Matthew 3:11-17

KJV
11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

12Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

13Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

14But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

15And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

16And 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:

17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.


The sole purpose of this passage, imho, is to rewrite history and cast John the Baptist into a subordinate role to Josh. Instead of Josh's competitor, John is made into yet another herald of his greatness. Stuff like this can be a real turn off. Notice the overbearing nature of the dove flying down and God saying YES THIS GUY IS LEGIT. YOU WILL WORSHIP HIM NOW. Notice also how this makes no sense with Josh's behavior later, telling people to be quiet and not make a fuss over him. This, in fact, is so lame I wonder if "Matthew" even wrote it, or if it was stuck in later to settle some argument.

Is the "Spirit of God" the Holy Ghost? I looked at several translations and they all say "Spirit of God," which makes me think that this was written before any concept of the Trinity. I have a suspicion the entire Bible was written without any concept of the Trinity, but I'll reserve judgement on that as I read...