And there came a voice from heaven, saying,
You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
All Commentaries on Mark 1:11 Go To Mark 1
Bede
AD 735
In Marc., i, 4: He was baptized, that by being baptized Himself He might show His approval of John’s baptism, and that, by sanctifying the waters of Jordan through the descent of the dove, He might show the coming of the Holy Ghost in the laver of believers. Whence there follows, “And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit like a dove descending, and resting upon him. "But the heavens are opened, not by the unclosing of the elements, but to the eyes of the spirit, to which Ezekiel in the beginning of his book relates that they were opened; or that His seeing the heavens opened after baptism was done for our sakes, to whom the door of the kingdom of heaven is opened by the laver of regeneration.
This event also, in which the Holy Ghost was seen to come down upon baptism, was a sign of spiritual grace to be given to us in baptism.
Well indeed in the shape of a dove did the Holy Spirit come down, for it is an animal of great simplicity, and farremoved from the malice of gall, that in a figure He might show us that He looks out for simple hearts, and deigns not to dwell in the minds of the wicked.
Now the Dove sat on the head of Jesus, lest any one should think that the voice of the Father was addressed to John and not to Christ. And well did he add, “abiding on Him;” for this is peculiar to Christ, that the Holy Spirit once filling Him should never leaveHim.For sometimes to His faithful disciples the grace of the Spirit is conferred for signs of virtue, and for the working of miracles, sometimes it is taken away; though for the working of piety and righteousness, for the preservation of love to God and to one’s neighbour, the grace of the Spirit is never absent. But the voice of the Father showed that He Himself, who came to John to be baptized with the other, was the very Son of God, willing to baptize with the Holy Spirit, whence there follows, “And there came a voice from heaven, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. "Not that this informed the Son Himself of a thing of which He was ignorant, butit shows to us what we ought to believe.
The same voice has taught us, that we also, by the water of cleansing, and by the Spirit of sanctification, may bemade the sons of God. The mystery of the Trinity also is shown forth in the baptism; the Son is baptized, the Spirit comes down in the shape of a dove, the voice of the Father bearing witness to the Son is heard.
