And lo a voice from heaven, saying,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Ambrosiaster, Serm. 10. 1: And no wonder that the mystery of the Trinity is not wanting to the Lord’s laver, when even our laver contains the sacrament of the Trinity. The Lord willed to show in His own case what He was after to ordain for men.
Non occ.: Not as before by Moses and the Prophets, neither in type or figure did the Father teach that the Son should come, but openly showed Him to be already come, “This is my Son.”.
Fulgent. de Fide ad Petrum. c. 9: Though Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one nature, yet do thou hold most firmly that They be Three Persons; that it is the Father alone who said, “this is my beloved Son;” the Son alone over whom that voice of the Father was heard; and the Holy Spirit alone who in the likeness ofa dove descended on Christ at His baptism.
de Trin. 4. 21: Here are deeds of the whole Trinity. In their own substance indeed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One without interval of either place or time; but in my mouth they are three separate words, and cannot be pronounced at the same time, and in written letters they fill each their several places. By this comparison may be understood how the Trinity in Itself indivisible maybe manifested dividedly in the likeness of a visible creation. That...
This most solemn testimony of God the Father, relative to his own beloved Son, is repeated below in chap. xvii; and is of such great moment, that the Holy Spirit would have it repeated not only by three evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke, but also by St. Peter, as a fourth evangelist, 2nd Peter chap. i. (Tirinus)
In Greek, the emphatic article o uios mou o agapetos, strengthens the proof that Jesus Christ, upon whom the Spirit of God descended in the shape of a dove, was not the adoptive, but natural Son of God, born of Him before all ages, and should silence every blasphemous tongue and pen that can attempt to rob Jesus Christ of his divinity, and poor man of all hopes of salvation, through this God-man, Christ the Lord. But if it here be asked, why Jesus Christ, who was innocence itself, yes, and the very essence of sanctity, condescended so far as to be baptized with sinners, we answer, with the Holy Fathers, that it was, 1. to sanction the baptism and ministry of his precursor; 2...
De Trin. iii. 11: He witnesses that He is His Son not in name merely, but invery kindred. Sons of God are we many of us; but not as He is a Son, a proper and true Son, in verity, not in estimation, by birth, not adoption.
It sat on the head of Jesus, that none might suppose the voice of the Father spoken to John, and not to the Lord.
The mystery of the Trinity is shown in this baptism. the Lord is baptized; the Spirit descends in the shape of a dove; the voice of the Father is heard giving testimony to the Son.
The Spirit came down to bear witness that He Who is baptized is greater than he who baptizes. For the Jews held John in high regard, but they did not esteem Christ so highly. They all saw the Spirit descending upon Jesus so that they would not think that the voice which said, "This is My beloved Son," was referring to John; but by seeing the Spirit they might believe that this voice spoke concerning Jesus. It was like a dove because of the dove’s innocence and meekness, and because the dove is very clean, not remaining in any place where there is foul odor. So it is with the Holy Spirit. But also, as in the time of Noah a dove announced the deliverance from the flood by bearing an olive twig, so too, here, the Holy Spirit reveals the deliverance from sins. There, the twig of olive; here, the mercy of God.
That is, in Whom I am content, and He is pleasing to Me.
