Passage Research
Matthew 3 — Sermon Preparation
John the Baptist preaches repentance in the wilderness, and Jesus is baptized in the Jordan as the Spirit descends. Below is a research summary for Matthew 3, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 17
- verses
- 331 / 142
- Greek words / lemmas
- 35
- classic sermon excerpts
- 9
- preachers & commentators
Matthew 3 in the Greek
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Greek | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | KJV renderings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| βαπτίζω | baptízō | G907 | 6 | Baptist, baptize, wash |
| Ἰορδάνης | Iordánēs | G2446 | 3 | Jordan |
| πῦρ | pŷr | G4442 | 3 | fiery, fire |
| οὐρανός | ouranós | G3772 | 3 | air, heaven, sky |
| μετάνοια | metánoia | G3341 | 2 | repentance |
| δένδρον | déndron | G1186 | 2 | tree |
| παραγίνομαι | paragínomai | G3854 | 2 | come, go, be present |
How preachers through history handled this text
35 public-domain excerpts on Matthew 3, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“Christ's gracious condescensions are so surprising, that even the strongest believers at first can hardly believe them; so deep and mysterious, that even those who know his mind well, are apt to start objections against the will of Christ. And those who have much of the Spirit of God while here, see that they need to apply to Christ for more. Christ does not deny that John had need to be baptized of him, yet declares he will now be baptized of John. Christ is now in a state of humiliation. …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on Matthew 3:13–40 (Public Domain)
Places in the text
Based on ancient-geography data
- Judea 1— Matt 3:1
- Galilee 1— Matt 3:13
- Jordan— Matt 3:13
- Jerusalem— Matt 3:5
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