodily light. This light, which we perceive with bodily eyes, is bodily.

For many people, when they remain long in darkness, as though abstaining from light, have their sight weakened. Eyes deprived of food, since they are nourished by light, grow weary from abstinence.

They become so weak that they cannot see the light by which they are restored. If the light is absent still longer, they lose all strength, and sight itself almost dies within them.

What then? Is the light diminished because so many eyes are nourished by light every day? The eyes are strengthened, and the light itself remains unharmed.

If God was able to reveal this concerning bodily light to bodily eyes, will He not reveal that inexhaustible light to pure hearts? It is unharmed, unspent, and lacking nothing.

What light? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God."

Let us see whether this is the light. "For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we shall see light" (Ps 35:10). On earth, the fountain is one thing and light another.

When you thirst, you seek a fountain. In order to come to the fountain, you seek light. If it is now night and not day, you take a lamp to reach the fountain.

That Fountain is the Light. For the thirsty He is a fountain, and for the blind He is light. Let the eyes be opened to see the Light. Let the mouth of the heart be opened to drink the Light.

What you drink is what you see and hear. God becomes everything for you, because He is all that you love.

If you think of visible things, God is not bread, God is not water, God is not this bodily light, God is not clothing, and God is not a house.

All these are visible things, and each is distinct. What is bread is not water. What is clothing is not a house. What these things are is not God, for they are visible.

But God is everything for you. If you are hungry, He is bread for you. If you thirst, He is water for you. If you are in darkness, He is light for you, while remaining unchangeable.

If you are naked, He is an incorruptible garment for you, since "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Cor 15:53).

Everything can be said with reference to God, but nothing can be said about God in a way worthy of Him. There is nothing richer than this brief phrase.

You seek a fitting name and do not find one. You seek how one might speak of Him, and you find every name fitting. What do a lamb and a lion have in common?

Both names are applied to Christ: "Behold the Lamb of God" (Jn 1:29). And how is He called a lion? "The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered" (Rev 5:5).

Let us listen to John: "Jesus baptized" (Jn 3:22). We have said that Jesus baptized. In what sense Jesus? In what sense the Lord? In what sense the Son of God? In what sense the Word?

But "the Word became flesh" (Jn 1:14).

Therefore He decided to spend a considerable time there with His disciples. He Himself was occupied with teaching, while His disciples baptized those who believed in Him.

His actions were successful. His community soon became much more numerous than John's. Meanwhile John's community also was being prepared for Him.

The hostile spirit, fearing their combined action, sought to produce division between them. Yet the power of God overcame this craftiness of the evil one.

But the Baptist had not yet developed their understanding to the point of grasping this truth: his teaching was, in the proper sense, a preliminary and preparatory school for them.

Looking upon their teacher with boundless respect, they considered it some harm to his honor when they saw that the people, for instruction, began more and more to hasten toward Jesus, to whom John had borne witness.

They expressed this directly before their teacher.

Both Aenon and Salim are places whose exact location is undetermined. On the basis of the testimony of ancient church writers, they must have been in Samaria.

In that case, the activity of Jesus Christ during this time was near the Jordan, within the borders of the tribe of Judah.

But in Josh 15:32, cities in the tribe of Judah in the south of Palestine are mentioned: Shelihim or Selhim, and Ain. These names are evidently consonant with Salim and Aenon.

If these are the same cities, then the activity of Jesus Christ during this time was in the south of Palestine.

Compare Mt 4:12; Mk 1:14; and Jn 4:1-3, 35.

Although Jesus Christ was then only beginning His ministry, while John was already completing his, the Lord's activity had such success that it stirred envy in John's disciples.

"He who was with you beyond the Jordan," they said to their teacher, "to whom you have borne witness, behold, He is baptizing, and all are going to Him" (Jn 3:26).

This very circumstance gave John the occasion to utter solemnly his final testimony concerning Christ, a testimony full of deep insight into the mysteries of the Kingdom of the Messiah.

At the very beginning of this testimony, as if answering his disciples' jealous feeling toward the success of Jesus Christ's baptism and preaching, John declared, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven" (Jn 3:27).

