Luke 7:29

All the people. Some consider vs. 29, 30 an inspired parenthetical comment by Luke rather than a part of Christ’s discourse on John the Baptist. An interpolation of this length, however, would be most unusual for Luke. There is no reason why Christ might not have made the statement.

Heard him. That is, heard John the Baptist.

Publicans. See on ch. 3:12.

Justified. Gr. dikaioo, here meaning, “to acknowledge God’s righteousness.” The people “justified God” by responding to the divine message through John the Baptist. They recognized that what John said was true, and that, as a prophet, he had the right to make certain requirements of them.

Baptized. See on Matt. 3:6. The acceptance of baptism at the hands of John was a public acknowledgment of the fact that God spoke through John.

Baptism of John. See on Matt. 3:6. Christian baptism was patterned after the baptism of John (see John 3:22, 23; John 4:1, 2). However, the early Christian church apparently felt that John’s baptism alone was not adequate (see Acts 18:25; 19:1-5). His baptism was essentially a symbol of repentance; it was, in fact, called the “baptism of repentance” (Mark 1:4; etc.). Christian baptism typifies repentance (Acts 2:38), and, in addition, belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God (Acts 8:36, 37) plus the reception of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-48; 19:1-6). John had, in fact, predicted that Jesus would “baptize” with the Holy Ghost (see Matt. 3:11; cf. Acts 11:16). This does not mean, however, that the baptism of John was without the approval of the Holy Spirit.