After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he abode with them and baptised.
After the night talk with Nicodemus, Jesus and His disciples leave Jerusalem for the countryside of Judea. Two questions sit in this short verse: what was this baptism, and why does only this Gospel record this period at all?
The verse opens a window on a period the other Gospel writers skip entirely. Their accounts start later, in Galilee.
We have here a view of what was going on before our Lord's public Galilean ministry recorded in the first three Gospels. They do not touch on any work of His before John's imprisonment, while the early chapters of this Gospel are devoted to it, after the revelation of His Person and His glory at the beginning.
His public preaching had not yet begun. What He did in Judea was quieter work.
Our Lord's public testimony, or preaching, began after John was put in prison, and it began from Galilee. But this passage shows that before then He was gathering disciples by private teaching, and His disciples were baptizing. His first actions and first showing of Himself, not His public ministry, were at Jerusalem... Then He went to the feast; then returned into the country of Judea and baptized, staying there.
Later this Gospel says that Jesus Himself did not baptize. His disciples did (John 4:2). Some have called that a contradiction. One writer answers by pointing to how the Gospels speak of Pilate.
John 3:22 — "He … baptized." Compare verse 26. The critic Schmiedel sets John 4:2 against this. But what about Pilate scourging Jesus, and his writing the inscription for the cross?
Another writer finds the reason in who He is.
The Lord Himself did not do the baptizing: this was left to His disciples. They could bury the dead, whereas He is the life-giver.
Nothing else in the Bible describes this baptizing. Its meaning comes clear only when set beside John's.
We have no account anywhere else of such baptizing, which we naturally take to have been similar in character to John's... In the New Testament, baptism is always to death; Christian baptism is to Christ's death (Romans 6:3). To take one's place in death is a profession of repentance. Death is the sentence from God under which man has come through sin, and so those baptized by John confessed in it the sins which had brought them there... Now He had come, and His own proper ministry began, clearly going beyond John's baptism. Yet through His disciples He could confirm the truth of it, while taking care to keep His own place apart.
John was still baptizing, in a place of his own. What did that mean for him now that Jesus had come?
The gathering to Him, which had begun east of the Jordan, was now going on to the west. The Lord had left Jerusalem and was in the land of Judea. His disciples, as 4:2 tells us, were baptizing, apparently copying John's practice. The common report got about that the Lord Himself baptized. Two parties were then at work: John on one side, and the disciples of Christ on the other. They were in places far apart, and clearly not acting together. So a question might easily arise: which should people follow? Had the Baptist's star begun to set?
Why keep a record of two baptisms going on at once? It leads to the last word John the Baptist speaks about Jesus — and he speaks it when a man is least likely to be generous.
Some might think that the Lord was only using His predecessor to continue the work and outdo it. So it was fitting that John the Baptist should give a final testimony to Him, just where human nature tends to be most grudging.
- Place — He leaves Jerusalem for the countryside of Judea. All of it happens before John goes to prison, which is where the other three Gospels begin.
- Company — He stays with His disciples. He teaches them in private, before any public preaching begins.
- Hands — The verse says He baptized, but His disciples did the work. Commentators differ on the reason. One points to the way Scripture also speaks of Pilate; another to His place as the life-giver.
- Meaning — This baptism was like John's — a confession of repentance. Christian baptism is to Christ's death. Here He confirmed John's message and kept His own place apart.
- Handover — Two baptisms at once raised the question: whom should people follow? That question drew out John the Baptist's last testimony to Christ.
And John also was baptising in Aenon, near Salim, because there was a great deal of water there; and they came to [him] and were baptised
John 3:23 looks like a quiet piece of reporting: Jesus and His disciples were in Judea, and crowds were still coming to John at Aenon. These details tell us when this happened, what John's baptism meant, and how a servant behaves near the end of his work.
The verse gives one reason John worked there: plenty of water. One writer traces the name back to its root, and to a site that fits:
The site of Aenon has been disputed. It seems to be named from springs found there, since the Greek word is simply a translation of the Aramaic word meaning springs. No location will suit unless it has plenty of water. Now there is a spot in the Jordan valley, seven and a half miles south of Scythopolis, or Beisan. It has "a remarkable group of seven springs, all lying within a quarter of a mile, which answers well to the description of much water."
Both place names carry meaning. One writer reads them alongside John's work:
John also continued baptizing, keeping his place as forerunner. He was now in Aenon, "abounding in springs," near to Salim, or Shalem, "peace." The names are as significant here as everywhere else in the word of God.
For a short window, John's work and the work of Jesus' disciples ran side by side. The next verse dates it: all this happened before John's arrest. That matters when you read the four Gospels together:
Verses 22-24 make it quite clear that all this happened before John was put in prison. That is the point where the Lord's public ministry starts according to Matthew 4:12; Mark 1:14; Luke 3:20. For a short time both the Lord — through His disciples (see John 4:2) — and John were baptizing.
The other three Gospels skip this stretch. One writer sums up what the fourth Gospel adds:
We have here a view of what was going on before the public Galilean ministry of our Lord that the first three Gospels present. They do not touch on any work of His before John's imprisonment. The early chapters of the fourth Gospel focus on it instead, after the revelation of His Person and glories at the beginning.
The people wading into that water were owning their true condition. They took their place with a group marked off from the rest of the nation:
John's baptism was a baptism of repentance to prepare people for the coming Lord. So it was a purification — a "baptism of repentance" — and it marked out and separated a remnant from the mass of the people to escape the coming judgment... The crowds came to his baptism, confessing their sins. He baptized them in the Jordan, the river of death. In this they owned that everything was over with them as far as natural claim went, and that only divine mercy in a Saviour could meet their need. So they are baptized for — or better, towards — forgiveness of sins. They wait for it in hope, though they have not yet received it.
The baptizing done by Jesus' disciples at the same time carried the same meaning:
This baptism must have been the same in character as John's, that is, "to repentance." It could not be our present Christian baptism, which is to Christ's death (Rom. 6:3)... At this time John was still baptizing, though his ministry was short-lived before his imprisonment.
People were still coming to Aenon, but the movement was shifting. One writer notes the awkward situation this created:
Two parties were then acting — John on one side, and the disciples of Christ on the other. But they were in different places far apart, and clearly not working together. So a question might easily arise: which should people follow? Had the Baptist's star begun to set?... He clearly did not view his mission as finished, for people still flocked to his baptism. Yet many more went after the Lord.
John kept baptizing anyway. The shape of his whole ministry explains why:
God designed John's ministry to be unfinished. John kept turning attention away from himself to the only One who could do what mankind deeply needed. John was simply a witness to Him, and his lowly steadfastness in maintaining this is a healthy example for us.
- Springs — Aenon means springs. The verse names the plentiful water as the reason John worked there, and a site of seven springs in the Jordan valley fits.
- Station — John kept baptizing and held his place as forerunner. He worked near Salim, a name that means peace.
- Sequence — John was not yet in prison. That dates the whole scene before the Galilean ministry the other three Gospels open with.
- Significance — His baptism was one of repentance. It marked out a remnant who owned their place in death and waited in hope for forgiveness. It was not the Christian baptism to Christ's death.
- Steadfastness — Crowds were starting to shift to Christ, yet John kept working. God meant his ministry to stay unfinished, pointing away from himself.