Matthew 3:13-17 (Verses 13, 16-17 Luke 3:21-22, Mark 1:9-11; verses 14-15 unique to Matthew) (Year A First Sunday after the Epiphany) is a story about the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. This analysis integrates literary, historical, and theological dimensions in a thoughtful way, drawing on key scholars to explore Jesus' baptism as both a pivotal moment in his ministry and a model for Christian practice. I will highlight themes like solidarity, obedience, Trinitarian revelation, and ongoing transformation in a nuanced weave that connects the text to broader Gospel motifs and personal faith. I will provide a literary and historical consideration of the text, and then a practical application to Christian baptism.
Here is a summary of my study.
1. Literary and Historical Consideration
I begin by situating the baptism of Jesus within the broader context of the Gospels, noting the unique contributions of Matthew (verses 14-15) and the shared narrative with Mark and Luke. It emphasizes that the descent of the Spirit upon Jesus is a preparatory act for ministry, fulfilling John the Baptist’s role and marking the beginning of Jesus’ public mission. The narrative is not a traditional “call story” but rather a sequence—baptism, wilderness testing, proclamation—that suggests divine commissioning, resonating with analyses that view it as Jesus' anointing for ministry, where the Spirit's descent empowers him without implying a prior lack of sonship. This dovetails with Bultmann's classification of the narrative as legend with historical roots in John's baptism, but modern interpreters often stress its role in affirming Jesus' identity amid early church debates, much like Matthew's unique verses 14-15 address potential Adoptionist misreadings, which would suggest Jesus of Nazareth became the Son at his baptism.
A key literary tension is Jesus’ identity: Why does Jesus, who is more than a follower, submit to John’s baptism? I explore how this act both unites and distinguishes Jesus from John. Jesus’ submission is interpreted as solidarity with the eschatological people of God, and the descent of the Spirit is seen as imparting prophetic inspiration, specifically in the form of the suffering Servant. The event marks both unity and a growing gulf between Jesus and John, with Jesus’ authority later rooted in this baptism.
Matthew’s unique verses (14-15) address early Christian concerns about Jesus’ submission to John, with theological debates among Gnostics, Adoptionists, and Trinitarians. Matthew presents Jesus as exemplary, obedient, and humble, fulfilling righteousness and standing as a representative for humanity. This obedience is foundational for the Gospel’s Christological framework. This is Matthew's way of resolving early Christian perplexity, portraying Jesus as exemplary in humility while fulfilling "all righteousness" as a representative act for humanity. This aligns with my discussion of Gnostic and orthodox interpretations, and extends to how the narrative influenced baptismal practices in Hellenistic communities.
2. Theological Significance
Verses 16-17 highlight the theological importance of the baptism: the heavens open, the Spirit descends like a dove, and a voice from heaven declares Jesus as the beloved Son. These images draw from Psalm 2:7 (royal coronation) and Isaiah 42:1 (servant of the Lord), combining motifs of kingship and servanthood. The event is not about bestowing sonship but proclaiming it, affirming Trinitarian cooperation in Jesus’ mission. Theologically, the combination of OT texts merges royal and servant motifs, proclaiming Jesus' sonship as preexistent rather than bestowed at baptism. This supports a Trinitarian reading, where the Father, Son, and Spirit cooperate in inaugurating the eschatological age, echoing Pannenberg's systematic theology on election and mission. Jesus’ act of obedience anticipating his life and ministry. The text suggests that Jesus’ submission is both an anticipation of God’s rule and an act of reconciliation for humanity.
3. Practical Application to Christian Baptism
I then transition to practical implications, arguing that Jesus’ baptism serves as a model for Christian baptism. It is an act of obedience, a public declaration of identity, and a sign of God’s favor and grace. Baptism is an anointing for ministry and a commitment to the reign of God. Christian baptism is a transformative act, shifting identity from self to Christ, and opening the door to a new way of life empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is a declaration of being children of God, with a calling to live as representatives of the heavenly Father. I encourage reflection on the ongoing significance of baptism, beyond the initial ritual—emphasizing daily repentance, forgiveness, and the continual embrace of one’s identity in Christ. Believers receive this gift in humility, inviting believers to hear the Father's affirmation daily and live out their vocation amid modern distractions. This echoes my call for continual repentance and renewal, beyond ritual, as a response to God's grace.
