KJV: And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
YLT: But Jesus answering said to him, 'Suffer now, for thus it is becoming to us to fulfil all righteousness,' then he doth suffer him.
Darby: But Jesus answering said to him, Suffer it now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffers him.
ASV: But Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffereth him.
| Ἀποκριθεὶς | Answering |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Passive, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ἀποκρίνομαι Sense: to give an answer to a question proposed, to answer. |
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| δὲ | however |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: δέ Sense: but, moreover, and, etc. |
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| ὁ | - |
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Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| Ἰησοῦς | Jesus |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: Ἰησοῦς Sense: Joshua was the famous captain of the Israelites, Moses’ successor. |
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| εἶπεν | said |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to speak, say. |
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| ‹πρὸς | unto |
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Parse: Preposition Root: πρός Sense: to the advantage of. |
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| Ἄφες | Permit [it] |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Singular Root: ἀφίημι Sense: to send away. |
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| ἄρτι | presently |
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Parse: Adverb Root: ἄρτι Sense: just now, this moment. |
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| οὕτως | thus |
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Parse: Adverb Root: οὕτως Sense: in this manner, thus, so. |
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| πρέπον | fitting |
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Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Neuter Singular Root: πρέπω Sense: to stand out, to be conspicuous, to be eminent. |
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| ἐστὶν | it is |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: εἰμί Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present. |
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| ἡμῖν | to us |
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Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative 1st Person Plural Root: ἐγώ Sense: I, me, my. |
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| πληρῶσαι | to fulfill |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Active Root: πληρόω Sense: to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full. |
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| δικαιοσύνην | righteousness |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: δικαιοσύνη Sense: in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God. |
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| ἀφίησιν | he permits |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: ἀφίημι Sense: to send away. |
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Greek Commentary for Matthew 3:15
The explanation of Jesus satisfies John and he baptizes the Messiah though he has no sins to confess. It was proper (πρεπον prepon) to do so else the Messiah would seem to hold aloof from the Forerunner. Thus the ministries of the two are linked together. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 3:15
The first words of Christ as recorded by John. Compare Matthew 3:15; Mark 1:15; Luke 2:49. [source]
Periphrastic present indicative rather than πρεπει prepei See note on Matthew 3:15. Paul appeals to the sense of propriety among the Corinthians. [source]
Originally, to stand out; be conspicuous. Thus Homer, Od. viii. 172: μετὰ δὲ πρέπει ἀγρομένοισιν heis conspicuous among those who are assembled. Eurip. Hel. 215; Ζεὺς πρέπων δἰ αἰθερος Zeus shining clearly through the aether. Hence, to become conspicuously fit; to become; beseem. In N.T. in the impersonal forms πρέπον ἐστὶν itis becoming (Matthew 3:15); πρέπει itbecometh (Ephesians 5:3); ἔπρεπεν itbecame (Hebrews 2:10). With a subject nominative, 1 Timothy 2:10; Hebrews 7:26. [source]
Διά bymust be taken with ὁ ἐλθὼν Hethat came. It has not mere]y the sense of accompaniment, but also of instrumentality, i.e., by, through, by means of. Water and blood are thus the media through which Jesus the Mediator wrought, and which especially characterized the coming. See especially Hebrews 9:12: “Christ being come … neither by the blood ( δἰ αἵματος ) of goats and calves, but by His own blood ( διὰ δε τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος ”). Compare “we walk by faith not by sight ( διὰ πίστεως οὐ διὰ εἴδους, ” 2 Corinthians 5:7): we wait with (lit., through ) patience ( δἰ ὑπομονῆς, ” Romans 8:25). Water refers to Christ's baptism at the beginning of His Messianic work, through which He declared His purpose to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). Blood refers to His bloody death upon the cross for the sin of the world. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Other explanations are substituted for this or combined with it. Some refer the words water and blood to the incident in John 19:34. To this it is justly objected that these words are evidently chosen to describe something characteristic of Christ's Messianic office, which could not be said of the incident in question. Nevertheless, as Alford justly remarks, “to deny all such allusion seems against probability. The apostle could hardly, both here and in that place, lay such evident stress on the water and the blood together, without having in his mind some link connecting this place and that.” The readers of the Epistle must have been familiar with the incident, from oral or from written teaching. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Others refer the words to the Christian sacraments. These, however, as Huther observes, are only the means for the appropriation of Christ's atonement; whereas the subject here is the accomplishment of the atonement itself. Αἷμα bloodstanding by itself, never signifies the Lord's Supper in the New Testament. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The true principle of interpretation appears to be laid down in the two canons of Düsterdieck. (1.) Water and blood must point both to some purely historical facts in the life of our Lord on earth, and to some still present witnesses for Christ. (2.) They must not be interpreted symbolically, but understood of something so real and powerful, as that by them God's testimony is given to believers, and eternal life assured to them. Thus the sacramental reference, though secondary, need not be excluded. Canon Westcott finds “an extension of the meaning” of water and blood in the following words: “Not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood,” followed by the reference to the present witness of the Spirit. He argues that the change of the prepositions ( ἐν infor διά by), the use of the article ( τῷ ), and the stress laid on actual experience (it is the Spirit that witnesseth ), these, together with the fact that that which was spoken of in its unity (by water and blood ) is now spoken of in its separate parts (in the water and in the blood )- “all show that St. John is speaking of a continuation of the first coming under some new but analogous form. The first proof of the Messiahship of Jesus lay in His complete historical fulfillment of Messiah's work once for all, in bringing purification and salvation; that proof is continued in the experience of the Church in its two separate parts.” Thus we are led to the ideas underlying the two sacraments. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The subject opened by the word blood is too large for discussion within these limits. The student is referred to Dr. Patrick Fairbairn's “Typology of Scripture; “Andrew Jukes, “The Law of the Offerings;” Professor William Milligan, “The Resurrection of our Lord,” note, p. 274 sqq.; Canon Westcott's “Additional Note” on 1 John 1:7, in his “Commentary on John's Epistles;” and Henry Clay Trumbull, “The Blood Covenant.” [source]