Josiah Hall
Matthew 3:13-17 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
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Most often our first question when reading the passage about Jesus’s baptism is “why did Jesus have to get baptized?” Answering this question allows us to discern Matthew’s point in this passage.
First, Matthew clarifies that John’s baptism was preparatory; it was a baptism that was meant to accompany Israel’s repentance and thus signal their preparation for God’s act of restoration. In the OT prophets this act of restoration is often referred to as “the day of the Lord”, when God will pour out his Spirit on Israel, cleanse Israel from their sin, deliver them from foreign oppression, remove their suffering, and bring his blessings upon them (Joel 2 is a great example of a passage that summarizes these expectations). Matthew tells us that John’s baptism was to be accompanied by confession of sins and was to precede the purifying work of the Holy Spirit through the Messiah (3:11).
Second, John resists baptizing Jesus because he recognizes that he himself needs cleansing and that Jesus is the one who does not need, but who provides, this purifying work (3:14). In response, Jesus tells him that he must be baptized to “fulfill all righteousness” (3:15). Elsewhere in the Gospel, Matthew uses the term “righteousness” to describe “right moral conduct” (5:20; 6:1; 21:32) and God’s will for his people’s behavior in relationship to him (5:6, 10; 6:33; 21:32). It seems best to understand “righteousness” here in a similar manner, so that Jesus is baptized, not because he needs to repent, but because in doing so he fulfills the behavior God expects of his people.
Third, the divine voice of God’s delight in Jesus and the bestowal of God’s spirit confirm Jesus’s messianic vocation. God’s statement in 3:17 combines phrases from Ps 2:7 (“You are my Son”) and Isaiah 42:1 (“in whom my soul delights”). Psalm 2 was written to accompany the enthronement of Israel’s king; Isaiah 42 prophesies the coming of God’s servant upon whom God’s spirit will rest so that he can restore God’s covenant with his people and justice to the earth. The statement of the divine voice combines with the descent of the Spirit as a dove to confirm that Jesus is both Israel’s king and God’s servant who will purify Israel through the Spirit.
Because both Israel’s king and God’s servant were meant to represent Israel before God, Jesus was baptized both to fulfill the behavior expected of his people and as a sign that he is the one through whom God will act to restore his people. Our understanding of Christian baptism sees it as a “sign and seal” of “our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord’s” (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q 94). Jesus’s baptism clarifies that he is the one through whom God keeps his promises. Our baptism thus signifies and seals to us that in Christ we are united to Christ and share in all the benefits which God has promised to his people in Christ.