Question: John 3:22 records: “After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent time with them and baptized.” Who did Jesus baptize?
– Community Bible Study, North Chesterfield, Va.
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Answer: Baptism began as a ritual of cleansing which God gave to Moses in Exodus 30. Before a priest served in the Tabernacle he had to wash from a brass laver. The Tabernacle laver was a small bowl on a pedestal with water for the priests to wash their hands and feet.
Later, for Solomon’s Temple, the laver was replaced by the Brass Sea. This huge basin rested on 12 brass bulls and held about 24,000 gallons of water. Steps led up the side to a platform where priests were completely immersed and given clean robes before beginning their Temple service. The Jews also immersed their gentile proselytes in the Brass Sea to symbolize washing away their pagan way of life.
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John the Baptizer adapted this immersion ritual for those who were repenting in preparation for the coming Messiah. Matthew 3 indicates Jesus let John baptize him to place his approval on John’s ministry. After this, the Apostle John wrote in John 3:22 that Jesus baptized. However, he corrected himself in John 4:2 to say that Jesus didn’t baptize, but his disciples did. So, these verses indicate that Jesus taught his disciples how to baptize, but he didn’t baptize anyone himself.
After his disciples learned how to baptize and they baptized more than John’s disciples for awhile (John 4:1), they stopped baptizing. When Jesus sent them out on practice missions (Matthew 10:5; Luke 10:1), he didn’t tell them to baptize. I believe the reason was because the gospel was not complete until Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. There would have been no Christian meaning to baptism before Jesus died. That’s why he had to make a post-resurrection appearance to give his Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20. Now we understand: Jesus had taught his disciples how to baptize earlier so that when he did command it, they would know how to do it. Think about this: If it were important enough for Jesus to come back from Paradise to command it, he still desires believers today to identify with his gospel and his Church through baptism.
– Dr. Tom Lovorn is pastor of God’s Storehouse Baptist Church in Richmond, where his columns are archived [www.godsstorehousebc.org]. He also writes a weekly column on religion for The Progress-Index. Readers may submit questions for Dr. Lovorn to The Progress-Index, 15 Franklin St., Petersburg, VA 23803.
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