THE KING’S BUSINESS
272
The word translated “left” in verse 3 is a very unusual word to use in this sense, an entirely different word from that used in Matthew 4:13, for example. It is nowhere else used in the exact sense in which it is used here unless it be in John 16:28. It is, however, used of leaving persons from whom one, for one reason or another, wishes to get away (Matt. 22:22; 4: 11). The thought which it seems to convey in this connection is that our Lord left Judea to itself, to its own choice, to its own rejection of Him. He gave Judea up and departed into Galilee. The reference in the “again” in verse 3 is to chapter 1 :43. There might have been a danger in the ac counts in the Synoptic Gospels of confusing these two visits to Galilee and so John writing later carelully distinguishes the two visits. In leaving Judea and its perils at this time, He was simply exercising a wise precaution and setting an exam ple to His disciples of not rushing in spiritual pride into unnecessary danger (cf. Matt. 10:23). His preaching would excite hostility in Galilee on the part of the religious leaders of,the people and they would have less power there. When the time should come for Him to meet these leaders in defi nite conflict and to finish His atoning work, He would not shrink from that conflict, but would “steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). But that time had not come as yet and leaving Judea to its rejec tion of Himself, He departs into Gali lee for the work which God had for Him to do there. V. 4. “And He must needs go through Samaria The shortest route to Galilee from Judea was through Samaria, and notwithstanding the hostility ex isting between the Samaritans and the Jews, it was the usual route taken t>y
the LXX version of the Old Testa ment, with which John and the other disciples were familiar, in these pas sages where we have L O R D (writ ten in capitals) in the Authorized Version and “Jehovah” in the Hebrew and American Standard version, the same Greek words are found which are here translated “The Lord.” The baptizing which Jesus .was re ported to the Pharisees as doing was not done by Jesus’ own hands, but by the hands of His disciples. The narrative here connects itself with and resumes the narrative as recorded in chapter 3:23, 24. Jesus Himself did not baptize with water ; that was done by the hands of His disciples. Jesus baptized only with the Holy Spirit (ch. 1:33, cf. Matt. 3:11). This is not to say that water baptism is not important ; it was the Divinely ap pointed way to confess renunciation of sin and the acceptance of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38) and sets forth the identi fication of the believer with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection; but it is a work to be performed not by Jesus Himself but by those whom He associated with Himself. Our Lord Jesus’ .work as the Baptizer is to baptize with the Holy Spirit. But He commissioned His disciples to go out and baptize with water in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Ghost (Matt. 28: 19, 20). At a later day Paul committed the adminis tration of baptism to other hands than his own (1 Cor. 1: 17), and so ap parently did Peter (Acts 10:47, 48). But this was for a different reason than in our Lord’s case, namely, be cause they had a Divine commission to do a work which they had been Divinely equipped to do and the work of baptizing could be left to other hands, just as the work of ministering to the physical needs of believers was left by the Apostles to other hands than their own (Acts 6:2-4).
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