In the New Testament, this word Holy Ghost stands most commonly for that wonderful effusion of those miraculous virtues that was poured out at Pentecost on the apostles; by which their spirits were not only exalted with extraordinary degrees of zeal and courage, of authority and utterance, but they were furnished with the gifts of tongues and of miracles. And besides that first and great effusion, several Christians received particular talents and inspirations, which are most commonly expressed by the word Spirit or inspiration. Those inward assistances by which the frame and temper of men's minds are changed and renewed, are likewise called the Spirit, or the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost. — BISHOP BURNET: Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles, Art. v. p. 67.

MATT. iii. 16, 17: "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up "straightway out of the water; and, lo, the heavens were opened "unto him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove, and "lighting upon him; and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my "beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." - Par. Pas.: Mark i. 10, 11. Luke iii. 21, 22. See John i. 32, 33; also Matt. xvii. 5. Mark ix. 7. Luke ix. 35. 2 Pet. i. 17.

Το πνεύμα του Θεου καταβαινον, the spirit of God descending. That is, divine power came upon him: God operated in Christ, who at that time assumed the office of the Messiah. KUINOEL.

Το πνενμа тоν →εоν was not the person of the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as local motion cannot be attributed to an omnipresent being; but some corporeal and bright appearance, which descended from the clouds, and was an external symbol of the holy spirit. By this phrase most commentators understand excellent gifts; an opinion which is confirmed by those passages where Jesus is said to have done and taught every thing by the spirit, as in chap. iv. 1; xii. 28. Luke iv. 18, comp. ver. 21. Acts x. 38. It is worthy of observation, that, according to the Hebrew phraseology, which the writers of the New Testament perpetually imitate, п, vενμa, spirit, is frequently employed of any mental power; and that ¡¡' п17, vɛvμa Oɛov, spirit of Jehovah, or of God, signifies energy of the mind, very great and highly distinguished. This phrase very often expresses magnanimity or signal fortitude; and the spirit of God is said to come upon men, when they are eminently qualified to undertake any great office: see

Judg. iii. 10; vi. 34; xi. 29; xiv. 6, 19; xv. 14, comp. xvi. 19, 20. Isa. lxi. 1. When, therefore, in the passage under consideration, the spirit of God is said to have descended on Jesus, the meaning undoubtedly is, that, being strongly moved in mind, he now boldly determined to enter on the ministry, or to undertake the exceedingly difficult office of the Messiah, which was full of troubles and dangers. Abridged from J. G. ROSENMÜLLER.

This is o vios pov ỏ ayañητos, my beloved Son, &c.

This is my Son, whom I have sent on purpose to reveal my will by him; and whatsoever he teaches comes from me, and is perfectly my will or law. DR. HAMMOND.

I perfectly approve thy character, and acquiesce in thee as the great Mediator, through whom I will show myself favourable unto sinful creatures. DR. DODDRIDGE.

The epithet beloved, given to the Son on this occasion, marks the greatness of the Father's affection for him, and distinguishes him from all others to whom the title of God's sons had formerly been given. — DR. MACKNIGHT: Harmony, sect. xv. pp. 73, 74.

The phrases Son of God and Messiah were by the Jews accounted synonymous. - J. G. ROSENMÜLLER.

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Chap. iv. 1: "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilder

ness, to be tempted of the devil."

Ανηχθη ύπο του πνεύματος,

Actus instinctu et impulso divino.

J. G. ROSENMÜLLER.

Abductus, abire jussus est; impulso, instinctu divino. — KUINOEL.

By incitation or impulsion of the Spirit of God (of which he was full, Luke iv. 1), he went up from Jordan, &c. Dr. HAMMOND. [Similarly, STANHOPE and JOSEPH BENSON.]

Ver. 2: "And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered."

Jesus, during the whole of his fast, enjoyed continual converse with God, was instructed in the doctrine he came to preach, and in all the duties of his public life. DR. MACKNIGHT: Harmony, sect. xvii. p. 78.

MATT. iv. 3: "And when the tempter came to him, he said, If "thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made "bread." 6, and Parallel Passage, Luke iv. 3, 9.

See ver.

Ει υίος ει του Θεού,

If thou art a son of God. DR. JOHN HEYLYN. If thou be a son of God. DR. CAMPBELL.

Si es Messias. J. G. ROSENMÜLLER, KUINOEL, and VATER.

REMARKS.

Yios is here, and in Luke iv. 3, written without the article; and therefore should not be translated the Son, as if it were o vios, which is a phrase that is applicable to Christ or the Messiah. DR. ADAM CLARKE. [See CAMPBELL's note in loc.]

If thou art the person who is to be the king (that is, temporal king) of Israel. BISHOP PEARCE.

By comparing various passages of the New Testament, it will be seen, that the Jews were wont to employ the titles Messiah and Son of God as synonymous expressions. Comp. Matt. xxvi. 63. Luke xxii. 66-70. John i. 41, 45, 49, and Matt. xvi. 16 with Mark viii. 29. Luke ix. 20. · BEAUSOBRE ET L'ENFANT.

