Why Was Jesus Baptized?
Jared C. Wilson Blog | June 4, 2012
I think there are three general reasons:
1. To signal the new covenant beginning. The kingdom of God was "at hand," and just as Joshua led the people of God across the Jordan to the Promised Land, the true and better Joshua leads his people at the Jordan River in baptism, signaling the fulfillment of the Promised Land shadow.
2. "To fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15). Jesus was baptized because he was obedient to God's commands, including the prescribed rites for entrance into the priesthood (Leviticus 8:6; Exodus 29:4). To be our great high priest after the order of Melchizedek, he needed the ritual washing. If he hadn't submitted to baptism he would have had a sin to repent of in baptism! Instead, Jesus is baptized as part of his total life of obedience to the Father's will. We need a perfect righteousness to be saved, and Jesus gives us his, which includes his baptism:
3. To be our substitute. When we are baptized we are making our profession of faith in Christ, making an appeal to God based on what baptism corresponds to (1 Peter 3:21). But we still come up out of the water as sinners. Our baptism is made perfect, however, because through faith, Christ's baptism becomes our baptism (Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:27). It is part of his eternal obedience imputed to us.
Comments:
June 4, 2012 at 06:50 PM
I think you're getting at this, but especially in Matthew's gospel, it seems to me that Jesus is quite actively standing on behalf of Israel in corporate solidarity. It's a baptism of repentance, and as you say, Jesus has nothing to repent of. But Israel has much to repent of, so while they go out to John to repent, and while John wants to be baptized, Jesus says, "No no: you can't do even repentance on your own. You need my repentance for you." Jesus, the true King of Israel, fulfills the repentance of the people for them.
The "standing on behalf of Israel" motif is also (and you know this, I trust) in play in all the surrounding narratives: he reenacts the move to Egypt as a baby, just as he does the wilderness wandering and covenant obedience with his 40 days of temptation in the wilderness.
It's grace everywhere there, again, as you note. Jesus is doing for Israel what Israel could never do for itself, so that one day the reconstituted 12 tribes (in the form of 12 men) will take Israel's King to the world is was supposed to bless.
Andrew
June 11, 2012 at 10:47 AM
[...] 6/4 – Why Was Jesus Baptized? by Jared Wilson [...]
Robert Smith
June 5, 2012 at 08:42 AM
Related to #3 ...
1 Corinthians 15:22
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive