Why was Jesus baptized?

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Paidion
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Re: Why was Jesus baptized?

Post by Paidion » Fri Aug 16, 2013 7:13 pm

I think I understand your point, Homer:

Ro 6:3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
1Co 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
Ga 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.


However, the main difference, as I think I stated in my last post, was the impartation of Christ's spirit, which couldn't be given as long as Christ's personality or spirit was confined to his mortal body.
As you have indicated, Christ had to die before a person could be baptized into his death.
Also Paul indicates above that to be baptized into one body, people were made to drink of the one spirit. Thus the spirit had to have come, and that only after Christ's death.
I'm not sure about the third—being baptized into Christ. The may have been possible while Christ was still on the earth bodily.

In any case, even though baptism was different after Christ's death, mainly in that the holy spirit was imparted to the baptizee, it still seems correct to call the baptism by John and the baptism by Christ (or to be specific, by his disciples) "Christian baptism", since John the baptizer was the forerunner of Christ and announced the Kingdom of God and preached repentance and baptism, and Christ also announced the Kingdom of God, and preached repentance and had his followers baptized. It was all about Christ, and was therefore Christian.
Paidion

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Homer
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Re: Why was Jesus baptized?

Post by Homer » Sat Aug 17, 2013 8:41 am

Hi Paidion,

You wrote:
However, the main difference, as I think I stated in my last post, was the impartation of Christ's spirit, which couldn't be given as long as Christ's personality or spirit was confined to his mortal body.
It seems to me the baptismal rite was the problem. The deficient baptism produced an incomplete result. Note the inadequacy and rejection of John's baptism:

Acts 19:1-7, New King James Version (NKJV)
1. And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2. he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

3. And he said to them, “Into (eis) what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into (eis)John’s baptism.”

4. Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

5. When they heard this, they were baptized in (eis) the name of the Lord Jesus. 6. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. 7. Now the men were about twelve in all.


Verse two assumes baptism upon belief, but it was evidently deficient in that there was no baptism "into" Christ, no mention of the Holy Spirit. Could this be support for Jesus' commission to baptize into the name of Father, Son, and Spirit? Also interesting that eis is once again mistranslated - why the change in verse 5?

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