Steinmann: the Covenant of God for all men

Sunday, April 17, 2016
Meditation:
    John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
    —Luke:3:16 (ESV)
Quotation:
    From his baptism until his return to Galilee, Jesus lived in the company of the disciples of the Baptist. It was there that he received the first public witness of his Messianic role and found his first followers. The gospel was to be rooted in John’s teaching of asceticism and regeneration. But we see from the start that the gospel of Jesus was to be quite different. To the baptism of water would be added the baptism of the Spirit, and the new message was to be addressed to all. The widening of the circle of hearers and converts, which had preoccupied John, ... was to expand still further with the gospel of Jesus. Of the hundreds of thousands of Jews, the Essenes only regarded as saved a few thousand elect. Jesus was soon to offer the Covenant of God to all men.
    ... Jean Steinmann (1911-1963), Saint John the Baptist, New York: Harper, 1958, p. 90 (see the book)
    See also Luke 3:16; Joel 2:28-29; Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:7-8; John 1:26,33; Acts 1:5; 11:16; 10:44; 11:15; 13:24-25; 1 Cor. 12:13
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, let the holy fire of Your Spirit cover me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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