nico1089:
Jesus did not need to repent anything. The original question just made me curious. It seems that Jesus accepted John’s baptism as valid, and i would think that John baptized in God’s name, he may have said the Father. He understood that Jesus could have baptized him, so i would think that baptizing in the name of Jesus would be valid, as Jesus is also the Father and Holy Spirit. It seems to me that baptisim in any part of the Trinity would be baptism in the whole.–nicolo
No, Jesus is not “also the Father and the Holy Spirit”; the Persons of the Trinity are distinct within the Godhead.
The baptisms that John performed were valid insofar as they were the “mikveh”, a ritualistic bath which was a common “rite” in Jewish worship. However, in the case of the baptism of John, he was applying the mikveh in a particular sense: a sense of conversion TO Judaism. What do I mean by this? Quite simply, when one becomes a Jew (even today, in Orthodox Judaism), one has his head shaved and his fingernails and toenails closely cut - as if one is a baby again; and one is immersed into the “mikveh” (the ritualistic bath) so as to emerge and be “reborn” as a Jew. This is exactly what John was doing as the precursor to the Messiah.
The baptism of John set up only a provisional economy: it is "a baptism of water which is preparatory to the Messianic baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire,” Xavier Leon-Dufour, Dictionary of Biblical Theology. It was an external ritual signifying an effort of conversion of the baptized (much as many Protestant denominations look upon baptism today).
For 2000 years God has asked the people of Israel to keep faith with His Commandments, and for 2000 years the Israelites had failed to do this. Yet, now St. John comes along preaching a baptism of repentance to prepare for the Messiah. Here, what St. John is saying is: “Okay, everybody! Come on back! Become REAL Jews and truly commit yourself to the Jewish Covenant to which you have been unfaithful. THIS is what is mean by the “baptism of John” – a baptism into Judaism, into the Jewish Covenant – in preparation for the Messiah’s coming.
However, Jesus’ Baptism will do something greater. It will be the Baptism into a New Covenant established by Him. It will bring the baptized into Communion with the Divine Persons of the Most Holy Trinity; and it is a Baptism into His Church. Here, we must remember that the Greek work for “Church” (Ekklesia) means “those who are called out” – that is, out of Judaism, out of the old Covenant of law and into the New Covenant of love. Thus the Church will be that remnant of Israel which, along with the Gentiles, will accept Jesus as their Messiah and King.
