At Jesus’ baptism, did the voice from heaven speak to Jesus or about him?

All three Gospels agree on what the voice said: Jesus is God’s beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. They differ only in whether the words are given as spoken to Jesus or about him. Ancient writers, the Gospel writers among them, commonly reported speech by its sense rather than word for word, and the Gospels give many of Jesus’ sayings, and even the title on the cross, in slightly different forms. Augustine, writing about AD 400, discussed this very passage. He held that the voice spoke only one of the two sentences, and that the evangelists used different forms of words while keeping the sense intact.

Mark and Luke probably keep the form of address, “Thou art”, which echoes Psalm 2:7, “Thou art my Son”. Matthew, Augustine suggests, gave the words as a declaration to bring out that the voice was meant for those standing by as well as for Jesus, who already knew he was the Son. John the Baptist saw the sign and bore witness “that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34). On a later occasion Jesus said of a voice from heaven, “This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes” (John 12:30). Matthew’s wording also matches the voice at the transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 17:5). Each Gospel gives a true account of what God said.

Heard in two ways

Some suggest that God, who can make himself heard as he wills, may have let Jesus hear the words as spoken to him and John the Baptist hear them as spoken about him. The texts do not say so, but it would also explain the two forms.

Some manuscripts of Matthew

A few early manuscripts and versions of Matthew, of the kind called ‘Western’, read ‘saying to him’ and give the words in the second person, as Mark and Luke do; the Pulpit Commentary notes this reading. Most scholars think scribes made Matthew match the other Gospels there, and that Matthew wrote ‘This is’. The answer above does not depend on it.