EXPLORE THE TEXT
Believers are called to demonstrate obedience through baptism by immersion.
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John
at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.
14 But John tried to stop him, saying,
“I need to be baptized by you,
and yet you come to me?”
15 Jesus answered him,
“Allow it for now, because this is the way for us
to fulfill all righteousness.”
Then John allowed him to be baptized.
16 When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water.
The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw
the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said,
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”
Explain the reasons for Jesus’s baptism, share the following information from pages 12-13 of the PSG:
Jesus, fully God and fully man, took this step
to identify with the sinfulness of humanity.
Jesus, who would be the sacrifice for sin, identified with sinners by being baptized as they were. .Jesus’s baptism demonstrated His commitment to fulfill the mission
for which He came into the world.
Thus it was also an act of obedience to the Father
and gives to us an example of obedience.
the phrase “went up” in verse 16.
This means Jesus actually went under the water.
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith
in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior,
it's
the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life,
and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
(See Acts 2:41-42; Romans 6:3-5.)
the Greek word for baptism (baptizo) means “to immerse.”
Note that this indicates full immersion is the proper mode of believers’ baptism.
Baptism is the visual representation of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ
and a believer’s willingness to identify with that.
Point to God’s words of affirmation.
Highlight the involvement of each member of the Trinity in this event.
He went up immediately from the water described Jesus rising out of the river.
After His baptism,
The Spirit of God came down like a dove.
This suggests no actual bird appeared, but the Spirit still made His presence felt in a real way.
The Father also spoke:
This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.
He would affirm Jesus in a similar way on two other occasions:
on the mountain of transfiguration (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35)
and a few days before the crucifixion (John 12:27).