4. Key Insights and Significance
Jesus’ Baptism as Solidarity and Separation: Jesus stands with humanity in baptism, yet his identity and mission set him apart.
Obedience and Exemplarity: Jesus’ submission is foundational, modeling the way of righteousness and obedience for Christians.
Trinitarian and Eschatological Dimensions: The event affirms the cooperation of Father, Son, and Spirit, and marks the beginning of a new age.
Baptism as Identity and Calling: Christian baptism is not merely a ritual but a transformative act that shapes identity and vocation.
Ongoing Relevance: The study calls for continual reflection on baptism’s meaning, urging believers to live out their calling as children of God.
Conclusion
The text offers what I hope is a nuanced exploration of the baptism of Jesus, weaving together literary, historical, and theological threads. It presents Jesus’ baptism as both a fulfillment of prophetic ministry and a model for Christian life, emphasizing obedience, identity, and ongoing transformation. The practical application encourages believers to reflect on their baptism as a source of identity, calling, and daily renewal. The baptism of Jesus is a foundation for Christian life.
Detailed study
I begin with the literary and historical consideration of the text.
The descent of the Spirit is preparation for ministry. John the Baptist had succeeded in paving the way for the Lord, as God had intended his ministry to be. Jesus' own baptism is a part of the preparatory ministry and thus fulfills John's ministry. We need to read the text as expressing theologically who Jesus as the Son and as expressing the meaning of Christian baptism. Mark is giving the reader the clarity the resurrection of Jesus gave to the earliest community. Since this story does not include a commission or a response from Jesus, it is not a call story on the pattern of Old Testament stories of the call of Moses, Isaiah, or Jeremiah.[1] However, the sequence of baptism, testing in the wilderness, and the summary of the proclamation of Jesus suggest a commission and anointing from God that led to the response of Jesus to proclaim the message God gave him.
Jesus is one among many who would receive his baptism. Why was Jesus among the crowds coming to receive the baptism of John? To ask the question is to raise the question of his identity. He could simply be a follower of John. Yet we as readers know he was more. The early church found it difficult to understand as well. In their united message of gathering an eschatological people of God, their messages overlapped, and Jesus submitted to the baptism of John to show that likeness. Yet Jesus separated himself from John in not being an ascetic, shifting his preaching from coming judgment to the coming rule of God, from expectation to fulfillment, from accepting the guilty after they repent to offering sinners salvation before they repent. Jesus would experience his call when he underwent the baptism of John, taking his place among the eschatological people of God that the Baptist was assembling. Behind the biblical images of the account of the baptism of Jesus is the experience of the descent of the Spirit, imparting prophetic inspiration upon Jesus in the specific form of the suffering Servant. The event of the baptism of Jesus by John, then, suggests they were united, but only in part, as a gulf opens between them. Later, in Matt 21:23-27, Jesus will base his authority upon what happens here, in his baptism by John.[2]
In verses 14-15, unique to Matthew, deals with the problem presented by Jesus submitting to the baptism of John. Questions may well have arisen within the community of Matthew as to why Jesus followed John for a season. Gnostics and Adoptionists could appeal to the text more easily than the orthodox or Trinitarian theological perspective. The latter tended to view it as a testimony to the Trinity, or as a type of Christian baptism, or as part of the history of salvation. Matthew has John desiring to prevent Jesus from receiving his baptism and saying that he needs to receive baptism from Jesus. The response of Jesus suggests that any devout person should submit to baptism. His concern unites him to the concerns of Joseph (1:19). According to many interpreters, the thought here, as in 5:10, 20, and 6:1, is of a human need. Thus, righteousness is first a requirement of law that one is to fulfill, the entirety of the divine will as Jesus interprets it in Matthew. This means agreement with the intention of all older and more recent interpretations that stress the exemplarity of Jesus. Matthew presents Jesus as the exemplary, obedient, and humble one. His first saying from Jesus in the Gospel refers to this. The behavior of Jesus has foundational significance. Next to God with us, the obedient Son of God gives to the whole Gospel the Christological frame. The uniqueness of Jesus in this text consists in his unique obedience. The way of the Christian in the Gospel is the way to perfection in the conduct of one's life. It stands under the demand of higher righteousness in 5:20. From a theological perspective, John baptized Jesus as a sinner in the sense that he stands in our place as our representative.[3]
