But Jesus answered him, "let it be so
now; fir it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness."
Then he consented. (Matt 3:15 NRSV)
Commenting
on the meaning of “fulfil all righteousness” vis-à-vis the baptism of Jesus by John the
Baptist, Nathan Eubank wrote:
I would like to propose another
interpretation of πληροω, one that has rarely been considered: that of filling up
something. The phrase would then be translated “to fill up all righteousness.”
Matthew himself uses the word this way in 13:48 to refer to a fish-net becoming
full, and 23:32 when Jesus tells the scribes and Pharisees to “fill up” (πληρωσατε) the measure of [their] fathers.”
According to this proposal, “filling up all righteousness” would be the exact
inverse of the filling up of the scribes and Pharisees; they fill up the
measure of sin, but Jesus and John the Baptist fill up the measure of righteousness.
I shall provide three main arguments for this rendering:
First main argument: for Matthew, righteousness
is something that can be “filled up” because righteous deeds earn wages
that are stored up in heavenly treasuries. In 6:1, or instance, Jesus says, “take
care not to do your righteousness before people in order to be seen by them.
Otherwise you have no wage with your
Father who is in the heaven (μισθὸν οὐκ ἔχετε παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν τῷ ἐν τοῖς
οὐρανοῖς).” . . . . the words μισθὸν οὐκ ἔχετε παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν τῷ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς
are commonly translated “you will have
no reward from your Father in heaven,”
thereby obscuring the fact that Matthew describes divine wages as (1) existing
already in the present time rather than only in the future, and (2) with God in heave, stored up to be
repaid at the return of the Son of Man. The description of heavenly treasures
that follows reinforces the point:
Do not treasure up for yourselves treasures
on earth (Μὴ θησαυρίζετε ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς), where moth and rust
destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Rather, treasure up for yourselves
treasures in heaven (θησαυρίζετε δὲ ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐν οὐρανῷ), where neither
moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in nor steal. For where your treasures is, there also will
be your heart (ὅπου γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θησαυρός σου, ἐκεῖ ἔσται καὶ ἡ καρδία σου).
(6:19-21).
The focus here is on
the location of one’s treasure,
whether earth or heaven. It is better to stockpile treasures “in heaven”
because heavenly treasuries are safe from corruption and theft. Similarly, in
chapter 19 Jesus tells the rich young man: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell
your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; then come, follow me.” The young man refuses to acquire this heavenly
treasure because he cannot bear to lose all that he has stockpiled on earth . .
. Second main argument: . . . Matthew uses πληροω in the way suggested here, but in reference to sin rather than righteousness. In 23:32 Jesus ironically tells
his opponents to “fill up (πληρωσατε) the measure of [their] fathers” and so
receive the punishment for all the righteous blood that has been shred since
Abel . . . the measure in 23:32 is, like the measure in 7:2, a measure that
records the amount that is owed. When Jesus tells the scribes and Pharisees to “fill
up the measure of your fathers,” he ironically tells them to bring the debt of
their fathers to its limit, the point at which the creditor can tolerate it no
more and steps in to collect that is due. Both 3:15 and 23:32 employ the
spatial image of “filling up,” but in 23:32, it is the “measure” (μετρον) for recording the debt of sin .
. . A narrative link has often been observed between 23:32 and the preaching of John the Baptist. In 3:7-12 John (A) calls the Pharisees and Sadducees “a brood
of vipers” (γεννηματα εχιδνων), (B) asks them rhetorically “Who told you to flee from the
coming wrath?”, and (C) warns them that they will not escape the coming wrath
simply by relying on the fact that Abraham is their father. They must “bear
fruit worthy of repentance” because God is able to raise up children of Abraham
from stones (3:8-9). In other words, it is not biology that determines paternity
but deeds. The question of paternity and the coming judgment is also at stake
in 23:31-33, where Jesus (A) calls the scribes and Pharisees a brood of vipers
(γεννηματα εχιδνων), (B) asks rhetorically, “How will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?”, and (C) warns them that their actions show that they are the
children (not of Abraham but) of those who murdered the prophets, as their
coming complicity in Jesus’ own death shows. In short, 23:31-33 harks back to
John the Baptist standing in the wilderness of Judea, thereby strengthening the
connection between these two “filling-up” sayings . . . Third main argument:
Matthew describes Jesus’ saving activity as a payment on behalf of others in
the so-called “ransom saying” in 20:28 . . . it must be noted that, regardless
of the pre-Matthean history of the saying, the description of Jesus’ gift of
his life as a ransom-price (λυτρον) fits hand in glove with Matthew’s
grammar of sin and righteousness. For Matthew sin is thought of as debt, and
Jesus was born to save his people from their sins. I propose that it is not a
coincidence that this saving activity is described as a payment; Jesus gives
his life as a ransom-price to pay the debt of “the many.” (Nathan Eubank, Wages of Cross-Bearing and Debt of Sin: The Economy of Heaven in Matthew’s Gospel [Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2013], 124-26, 127-28, 129)
If Eubank’s
thesis holds up, it will be significant, as it shows that Jesus’ baptism was
not merely symbolic, but had great soteriological value, as his water baptism “filled
up” righteousness, a righteousness that it is not a merely imputed righteousness,
but an intrinsic one (cf. Maximus of Turin [early 5th century], who stated that Christ was baptised to make the water [of baptism] holy), and can add to the already overwhelming biblical case for
the salvific efficacy of water baptism. On this point, see, for e.g.:
Acts 10:47, Cornelius, and Baptismal Regeneration (cf. Does Cornelius Help Refute Baptismal Regeneration? and. Was Cornelius Converted Before Acts 10?)
On John the Baptist's baptism and Acts 19:3-6, a text sometimes used against John's water baptisms being efficacious, see: