Why Was Jesus Baptized?

While having a discussion with a man a couple of weeks ago, he said something that I’ve heard for a long time from a lot of people. He said that we have to be water baptized because Jesus was water baptized. The mentality is that Jesus was setting an example for us to follow. Well, that does sound good, upstanding, and even logical; that is until you examine it by the plain, simple truth of the scriptures. Jesus made it clear that he had not “come to destroy the law, or the prophets,” saying, “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Mat. 5:17). So then the question becomes, WHY did he come to fulfill the law? The apostle Paul explained: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be FULFILLED IN US, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3,4). So the righteousness that the law symbolized and typified was not available to dwell in the hearts and souls of those who were under that covenant, and Jesus came to make a way for that to change. It’s that simple. The apostle again explains: “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). And once more: “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for IF there had been a law given which could have GIVEN LIFE, verily RIGHTEOUSNESS should have been by the law” (Gal. 3:21). Jesus also spoke to this point when he said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10).

So righteousness equals life, and sin equals death; and Jesus came to turn the tables on sin and death, to grant righteousness and eternal life to mankind (Prov. 12:28; Rom. 6:23). To confirm that we go back to the apostle Paul: “For the law of the SPIRIT OF LIFE in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). So what we have seen from the scriptures is this: Jesus came to make a way for the Spirit of God to dwell in us, so that we could have the righteousness of the law of God FULFILLED in us; which righteousness is life, and cancels out death. As Romans 8:2 has shown us clearly, we have God’s Spirit in us IF we are IN CHRIST. So then, the big question is, How do we get INTO Christ? “For by one SPIRIT are we all BAPTIZED INTO one body [Of Christ], whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (I Cor. 12:13). We see the same truth projected clearly in Romans 6:3, and Galatians 3:27. The baptism of the holy Ghost is what imparts the righteousness of God into our hearts, fulfilling the old covenant law in us, and giving us divine, eternal life. Paul quoted Jeremiah in confirming this spiritual reality: “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws INTO THEIR HEARTS, and in their minds will I write them” (Heb. 10:14-16). Now let’s go back to Jesus coming to fulfill the law.

In order to fulfill the law, and provide that fulfillment for us, Jesus had to keep every aspect OF the law. And in the meantime let’s note that anything that is fulfilled is no longer in effect. For example, the old testament prophecies of Jesus coming to this world the first time are no longer in effect because he HAS come. The old testament prophecies of God turning to the Gentiles are no longer in effect because he already turned to the Gentiles almost two thousand years ago. In fact the ceremonial law under the old covenant was altogether a prophecy because it projected through natural symbols and shadow types what Jesus was going to establish after a spiritual order (Heb. 9:7,12,19-23; Heb. 10:1; Col. 2:16,17). Speaking of the ceremonial law with regard to Jesus fulfilling it, the apostle Paul explained: “He TAKETH AWAY the first [covenant], that he may establish the second [covenant]” (Heb. 10:9). Again said the same: “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13). And driving home the point firmly, he said in another place, “For Christ is the END of the [ceremonial] law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4). So nothing in the ceremonial law is any longer in effect because it has been taken away by the establishment of the new covenant, which new covenant IS THE FULFILLMENT of the old covenant. Jesus kept ALL of the ceremonial law so that we could have what it symbolized, which is the fulfilling righteousness of God dwelling IN US by means of his Spirit, which gives life to the heart and soul (Rom. 14:17). Jesus was circumcised so that we could have the circumcision of the heart, and so that we would not have to be circumcised in the flesh (Col. 2:11).

Jesus kept the Passover so that we could have the fulfilling Passover, which is him in us (I Cor. 5:7). Jesus was the lamb of God so that we would no longer have to offer lambs for sacrifice. So the only question that remains is whether water baptism was an ordinance of the ceremonial law or not. Well, it did symbolize and typify what Jesus was going to provide after a spiritual order. John the Baptist, who was given water baptism by God, said the same: “I indeed have baptized you with water: BUT he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost” (Mk. 1:8). However the clincher came from the mouth of Jesus WHEN he came to John to be baptized: “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to FULFILL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS. Then he suffered him” (Mat. 3:13-15). Jesus plainly told John that his baptism was an ordinance of the law, which law he came to fulfill. So it is clear that Jesus was baptized for the same reason that he was circumcised, and for the same reason that he kept the feast days, and for the same reason that he kept ALL of the ceremonial law. And that reason was so that “the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:2). Thereby being fulfilled, these things are no longer in effect in their natural form. So as it turns out, Jesus was water baptized so that we could be spiritually baptized, and NOT HAVE TO BE water baptized. For us to keep a dead, fulfilled ordinance of the law at this point, is to confuse what Jesus lived, died, and rose again for; and to disesteem the baptism that he purchased for us with the price of his life. Amen.