Verses 16-17 has Jesus receiving baptism. John had promised that the one to come after him would be different, and we see here the first expression of that difference. The baptism is the beginning of the eschatological age, which the theological significance of the Father tearing open the heavens and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. As Jesus came out of the water, the heavens were opened to John so that he could see the Spirit of God descending like a dove (Gen 8:8-12 has Noah letting out a dove to see if the waters subsided, symbolizing here the hope of new creation) and alighting on Jesus, as at creation (Gen 1:2) and in the birth of Jesus (1:18, 20), the Holy Spirit empowering the ministry of Jesus, hearing a voice from heaven, a circumlocution for the voice of the Father, that this is the Son of the Father, the Beloved, with whom the Father is well-pleased. The phrasing here combines two Old Testament passages. One is from Psalm 2:7, a royal coronation in which we hear these words: “He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’” The other passage is from Isaiah 42:1, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him …” We must not lose sight of these images, that of king and servant of the Lord, throughout the course of the life of Jesus. The prophetic calling, presumed to be silent since Malachi, the New Testament declares has revived in John and in Jesus. The voice does not bestow divine sonship but proclaims it. In advance of the Easter event, we have the first proclamation of the reality of Jesus before humanity.[4] Yet, this account by itself is open to the interpretation that Jesus became the Son by endowment with the Spirit and divine ratification.[5] It affirms the Trinitarian relations cooperating in the mission and ministry of Jesus. We have here the impartation of the Spirit and the thought of adoption.[6] Jesus is the elect Son of God.[7] As such, Jesus becomes a model of election as serving humanity for the mission God gave him.[8] The commission of the risen Lord to the disciples at the close of this Gospel is to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Here is another clear statement in this gospel at the beginning of this gospel of the identity of Jesus.
John may have the title, “the baptist,” precisely because he baptized Jesus, just as Judas had the title, “the traitor.” Jesus freely submitted to baptism with water. Jesus accepts the announcement of John that a new and imminent act of Gold will radically change the situation of Israel. He submits in advance to what God is about to do according to it. He submitted to baptism in prospect of the rule of God, judgment, and forgiveness. His act of obedience in the water of baptism will be an anticipation of a life of obedience as he enters his public ministry. He accepts the implications of this event for humanity. He stands by this event as the act of God. He began the fulfillment of His mission as the Son of the Father who had come into the world to reconcile the world to God.
The submission of Jesus to the baptism of John may well be an invitation for his followers to repeat it and express their faith and obedience in this act. The baptism of Jesus becomes exemplary, normative, and binding in respect of the form of the beginning of their new life. His baptism was an act of submission and obedience. Yet, his baptism has become the pattern for an understanding of Christian baptism. The command of the risen Lord to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit (28:19) has its proper basis in the historical baptism of Jesus in the Jordan.[9] Baptism is the first step of the human decision that recognizes the faithfulness of God to the individual. Baptism is a sign that the faith of the individual will include obedience and the actual following of Jesus. When we receive baptism, we are publicly uniting ourselves with and standing with Jesus. In that sense, it becomes the basis for the early church to invite new believers to submit to baptism as well. Baptism is a sign that the favor or grace of God rests upon us. Baptism is a form of anointing us for ministry. Baptism is a sign that we have committed ourselves to the reign of God. As the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist stands at the beginning of his public ministry and had implications throughout that ministry, so our baptism stands at the beginning of our vocation to become increasingly a Christian. God calls Christians into fellowship with Jesus.
The baptism of Jesus is a model of Christian baptism, especially connecting baptism with the gift of the Spirit. Baptism into the death of Jesus Christ changes all individual particularities and brings them to a new boiling point, freely establishing them in a new form. The expression of this is the freedom that with the Spirit the baptized received as children of God and that enables them to go their own way, to follow their own specific calling, and to accept the consequences as Jesus did.[10]
I offer a practical application.
