It is interesting to ask whether one can repent and be cleansed from sin just like that, just in case. Is this hypocrisy? Hardly: the Pharisees were deeply religious people who would scarcely have allowed themselves open deception. But what, then, provokes John's anger?...
It is interesting to ask whether one can repent and be cleansed from sin just like that, just in case. Is this hypocrisy? Hardly: the Pharisees were deeply religious people who would scarcely have allowed themselves open deception. But what, then, provokes John's anger? Pride? The confidence of those who came that they, descendants of Abraham as they were, could not by definition be unworthy of the Kingdom? Yes, no doubt. Pride has never brought spiritual benefit to anyone. And yet the matter, it seems, is not only this.
Why would a cleansing washing, and the "baptisms" performed by John were precisely cleansing washings, be needed by someone who was confident of his own sinlessness? After all, Judaism of that era did not know such a concept as "original sin." For a Jew of the Gospel era, sin was something very concrete, and only the person who had committed such a sin was considered a sinner, not every human being by definition, as we think today. Why, then, should those who had not sinned be cleansed? As can be seen, precisely just in case. What if this strange preacher, so much like the ancient prophets, is right? What if one more cleansing is needed in order to be worthy of the coming Messiah? What if... In short, one extra washing, in any case, will do no harm.
Only spiritual life is not a religious rite; here nothing is done "just like that" or "just in case." Just as there is no "faith just in case." It exists, or it does not. No third thing is given.
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3:7 The Pharisees were a very ancient sect among the Jews. They took their name from a Hebrew word, which signifies to separate, because they separated themselves from all other men. They were outwardly strict observers of the law, fasted often, made long prayers, rigorously kept the Sabbath, and paid all tithe, even of mint, anise, and cummin. Hence they were in high esteem among the people. But inwardly, they were full of pride and hypocrisy. The Sadducees were another sect among the Jews, only not soconsiderable as the Pharisees. They denied the existence of angels, and the immortality of the soul, and by consequence the resurrection of the dead. Ye brood of vipers - In like manner, the crafty Herod is styled a fox, and persons of insidious, ravenous, profane, or sensual dispositions, are named respectively by him who saw their hearts, serpents, dogs, wolves, and swine; terms which are not the random language of passion, but a judicious designation of the persons meant by them. For it was fitting such men should be marked out, either for a caution to others, or a warning to themselves.
3:8 Repentance is of two sorts; that which is termed legal, and that which is styled evangelical repentance. The former (which is the same that is spoken of here) is a thorough conviction of sin. The latter is a change of heart (and consequently of life) from all sin to all holiness.