Why was Jesus baptized?

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Hi,

What was the purpose of Jesus’ baptism? Of course He was without Original Sin, so that wasn’t the reason. Then why should Christ be baptized at all? Was it for cultural significance?

Peace.
 
The reason for his baptism was to set an example and call people to repent of their sins. His baptism was symbolic.

It forshadows the baptisms that we celebrate today.
 
Was there a Jewish baptism ritual? Did it have some meaning? I think that would touch on this question as well…
 
The_Scott said:
Hi,

What was the purpose of Jesus’ baptism? Of course He was without Original Sin, so that wasn’t the reason. Then why should Christ be baptized at all? Was it for cultural significance?

Peace.
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The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance, not of forgiveness. It would have no effect on the forgiveness of Original Sin.
Acts 19:
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While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
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They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
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So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
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“John’s baptism,” they replied.
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Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
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The Sacramental Baptism was by Paul not by John. We also have that Jesus baptized in John 4:1
The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John,
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I think the reason for Jesus baptism was to publicly begin his ministry and to obey the will of the one who sent him.
 
The Bible says:
13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:13-15)

29The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, for he was before me.' 31I myself did not know him; but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." 32And John bore witness, "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. 33I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29-34)

From The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC):
105. Why did Jesus receive from John the “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3)?

To inaugurate his public life and to anticipate the “Baptism” of his death, he who was without sin accepted to be numbered among sinners. He was “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The Father proclaimed him to be his “beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17) and the Spirit descended upon him. The baptism of Jesus is a prefiguring of our baptism. See CCC 535-537, 565.
 
On a personal note, I like to think of Jesus’ baptism as our call to repentance. From there, we receive our sacramental baptism that washes us of our sinful inheritance (a breaking from our sinful heritage per se).

John the Baptist calls us to repentance and Jesus provided the means by which we can accomplish it. Even John the Baptist understood that his baptism was not sacramental because with the advent of Jesus, he stated the “he must increase and I must decrease.” We should all be so graceful.

On another note, and I know I’m going off on a tangent, but here’s a trivial, but curious question. Because Jesus was all Holy, did His baptism make the water holy??? This question was posed to me by my priest. I’m not meaning to begin a theological debate - I just thought it was an intriguing thought. God Bless.

CSJ
 
CSJ said:
On another note, and I know I’m going off on a tangent, but here’s a trivial, but curious question. Because Jesus was all Holy, did His baptism make the water holy??? This question was posed to me by my priest. I’m not meaning to begin a theological debate - I just thought it was an intriguing thought. God Bless.

CSJ
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At that time in history there were many preachers similar to John that held cleansing rituals as symbolic of a change in their follower’s lives. John was not unusual in this regard.

I love this idea that Jesus blessed the water. The water evaporated and could be carried all over the world making every body of water blessed by Jesus’ presence. Cool idea!
 
This is a minor point compared to the ones already brought up, but if you look at the entire life of Jesus as given to us in the New Testament one notices that He participated in the rituals common to His people. As an infant He was presented in the temple, we know He was at the synagogue from time to time, He was at the wedding in Cana, He was baptized, and presumably He took part in other common rituals not explicitly mentioned. I have always thought that these moments were His way of sanctifying our religious practice. It is sort of like Him encouraging us to take part in our religious traditions because if they are not beneath God then they are beneath no one.
 
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