Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Mark: Chapter 1].
the king and then for the king himself. The Roman Empire was knit
together by roads, some of which survive today. John had a high
and holy mission as the forerunner of the Messiah.
1:4 {John came} (\egeneto I•an•s\). His coming was an epoch
(\egeneto\), not a mere event (\•n\). His coming was in
accordance with the prophetic picture (\kath•s\, 1:2). Note the
same verb about John in Joh 1:6. The coming of John the
Baptizer was the real beginning of the spoken message about
Christ. He is described as {the baptizing one} (\ho haptiz•n\) in
the wilderness (\en t•i er•m•i\). The baptizing took place in the
River Jordan (Mr 1:5,9) which was included in the general term
the wilderness or the deserted region of Judea. {Preached the
baptism of repentance} (\k•russ•n baptisma metanoias\). Heralded
a repentance kind of baptism (genitive case, genus case), a
baptism marked by repentance. See on ¯Mt 3:2 for discussion of
repent, an exceedingly poor rendering of John's great word
\metanoias\. He called upon the Jews to change their minds and to
turn from their sins, "confessing their sins" (\exomologoumenoi
tas hamartias aut•n\). See Mt 3:16. The public confessions
produced a profound impression as they would now. {Unto remission
of sins} (\eis aphesin hamarti•n\). This is a difficult phrase to
translate accurately. Certainly John did not mean that the
baptism was the means of obtaining the forgiveness of their sins
or necessary to the remission of sins. The trouble lies in the
use of \eis\ which sometimes is used when purpose is expressed,
but sometimes when there is no such idea as in Mt 10:41 and Mt
12:41. Probably "with reference to" is as good a translation
here as is possible. The baptism was on the basis of the
repentance and confession of sin and, as Paul later explained
(Ro 6:4), was a picture of the death to sin and resurrection to
new life in Christ. This symbol was already in use by the Jews
for proselytes who became Jews. John is treating the Jewish
nation as pagans who need to repent, to confess their sins, and
to come back to the kingdom of God. The baptism in the Jordan was
the objective challenge to the people.
1:5 {Then went out unto him} (\exeporeueto pros auton\).
Imperfect indicative describing the steady stream of people who
kept coming to the baptism (\ebaptizonto\, imperfect passive
indicative, a wonderful sight). {In the river Jordan} (\en t•i
Iordan•i potam•i\). In the Jordan river, literally.
1:6 {Clothed with camel's hair} (\endedumenos trichas kam•lou\).
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