The Baptism of Jesus Christ

 

If baptism is “for” or “unto” or “in order to” the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), why did Jesus submit to baptism?  The author of Hebrews says concerning Jesus: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.  For we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:14-15).  The apostle Peter completely agrees with the author of Hebrews.  “For even hereunto were you called: because Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Pet. 2:21-22).  If Christ were not baptized to remove his sin, why was he baptized?  The answer to that question will be given in the course of our lesson today on “The Baptism of Jesus Christ.”

 

Matthew, Mark and Luke provide wonderful insight into the preaching of John the Baptist, but in this study I shall reply primarily on Matthew’s account.  “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 3:1-2).  John preached the “baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”  When John saw the multitude that came to him to be baptized, he said to them, “O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” (Lk. 3:7-8).  When the Jews who came to John repented of their sins, they were baptized “for the remission of sins.”  The apostle Peter used exactly the same language in his sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38).

 

If John’s baptism was “for the remission of sins” and New Testament baptism is “for the remission of sins,” how do the two baptisms differ?  The book of Acts gives us the explanation we need.  Apollos, and outstanding Greek preacher, was preaching in the city of Ephesus when Aquilla and Priscilla heard him.  Apollos was “mighty in the scriptures,” but he knew only the baptism of John (Acts 18:24-25).  Acts 19 tells of Paul’s return to Ephesus.  When he arrived at Ephesus, he found some disciples and asked them, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?”  They said they had not heard whether there was a Holy Spirit.  Paul asked them about their baptism.  They said they were baptized unto John’s baptism.  “Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him who should come after him, that is, on Christ” (Acts 19:1-4).  The baptism of John was in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.  The baptism of the new covenant looks back to the cross where Christ shed his blood for the remission of our sins.  After the day of Pentecost, the baptism of John was no longer valid.  We are now to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38).

 

Jesus Christ knew that John was preparing material, figuratively speaking, for the building of the Lord’s kingdom.  He knew John was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mt. 3:3).  “Then comes Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him” (Mt. 3:13).  The work of John, including preaching baptism for the remission of sins, prepared men and women for the coming of the Messiah.  John was indeed a messenger sent from God, but he did not feel worthy to baptize Jesus.  “And John forbade Jesus, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and dost thou come to me” (Mt. 3:14)?  We can see the humility of John in this verse.  John knew he was not the Messiah.  He understood that his work would be completed when the Messiah came.  He said, “He must increase, and I must decrease” (John 3:30).  John was a sinful man and not worthy to baptize the Savior of the world.  But it was in the plan of God that John should baptize Jesus Christ.

 

John’s reluctance to baptize Jesus is understandable.  But Jesus explained God’s plan to John.  “And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness   Then he suffered him” (Mt. 3:15).  The word “suffer” in the King James Version would be better translated “permit.”  All other versions with which I am familiar render the Greek “permit,” and that includes the New King James Version.  “Suffer” was a perfectly good translation in 1611, but the word has a different connotation in modern times.

 

Jesus explained to John: “Thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness.”  The word “righteousness” means doing right according to the will of almighty God.  Jesus knew it was the will of God that he should be baptized at the hands of John.  He willingly submitted to God’s will.  It needs to be emphasized--as I try to do continually on this program--that Jesus always did what God wanted him to do.  A few verses from John will prove that proposition beyond any doubt.  Jesus said to his disciples, “My meat is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:34).  He told some Jews: “He who sent me is with me: the Father has not left me alone: for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29).  “I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day: for the night comes when no man can work” (John 9:4).

 

I am fully aware of the Calvinistic doctrine of imputed righteousness, that is, that Christ’s righteousness is counted for our righteousness, but the doctrine will not stand the light of scripture.  Righteousness is not just something we are or have imputed to us; it is what we do in response to God’s gracious provisions for our salvation.  A few verses from the word of God should clarify the meaning of righteousness.  Please take note of these three verses from 1 John.  “The world passes away: but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17).  “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does righteousness is born of him” (1 John 2:29).  Please pay close attention to these words.  “Little children, let no man deceive you: he who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7).  Does John want us to believe that righteousness is what we do?  The tense of the verb “do” is of great importance.  It is a present active participle and means “keep on doing righteousness.”  If one does not keep on doing righteousness, can he be righteous in the sight of God?  If he can be righteous without continuously doing righteousness, the language of this verse is illogical and even deceptive.

 

Paul outlines what one must do to contact the blood of Christ.  “Do you not know, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should also walk in newness of life.  For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6:3-6).  What does our being baptized into Christ have to do with righteousness?  Paul provides an answer no one should miss or misunderstand.  “Do you not know, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?  But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered to you.  Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness” (Rom. 6:16-18).

 

When did the Romans, according to Paul, become free from sin and become the servants of righteousness?  They became the servants of righteousness when they obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, that is, when they were buried with the Lord in baptism and were raised to walk in newness of life.  But if we are righteous because of what Christ has done for us and not because of any action on our part, why would our obeying the Lord have any bearing on our righteousness?  We must not forget the words of John.  “He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7).  You become righteous because you do righteousness.  If any truth could be plainer than that, I cannot imagine what it is.

 

When the apostle Peter became convinced he ought to preach to the Gentiles, he said to Cornelius and his household: “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respector of persons: but in every nation he who fears God, and work righteousness is accepted with him” (Acts 10:34-35).  Charles Williams renders the Greek: “He who reveres God and practices doing right is acceptable to him.”  Could Cornelius have earned his salvation by doing right?  He could not have earned his salvation by any means.  Otherwise, salvation would not be a gift of grace.  But he had to do what God commanded to receive what God had promised.  How did Peter understand what Cornelius had to do to be saved?  Peter asked, “Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?  And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.  Then they asked him to stay certain days” (Act 10:47-48).

