The Baptism of Jesus

INTRODUCTION:

We’re studying the life of Jesus for 2026. Have you ever seen Jesus do or say something totally unexpected?

Jesus is great at shocking people or blowing up their paradigms. Has that been true in your life?

Have you ever read the Bible and thought, “he said WHAT!?”

Whenever Jesus does something that takes you by surprise you’ll be confronted with a choice of where you go from there.

You can reject Jesus because he doesn’t fit your mold. Or, you can accept it and reframe your understanding.

It’s like walking into the light after being in the dark for a really long time. At first, it’s really bright and can even hurt your eyes. But after your eyes adjust that dissonance goes away.

I think that will happen as we study the life of Jesus in 2026.

Jesus will say and do things that take you by surprise.

The question for us is whether or not we’re willing to adjust our framework.

Today’s passage is a wonderful example and unique opportunity to apply this principle.

Today’s text explores the baptism of Jesus..

Set the Table

This story is recorded in all four Gospels and precedes the ministry of John the Baptist.

You won’t understand the ministry of Jesus apart from the ministry of John.

The message of John the Baptist was to “repent for the Kingdom of heaven is ‘at hand.’” (Mat 3:2)

That “God’s Kingdom” was arriving wasn’t controversial. That repentance and baptism were needed to be ready, WAS controversial to John’s original audience.

Baptism was a Jewish custom but not for ethnic Jews. It was usually for Gentile converts coming into Judaism.

For John to say that ALL people should be baptized for repentance would’ve implied their ethnicity wasn’t “good enough.”

Last week, we ended with a contrast between two baptisms: John’s Baptism and the “one who was to come.”

John’s baptism was through water for repentance, the coming one would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John didn’t yet know it, but he was paving the way for Jesus.

The one that he saw coming, had been born into the world and was growing up in Nazareth in the home of his relative Mary.

More ironic than that, the one for whom John had commited his ministry, was about to stand before him in the river to be baptized.

Jesus was about to do something that took John by surprise. How he would respond was a matter of life and death. The same is true for us.

How you respond to the unexpected says a lot about your faith.

Read The Text

With that in mind let’s read our passage.

Matthew 3:13–17 CSB

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.”

Jesus comes from Galilee to John at the Jordan. This was a four to six day trip spanning 60 or so miles. (Show Map)

Most people assume Jesus and John were cousins. John lived in the wilderness and had been preaching for many years. Jesus grew up in Nazareth and was about to begin HIS ministry.

Growing up in different areas, this might have been their first face to face.

We know from John’s Gospel that he didn’t KNOW who Messiah was. All John knew is that he was sent by God to prepare the way.

The Pharisees actually press him on his authority to baptize. “If you aren’t Messiah, Elijah or the Prophet what gives you this right?” (John 1:25) His response? “Messiah is already here… you don’t know who he is but my ministry will set the stage.” (John 1:26-27)

In fact, it wasn’t until AFTER Jesus’ baptism that John put everything together. (John 1:31-34)

John 1:31–34 CSB

31 I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him. 33 I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

Understanding Jesus

To make sense of Jesus we must understand his baptism.

The baptism of Jesus is the groundwork for his public ministry.

It’s presented in all four of the NT Gospels.

The ministry of Jesus begins…

With him going “under the water.”

With the Spirit “descending like a dove.”

With God the Father saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

It follows with Jesus’ temptation for 40 days in the wilderness.

WHY WAS JESUS BAPTIZED?

One of the questions that has challenged Bible readers is WHY Jesus was baptized. Even John raises the question. Mat 3:14

Matthew 3:14 CSB

14 But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”

John’s question reveals he knew Jesus was special. (They may have never met but he knew that much face to face)

He raises the question ANY Christian would ask, “Why do you want to be baptized? You should baptize me!”

Remember, John’s baptism was all about repentance.

Those who came to be baptized were “confessing their sins.” (Mat 3:6) The essence of repentance is turning away from sin.

In Jesus, you have a man without sin standing in the water with a man who had sinned asking to be baptized with a baptism for sinners. It’s unexpected!

By the way, that Jesus was sinless is clearly taught in Scripture. It’s been core to Christian orthodoxy from the start.

Yet, one third of US adults say “Jesus was a human who sinned like other people.” One fifth of those “Scripturally engaged.” (SOTB, 2022)

Hebrews 4:15 says “Jesus was tempted in every way that we are but was without sin.”

This is one of MANY passages that affirm the same. (John 8:46; Rom 8:3; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 1:18-19; 2:22; 1 John 3:5; Heb 7:26-27)

Jesus’ baptism wasn’t for sin because he was sinless.

The moral character of Jesus is probably what moved John to raise the question. “Jesus, how can you confess sins you do not have? How can you repent when you’re already going the right direction?”

The early church wrestled with this question and commentators have studied it from the very beginning of the Christian movement.

To Fulfill All Righteousness

If Jesus’ baptism was NOT for repentance then what was the reason he told John to allow it?

Jesus gives us the answer in Matthew 3:15. They’re the first words of Jesus’ mouth in the Gospel of Matthew. (not hello/how dare you/God loves you)

Matthew 3:15 CSB

15 Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Every one of those words is pregnant with significance. You won’t understand Jesus baptism without understanding these words.

These words define the life-mission of Jesus. All of his teaching, all of his miracles, his death and resurrection - everything was in order to “fulfill all righteousness.”

Remember, words are defined by their “context” not our experience / the dictionary.

The world fulfill (plēroō). It means to “satisfy, fill completely, realize, bring to pass.” Imagine a cup of water filled to brim. Or the feeling you get when your belly is full.

Matthew has already used this word many times before. It’s usually in reference to OT prophecy. (Matthew 1:22; 2:15, 17, 23). He’ll do the same thing later on. (Matt 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:4; 26:54, 56; 27:9)

Satisfy God’s Standard

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus applies it to “Law and the prophets.” (Mat 5:17)

It’s in that same context that the word “righteousness” is used again.

Matthew 5:17 CSB

17 “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

He goes on to say that not a dot or a letter of the law will pass away until “all things are accomplished.” (Mat 5:18)

Jesus’ baptism was to satisfy righteousness.

If the word “fulfill” means to complete or fill up, how does Jesus’ baptism fulfill “righteousness?”

“What IS righteousness?” as Matthew understands it?

If you keep reading in Matthew 5 after Jesus makes the statement about “fulfilling the Law and the Prophets” he goes on to make the claim that one’s righteousness must EXCEED that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Mat 5:20

Matthew 5:20 CSB

20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

The Greek word translated “righteousness” isn’t limited to moral excellence. It’s more than “doing good things” and “not doing bad things.”

We all know you can do “good things” for the “wrong reasons” and still not be righteous.

The best way to understand righteousness is “being right in EVERY way.”

Something is “righteous” when it adheres to that which is required. Righteousness is “meeting the standard” or fulfilling the expectation.

And notice Jesus says ALL righteousness not just righteousness in a certain domain.

In that way you might say “righteousness” is “right standing before God.” It’s something that God looks at and says, “This is how it’s meant to be.”

So Jesus is essentially telling John, “Even though I am your moral superior, my baptism by you will be pleasing in the eyes of God. God will look upon us and say “This is what is right.”

And that’s exactly what happens with a literal voice from heaven.

Baptism as a Symbol

So if Jesus’ baptism was to “satisfy righteousness,” in what way does his baptism accomplish that goal?

To answer that question you must understand two things: the history of Israel and the meaning of baptism.

Let’s begin with the history of Israel. Because Matthew has been showing this again and again.

Because we’re not Jewish we don’t spot the allusions but once you see them you know exactly what Matthew is doing.

Remember how Matthew uses the word “fulfill” to describe OT prophecy? In doing so he shows how Jesus retells the story of Israel.

We saw this in Jesus’ genealogy, his conception, and birth but those were all focused on his work as God’s Messiah.

