Why was Jesus baptized?

[wwalkeriv]

Can anyone point me to a discussion on this topic? Or, care to discuss here?

[mattrose]

Can anyone point me to a discussion on this topic? Or, care to discuss here?

I've heard a number of answers to this question...

1--It was a sign that his ministry was beginning
2--It was an endorsement of John’s ministry
3--It was identification with humanity
4--It was an example for us to follow
5--It was a demonstration of God’s nature (Father, Son & Spirit)

I'd say it was primarily a combo of 3 and 4. Jesus said, "it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." 1, 2 & 5 were results... but 3 and 4 were the reasons he was baptized in the first place.

[wwalkeriv]

What's confusing to me is that John the Baptist was preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

[mattrose]

What's confusing to me is that John the Baptist was preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

I understand. Since John was preaching a baptism for the remission of sins... why would a sinless Jesus get baptized?

A non-Christian answer would be seemingly simple: Jesus must not have been sinless, so the baptism makes all sorts of sense

But Christians insist on the sinlessness of Jesus, so we must come up with some other explanation

I think Jesus, though sinless, got baptized anyways BECAUSE he was identifying with our fallen nature and setting an example for us to follow.

[Paidion]

I think I have discovered the reason Jesus was baptized. But first we need to examine a few scriptures.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” (Mark 1:1-3 ESV)

In verse 1, Mark is not announcing that he is beginning his "gospel". Indeed Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not called "gospels" at all in the first and second century. In the second century, they were called "the memoirs of Christ".
No, Mark is announcing that he is about to relate the very beginning of the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. First he quotes from Isaiah, who prophesies the coming of John the Baptizer, who will announce God's Messenger, the Son of God. Next, Mark makes this stunning annoucement (according to most translations of Mark 1:4):

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (ESV)

But did John, indeed, do that? Do we find anything, anything at all, in the words of John the Baptizer that he ever said a word about the forgiveness of sins? Mark then stated that John baptized people who confessed their sins, but didn't say a whole lot more about John the Baptizer.

Matthew had a fuller description of John the Baptizer's message:

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:1-12 ESV)

John asked them to repent. He told the Pharisees and Sadducees to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. He stated that he baptized for repentance. He warned them that every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. But did John say anything at all about forgiveness? Clearly no. So was Mark wrong (Mark 1:4). Not at all. It is the translators that are wrong. The Greek noun ἀφεσις (aphesis) does not always mean "forgiveness". For example, in the following passage, it cannot mean "forgiveness":

The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim ἀφεσις to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to send away in ἀφεσις those who are oppressed... (Luke 4:18)

Did He procaim FORGIVENESS to the captives? Did He send away the oppressed in FORGIVENESS? No. The captives and the oppressed need release, not forgiveness. It's the oppressors who need forgiveness (after they repent, or course). So He proclaimed RELEASE to the captives. He sent away the oppressed with release from their oppression.

The verbal form of ἀφεσις is ἀφιημι (aphiāmi). Sometimes it means to forgive, but much more often it means to "leave" or "forsake". Here are just a few examples:

Mt 4:11 Then the devil left (ἀφιημι) him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to him.
Mt 4:20 Immediately they left (ἀφιημι) their nets and followed him.
Mt 4:22 Immediately they left (ἀφιημι) the boat and their father, and followed him.
Mt 5:24 Leave (ἀφιημι) your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
Mt 13:36 Then he left (ἀφιημι) the crowds and went into the house.

I said the word often means "leave" or "forsake". According to the Merian-Webster dictionary, "forsake" means "to renounce or turn away from entirely".

So John the Baptizer baptized "for the ἀφεσις of sin", that is, "for the forsaking of sins" or "for the renouncing of sin" or "for entirely turning away from sin".
This was the purpose of John baptizing so that all whom he would baptize would turn away from sin. That's why he enjoined the Pharisees to "bear fruit in keeping with repentance."
So Jesus, too, was baptized for the renouncing of sin. True, He never sinned, but in being baptized "for entirely turning away from sin" meant that He was renouncing it so that it never WOULD touch Him.
That's why He said, "It is fitting that we fulfill all righteousness" or "It is obvious that we fulfill all righteousness". Notice Jesus doesn't say "I" but "we". All who were baptized were to renounce sin. Those who sinned needed to leave behind their sin and forsake it, and thus fullfill righteousness. Jesus, who never sinned, needed to entirely dismiss sin, keep it far from Him so that it could never touch Him.

Jesus was fully a human being. He COULD HAVE sinned, but He always chose not to do so, but to follow His heavenly Father completely, and remain under His Father's authority, and do His Father's will at all times.

[wwalkeriv]

Thank you both for your responses. I am still digesting them. It appears the word aphesis is also used in Luke 3:3 in reference to John the Baptist.

[Singalphile]

Interesting. And what does this tell us about our reasons for being baptized or the effect of it, I wonder ... but I don't have time to think now.

[Homer]

Interesting, but Jesus' baptism (or "John's" baptism) was not Christian baptism, which, in addition to repentance, also has the meaning of faith in Christ.

[Paidion]

John's proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom, including his baptizing of people was "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ."(Mark 1:1) How much more Christian can you get than that?

However, there WAS a difference in baptism after the day of Pentecost—the Spirit of Christ was imparted. While Christ still lived on earth as a man, his spirit or personality was confined to his body. But afterward Christ and the Father came to dwell with the disciples as He promised (John 14:23). This first occurred on that special day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. As Jesus said, He had to depart this life in order that his spirit or personality could come to them. Of course both Jesus and His Father share the same spirit. They are fully One and united.

The gospel of the kingdom is the same gospel that persists to this day. "Repent and be baptized". Have a change of heart and mind concerning the way you have been living, submit to the authority of Christ, and trust (have faith) that Christ will deliver you from sin (actual deliverance and not a mere covering).

[Homer]

Doesn't "Christian" baptism entail being "baptized into Christ's death"? How would this be done prior to His death, especially when those doing the baptizing and those being baptized were ignorant of His coming death and resurrection? How were they baptized into (eis) Christ?