 

Did the apostle Peter preach to Cornelius and his household the same message of salvation he had preached to the Jews on Pentecost?  You know there are not two plans of salvation.  When the penitent Jews asked on Pentecost what they had to do to be saved, Peter’s answer was basically the same as all the apostles preached everywhere.  He did not instruct them to believe.  That would have been superfluous.  They already believed.  By the inspiration and guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, Peter commanded: “Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).  When three thousand people responded to the Lord on the day of Pentecost and were baptized into Christ, did they become righteous?  If they did not, what else did have to do to become righteous?

 

I repeat what I said to you a few minutes ago.  I am sure you are in agreement with this statement: “Jesus did not have to be baptized to wash away his sins.  He had no sins to wash away.”  But he submitted to baptism to fulfill all righteousness.  We are baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38).  We are baptized to put on Christ (Gal. 3:26-27).  We are baptized to wash away our sins (Acts 22:16).  But we are also baptized to fulfill all righteousness.  God’s plan for making men righteous is revealed in the scriptures.  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  For therein (that is, in the gospel) is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16-17).

 

The expression, “the righteousness of God,” does not mean that God is righteous.  Obviously, he is righteous and the very source of righteousness.  But the term refers to God’s way of making men righteous.  Dr. A. T. Robertson calls it “a God kind of righteousness,” that is, the kind that God alone can provide.  In other words, if you want to be righteous in the sight of God, there is one way and only one way to do it: By submitting to God’s plan for making men righteous.   By carefully reviewing the book of Acts, can you know how God can convert an alien sinner into a saint.

 

At the time of Christ’s baptism, God the Father gave his complete endorsement of Christ.  “And 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” (Mt. 3:16-17).  Have you ever attended movie based on the life of Christ?  The movies I have seen have John the Baptist pouring water on the Lord’s head.  There are a number of problems with that scenario.  The word “baptize” means to immerse, to submerge, to overwhelm.  W. E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words (Westwood, NJ: Barbour and Company, Inc., 1940) gives this most helpful information on the word “baptize.”  The basic meaning of the word is “to dip.”  It was “used among the Greeks to signify the dyeing of a garment, or the drawing of water by dipping a vessel into another..Plutarchus uses it of dipping a cup into the bowl, and Plato, metaphorically, of being overwhelmed with questions” (p. 97).

 

Is anyone so misinformed or naive or prejudiced as to believe that sprinkling color on a garment would accomplish the goal of dyeing a garment?  Water would remain in the well if a vessel were not submerged in it to draw the water out.  And why would it be necessary to go down into the water and come up out of the water if Jesus were not submerged in the water?  Sprinkling or pouring would not explain what happened when Christ was baptized.  It had to be by immersion for the text to make sense.  And what is the significance of these verses?  “And as they (that is, Philip and the eunuch) went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?”  Then “the eunuch commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and Philip baptized the eunuch.  And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:36, 38-39).  Did the baptism of the eunuch involved sprinkling or pouring?  Why go down into the water if sprinkling or pouring were involved?

 

Why would anyone want to alter the Lord’s teaching about baptism?  There was a time when preachers would try to defend sprinkling or pouring.  That day has virtually passed.  Now most preachers think we are making a mountain of a molehill when we emphasize that baptism is immersion.  Those preachers seem to be saying, “What possible difference could such trivialities make?  Surely the Lord is not going to judge us on such insignificant matters.”  Do you ever wonder if such preachers have any concern about authority in religion?  There is not a preacher on earth who can give scriptural authority for substituting sprinkling or pouring for New Testament baptism.  Anyone who thinks he can is hereby challenged to do so.

 

After John had baptized our Lord, “the heavens were opened” and the Spirit of God descended like a dove and sat upon him.  Did the Spirit have the appearance of a dove or did he descend like a dove?  We are not given sufficient information to decide, but we know the significance of this event.  John the Baptist had been told how he would recognize the Messiah.  “John bore record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.  And I did not know him: but he who sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.  And I saw, and bore record that this is the Son of God” (John 1:32-34).

 

In addition to the appearance of the Holy Spirit, God the Father acknowledged Jesus Christ as his Son.  “And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:17).  As you know from your reading of scripture, this was not the only time God audibly acknowledge Jesus as his Son.  Matthew tells us that Jesus Christ took Peter, James and John to a high mountain.  Jesus Christ was transfigured before them.  “There appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Christ.”  Peter said to Jesus Christ: “Lord, it is good to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, one for Moses, and one fore Elijah.  While he was speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear him” (Mt. 17:1-5).

 

God the Father was telling those who had witnessed the baptism of Jesus and us that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.  A number of New Testament passages give us further insight into the nature of Jesus Christ.  John five offers a number of arguments to show that Jesus Christ is equal with God.  Paul says that Jesus existed in the “form of God” (Phil. 2:6).  The word “form” (morphe in the Greek) refers to the essential nature of an individual or an item.  In other words, Jesus is God in his essential nature.  The author of Hebrews provides a long list of contrasts between Jesus and the angels.  Jesus Christ is superior to the angels in every way.  Hebrews asks, “Unto which of the angels did God say at any time, You are my Son, this day I have begotten thee.”  He never said it to the angels, but he said it to his son (Heb. 1:5)?  Later in the same chapter, God the Father says to Jesus, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.  And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thy hands” (Heb. 1:8, 10).

 

On the occasion of our Lord’s baptism, God expressed pleasure in the Son because the Son had so completely identified himself with sinful men by being baptized to fulfill all righteousness.  Although Jesus had committed no sin, his submission to baptism shows his faithfulness in doing the will of God.  Will you surrender your will to that of the Father by doing what he asks you to do?

 

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334

 

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