How can the baptism of Jesus by John be a pattern for our understanding of Christian baptism? With good reason, early Christians took baptism seriously as a way of shifting our sense of who we are away from self and toward Christ. Properly understood, our baptism describes the course of a Christian life. Our baptism describes a vision of Christian discipleship that remains meaningful.
· For the Christian, baptism is also an act of obedience.
· Baptism also symbolizes finding identity in union with Christ.
· To experience Christian baptism is to identify with the course of the life of Jesus, who lived in submission to the will of God to the point of death and resurrection. Christian baptism opens the door to a new way of life lived out of union with Christ as empowered by the Holy Spirit.
· As Paul will later write of this, even as Jesus finds declared in his baptism his identity as the Son of God, so we find our identity as children of God. Out of this identity, Christians can live out their calling in a new form of life.
Our baptism declares our identity as embraced by Jesus Christ. The questions of who we are and why we are here find their answer in baptism. We are children of the heavenly Father and we are to live as children of the heavenly Father. Few of us will have a heavenly vision. What we will have is the witness of the Christian community, scripture, and the witness of the Spirit. Regardless of our career choice, our vocation in life is to learn to live in this world as representatives of our heavenly Father. Developing a career demands intelligence and to learn a skill, finding out how we get from where we are to where we want to be. Calling considers whether where we want to be is worth moving toward. Since baptism is open to all persons, we can honestly say that all of us have a calling from God. Hearing a divine call is not an event reserved for clergy. Our common calling is to learn what it is like to live as children of the heavenly Father. Such a calling will unlikely be a heavenly vision or an audible voice. It will be through participation in Christian community, through worship, prayer, reading a book, studying the Bible, and so on. Such an event can be life changing as we consider who we shall be in the brief time we have for life in this world. Of course, there are times in our lives when we have the outward sign but do not have the inward grace (John Wesley). That is why children of the heavenly Father need daily repentance and recognize their need for forgiveness. Of course, many people received their baptism as infants or as a rite of passage into their teen years as part of confirmation. Did anything happen? The question for each of us is not so much what happened then, but what is happening now. Do we continue to embrace what our parents and sponsors intended in our baptism? We do not have to, of course. We can turn our backs upon it intentionally.
First, identify with the family. The family of which I am speaking now is the family of God. Are we willing to openly identify ourselves as belonging to this family? When you were born into your biological family, you were not born into the family of God. You must respond to the call of God, and thus to the grace of God that you experience. Can you testify to that response?
Second, identify with the kingdom. The family of God has business in the world. It has work to do and Jesus identified himself with all who would come to the kingdom, and we must as well. He will begin his public ministry after he receives this baptism. He will live the rest of his life in the light of that baptism. While we cannot hope to do so perfectly, we need to learn to bear the name of Jesus well in our families, communities, and places of work.
Third, identify with our baptism. The example of Jesus reminds us of what baptism is really meant to be. It is not a hoop to jump through and a box to check. It is not a spiritual security blanket for our children. It is not a religious routine that just goes with the territory. Jesus goes into the waters of baptism to publicly affirm that he identifies who he is with whom God has made him to be. When we baptize people in the church, we recognize their place in the family. We agree with them that they are God’s and God is theirs. We celebrate our destiny as God’s eternal family.
Finally, identify with Jesus. Your baptism means you identify your life with Jesus. You live in fellowship with him. You follow his lead. It leads to the death of simply living for yourself, but also to the new life of living for and with him. There is a call to each of us to remember that God grants us this new identity — we are beloved children of the Father. The name of Jesus is salvation, the Beloved Son, the Messiah. In following him, you receive his name – Christian, Christ-follower. He is your identity. Your destiny is united to his destiny.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
Thought this was good. One question. I believe you do infant baptism as do us Presbyterians, how does infant baptism meet the purpose of baptism as you have described it?
ReplyDeleteI fat baptism does not in itself do this, of course. It has the potential to do so when combined with confirmation. I do think it has slender biblical basis. I puzzle over whether the church would be better off focusing on baptism as described here.
Delete