Ver. 7: "Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not "tempt the Lord thy God.". Par. Pas.: Luke iv. 12. Comp.

Deut. vi. 16.

As if he had said, As I must wait upon God for food (ver. 4), so likewise for means of coming down from the temple, else I tempt God by casting myself into a needless danger, so he might justly fail me without breach of his promise. - LEY, in Assembly's Annotations.

To expose myself to any danger naturally destructive, with the vain presumption that God will protect and defend me from the ruinous consequences of my imprudent conduct, is to tempt God. DR. ADAM CLARKE.

This he does who plunges himself into danger, in vain reliance on God's protection. See Wetstein, Hammond, Whitby, and Doddridge. DR. BLOOMFIELD.

The perfect faith of Jesus excluded all diffidence, and therefore would not admit any act on his part whereby to put the divine goodness to the test, since he already had the fullest assurance of it. — DR. JOHN HEYLYN: Theol. Lectures, vol. i. p. 41.

Ver. 8, 9: "Again, the devil .... saith unto him, All these things "will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down, and worship me."

He [our Saviour] was so entirely devoted to his Father's business, that half the readers of his life do not imagine, that he had any of his own. But we must not forget, that he was a man, with all the feelings, and exposed to all the temptations, of men. He might have formed the scheme of being a Napoleon, if he had chosen. The world was before him. He had the opportunity; and, so far as we can understand the mysterious description of his temptation, he was urged to make the attempt.... Christians seem to think, that his bright example is only, to a very limited extent, an example for them. But we must remember that Jesus Christ was a man. His powers were human powers; his feelings were human feelings; and his example is strictly and exactly an example for all the world. — JACOB ABBOTT : The Corner-stone, p. 35.

However interpreted, the moral purport of the [temptation] scene remains the same the intimation that the strongest and most lively impressions were made on the mind of Jesus, to withdraw him from the purely religious end of his being upon earth, to transform him from the author of a moral revolution to be slowly wrought by the introduction of new principles of virtue, and new rules for individual and social happiness, to the vulgar station of one of the great monarchs or conquerors of mankind; to degrade him from a being who was to offer to man the gift of eternal life, and elevate his nature to a previous fitness for that exalted destiny, to one whose influence over his own generation might have been more instantaneously manifest, but which could have been as little permanently beneficial as that of any other of those remarkable names which, especially in the East, have blazed for a time, and expired. MILMAN: Hist. of Christianity, vol. i. p. 156.

[These remarks might have proceeded from the pen of Unitarians; for surely the writers must at the moment have forgotten their orthodoxy, and been persuaded, that the great personage who resisted the temptations of worldly ambition was a being strictly human in his nature, and not the Highest of intelligences, to whom the universe itself, with all its glories, can offer nothing which he does not inherently possess. To us it is inconceivable, that, on the supposition of his having been, in one of his natures, absolutely perfect, Jesus could ever have been the subject of trial and temptation. that his mind could ever have been in the slightest degree impressed with the dazzling, but unsubstantial, honours of an earthly Messiahship.]

MATT. iv. 10: "Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan; "for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him

only shalt thou serve."-Par. Pas.: Luke iv. 8.

Zov проσкνvησεis, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.

The cases in which it [poσkuvεv] is to be understood of religious adoration, and those in which it denotes nothing but civil homage, can be discriminated only by attending to the circumstances of each. This word occurs sixty times in the New Testament. Of these there are two, which, without controversy, denotes the customary act of civil homage, Matt. xviii. 26. Rev. iii. 9; fifteen refer to idolatrous rites, three are used of mistaken and disapproved homage to creatures, about twenty-five clearly and undeniably respect the worship due to the Most High God, and the remaining number relate to acts of homage paid to Jesus Christ. DR. J. P. SMITH: Script. Test. vol. ii. pp. 257-8.

Και αυτῳ μονῳ λατρεύσεις, and him only shalt thou serve.

The word serve signifieth all worship due to God, both inward and outward. SIR EDWARD LEIGH. Shalt thou serve, or pay religious veneration, XarpEvσELC. This is Mr. Wakefield's translation, and, I think, cannot be mended.. Dr. ADAM CLARKE.

[We are not aware, that this Greek work, which is acknowledged to import divine homage, is ever alleged to have been applied to our Lord.]

Ver. 11: "Then the devil leaveth him; and, behold, angels came "and ministered unto him."- Par. Pas.: Mark i. 13.

Angels ministered unto him.

They came and supplied his wants, and comforted him.—BARNES. [Similarly, Dr. DODDRIDGE.]

In explaining these words, some, as I think rightly, follow the opinion entertained by the Jews, that guardian angels are assigned by God to every man; but, divesting the passage of the Jewish gloss, they substitute this sense: "From that time Christ was taught, by the clearest proofs of the providence, care, and benevolence of God (comp. ver. 6 and John i. 51), and knew from the thing itself, that the voice which came from heaven was truly divine," chap. iii. 17. — KUINOEL. [So J. G. ROSENMÜLLER.]