Luke 3:3

And he came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins.

This was an extensive area evangelized by John, some sixty-five miles in a straight line from Galilee to the Dead Sea, but as the river runs, more than twice that.

Baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins ... This baptism was a new rite, "not founded on the immersions of the old dispensation, but a divinely appointed act, peculiar to Christianity, and first introduced by John."[9] It is one of the seven baptisms mentioned in the New Testament.[10] It consisted of the immersion of the penitent in water by the administrator, requiring John to preach where there was "much water" (John 3:23); and, coupled with repentance, it was "unto the remission of sins." John's baptism was, in fact, "God's baptism"; and those who rejected it rejected God (Luke 7:30). It was the only baptism ever submitted to by the apostles of Christ (Paul excepted) and was the only baptism in force until Pentecost. Those baptized by John and who followed on to receive the Spirit of Christ experienced the new birth, being born of water and of the Spirit, as Jesus commanded (John 3:1-5). Significantly, the new birth, which requires a birth of water (baptism) and a birth of the Spirit (receiving the Holy Spirit as promised in Acts 2:38), could not be experienced until after Jesus was risen from the dead (John 7:39). From this it is clear that "the remission of sins" was a blessing which John promised prospectively, the actuality of it being necessarily deferred until Pentecost.

For an extensive discussion of the new birth, see my Commentary on John, chapter 3.

Only a very few of the proud Jewish leaders submitted to John's baptism, a failure on their part which issued finally in their total rejection of the Lord. Christ brought the rite of baptism over into Christianity, making it mandatory for all who would be saved (Mark 16:15,16); but, the tragic pattern of rejection, as in the case of John's baptism, has been continued under the new covenant; and those who reject it should take note of the consequences in the people who rejected baptism under John.

Repentance ... is a change of the human will that issues in reformation of life. It may occur in a moment, but the best results of it last a lifetime. Jesus allowed that repentance may occur seven times in a single day (17:4), and this shows that it may not last a lifetime! However, it is admitted by all that it should. It is the basic condition of God's forgiveness; and, as long as one is under the probation of life, the need of repentance is constant.

[9] H. Leo Boles, Commentary on the Gospel according to Luke (Nashville, 1940), p. 76.

[10] James Burton Coffman's Commentary on Matthew, p. 29.