Carey's Bible Study Notes
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baptism of jesus
life of christ: matthew 3.13-17, mark 1.9-11, luke 3.21-22, john 1.29-34, romans 6.4
the baptism of jesus
introduction
When we spoke earlier about the ministry of John the Baptist, we claimed that one of the major purposes of his baptism was to provide a way for people to show others that they had truly repented. John informs us though that he baptized for a second reason also. John claimed that God had communicated to him that He was going to reveal to him the identity of the Messiah. (By the word "Messiah," we mean the One God would anoint with His Holy Spirit to be the King in the kingdom of God. This Messiah was not going to be just some extraordinary human being but actually was going to be the Son of God). God had informed him that one day a certain Man would come to him and submit to his baptism; however, His baptism was going to be unlike the baptism of all the other people John had baptized. At this Man�s baptism, the Holy Spirit was going to descend upon Him and remain upon Him in order to equip Him for the task God had assigned to Him, establishing the kingdom of God on earth.
John the Baptist most likely had heard all the stories about the miraculous birth of his cousin Jesus; however, God was not going to rely upon these stories to convince John of who the Messiah was. Why? First, this is not the way God operates. God does not just send us stories and expects us to believe them. Whereas it is true that God used the stories about Jesus to bring us to Him, He used more than stories. He came to us Himself. A personal encounter with God is the way He operates, sometimes through and sometimes without stories Second, Jesus ultimately was not going to be the kind of Messiah John and the rest of the Jews thought He was going to be. By God performing this feat before his eyes, John would know undoubtedly who the Son of God was. After that point, John could point unabashedly to Jesus as the Messiah of the kingdom of God: "And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God" (John 1:34).
the baptism of jesus (matthew 3.13-17, Mark 1.9-11, Luke 3.21-22)
By the time this episode occurs, most of the people who have come to John for baptism have already done so. He has fulfilled the first purpose of his ministry, preparing the hearts of the people for the coming of the Messiah. All that is left now is for John to point out to the people who the Messiah actually is. After John has finished baptizing most of the people, Jesus departs Nazareth to go to the Jordan River in order to be baptized by John.
When Jesus enters the water and approaches John, John shrinks back in abject humility. John questions Jesus as to why He would come to him for baptism whereas it is he who should be coming to Jesus for baptism. Even though John knew why Jesus had come to him and why it was important for him to baptize Jesus, John�s response is a totally appropriate and natural one. How many of us know that Christ has died for us and yet it�s hard for us to get over it? How many of us understand that God lives in us and yet we are overwhelmed by the very idea of it? This is John�s heart which is speaking and not his head. Jesus replies that they must continue with the baptism in order to fulfill all righteousness (Matt. 3:15). When Jesus comes up out of the water, the heavens rip open (Mark 1:10), and the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove (Luke 3:22). A voice then comes from heaven: "This is My Beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased." Unlike other anointings by the Holy Spirit in the Bible, the Spirit remains permanently upon Jesus (John 1:33).
teachings from the baptism of jesus
the reason jesus submitted to baptism
The first element in this story which catches our attention is the very fact that Jesus chose to be baptized. Whereas the apostle John gives us one reason Jesus submitted to baptism, so that John the Baptist would be able to identify definitely who the Messiah was, Matthew seems to point to an additional reason why Jesus was baptized, in order to fulfill all righteousness (3:15). Just what does this statement mean?
Normally, when we speak of fulfilling all righteousness, we mean that we are carrying out the will of God. OK, so Jesus was baptized in order to fulfill God�s will; however, that does not satisfy our curiosity. Our follow-up question is why God commanded that Jesus be baptized in the first place. John�s baptism was a baptism of repentance and yet Jesus had nothing to repent from since He was totally perfectly in every aspect. So why does Jesus submit to a baptism of repentance? In order to answer this, ask yourself another question: "Why did Jesus die on the cross?" The answer is simple: to die for sins. "But," you might add, "He never sinned." Right; however, He still died for sins, our sins. The NT tells us that although Jesus is the One literally hanging on the cross, we also are on that cross dying because of our sins (Gal. 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ.") How is that possible? By Jesus becoming one with us. Because He the perfect One identified Himself with us sinners by becoming a Man, He can die for our sins. By being baptized with the baptism of repentance, Jesus is showing that He has completely identified Himself with us so that He can truly die for us and rise to life for us as well.
