As we are studying thru the Gospel of Mark on Sunday morning we have come to the Baptism of Jesus. This is a very important event in the life and ministry of Jesus and there are many significant aspects of this account. But one of the most difficult questions to answer is: "Why did Jesus need to be baptized?" If John's baptism was a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mk. 1:4) and Jesus had no sin (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 1 Peter 3:18) then why did He have to be baptized.
Matt 3:13-15 (provides us with a little further insight.)
"Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"15 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. " NKJV
Jesus said His baptism was necessary "to fulfill all righteousness"; to do everything that was right according to God and His Word.
Here are the answers that I would give you and I certainly welcome any other answers or insights that you may have.
1. John's Baptism was a commandment from God and Jesus as a man was to live in perfect obedience to God's law and though he had no sin of his own He was in absolute obedience to God's law.
2. I believe the baptism of Jesus is symbolic of His work on the cross. In being baptized he is identifying with the sinners for whom He will die. He is not baptized for his own sins, He will not die for His own sins, but for the sinners with whom he has come to identify with. He will then rise from the depths of the dead and bring salvation to all who believe. I believe this work of salvation is symbolized in Jesus Baptism.
3. There is one other thought or answer that is given and that is that Jesus was baptized because He had to fulfill the legal requirements for entering into the priesthood. For further explanation
of this answer please click on the link below.
www.carm.org/questions/why-was-jesus-baptized
4 comments:
The message was dynamic. But I have one question: Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit his entire life, right? How else would he be able to preserve his Godliness?
Anonymous, (Though I really wish I could have gotten a name)excellent question. It is a very difficult one to answer. I'm going to try to give you a simple answer and then leave you with a quote from John Macarthur.
Jesus was 100% human and 100% God. These realities never fluctuated in anyway at any time. The Spirit's filling of His humanity would not affect His deity, but only affected the influence and empowerment of The Holy Spirit upon his humanity. Therefore, the Spirit of God communicated knowledge, Godliness, obedience, to His human body, as He grew up, and at the age of 30 the Holy Spirit descended and rested upon Him in His fullness for the work of His public ministry. I believe this to be the correct answer.
Here are John Macarthur's thoughts.
"At the risk of over-simplifying something that is profoundly mysterious and beyond the grasp of all of us, let me see if I can give you a way to understand it. You have the Man/Jesus here, you have the Son of God, eternal deity here and that which is deity is conveyed to the man which is humanity through the means of the Holy Spirit. As it says He grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man, it was the Holy Spirit dispensing to the man Jesus the developing realities of truth that matured Him. That's how you have to understand it. The Holy Spirit is the mediator between deity and humanity. John Owen makes the point that His divine nature did not directly communicate anything at all to the human Jesus. His divine nature did not communicate anything directly to the human Jesus, it all went through the mediation of the Holy Spirit, part of His self-emptying. Through the Holy Spirit, divine power came, understanding came, enlightenment came, revelation came so that His human nature was under the full control of the Holy Spirit so that everything He did He did in the power of the Spirit."
Hey Jason,
I love the blog
-Josh
Cool man, thanks for checking it out. Look forward to hearing back from you
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