Then he reminded them of his solemn assurance that he was not the Christ, but only the messenger sent before His face (Jn 3:28).

Further, John movingly compared his relation to Christ with the relation of a friend to the bridegroom after the bridegroom's betrothal to the bride.

As the friend of the Bridegroom, Christ, in His mystical union with the Church, John appeared as His closest and most trusted servant and mediator.

And now, after the fulfillment of this work, he rejoices with joy, hearing the voice of the Bridegroom (Jn 3:29). Continuing this comparison, John added, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn 3:30).

At the end of his testimony John explained to his disciples why the people's disposition toward Christ, their trust in Him, and His glory were increasing.

It was because, he says, Jesus Christ by His nature is immeasurably higher than all men. He is not simply a man, but the Son of God who assumed our nature.

Therefore faith in Jesus Christ as true God is the necessary condition and the only path of our salvation: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (Jn 3:36).

Such, in general outline, is the content of the present narrative. Let us proceed to the exegetical analysis of the text.

The Lord's Sojourn in Judea (Jn 3:22-26)

Verse 22. "After these things," meta tauta, "Jesus came with His disciples into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized."

Since the present narrative immediately follows the Lord's conversation with Nicodemus, some exegetes refer the first word of verse 22, meta tauta, "after these things," to the conversation with Nicodemus.

But this is hardly correct. Meta tauta refers not only to the conversation with Nicodemus. In that case the expression would have been meta touto, "after this," as in Jn 2:12 and 11:7.

Rather, it refers to the whole account of the Lord's stay in Jerusalem (Jn 2:13-3:21; cf. 5:1; 6:1; 7:1).

"After these things" means after all that the Lord did and taught in Jerusalem at the feast of Passover. He immediately left Jerusalem and came with His disciples into the land of Judea.

The land of Judea in the time of Christ the Savior was bounded on the south by the edge of the wilderness near Beersheba, which lies far south of Hebron.

On the west it was bounded by the lowlands of the Philistine plain. On the east it was bounded by the line of the Jordan and the Dead Sea.

On the north it was bounded by the Samaritan border village of Acrabbim, situated among the mountains about twenty miles by the direct road from Jerusalem.

Although Jerusalem was in Judea, as the chief city of the whole promised land it is distinguished from this region. Similar usage may be compared in Mk 1:5; Lk 5:17; 6:17.

It should be noted, moreover, that in antiquity Jerusalem, as the capital of the Hebrew kingdom, did not belong to any of the twelve tribes.

The Hebrew name Jerusalem means "pledge of peace" or "foundation of well-being."

There the Lord concentrated His activity for a long time. It is said, "there He remained and baptized," dietriben kai ebaptizen.

These two words, by which alone the Evangelist characterizes the messianic activity of Jesus Christ, must be understood in the broadest sense.

At least this circumstance gives full grounds for such a conclusion: during His earthly life the Lord several times passed through Galilee preaching, was in Samaria and Perea, and even in the region of Tyre and Sidon.

Yet nowhere in the Evangelists, apart from this case, is there mention of His visiting Judea.

We may therefore conclude that on this occasion He traveled through the whole land of Judea with preaching and did not remain long in any one place.

The chief content of Jesus Christ's preaching during His journey through Judea was undoubtedly the same as His preaching during His ministry in Galilee, and likewise the same as John's preaching: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Mt 4:17 and elsewhere).

This is what the Evangelist expressed by the word dietriben, "He remained," which elsewhere, in Jn 11:54, is rendered in Slavonic by a word meaning "He went about."

Even the Apostle Peter mentions that Jesus Christ went throughout all Judea (Acts 10:37). Peter himself probably took part in this journey.

As He went through the cities and villages of the land of Judea, the Lord undoubtedly gained many followers for Himself through His teaching and miracles.

His disciples baptized these followers as a sign of their being joined to the number of the disciples of Jesus Christ.

That the disciples, and not Christ Himself, performed the baptism may be assumed from the fact that in Jn 4:2 the Evangelist expressly notes that the disciples baptized, and not Jesus Christ Himself.

