When I was at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, one of my doctrine lecturers entered the room and posed a question. “Was Jesus sinless because he was God and couldn’t sin, or because he was human and chose, in perfect holiness, not to sin?” Debate raged as we talked ourselves in (ever decreasing) circles. At the end of the lesson, the lecturer told us that the answer to all good theological questions is “Yes.” Upon which, we all left the room realising how little we knew and how much yet there was to understand.
This was how I felt on Wednesday. I’ve recently reinvigorated my daily Bible reading (which had been flagging of late) with a Bible-in-One-Year Bible. Wednesday placed me in Matthew 3 and John baptising in the River Jordon. His message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (3:2) and then, “confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the Jordon River.” (3:6) When the teachers of the law come to watch, he tells them to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” (3:8).
Baptism is pivotal. It is heavily linked in this story to repentance, forgiveness of sins and turning to a fruitful life in obedience to God.
But Jesus had nothing to repent surely? So why, in verse 13 do we see that Jesus specifically came down from Galilee to be baptised by John? On top of that, Jesus came to be baptised “to fulfil all righteousness” (v15). It was something that had to be done.
Did Jesus have sins to repent? No. John himself recognises this when he tried to deter Jesus and says that he should be baptised by Jesus, not the other way around (v14).
So why all the bother?
Let’s consider what happens at Jesus’ baptism. John had told the teachers of the law that while he would baptise with water, one was coming who would baptise with Holy Spirit and fire (v11). This echoes the prophet Joel through whom God had said that he would pour out his spirit on all people (Joel 2:28). It also takes us to Ezekiel through whom God said “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you” (Ezekiel 36:25-26).
John immersed Jesus in the water and “at that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him” (Matt. 3:16).
People knew the prophecies of Joel and Ezekiel. They would have understood the significance of a baptism of water cleansing them of sin. They would have understood an outpouring of the spirit as a herald of the coming of the Lord.
And they did have sins to repent. And they did need to turn to the Lord in obedience. As do we.
Now imagine Jesus, speaking as God, had told his followers that everyone had to be baptised except himself because he was already perfect and sinless.
That would not have worked. It would not have fulfilled the righteousness of God that was needed in this moment. This was the first act of Jesus that announced the start of his ministry. In this moment, people needed to be shown who he was, and what they needed to do to truly repent and turn to God.
But there is more. Jesus was fully human and if he was to truly represent us, he had to identify with us. “Just as on the cross he was to be fully and ontologically identified with the sins of humankind, so it befitted him here, at the outset of his ministry, to set his hand to that awesome plough by undergoing its symbol and sacrament in the Jordon.” (Michael Greene, The Message of Matthew)
So, no, Jesus did not need to repent of any sins. But he did need – as fully God – to demonstrate the public fulfilment of cleansing by water and the spirit described by the prophets. He did need to provide his people with the example to follow in a way that made its’ significance understood. He did need to identify with his people – fully human – to show that he is our intercessor who can understand us and speak for us.
This is how we know that Jesus is the way to our salvation.
This is how we know he has compassion on us because he understands us and intercedes for us always.
I talked about this passage with my son. I reminded him that we lose a lot of understanding in scripture because the original audience was Jewish and living two thousand years ago. We don’t get the references so easily. And to be fair, until Jesus had died on the cross and been resurrected, neither did the disciples. And we remembered Acts 2:42 as the disciples “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching”. Jesus’ followers came together to discuss Jesus’ work and the teaching that he had passed on. It was meant to be dissected and discussed and understood. It’s important for us to understand what we believe and why we believe it.
Taking more of a dive into this passage, even to look into answers to just one question, is like diving into a warm sea. I recommend wading in. You never know what you might find but it will warm your skin and comfort your heart.
“How sweet are your words to my taste-sweeter than honey in my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103)