I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire:
All Commentaries on Matthew 3:11 Go To Matthew 3
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
My baptism is only calculated to lead you to a penitential life, and not to give you true justice; but he who comes after me, is stronger than I, and whose shoes I am not worthy to carry: (it was customary with the attendant slave to carry a change of shoes for his master) he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit, and in the fire of his divine charity, which he will infuse into your hearts, to purify you from all your sins. (Bible de Vence)
Here St. John tacitly insinuates the divinity of Jesus Christ. He acknowledges his unworthiness, and it is this his humility that makes him the more acceptable to God, "I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me? "(Tirinus)
Whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. In St. Mark, (chap. i. 7.) and in St. Luke, (iii. 21.) we read, the latchet of whose shoes . I am not worthy to untie. The sense is the same, and St. John might use both these expressions. His meaning is, that he was not worthy to do him the least, or the lowest service.
He shall baptize you in, or with the Holy Spirit, i.e. by his baptism, he will give you the remission of your sins, and the graces of the Holy Spirit, signified also by fire, which may allude to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, in the shape of fiery tongues. (Witham)
