Where In The Bible Will I Find:

Why Was Jesus Baptized?

Jesus came to the earth to do God's will - all of God's will. When Jesus came to John to be baptized, "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 fulfil all righteousness ... " (Matt. 3:14-15).

If Jesus had declined or refused to be baptized, as did the Pharisees and lawyers (Luke 7:29-30), He would have been disobedient to God and could not have fulfilled "all righteousness." John had been sent of God, and his baptism was commanded of God (Matt. 21:25); since Jesus came to do God's will, He must submit to John's baptism, as that was part of God's will.

If Jesus had obeyed every command of God except the one to be baptized, He would have been disobedient to the heavenly Father. So it is with us today, we can hear the gospel proclaimed, we can believe it, we can repent of our sins, we can confess Christ; but if we refuse His commandment to be immersed in water for the remission of sins, we have disobeyed God's will and if we should die in this condition we most surely will be lost.

Jesus went down into the water in the river Jordan with John, and John baptized Him, "And Jesus, when he was baptized went up straightway from the water," that is, Jesus came up out of the water after He had been baptized, "and praying," as Luke says (Luke 3:21); and "...the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him" (Matt. 3:16).

Jesus was not baptized for the remission of sins, as we must be, because He had no sins (Heb. 4:15). The Holy Spirit, through the apostle Paul, says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). Therefore, we are commanded, by Jesus, to be immersed in water in order that we may receive the remission of our sins and be saved (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21).

The Holy command of baptism is sanctified by the example of Jesus. First, baptism is a command of God, and second, God's Son and the world's Redeemer submitted to it. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were present at the baptism of Jesus. The Father in heaven spoke audibly to all present and said, "…This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17).

God sent the Spirit to Jesus and publicly confessed Him before the world after He was baptized. When we obey the command of God to be baptized, He confesses us as His children and adds us to His family, the church (Acts 2:47). We know that God, His Son, and Holy Spirit, and the angels in heaven witness the baptism of every one who obeys God, and that God is well pleased with the one who obeys Him. It should not matter to us what the world may think or say about baptism, since God is well pleased with people who obey His command to be baptized. We must not only believe but we must obey Him (Matt. 7:21).