Christ's Baptism

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Why was Christ baptized? I have my thoughts, but I’d like to hear other’s opinions 🙂 Is there an official teaching?
 
Matthew’s Gospel tell us. 3:11-17 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals, I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear this threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, TO BE BAPTIZED BY HIM. John would of prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us TO FULFIL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, " This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

So, baptism fulfills all righteousness … w/o which no one will see God. Just as Christ pleased the Father by his obedience, we must also desire/accept baptism by water in order for the Spirit of God to descend upon us. As Christ later taught, we MUST BE BORN OF WATER & HIS SPIRIT.
 
Here is some commentary from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
vatican.va/archive/catechism/p122a3p3.htm#III

**The baptism of Jesus **

535 Jesus’ public life begins with his baptism by John in the Jordan. John preaches “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”. A crowd of sinners - tax collectors and soldiers, Pharisees and Sadducees, and prostitutes- come to be baptized by him. “Then Jesus appears.” The Baptist hesitates, but Jesus insists and receives baptism. Then the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes upon Jesus and a voice from heaven proclaims, “This is my beloved Son.” This is the manifestation (“Epiphany”) of Jesus as Messiah of Israel and Son of God.

**536 **The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God’s suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. Already he is anticipating the “baptism” of his bloody death. Already he is coming to “fulfil all righteousness”, that is, he is submitting himself entirely to his Father’s will: out of love he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins. The Father’s voice responds to the Son’s acceptance, proclaiming his entire delight in his Son. The Spirit whom Jesus possessed in fullness from his conception comes to “rest on him”. Jesus will be the source of the Spirit for all mankind. At his baptism “the heavens were opened” - the heavens that Adam’s sin had closed - and the waters were sanctified by the descent of Jesus and the Spirit, a prelude to the new creation.

537 Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father’s beloved son in the Son and “walk in newness of life”:
*Let us be buried with Christ by Baptism to rise with him; let us go down with him to be raised with him; and let us rise with him to be glorified with him. * (St. Gregory Nazianzus)

Everything that happened to Christ lets us know that, after the bath of water, the Holy Spirit swoops down upon us from high heaven and that, adopted by the Father’s voice, we become sons of God. (St. Hilary of Poitiers)
 
John’s baptism was not Christian baptism, it was mikvah, a ritual bathing which was an established part of Jewish life. One received mikvah to remove ritual uncleanness, also to prepare for a mission/consecrate oneself to God’s service. Jesus’ Baptism initiates His public ministry.

John was the last prophet of the Old Covenant, pointing to the New. Jesus, of course, is the New Covenant, fulfillment of every iota of the Old. The link between the two is fused here at the Lord’s Baptism, with the explicit pronouncement of the Almighty.
 
:nope:
NHInsider said:
John’s baptism was not Christian baptism,
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:nope:

Christ sent John to perform his ‘efficacious’ water baptism. And, yes… Christ made it efficacious ---- as John acknowledged.

John’s disciples ultimately became Christ’s disciples. Did Christ REBAPTIZE John’s disciples & laity … in WATER ? :nope:

Did He baptize them with his Spirit & Fire ? :yyeess:
 
brb3 said:
:nope:

:nope:

Christ sent John to perform his ‘efficacious’ water baptism. And, yes… Christ made it efficacious ---- as John acknowledged.
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How so?
John’s disciples ultimately became Christ’s disciples. Did Christ REBAPTIZE John’s disciples & laity … in WATER ? :nope:
Click to expand...
Did He baptize them with his Spirit & Fire ? :yyeess:
Click to expand...
Do we know for certain that He did not baptise them? The gospels explicitly do not record all of His acts.

We do know that at least some of those who were baptised by John were baptised later by the Apostles (Acts 19)

Apparently this is an old debate detailed in the Summa, so no reason to think we’ll sort it out here. . . .
newadvent.org/summa/4038.htm#article3
 
NHInsider said:
Do we know for certain that He did not baptise them? The gospels explicitly do not record all of His acts.

We do know that at least some of those who were baptised by John were baptised later by the Apostles (Acts 19)
Click to expand...
Yes, this is a fair reading of scripture. John’s Gospel tells us the Christ did not Baptize others with WATER. He did however breathe his H.S. into them.

In turn, the Apostles & disciples were instructed to perform the water Baptisms … and Christ annointed all the ‘duly baptized’ with H.S. and Fire … per John the Baptizer’s testimony.
 
In Matthew’s account, Jesus was Baptized, and then immediately started preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. The theme of Matthew’s Gospel is, of course, the Kingdom of Heaven, and Matthew goes to great lengths to establish Jesus as the Davidic King. He first presents the legal lineage, showing that Jesus has a right to the claim. In the infancy narrative, Jesus is identified as a King by the wise men from the East. The baptism, too has Davidic significance. If you go back to 1 Kings, King Solomon (a type of Christ) is taken to a river (Gihon) and anointed by Nathan the Prophet in the Presence of a Priest. Jesus goes to a river (Jordan) and is anointed by John the Baptist (a Prophet of a Priestly line–remember his father was a Priest). Jesus was being anointed King. At least that is one of the reasons for the Baptism.
 
StTommyMore said:
In Matthew’s account, Jesus was Baptized, and then immediately started preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. The theme of Matthew’s Gospel is, of course, the Kingdom of Heaven, and Matthew goes to great lengths to establish Jesus as the Davidic King. He first presents the legal lineage, showing that Jesus has a right to the claim. In the infancy narrative, Jesus is identified as a King by the wise men from the East. The baptism, too has Davidic significance. If you go back to 1 Kings, King Solomon (a type of Christ) is taken to a river (Gihon) and anointed by Nathan the Prophet in the Presence of a Priest. Jesus goes to a river (Jordan) and is anointed by John the Baptist (a Prophet of a Priestly line–remember his father was a Priest). Jesus was being anointed King. At least that is one of the reasons for the Baptism.
Click to expand...
Excellent exegesis of scriptures 👍
 
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