In Matthew 2:15 he quotes Hosea 11:1 which is addressed to Israel as a nation and holy people. In other words, not only is Jesus the Messiah, he’s reliving the story of Israel in the Old Testament.

In other words, Jesus baptism is a symbol for something bigger.

In chapter 4, Matthew does the same thing after Jesus’ baptism. Jesus goes into the wilderness for 40 days of testing.

Jesus faces the same temptations that Israel did in the wilderness. Where Israel failed temptation, Jesus overcame. The same kind of allusions harken back to the Garden of Eden. Jesus is the true and greater Adam. The true and greater Israel.

In Matthew 5 Jesus gives the “Sermon on the Mount.” He explains and applies the New Covenant Law of God. Who does that sound like? Moses! God’s chosen leader through the Exodus. Jesus is the greater Moses who speaks a greater word.

Jesus Stands

Jesus’ baptism is a symbol of what he came to do. He stands in line to be baptized because he came to take the place of sinners.

In every place that sinners fall, Jesus came to stand. His baptism symbolizes his mission in that way.

Jesus stands in the place of sinners.

Not only does Jesus stand in the place of Adam and Moses. He stands to take the place of every sinner who has ever sinned.

That’s why Jesus tells John, “Permit this for now. This baptism will show God’s perfect righteousness. Even though I don’t require it, I’ll undergo it in their place.”

Jesus has come to identify with us in our suffering and our sin. He walked upon this earth to face the sufferings that WE face. He was tempted in every way that we were but without sin.

The theological word for this is “substitutionary atonement.” It was implied behind the sacrifices Israel made in their worship of God.

Salvation Through Judgment

But Jesus’ baptism doesn’t just symbolize substitution. His baptism also is a symbol of deliverance.

The Jewish customs around baptism had theological implications.

It symbolized death and rebirth and conversion to the true God.

It symbolized cleaning from sin and the removal of idolatry.

But it was also a symbol of salvation through judgement.

You see the New Testament authors use this language all the time. They recast big acts of judgment through the language of baptism.

For example Peter describes Noah’s flood waters as the waters of baptism. 1 Peter 3:20-21

1 Peter 3:20–21 CSB

20 who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. In it a few—that is, eight people—were saved through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

The waters of baptism were judgment on the wicked but for those in the Ark it was a means of deliverance.

The Apostle Paul does the same for the waters of the Red Sea during the flight from Egypt. 1 Cor 10:1-2

1 Corinthians 10:1–2 CSB

1 Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

Again, the waters of baptism were judgement on the Egyptians but salvation for the people of Isreal.

Why? Because of their union with the covenant mediator. Noah’s family was saved through faith in Noah. Israel was saved through following Moses.

Notice also the union language that Paul applies to this experience. They were baptized INTO Moses.

They were dying to their former life as slaves to Pharoah and Egypt and being reborn into a new life that would take them to the Promised Land. All of this presuming they kept following God’s covenant leader.

You see this dynamic again as the cross the Jordan River. Except this time the leader is Joshua instead of Moses. (Joshua 3-4)

Jesus Saves

Jesus is a greater Moses, a greater Noah, and a greater Joshua. As such, his baptism brings a greater deliverance.

According to Matthew, Jesus was born to save God’s people from their SIN. (Mat 1:21)

If Noah’s judgment was the flood and Egypt’s judgment was the Red Sea, what is the judgment that Jesus saves us from?

Paul describes this judgment in his theology of baptism. Rom 6:3-4

Romans 6:3 CSB

3 Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

The judgment we escaped was God’s judgment at the death of Jesus. This is even how Jesus understood his own death.

Luke 12:50 CSB

50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how it consumes me until it is finished!

When the disciples are vying for status in Jesus’ kingdom he mentions the suffering his baptism would require. Mark 10:38

Mark 10:38 CSB

38 Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

The baptism that would save us would entail a cup of God’s wrath. God’s wrath on every sinner and sin that had been committed.

Baptism shows how Jesus saves sinners from the coming judgment.

The New Testament really has two baptisms for Jesus. John’s baptism in the Jordan and Jesus’ baptism on the cross.

