By Douglas K. Wilson, Ph.D.
Dean of Christian Studies, University of Mobile
PREPARED
Luke 3:7–18
Luke’s account provides the political context of the promised land into which Jesus was born. In Chapter 1, Luke highlights Herod the king, patriarch of the Herods. The familiar Christmas story of Luke 2 mentions two political figures: Caesar Augustus and Quirinius. To mark the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry in Chapter 3, Luke mentions seven political leaders. Even Annas was more a power broker — former high priest behind the current high priesthood — than a religious leader. Caiaphas was not a descendant of Aaron, so he too was a political figurehead, not a consecrated Levitical priest.
John was ministering in the real world, not in a spiritual vacuum. Political agendas prevailed, injustice was a way of life and the pluralistic government had little patience for the Torah-honoring, monotheistic majority. For centuries, the Jews experienced political and economic oppression under the Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Greeks and, in recent times, the Romans. The people of God were desperate for their Messiah to take the throne of David, and John was fulfilling his prophetic role as the forerunner preparing the way of the Lord.
Warning (7–9)
John’s role, like the Old Testament prophets before him, was to call people to repentance. He warned them of the coming wrath of God as justice for their disobedience and their presumption of God’s grace. Many were observant practitioners of their religion and traced their lineage back to Abraham. They assumed there was no need for personal repentance, since they were children of the covenant. John called them to prove that they were living in repentance.
One of our great concerns among Baptists ought to be presumption upon God’s grace. We give unbiblical counsel: “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.” We presume that the doctrine of eternal security, oversimplified as “once saved, always saved,” is a license for sinful actions and attitudes.
Response (10–14)
Luke highlights the responses of three groups: crowds, tax-collectors and soldiers. Representatives of each group asked John: “What should we do?” John gave an answer that was specific to each group. The crowds were likely Jewish, and he called them to repent of selfishness by sharing their excess possessions with the poor. Tax-collectors often charged taxes and fees beyond what was legal, so John called them to repent of that practice. The soldiers among them may have been Gentiles, yet John called them to repent of their abuse of power and to be content with their income. Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor — all were called to show fruit of their repentance in order to be baptized.
We have much to learn from this interaction. John called the religious and the irreligious to repentance. Martin Luther postulated that for Christians, all of life is repentance. By contrast, many leaders today are more concerned with marketing techniques and stewardship campaigns than calling people to repent of their sin and surrendering their lives to Jesus Christ our King.
Division (15–18)
John the Baptist was not the Christ, though some mistook him to be so. Intertestamental writers assumed that the promised son of David would be a political and/or economic savior, reestablishing Jewish self-rule or a theocracy under their Davidic king.
John knew that he was not the one; instead, he fulfilled the forerunner role, prophesied in Isaiah 40. John demonstrated humility throughout his short ministry. He expressed his unworthiness to serve even as a lowly house slave for the Messiah and stated he should be baptized by Jesus (Matt. 3:14). When John received a report that Jesus was baptizing more people than he was, John responded with: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
Repentance, faith and humility — these attributes ought to characterize followers of Jesus today.
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