Study of Matthew Chapter Three

6/3/2024

Matthew's Gospel - Chapter Three

Keep working on learning where to look for different things in Matthew's Gospel. In chapter two we saw Jesus' birth, his move to Egypt and back, and the death of Herod the Great.

Read Matthew chapter three carefully.

Write down at least three questions you hope will be answered. As always, I urge you to post them in the comments of this blog post, and to engage with other people's questions yourself!

Read Albrechet's commentary on Matthew, pages 34-44.

See if you have any more questions or answers to put in the comments section.

Questions for Study and Discussion:

John the Baptist is introduced abruptly and incompletely. Why might Matthew do this?

Define "repentance." Why is it so important in Christian thought?

What is implied by the fact that God is presented as having a kingdom?

What is the purpose of John's baptism? How can you tell?

Is there a biblical warning against being baptized wrongly? Consider this and Albrecht page 39.

Discuss the many things shown in the baptism of Jesus.

2 Comments

Weiping

6/9/2024 06:08:38 pm

1. To make him impressive and emphasize what he said.
2. Repentance means recognizing one’s sins and willing to get rid of them. Confession and asking for forgiveness are our life long goals.
3. So that we know it for sure that we have a physical place to go to after this world’s experience.
4. Only through baptism can our sins be washed away and can we be given the new life.
5.

6/10/2024 04:03:37 pm

Hi, Weiping. I think you tossed some good ideas out for discussion here! Maybe someone else would chime in also.

It's interesting to think about the way John the Baptist shows up in Matthew. It's like he is suddenly there. The same happens in 1 Kings 17 with Elijah.

Repentance sure is a difficult thing. It seems that most of the time we think we're repentant and want to walk away from sins, but they are really sticky, or we are, and we don't get rid of sins. It's a lifelong thing, for certain.

God's kingdom does assure us of a physical place. Christians normally confess the resurrection of the body as something really important. Other important elements of God's kingdom could be that he owns things, that he has subjects in his kingdom, and that he is the kind of king who cares for his subjects.

Baptism is a difficult one, isn't it? You said, "Only through baptism can our sins be washed away and we can be given the new life." However, we have to remember faith in God through Jesus which saves, apart from baptism. Most Christians through history, but fewer in about the last 200 years in the Americas, have agreed that baptism is effective. We want to take it seriously. However, while there's a clear warning about receiving communion wrongly, there are no clear warnings against receiving baptism wrongly. All I can say is that we really need to remember that we are God's baptized people, members of His kingdom, and that we turn to Him in repentance to receive forgiveness again and again, as often as we know our sin.

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About Throwing Inkwells

When Martin Luther was dealing with struggles in his life he once saw what appeared to be an angelic being. Not trusting that he was going to be informed by someone other than the God revealed in Scripture, he took the appearance to be untrustworthy and hurled his inkwell at it. The chipped place in the plaster wall is still visible at the Wartburg Castle, though apparently the ink stain on the wall has been refreshed periodically by the caretaker.

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