Luke 3:1-22 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Luke 3:1-14

John's baptism introducing a new dispensation, it was requisite that we should have a particular account of it. Glorious things were said of John, what a distinguished favourite of Heaven he should be, and what a great blessing to this earth (Luke 1:15, 17); but we lost him in the deserts, and there he remains until the day of his showing unto Israel, Luke 1:80. And now at last that day dawns, and a welcome day it was to them that waited for it more than they that waited for the morning.... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Luke 3:15-20

We are now drawing near to the appearance of our Lord Jesus publicly; the Sun will not be long after the morning-star. We are here told, I. How the people took occasion, from the ministry and baptism of John, to think of the Messiah, and to think of him as at the door, as now come. Thus the way of the Lord was prepared, and people were prepared to bid Christ welcome; for, when men's expectations are raised, that which they are in expectation of becomes doubly acceptable. Now when they observed... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Luke 3:21-38

The evangelist mentioned John's imprisonment before Christ's being baptized, though it was nearly a year after it, because he would finish the story of John's ministry, and then introduce that of Christ. Now here we have, I. A short account of Christ's baptism, which had been more fully related by St. Matthew. Jesus came, to be baptized of John, and he was so, Luke 3:21, 22. 1. It is here said that, when all the people were baptized, then Jesus was baptized: all that were then present. Christ... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Luke 3:1-6

3:1-6 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, and when Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and the district of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, when he was in the desert. So he came into the territory around Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance whereby sins might be forgiven--as it... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Luke 3:7-18

3:7-18 To the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, John used to say, "You spawn of vipers, who put it into your heads to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruits to match repentance. Do not begin to say among yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." The crowds asked him,... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Luke 3:19-20

3:19-20 So then, urging the people with many other pleas, John preached the gospel to them. But, when Herod the tetrarch was rebuked by him concerning the matter of Herodias, his brother's wife, and concerning all the other wicked things he had done, he added this also to them all--he shut up John in prison. John was so plain and blunt a preacher of righteousness that he was bound to run into trouble. In the end Herod arrested him. Josephus says that the reason for the arrest was that... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Luke 3:21-22

3:21-22 When all the people had been baptized and when Jesus too had been baptized, as he was praying, the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit in bodily form like a dove came down upon him and there was a voice from heaven. "You are my beloved son; in you I am well pleased." The thinkers of the church have always sought an answer to the problem, "Why did Jesus go to John to be baptized?" The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance and it is our conviction that Jesus was without sin.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Luke 3:1

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar ,.... Emperor of Rome, and the third of the Caesars; Julius was the first, and Augustus the second, in whose time Christ was born, and this Tiberius the third; he was the son of Livia, the wife of Augustus, but not by him; but was adopted by him, into the empire: his name was Claudius Tiberius Nero, and for his intemperance was called, Caldius Biberius Mero; the whole of his reign was upwards of twenty two years, for he died in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Luke 3:2

Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests ,.... Some difficulty here arises, how these two could be both high priests; when according to the law of God, and the usages of the Jewish nation, there was to be, and was but one high priest at a time: many things are observed by writers, to solve this difficulty: some go this way; that though according to the divine institution, and the practice of former times, there was but one high priest at a time; yet now, through the corruption of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Luke 3:3

And he came into all the country about Jordan ,.... He came out of the wilderness of Judea, where he first began his ministry, to some parts of the country that bordered on Jordan, and was near unto it, on either side the river; sometimes he was at Bethabara, and sometimes at Aenon, near Salim; for he did not take a tour round about all, the country that encompassed Jordan, but being at it, or in places adjacent to it, all the country round about came to him; see Matthew 3:5 . Preaching... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Luke 3:1-14

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Luke 3:15-20

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Luke 3:21-38

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Luke 3:1-6

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Luke 3:7-18

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Luke 3:19-20

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Luke 3:21-22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Luke 3:1

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Luke 3:2

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Luke 3:3

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