WHY WAS JESUS BAPTISED?

Pastor Blackson Makhumba B. MBs

Many people have questioned the implication of Jesus Christ’s baptism. That is, if we are baptised unto repentance (Mat.3:11), why was Jesus baptised if He was sinless? What was He confessing? What was He symbolizing? In fact, when Jesus came to John to be baptized of him, John protested and said: "I have needed to be baptised of thee.” (Mat.3:13). Even John the Baptist, the greatest of all the prophets could not understand why the sinless Lord Jesus Christ could come for baptism.

John’s baptism was unto repentance. Thus, baptism of John was an outward symbol of the act of repentance that has already taken place inside.  There went out many to him from Jerusalem, Judea and all other regions to be baptised of John unto repentance. They were baptised in Jordan, confessing their sins. Jesus had no need to confess, because He had no sin in Him. Then, why was Jesus baptised? Many people have given different views  in regard to the baptism of Jesus Christ. Many of such views have no backing scriptures to validate them.

A. Two Common Views about Jesus’ Baptism

1. He was identifying Himself with sinners or the remnants of godly Israel (Isa. 53:12 and 2 Cor. 5:21): However, prayerful and careful study of these two scriptures points to the suffering and death of Christ and its implication. Isaiah 53:12 speaks that by His death, Christ delivered mankind from Satan who held them captive. Christ not only died for man, but He also poured out His soul willingly. Being numbered with the sinners refers to being treated as a sinner and blasphemer, and that He was crucified together with sinners. His intercession for sinners began on the cross when He cried out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). According to 2 Corinthians 5:21, Christ became sin through His death on the cross. It is not His baptism that saves us, but we are made righteous and justified through His death (Rom.3:23-24). These two scriptures speak of the substitution suffering and death of Christ, not about His baptism.

2. It was His act of separation as He was entering His ministry as the Messiah: This sounds to be a convincing reason and explanation of the necessity of Christ’s baptism. However, the view lacks scriptural backing, for it is usually being explained as a revelation. However, as the Messiah, Jesus needed no water baptism of any sort because He already had the great anointing (Psa.45:7). He was anointed by the Holy Spirit far above any other ever lived or is to live.

B. Necessity of Jesus Christ’s Baptism

The writer of Psalm 110:4 prophetically explains that Jesus Christ is the High Priest of the order of Melchizedek. Jesus was the High priest from the tribe of Judah, not from Levi. According the Law of Moses, the person to assume the ministry of the High Priest should be 30 years of age (Num.4.3). This age was not prescribed for any other office in Israel. When Jesus came to be baptized he was about 30 years of age (Lk.3.23).

Thus, when Jesus told John to suffer Him be baptised, He was being obedient the law in order to fulfil all the righteousness (Mat. 3:15). His baptism was a consecration of a High Priest before he assumed his position. Christ was being obedient to the divine law required of a High Priest and all its consecrations. Dr. Silas C. Nair explains the fulfilling of the righteousness by Jesus, “He was born of a woman, born under the law. (Gal.4.4). He did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil it.  According to the Law of Moses, when Jesus entered his ministry as Priest this consecration of baptism was necessary.” Thus, Jesus fulfilled all righteousness that the law demanded (Matt.5.17). He was not simply conceding to a general tradition but submitting to an ordinance of God and is in this respect no exception. He belongs to this people and has come to fulfil the will of the Father. His death and resurrection fulfils all righteousness and demonstration of the works of the High Priest (Mat. 20:20). Thus His baptism points to his death and resurrection.  

C. Who Was Melchizedek?

Melchizedek (king of righteousness) was the king of Salem. All we know of him is recorded in Gen 14:18-20. He is subsequently mentioned only once in the Old Testament, in Ps 110:4. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrew sets details of typical significance of his history of Melchizedek (heb.7:1-28). This writer points out the superiority of his priesthood to that of Aaron in these several respects:

1. Even Abraham paid him tithes.
2. He blessed Abraham.
3. He is the type of a Priest who lives for ever.
4. Levi, yet unborn, in the person of Abraham paid Christ, yet not revealed, tithes in the person of Melchizedek.
5.  The permanence of his priesthood in Christ implied the abrogation of the Levitical system.
6. He was made priest not without an oath.
7. His priesthood can neither be transmitted nor interrupted by death.

D. Melchizedek’s Relationship with Christ

The question as to who this mysterious personage was has given rise to a great deal of modern speculation. It is an old tradition among the Jews that he was Shem, the son of Noah, who may have survived to this time. Melchizedek was a Canaanite prince, a worshipper of the true God and in his peculiar history and characters an instructive type of our Lord, the great High Priest (Heb. 5:6, 7; 6:20). By being type of Christ, it means that Christ’s priesthood is eternal, with eternal beginning and eternal ending. It is distinct from the priesthood order of Levi (Aaronic). The Aaronic order of priesthood had ending.

NB: One of the Amarna tablets is from Ebed-Tob, king of Jerusalem, the successor of Melchizedek, in which he describes the very attributes and dignity given to Melchizedek in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

E. Is Christ’s baptism a Christian Model? 

Was His baptism a model for Christian believers today? Dr. Silas Nair of Indus Bible College (India) writes, “The Baptism of Jesus is not Christian baptism. Christian baptism or believers' baptism is a symbol of death, burial and resurrection of a believer with Christ. "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism unto death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ‘For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection’ (Rom.6.4, 5). Therefore there is no relation between Christ’s baptism and Christian’s baptism.

F. Did Christ take any other baptisms? 

Jesus described His suffering and death in Jerusalem as Baptism. John and James wanted positions in His kingdom. Then Jesus spoke of the cup that he has to drink and the baptism to be baptized with, signifying again of his sufferings and death (Matt.20.20; Lk.12.50; Jn.18.11 etc.). He was going to suffer and die on behalf of sinners. He said, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify (Matt.20.18-19).