by Dr. Richard McNeely Professor of Bible Biola College
CHRIST'S BAPTISM
T here are some very interesting truths to gain from the study of Christ’s baptism. While John the Baptist preached repentance, he re minded his hearers that there was One coming who would baptize His followers by the Holy Spirit and with fire. We find this account in Matthew 3:13-17. Although Jesus Christ was baptized by John, it wasn’t in the mode of John’s traditional baptism. Three kinds of baptism are given to us in the New Testament. The first is John the Baptist’s, which called for the remission of sins; the second was our Saviour’s, and the third the believer’s baptism. We note that John hesitated to baptize the Lord. Jesus wasn’t taking the place of a sinner in being baptized. The Lord had absolutely no sin in Him whatsoever (II Cor. 5:21, Heb. 4:15, I Peter 2:22). So, just because Christ was baptized by John that doesn’t mean that His baptism was the same as that received by others in Judea. Some have argued that this act inducted Christ into the office of a priest. Such could not be the case since Jesus needed no cleansing. The Lord became a priest after His resurrection and ascension. Christ was a priest not after the order of Aaron, but after the order of Mel- chizedic. There was no washing of water involved with that priesthood. There are some definite scriptural reasons given for Christ’s baptism. First of all, the act was to fulfill all righteousness. This is an Old Testa ment ritualistic term. The individ ual to whom the blood was applied was granted cleansing. In this case it was to signify that there was no
reason why Jesus Christ shouldn’t be identified with the Jewish rem nant. This declared His eligibility to fellowship within the common wealth of Israel. The baptism was to make Him known to His own people (John 1:34). In the original, the words to dip appear in baptism. It was used by those who dyed cloth. Keference was made in this case to a baptizing work. But the cloth wasn’t considered really dipped unless it took on the features of the dye into which it was placed. This is why we can say metaphorically that baptism means identification. One of the reasons Je sus was baptized was that thereby He could be identified with those who already had received John’s baptism. Christ authenticated what John had been teaching. Beyond all of this is the fact that Christ was baptized to be identified with sinners. This shows us the uni versal aspect. We, too, have been in cluded. Had we been there, we would have been among those who declared their sins, and a belief in the coming Saviour. Baptism sets the keynote to the fact that the Holy Spirit now resides in our lives, that we are a part of Christ’s body, and that we are determined to do His will and work. The Saviour came, first of all, to identify Himself with humanity. Then in relationship He identified Himself with a particular nation. This was accomplished by being born of the seed of woman and of the family of David. Being born as a man, Christ identified Himself with all who by faith have received Him 5
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