the mode of baptism: immersion
The next thing this story teaches us is that Jesus experienced a baptism by immersion. Today different Christian faiths use primarily 2 different ways to baptize people, by immersion or by sprinkling. We believe that this baptism was one of immersion first because of the word "baptize" itself. The word literally means "to immerse." Every other use of this word in Greek literature points to immersion and not to sprinkling; for example, when Plato speaks about a ship sinking into the ocean, he says that it is being baptized. Not once outside the Greek NT does it mean sprinkling. In fact, in Florence today there is a Greek-speaking Catholic church which immerses its babies. Those who are Greek and understand the Greek language have no doubts as to the meaning of this word. This interpretation of the word is supported first by Luke�s description of Jesus as "coming up out of the water" (see also Acts 8:39 where Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch come up out of the water after Philip has baptized the Ethiopian. They would have never had to go down into the water in the first place if sprinkling was all that was meant here). Note that immersion agrees with the fact that the baptism took place at a river; sprinkling would not have needed such a major water source.
Why though don�t we just translate the word "baptize" with the word "immerse"? Why do we still use the word "baptism" if it literally means immerse? For political reasons. When the translators of the first English Bibles, especially the KJV, translated the Bible, they knew what the Greek word baptizo (lit. baptizw) meant. They also knew that if they translated it "immerse," the king at that time James I would have imprisoned them and maybe even beheaded them. So they copped out and chose not to translate the word but to transliterate the word. (Transliteration is the process by which we assign English letters to represent Greek letters. For example, if we translate the Greek name for Jesus IhsouV, the result would be Iesous.) Well, when we transliterate the Greek word for baptism baptizw, we get the word baptizo, which we modify to baptize.
The way we baptize is important because of what it communicates. Some claim that we should sprinkle because it shows the washing away of sin. On the other hand, Baptists believe that immersion is the only acceptable way to baptize because of the picture it draws. According to Paul, baptism portrays the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (Rom. 6:4). When the person stands up in the water, he is proclaiming to the world that he believes that Jesus Christ was alive and walked on the face of this earth 2000 years ago. When that person goes into the water, he is proclaiming that he believes Jesus Christ died on the cross and was buried in the earth for 3 days. When that person comes up out of the water, he proclaims that Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day. In addition, this mode of baptism says something about the believer. The person standing in the water represents the person before Christ entered his life at the time of salvation. When the person goes into the water, he claims that the old person is being put to death. When he comes up out of the water, he proclaims that he is a new person because Christ has entered him to give him new life. Only immersion can draw these 2 pictures.
One last word about immersion versus sprinkling. Although immersion is important, it is not as important as what it teaches. It is more important that a person experience the death and resurrection of Jesus in his own life than he be immersed. Many people submit to immersion and yet never experience Christ�s death and resurrection in their own lives. Whereas we should stand by our guns and advocate immersion, we should never de-emphasize the main focus of this mode of baptism, the death and resurrection of the believer.
Finally, Baptists differ with many other Christian faiths in that they do not baptize their infants. The baptisms John and Jesus conducted were baptisms which demonstrated that a person has repented. Repentance involves a person recognizing that he is estranged from God and must make a 180-degree turn back to God. This kind of repentance assumes that a person is able to know right from wrong and is held accountable by God for his actions. We do not believe that infants fall under that category. Whereas some children are quite young when they do receive Christ for salvation (7 years old), they nevertheless must show some sign of maturity which would enable them to make a genuine repentance.
We do not wish to denigrate those Christian faiths which practice infant baptism; however, I feel like we need to be honest and ask them what is the basis for their beliefs. I believe that Baptists have made a sincere attempt to base their beliefs and practices upon a sound interpretation of the Bible. The truth is that some of these other Christian faiths (and they are Christian) have based their beliefs and practices upon writings not found in the Bible, for example, the writings of Thomas Aquinas. Whereas we respect the great thought-systems of these great men, we nevertheless recognize that they are not Scripture and must be judged in light of Scripture. If their thought-systems agree with Scripture, then we will readily accept them. If they do not, then we feel compelled to reject them no matter how brilliant these thought-systems might be. When it all gets down to it, it is a question of authority. Is the Scripture the ultimate authority or some other brilliant though flawed individual?
