What Does Matthew 3:14 Mean?
But John was blocking him, saying, I have need to be immersed by you, and do you come to me?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?THE KEY
John’s “forbad” and Acts’ “hinder” share the Greek root κωλυ, placing resistance and access to immersion on the same verbal thread.
THE MEANING
John sees himself as the one who needs immersion from Jesus, yet Jesus comes toward him. His question holds that apparent reversal open.
THE ROOT
διεκώλυεν
diekōlyen
GROWS FROM
κωλυ
kōly
hinder, obstruct, prevent
“was blocking” in this verse is diekōlyen. The Greek is an imperfect form of διακωλύω, presenting John as actively trying to hold Jesus back. The same root appears in the Ethiopian’s question about what might hinder his immersion; English renders the shared word family as “forbad” and “hinder.”
ALSO GROWS
kōlyō: hinder, prevent
κωλύω
In Acts 8:36, the Ethiopian asks, “what doth hinder me to be baptized?” The shared root connects John’s resistance with a question about access to immersion.
akōlytōs: without hindrance
ἀκωλύτως
In Acts 28:31, Paul proclaims “no man forbidding him”; the same root appears in a form meaning unhindered.
βαπτισθῆναι
baptisthēnai
GROWS FROM
βαπ (bap), from βάπτω (báptō)
dip, plunge; in βαπτίζω, immerse
John names his own need to be immersed by Jesus, while Jesus stands before him to receive the immersion. The root keeps the image concrete: being plunged into water, rather than receiving an abstract status.
ALSO GROWS
baptizō: immerse
βαπτίζω
This is the verb behind John’s statement that he needs to be baptized by Jesus.
baptisma: immersion
βάπτισμα
This noun carries the same image in Mark 10:38, where Jesus speaks of the immersion he is to undergo.
THE PATTERN
When the greater draws near, the receiver can wonder why the approach is directed toward them.
What is a frail one that you remember him, and the son of man that you visit him?And from where has this come to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?Then he came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, are you washing my feet?THE THREAD
And as they went along the road, they came to a certain water; and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what stops me from being immersed?Matthew’s “forbad” and Acts’ “hinder” come from the same Greek root, κωλύω. John tries to hold Jesus back; the Ethiopian asks whether anything can hold him back from immersion.
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