Why Was Jesus Baptized?

This is one of those questions that is nearly impossible to get a direct answer for. While I don’t believe that I have the fullness of the answer, I will do my best to shed some light here. There could be several reasons as to why Jesus was baptized. I will just speak on one at this time.

But first off, we must recognize that it wasn’t as if Jesus needed baptism; but more or less that baptism needed him. We know this is true from Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism when John the Baptizer sees Jesus coming for baptism and basically says that the roles should be reversed.

We do know that the baptism of Jesus was essentially the inauguration of his earthly ministry. It was there that the Holy Spirit descended upon him, which I admit is wildly confusing, and the Father spoke that he was “well pleased” with his son. And it was from there that Jesus did begin his ministry.

Now to answer the question: I believe that Jesus was baptized for us. There certainly is much symbolism in Jesus’ baptism; but I believe it goes beyond symbolism. There is substance there. What do I mean? I believe that Jesus was baptized for us in a similar sense to which Jesus lived and died for us. In Jesus’ living he lived the perfect life in step with the will of God for us. Jesus lived perfectly in all the ways that we fail. He lived in our place. He lived as our substitute. In a sense, for those in Christ, it is as if we live vicariously through Christ. All of life that we live is tarnished and marred by our sin; even the good things that we do have traces of sin in them. So we need Jesus to live for us. Why would this not include baptism? Even our baptisms are imperfect and in need of redeeming. And I believe this is at least one aspect of Jesus’ baptism. He was baptized in our place. He was perfectly obedient in baptism in order to cover our imperfect baptisms.

And so, for those in Christ, we are also filled with the Holy Spirit, and God the Father can, and does, truly say of us, “This is my beloved son (or daughter), with whom I am well pleased.”