the 400-year period of silence is broken
Next, the Gospels record that when Jesus came up out of the water, the heaven opened up and the Spirit came to rest upon Jesus while the Father spoke to His Son. Whereas Matthew and Luke do not go into detail about heaven opening up, Mark describes the event as heaven being ripped open. For 400 years heaven had been silent. The last of the OT prophets had died (Malachi) about 400 BC, and God had not spoken to His people since. Although He had been moving empires in preparation for the coming of Christ, He had nevertheless quit speaking. Now the period of silence is over. God once more is going to speak to His people, however, not through some human prophet but through His divine Son Jesus.
a picture of the trinity
Next, in this episode we see the basis for what we believe about the Trinity. Nowhere in the NT does the word "Trinity" appear. Nowhere does the NT explicitly teach about the Trinity; however, that does not mean that the idea of the Trinity is not there. It just appears that the NT assumes the existence of the Trinity and goes on from there. For example, the NT spends so much time defending the deity of Christ without once resorting to defending the deity of the Father because the Jews already believed that the Father was divine.
Just what do we mean by the word "Trinity"? By it we mean that although God is One, He nevertheless exists as 3 persons. Undoubtedly this is difficult to understand; however, we should not be surprised that it is difficult since it explains the very nature of God which should be difficult for limited mortal minds to understand. This teaching claims that the one and only God exists as three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Now the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit; neither is the Holy Spirit the Father. (Just a word of information: whenever the NT uses the word "God" by itself, it is nearly always referring to the Father. This is not to deny the deity of either the Son or the Spirit; it�s just the way the NT operates). When Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane to God, He is not praying to Himself but to the Father.
Passages like this one on the baptism of Jesus serve as the basis for our belief in the Trinity. In this one episode, we see all three distinct Persons of the Godhead at work: Jesus the Son standing in the water, while the Spirit descends upon Him and the Father addresses Him. There are three distinct Persons operating in this episode, and yet notice that all 3 are involved in the same event demonstrating their unity with each other. One God who exists as 3 Persons.
Why would God exist as three Persons? God is so rich that it is only logical that He exist as three Persons. Sometimes we claim that certain persons have enough personality or energy for 2 people. Well, what is figuratively true in a limited way for mere mortals is absolutely, literally true for the God of the universe.
the baptism pronouncement
The pronouncement that the Father makes at Jesus� baptism is actually a quotation from 2 different verses in the OT: Ps. 2:7 and Is. 42:1. The first part of the baptism pronouncement, "Thou art My Beloved Son," comes from Ps. 2:7 which is known as a coronation psalm. The Israelites composed this for the coronation of their kings. They believed that at the time of their coronation, their kings entered into a special relationship with God. At the time of coronation, God would anoint their kings with His Spirit so that he would rule in the might and wisdom of the Spirit. They claimed that God adopted their king to function as His son.
As time passed though, the people realized the absurdity of this event. One of their kings, Ahab, had married wicked Jezebel who had even slaughtered the priests of God. Mannasseh had been crowned king and anointed as God�s son, and yet he was forcing the people to offer their children as sacrifices to the Moabite god Chemosh. Whatever else these kings were, they were not God�s sons; however, the Jews like us believed that Scripture is God�s Word and therefore must be true. They came to see in this passage a prediction of a king who would come one day and truly act like God�s Son. They claimed that God would anoint Him with His Spirit so that He would bring about the kingdom of God upon earth. They called this king "the Messiah" which literally means "the Anointed One." (The Greek word for "Messiah" is Christ"). When the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus, God is anointing Him with His Spirit and proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah, the King in the kingdom of God.
The second part of the pronouncement, "which whom I am well-pleased," comes from Is. 42:1, a passage describing the Suffering Servant. From Isaiah 42-53, God speaks about a Servant who will come and suffer for His people. God would place the sins of His people upon the Servant so that they might be saved. When God quotes this verse, He is declaring that Jesus is this Servant who has come to save His people by suffering for them.
Why combine the two verses? To show what kind of Messiah Jesus had come to be. Most Jews then and still today believed that the Messiah was going to be a conquering hero who would rid Israel of her enemies and establish her as the world�s superpower. God by combining these 2 verses though rejects this notion. By combining these 2 verses, God is saying that Jesus will be the kind of king who will bring about His kingdom by suffering for His people. Jesus demonstrates this truth when He rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday not on a white charger but upon a humble donkey. He will not only be a suffering-kind of king but will actually establish God�s kingdom by His suffering and death on the cross. He not only came in humility but also expects us His people to walk in humility.