And Jesus answering said unto him,
Permit it to be so now: for thus it is fitting for us to
fulfill all righteousness.
Then he permitted him.
All Commentaries on Matthew 3:15 Go To Matthew 3
Remigius of Rheims
AD 533
In this verse is contained person, place, time, and office. Time, in the word, "Then.”.
The Persons are described in the words, “came Jesus to John;” that is, God to man, the Lord to His servant, the King to His soldier, the Light to the lamp. The Place, “from Galilee to Jordan.” Galilee means ‘transmigration.’ Whoso then will be baptized, must pass from vice to virtue, and humble himself in coming to baptism, for Jordan means, ‘descent.’.
The office to be performed; “that He might be baptized of him;” not baptism to the remission of sins, but to leave the water sanctified for those after to bebaptized.From the time that Himself was dipped in the water, from that time has He washed away all our sins in water. And let none wonder that water, itself corporeal substance, is said to be effectual to the purification of the soul; it is so effectual, reaching to and searching out the hidden recesses of the conscience. Subtle and penetrating in its own nature, made yet more so by Christ’s blessing, it touches the hidden springs of life, the secret places of the soul, by virtue of its all-pervading dew. The course of blessing is even yet more penetrating than the flow of waters. Thus the blessing which like a spiritual river flows on from the Saviour’s baptism,hath filled the basins of all pools, and the courses of all fountains.
Or thus; “It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,” that is, to give an example of perfect justification in baptism, without which the gate of the kingdom of heaven is not opened. Hence let the proud take an example of humility, and not scorn to be baptized by My humble members when they see Me baptized by John My servant. That is true humility which obedience accompanies; as it continues, “then he suffered Him,” that is, at last consented to baptize Him.