Strauss, regarding this note, says that John here took back his words halfway, namely that Jesus baptized. He finds this note generally unhistorical, since the "older Evangelists" speak of Jesus instituting the rite of baptism only after His Resurrection (Mt 28:19; Mk 16:16).

But Strauss forgets that after His Resurrection Jesus commanded His disciples to teach and baptize all nations. Here, however, His activity was limited to the people of Israel.

Renan repeats the same thing, saying that the Evangelist corrects himself by a later note. Without further qualification he asserts: "Jesus thought He should do the same thing John did: He baptized, and His disciples also baptized."

On this point Zite rightly observes: "How little must one understand the spirit of Jesus and Christianity to venture the childish assertion that Jesus found it necessary to imitate John."

As for the Evangelist's two remarks, they do not contradict each other at all. The disciples performed the baptism itself, but John could rightly say that Jesus baptized, since His disciples did it in His name.

So it is said of a king that he conquered enemies, or of an architect that he built a certain building, though strictly speaking their subjects and subordinates carried out the work in their name.

Although this baptism did not differ essentially from John's baptism and was not properly Christian Baptism, since Jesus Christ had not yet been glorified (Jn 7:39), nevertheless it cannot be identified with John's.

The baptism of repentance preached by John prepared people to receive the Savior. Here, on the contrary, the Lord Himself comes to men in order to grant them salvation.

John pointed to the Son of God who was to come, while Jesus Christ had already manifested Himself as such.

The baptism introduced by John, as a symbol of repentance and spiritual rebirth in expectation of the coming Messiah, now received a much greater significance. It became the confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah who had already come.

For this reason it is said generally, "into the land of Judea." Probably, for the first and last time as the Messiah already declared from above to the people, He visited Bethlehem, Hebron, and other sacred places.

From the Gospels we do not see that Christ was again in these places, the southern part of Palestine. This also gives the right to suppose that the Lord went around these places on the present occasion.

It is improbable that, while preaching in Galilee, Samaria, Perea, and even within the borders of Tyre and Sidon, He would not have been in the southern borders of Judea.

If we suppose His present journey through this part of Judea, we observe that the Lord passed with His preaching through the whole holy land in its known ancient boundaries.

He went from Dan to Beersheba, the extreme limits of the holy land from north to south.

"And baptized": through the disciples (Jn 4:2 and note).

This fulfilled the words of the risen Savior: "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:19).

At the same time as Christ's disciples, John the Baptist also continued to baptize. More people were going to Christ. This is how it had to be.

But John's devoted disciples were grieved that the people's attention to their teacher was weakening. The Pharisees made use of this touching attachment to John, which reached the point of extreme blindness.

They stirred up envy and ill will in them toward Jesus Christ and His disciples. Equally malicious toward Christ and toward His Forerunner, the Pharisees wished to sow discord between the disciples of both.

In this way they hoped to reduce their influence over the people to nothing. Stirred up by the Pharisees, the disciples of John the Baptist came to him with their complaint.

"Rabbi! He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness, behold, He is baptizing, and all are going to Him" (v. 26).

This baptism of Christ's disciples was essentially the same as the baptism of John. It likewise served only as preparation for the gracious Kingdom, but was not yet the spiritual rebirth about which the Savior had spoken with Nicodemus.

The apostles were authorized to perform gracious baptism only after Christ's Resurrection (Mt 28:19; Mk 16:15). They began to perform it after the descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; Acts 8:38; Acts 10:47-48).

"If someone wished to know," says Chrysostom, "whether the baptism of the disciples of Jesus had any advantage over the baptism of John, we would say that it had none.

For both baptisms alike did not have grace, and the purpose of both was only to lead those baptized to Christ."

In general, throughout the Gospels Jerusalem is set apart from Judea, of which it was the capital. The Lord points especially to Jerusalem as the city subject to God's wrath and as the city that kills the prophets (Mt 23:37; Lk 13:33-34). To this city the Lord foretells complete destruction. He commands those living in Judea to flee to the mountains when they see Jerusalem surrounded by armies (Lk 21:21; Mt 24:16).

