39. Cf. Mt3.i4. 40. Cf. Mt 3.15- (continued)
TRACTATE 4 105 might show his lowliness, should no one else have been baptized with the baptism of John? But many were baptized with the baptism of John; the Lord was baptized with the baptism of John, and the baptism of John stopped. From that time
John was put into prison, and from then on no one is found baptized with that baptism. If, then, John for his part came baptizing precisely so that the Lord's lowliness might be shown to us, so that, because he received it from a servant, we might not disdain to receive it from the Lord, should John have baptized the Lord alone?
(3) But if John were to baptize the Lord alone, there would be those who would think that the baptism of John was holier than that of Christ, as if Christ alone had been entitled to be baptized with the baptism of John, but the human race with the baptism of Christ. Pay attention, my beloved people. With the baptism of Christ have we been baptized, not only us, but also the whole world, and this baptism continues to the end. Who of us can be compared in any way with Christ, the strap of whose sandal John said he was unworthy to loose? If, therefore, the Christ, so greatly preeminent, a man and God, [if he] had alone been baptized in the baptism of John, what were people going to say? "What kind of baptism did John have? He had a great baptism, an ineffable sacrament. For see Christ alone deserved to be baptized with the baptism of John." And thus the baptism of the servant would seem greater than the baptism of the Lord.
(4) Others were also baptized with the baptism of John in order that John's baptism might not seem better than Christ's; but the Lord also was baptized so that, because the Lord received the baptism of a servant, other servants might not disdain to receive the baptism of the Lord. For this purpose, then, had John been sent.
15. But did he know Christ or did he not know him? If he did not know him, why did he say, when Christ came to the river, 'T ought to be baptized by you."?^^ That is, 'T know who you are." If, therefore, he already knew him, he certainly rec-