Most people are baptized as a sign that they believe in Christ and that they have been buried with him in his death and raised to newness of life in his resurrection.
So, if Jesus was sinless and was the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” why did he need to be baptized?
@DaughterOfEve24 SWN Staff
John asked this same question.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and (why) are You coming to me?" But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.*
**Matthew 3:13-15 **
The answer satisfied John the baptizer, it satisfies me too.
KP
P.S. Sorry, I missed the article that you referenced, and now I see I have only reiterated what was stated there. Even so,…
Lots of ink has been spilled about this.
But I think we can speak simply about this in this way:
This is the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, here is when Jesus is proclaiming “The Messiah has come, and the Messiah is Me”.
Immediately after this, Jesus goes into the wilderness into a period of testing, and then begins preaching, teaching, and performing miracles. So whatever deeper meanings there are, I think we can agree that Jesus is, in a sense, inaugurating His Messianic work and mission. “The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the Good News”
Exactly. Jesus was a man. Man is by nature a sinner. It was a necessary step, even as the Son of God, for Jesus to be baptized.
And, right, necessary.
Immediately after this, Jesus goes into the wilderness into a period of testing, and then begins preaching, teaching, and performing miracles.
So, again…necessary.
So, if Jesus was sinless and was the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” why did he need to be baptized?
It was a requirement of the law for priests to be washed.
Baptism has multifold meanings. While to the Jews circucision signifies a switching from an older covenant (possibly the Rainbow covenant) to a Jewish covenant (today it is the Mosaic Covenant), baptism signifies a switching from an older covenant (Mosaic to the Jews and Rainbow to the gentiles) to the New Covenant.
Circumcision is a must to the Jews, or else one is not actually a Jews in terms of Covenant. That is a Jew in bloodline is not a Jew by Covenant if he (male) is not circumcised. It’s rather something about Law and has no room to skip.
The New Covenant is about Grace instead of Law. While Law is about an objective judgment, Covenant is about a subjective judgment from an absolutely fair and just God (who is Christ). For example, the thief on the cross may not have a chance to be baptized, but Jesus confirmed that he’s saved.
We are talking about the risk of one’s own salvation. That is, one should be baptized until he can provide a good reason not to, while the final judgment is on Jesus’ decision.
The Lord wasn’t a sinner; while bearing our fallen and broken mortal humanity He was Himself wholly without sin.
John’s baptism didn’t remit sin, John’s baptism was for repentance–it was a prophetic call for Israel to repent and prepare for the coming Messiah. Jesus is that Messiah.
I think we can say, in one sense, Jesus being baptized by John fulfills John’s prophetic ministry and inagurates the Lord’s Messianic ministry. Jesus isn’t baptized because He needs forgiveness (He’s entirely sinless) nor repentance (He’s, again, sinless)–so to fulfill all righteousness can’t mean He needs to be baptized the way we do (Christ Himself is the One who gave us Christian baptism for the remission of sin, which did not exist prior to the Lord’s command to His Church to baptize in the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit). The Sacrament of Holy Baptism is the Lord’s institution.
Are you suggesting that Messiah as a “Man” was a sinner @JennyLynne ?
J.
(I’m Syriac Orthodox, but I’ve been studying Reformed theology a bit more seriously lately.)
I speak as a student…
Consider the nature of John’s baptism. As proclaimed in the Gospels, it was “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" administered to Israel as a prep sign under the ot, calling sinners to turn from their wickedness and most importantnly, the anticipation of Messiah’s kingdom..
In this it forshadowed the fuller sacrament of Christian baptism instituted by Christ, which signifies our union with Him in His death, burial and resurrection, as seen in Rom 6:3-4. For fallen humanity, that is totally depraved and utterly unable to save oursevles, as Calvin writes in his Insituites, that baptism outwardly testifies to the inward work of the Spirit, sealing God’s promise to wash away our guilt through faith in Christ’s atoning blood. But our Lord, being impeccable in His divine-human nature, required no such personal cleaning, and i feel, that the Baptism of Christ, was not for Christ’s sake, but for ours, fulfilling the eternal decree of the Triune God in the economy of redemption.
The key here is in our Lord’s own words, Hw said to John, “Let it be so now, for thys it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteouness". Here, in the sovereign wisdom of God, we behold CHrist’s active obediences, a cornerstone of Reformed soteriology.
As the Second Adam, Jesus came not merely to atone for our sins through His passive suffering on the cross but to render perfect obedience to the Father’s law on our behalf, imputing His righteousness to the elect (Romas 5:19; 2 Cor 5:21). By submitting to baptism, He identified Himself with sinful humanity, standing in solidarity with those He came to redeem, though sinless, He humbled Himself to the point of assuming the form of servant, voluntarily placing Himself under the sign of repentance as our federal head and subsitute. In this act, He consecrated the waters of baptism, rendering them as means of grace for His people, much as He sanctified the Lord’s Supper by His own participation in the Passover…
John Calvin says, in his commentary on Matthew, “Christ did not come to baptism as a private person, but as the Head of the whole Church, that He might wash away our sins in His own body..” thus, His baptism was an act of vicarious fulfillemnt, whereby He obyed every jot of the divine will, earning for us, who could never merit it.
Moreover, it gave a glorious inaugration of Christ’s public ministry, revealing the Trinity’s eternal counsel in salvation. As Christ’ emerged from the waters, the heavens opened, the Spirit descended like a dove (which symbolize the anoiting for His prophetic, priestly, and kingly office, Isa 11:2, 42:1, 61:1), and the Father’s voice thundered, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”, we see here the covenant of redemption unveiled, the Son, eternally elected as Mediator steps forth to accomplist the work ordained before the foundation of the world. His baptism prefigures the NT, transitioning from John’s preparatory rite to the fuller sign of grace in the church, where water signifies not merely repentance, but the outpouring of the Spirit upon the elect. It is no mere example for us to imitate, though we are called to follow Him, but rather a dviine act that grounds the efficacy of our own baptism. Without Christ’s submission, our sacraments would be empty forms, but through Him, they are effectual signs, applied by the Spirit to those predestined unto Life…
I say, Praise be to God, Praise be to God, Praise be to God, Why did the sinless One need baptism?…
He didn’t need it for Himself, but in the unsearchable depths of divine grace, he willed it to magnify Hus glory and secure our salvation…
Baptism is a sign and seal of ingrafting into Christ.
Maybe they had a book with scriptures of His baptism and Jesus does what’s in it.
was a sign something new or prophesied was about to enter into time.@JennyLynne ….
As I said, He didn’t need it for Himself, for He is sinless, for His human will and divine will are always in harmony, unlike we humans, because we cannot have the divine will, never…
But, because the divine will in Christ is always oriented to the Father’s will, for as the Father is Monarch, the Son is eternally begotten, and the Spirit is eternally spirated, God is three in hypostasis, one in essence, so Christ is sinless…
Jesus became man, for because what is not assumed is not healed…
For Christ trampled death by assuming death.
For Christ repaired human nature by assuming human nature.
Christ trampled sin by taking on sin, not because He sinned, but rather, as the Passover Lamb, to be sacrificed for the sins of the people, He took on the curse by His will, which, on the other hand, must be on our heads, but He took it on His head…
In taking on human nature, He took on the consequences of the sin of Adam, not the guilt of that sin… But taking on the consequences of sin, He trampled it…
This leaves us with no excuse… What excuse do we have? (This question arises from the fact that Christ is sinless)…
Refer to the Doctrine of Immaculate Humanity and Hypostatic Union…