And immediately coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
All Commentaries on Mark 1:10 Go To Mark 1
Tertullian of Carthage
AD 220
The Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove in order that the nature of the Holy Spirit might be made plain by means of a creature of utter simplicity and innocence. For the dove’s body has no gall in it. So after the deluge, by which the iniquity of the old world was purged away, after, so to speak, the baptism of the world, the dove as herald proclaimed to the earth the tempering of the wrath of heaven—sent forth from the ark and returning with an olive branch, which is a sign of peace among the nations.
