Mark Chapter 1 verse 4 Holy Bible
John came, who baptized in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins.
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John came, and gave baptism in the waste land, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed.
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There came John baptising in the wilderness, and preaching [the] baptism of repentance for remission of sins.
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John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
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John came baptizing{To baptize means to immerse in (or wash with) water (or fire). This baptizm is not just to cleanse the body, but as an outward sign of an inward spiritual cleansing and commitment.} in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins.
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John came baptizing in the wilderness, and proclaiming a baptism of reformation -- to remission of sins,
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - John came, and preached the baptism of repentance. John came, that is, that he might rouse the people to repentance, and prepare them, by the outward cleansing of their bodies, to receive the cleansing of their souls through Christ's baptism, which was to follow his. So that the baptism of John was the profession of their penitence. Hence they who were baptized with his baptism confessed their sins, and thus made the first step towards the forgiving mercy which was to be found in Christ; and the seal of his forgiveness they were to look for in his baptism, which is a baptism for the remission of sins to all true penitents and faithful believers. Christ's baptism was, therefore, the perfection and consummation of the baptism of John.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) John did baptize.--No other Gospel passes so abruptly, so in medias res, into the actual work of the Forerunner. There is no account of the birth or infancy of our Lord, as in St. Matthew and St. Luke; none of the pre-existence of the Son of Man, as in St. John. St. Mark is here, as elsewhere, emphatically the Evangelist of action. (On the rest of the verse, see Notes on Matthew 3:1.) The special phrase "baptism of repentance"--i.e., the sign of repentance, that which was connected with it, and pre-supposed it--meets us in Luke 3:3 and Acts 19:4. In the former passage we find also "forgiveness of sins" as the result of the baptism; and we cannot doubt, therefore, that then, as evermore, repentance was followed by forgiveness, even though the blood which availed for that forgiveness (Matthew 26:28) had not as yet been shed.