We are saved through Jesus’ death just like every baptism that came before: through faith in God’s covenant and the work of God’s mediator.

They were baptized into Noah by trusting in the Ark.

They were baptized into Moses by following him into the dessert.

We are baptized into Christ by trusting in his atoning death and victorious resurrection.

We’re saved from that judgment we deserve through union with Jesus who saves us from that judgment.

This is something that comes through repentance and faith. Baptism is an external symbol of that reality. That’s why it’s reserved for those professing faith.

You go under the water to die to sin and death. You come up out of the water to live a resurrection life.

All of this comes through the work of the Holy Spirit. Which is exactly where Matthew turns next.

Jesus Seals

I mentioned last week that Jesus’ baptism has two elements: the Holy Spirit and fire. (Mat 3:11)

Jesus underwent the fire of God’s wrath so that we could receive new life through the Holy Spirit.

That’s exactly what we see when Jesus comes up from the water. Matthew 3:16-17

Matthew 3:16 CSB

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.

This sign from the Holy Spirit was confirmation for John that Jesus was Messiah and God’s kingdom had arrived.

Nobody else’s baptism produced this kind of result. Jesus’ baptism was categorically different.

John was not able to baptize with the Spirit. Jesus alone could offer that kind of gift.

Jesus baptism was a sign that he was sealed by the Holy Spirit.

This imagery resurfaces at the beginning of the book of Acts.

After Jesus’ ascension he tells them to wait for the Father’s promise.

“John baptized you with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.” (Acts 1:5)

Jesus baptism foreshadows this event. Everything Jesus did he did empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus promises that same power would empower them for mission. (Acts 1:8) That’s exactly what happens a few days later.

In all of these ways, Jesus baptism is a symbol of the promised Spirit.

Jesus Submits

Finally, Jesus baptism shows us something else. It’s mentioned in Matthew 3:17

Matthew 3:17 CSB

17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

The voice is God’s way of confirming Jesus’ identify. It must’ve been compelling to Jesus and to John.

People debate whether others heard the voice. But we know for sure that Jesus and John gave testimony.

God is essentially saying, “Jesus is my Son and he’s fulfilling my redemptive plan.”

The heavenly voice combines two popular Old Testament references. They were messianic passages popular at the time of Jesus. In applying them to Jesus Matthew is saying something profound.

Jesus is the “suffering servant” from the prophecy of Isaiah. This messianic figure shows up again and again in his book.

Isaiah 42:1–3 CSB

1 “This is my servant; I strengthen him, this is my chosen one; I delight in him. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry out or shout or make his voice heard in the streets. 3 He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not put out a smoldering wick; he will faithfully bring justice.

But Jesus is also the chosen and Royal Son mentioned in Psalm 2:1-9. He’s Yahweh’s anointed king who is also Yahweh’s “son.”

Psalm 2:6–7 CSB

6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7 I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.

But Jesus isn’t just God’s Son. Matthew uses the adjective “beloved.” It means one of a kind, chosen and deeply cherished.

Imagine a baseball card that is a single print collectors item. It’s value is linked to it’s uniqueness from all others. All of these things are true of Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ baptism brings everything together. He’s the faithful Israel who saves God’s people through an atoning death and resurrection life.

But the only way this would happen is through Jesus’ submission to the Father’s plan. And that’s the last thing Jesus baptism symbolizes.

Jesus is submitted to the Father’s salvation plan.

Notice there’s also an implicit trinity here. The Father speaks, the Spirit descends and the Son comes up from the water.

Salvation is a work of God between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was true at Jesus baptism and it’s true for us today.

There are other biblical analogies implied within this baptism. Jesus is a new covenant mediator who is ushering in a New Covenant people.

They weren’t chosen by their ethnicity but by their union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION:

That brings me to my last question about Jesus’ baptism.

If Jesus needed baptism to fulfill all righteousness, what does submission to the Father mean for you?

Have you been baptized into Jesus and sealed by the Holy Spirit? Or are you unprepared for judgement that will one day surely come?