To give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,
by the remission of their sins; the sense of which is, either that salvation is by the forgiveness of sin, and lies in it, that being a principal part of it; see Ephesians 1:7. Sins are debts; forgiving them is a remitting these debts, a loosing them, or the obligation to payment, which is done freely and fully, for Christ's sake, and through his blood; and herein lies the blessedness and salvation of men; see Romans 4:6. Or else that the knowledge of salvation was conveyed through the ministry of John, not by preaching the works of the law, but the doctrine of remission of sins, by Christ; Mark 1:4 and which is the sum and substance of the Gospel, as it was ordered to be preached by Christ, and was preached by his apostles. The Alexandrian copy reads, "our sins".