Not all Jews underwent the punishment of God, but those who were called their teachers, whose authority and influence were concentrated in Jerusalem. Jerusalem became, as it were, the evil heart of the whole Jewish people. From it came all the people's evil deeds, and all its superstitious ritualism. From it came "honoring God with the lips while the heart is far from God," "teaching the commandments of men," "leaving the commandment of God while holding to human tradition," and "making void the word of God by tradition" (Mk 7:6-13; Is 29:13).

All this was the consequence of a deep corruption of soul. It did not care for righteousness or seek God. It considered itself righteous if, according to its own notions, it fulfilled everything written in the law, and did so with extraordinary petty exactness.

This exactness was elaborated by the tannaim and the creators of the Talmud. The tannaim were the so-called "transmitters of tradition," teachers and interpreters of the law. They arose about three centuries before Christ and laid the beginning of the Talmud and the Kabbalah, including Akiba, Simon ben Yohai, and others. After the last of the tannaim, the author of the Mishnah, there began in the second century after Christ a series of amoraim, repeaters and explainers.

They had most likely received from their fathers the influence of the Babylonian captivity and paganism, which so powerfully attracted the people of Israel throughout its whole existence. This pagan righteousness, this bargaining with God, whose mercy was considered purchasable by the performance of ritual, was preached and spread among the people by those who had taken the key of knowledge into their own hands. They held it firmly as a means of power and influence.

In this corrupt environment, made up of unbelieving Sadducees and Pharisees pagan in tendency, there was no place for light or for movement toward perfection. Deep moral darkness surrounded Jerusalem, the city "that kills the prophets." Its corrupting influence spread everywhere among the people through local synagogues and adherents of Pharisaic teaching (cf. Mt 3:7; 2:2; 9:3; 12:2-14, 24, 38; 15:1-9; 16:1-4; 19:3-9; 21:41-45; 23:1-7, 13-36; Mk 2:6-7, 16, 24; 3:2-6, 22; 7:1-13; 10:2-12; 12:13-27; Lk 4:28; 6:2-11; 10:25; 11:14-26, 42-54; 13:14; 14:1-6; 15:2; 16:14; 20; Acts 9:2; 13:45, 50; 14:1-5; 15:5; 17:5-13; 18:5-6, 12; 19, and others).

Therefore these wicked vinedressers had to be given over to an evil death. Therefore the Kingdom of God was taken from them and given to other nations bringing forth its fruits (Mt 21:41-43). For this reason, it seems, Jerusalem, the center and source of evil, is set apart by the Evangelists as a separate region, and is even distinguished from Judea.

Therefore in the twenty-second verse before us, the Lord leaves Jerusalem and comes into Judea. "And there" He stayed with His disciples and baptized. But from Jn 4:1-2 we see that the Lord Himself did not baptize. Only His disciples baptized.

Nevertheless, we see that the Lord deigned that His disciples should use baptism, though it was not yet perfected. It had already been sanctified by the Lord, who received it and said, "For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" (Mt 3:15).

This was the "baptism of repentance," which was called the baptism of John (Acts 19:3-4). It prepared men to believe in the One who was coming, that is, in Christ Jesus. Therefore the Lord's disciples baptized with this baptism, pointing out the path to Him through repentance, through recognition of one's sinfulness, and through renunciation of that ritual self-confidence which led to destruction.

Only the man who recognized his weakness and sinfulness, and confessed them in the very act of baptism, could draw near to the great Light. Such was the meaning of the baptism both of the Lord's disciples and of John.

The baptism of the Lord was a higher baptism: "not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit is He who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth" (1 Jn 5:6). Of the Lord it is said: "This is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit" (Jn 1:33; Mt 3:11). And He Himself said to the apostles and disciples: "John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5). On the descent of the Holy Spirit and baptism with the Holy Spirit, see Acts 2:2-4. Cf. Chrysostom, Homily 29 on the Gospel of John.