Matthew 3:7 - Exposition

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees . The typical Jews, considered as one class ( τῶν φαρισαίων καὶ σαδδουκαίων ), in contrast to the multitudes. Pharisees. Their characteristic is shown in their name, "Separatists;" i.e. from anything that would hinder exact obedience to the Mosaic Law. Hence they are the strict adherents of tradition. They ultimately gained the ascendancy, and, in consequence, the standard Jewish books represent the result of their teaching, They belonged almost entirely to the middle classes. Sadducees. They were chiefly of the noblest, especially the high-priestly, families. Hence their first thought was political quiet, and with this they not unnaturally combined the love of Greek culture. They set the plain meaning of the Law far above all tradition, even that of the Prophets and the Hagiographa. Come ( Obtains , Revised Version) to his baptism ; ἐρχομένους ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα (omit αὐτοῦ ) . They were apparently not merely coming to see what took place, but with the purpose of receiving his baptism (cf. Thayer, ἐπί c. Matthew 1:2 , g. γ aa .); cf. Matthew 26:50 ( ἐφ δ ); Luke 23:48 . The marginal reading, however, proposed by the American Revisers "for baptism," does not do justice to the article. The Gospel according to the Hebrews says that they were in fact baptized, but we can hardly suppose this to have been the case after John's words to them. Observe that the Pharisees, with their self-conscious sanctity, were hardly likely to come to confess their sins, or the Sadducees to even listen to so ascetic a teacher. He said unto them; i.e. to the Pharisees and Sadducees; Luke, less exactly, "to the multitudes that went out to be baptized of him." There is, indeed, nothing, save the opening sentence, which refers solely to the Pharisees and Sadducees; but this fact does not show (Bleek) that the words were really spoken to all, and that Matthew's expression is wrong. John doubtless addressed the Pharisees and Sadducees primarily; but as, after all, they only formed the apex of ordinary Jewish thought, what he said to them fitted also the majority of his listeners. O generation ( ye offspring , Revised Version) of vipers! The simile not only expresses the thought that, behind their smooth exterior, the outward legal strictness of the Pharisees, and the worldly decorum of the Sadducees, lay hidden malice and venom, but also that this is due to their very nature. It may have directly implied that they belonged in a true sense to the seed of the serpent ( Genesis 3:15 ); of. our Lord's words ( Matthew 12:34 ; Matthew 23:33 ). Who hath (omitted by the Revised Version) warned you? The verb ( ὑπέδειξεν ) has elsewhere in the New Testament (St. Luke's writings only) no thought of warning, nor of secrecy, but of teaching, of placing the matter under the eyes of others (of. especially Acts 9:16 ; Acts 20:35 ; Luke 6:47 ). John is making no inquiry for information, but only utters surprise at seeing them (cf. Matthew 23:33 , πῶς φύγητε ). Whoever can have told you of your danger? He might have saved himself the trouble, you being what you are! Yet the very violence of his expression was such as to call their attention to the depth of their sinfulness, and after all to lead them perhaps to repentance. For this reason he adds, "Bring forth therefore." To flee ; aorist, not exactly indicating "the activity as momentary, setting forth the point of time when the wrath breaks forth, in which the flight also is realized" (Meyer), but the flight as one single action, without any reference to the time of the breaking forth of the wrath. From . The wrath is pictured as coming on them from without. In 1 Thessalonians 1:10 St. Paul says that Jesus delivers out of ( ἐκ ) it, implying that he himself and all men are naturally in and under it (but see Matthew 6:13 , note). The wrath to come . Perhaps connected in John's mind with the wrath of the Messianic age ( Isaiah 63:3-6 ). If so, it would find its primary fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem, but its complete fulfilment only in the manifestation of the wrath at the last judgment—( Acts 24:25 ; of. Romans 2:5 ; Romans 5:9 ; Revelation 6:16 , Revelation 6:17 ; Revelation 11:18 ). Wrath. Not merely punishment. The thought is of the feeling of anger against sin in him who punishes it.