Commentaries:
John 3:23, Matthew 3:16, and Acts 8:38 give conclusive proof that the original method of baptism was by immersion. John needed an abundance of water to cover his followers completely. Jesus' example shows that He "came up . . . from the water" because He had been in it. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch "went down into the water." In addition, "baptize," from the Greek baptizo, means "to immerse," "plunge into" or "put into." Two entirely different words are used in the Greek text to refer to pouring (cheo) or sprinkling (rantizo).
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Basic Doctrines: Water Baptism
Related Topics:
This scene supplies us with two patterns. First, though Jesus did not need what it symbolically pictures, He went through a baptism to show an example of what others should do. To paraphrase His response to John, Jesus said, "Let's do it anyway because I have to show what a righteous man should do."
The second pattern is that God sent His Spirit. Christ did not need it—He had it from the beginning! God, however, gave Him a visible representation of it so that we learn that we will also receive the Spirit of God sometime after baptism.
John W. Ritenbaugh
You Must Be Born Again!
Related Topics:
Though He had never sinned, Jesus went through the rite of baptism "to fulfill all righteousness." He did everything a truly righteous man should do, so we could learn from Him. As our perfect example in all things (see I John 2:6; I Peter 2:21), He came to John to be baptized to show us the steps we must take to reach the same destination He did—the Kingdom of God.
Staff
Basic Doctrines: Water Baptism
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Daniel 9:25
Library resources that contain this verse:
E-mail this page
