The problem with this text is:
Why should Jesus be baptised? Commentators observe that John baptised with a baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins but Jesus was sinless. Christadelphian
solutions answer the problem by saying that Jesus had a sinful nature and was
baptised for that reason; orthodox commentators are more likely to affirm that
Jesus was demonstrating that baptism was essential for anyone who would follow
him. The problem with these responses is that they do not arise from Jesus’
answer that such a baptism “becometh us to fulfill all righteousness”.
So . . .
1. Instead of thinking that John baptised
Jesus with a baptism of repentance, a baptism that John objected to
performing, let us read “becometh us to fulfill all righteousness” as Jesus’
explanation to John that his baptism was not a baptism of repentance but
a different kind of baptism, one that was a prophetic fulfillment of “all
righteousness”.
2. How does this work?
i) John says to Jesus that he had
a need to be baptized by Jesus, but this does not refer to any need of John for
a baptism of repentance performed by Jesus; rather, it refers to John’s need
for a baptism of spirit and fire which he has just said the Coming One will
perform (Luke 3:16).
ii) Jesus’ answer quotes 1 Sam
12:7. The LXX expression (two words) is the same in both Matthew and 1 Samuel
for “all righteousness” (πασαν δικαιοσυνην
only occurs in these two places) and the Hebrew is “all righteousnesses” and is
unique to 1 Samuel. The KJV interprets as “all righteous acts”, and 1 Sam 12:6
indicates that the Exodus is the example of “righteousness” in focus.
iii) So, Samuel says to Israel
that he is going to reason with them about “all righteousness” and these are
the acts of the Lord particularly in relation to Moses and Aaron bringing
Israel up from Egypt.
iv) The exodus from Egypt
involved crossing the Red Sea and a journey through the wilderness. Elsewhere
this is described as God bringing his son out of Egypt (Hos 11:1). In Matthew,
Jesus is baptised in the Jordan and then he goes into the wilderness.
v) So, Jesus’ baptism is not a
baptism of repentance but a baptism in type corresponding to
Israel’s baptism in the Red Sea (1 Cor 10:2). He is saying to John that they must
fulfil in type “all the righteous acts of God”, and in terms of the
types in the Law, the crossing of the Red Sea by God’s Son (Israel) required
his only begotten son to be baptised. In this scenario, John is “Moses” and Jesus
is “Aaron.”
3. The term “fulfill” secures the
case: this is the standard term for fulfilling prophecy and fulfilling
Scripture:
And he said unto them, These are
the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets,
and in the psalms, concerning me. Luke 24:44 (KJV)
Jesus could equally have said to
John, “suffer it to be so, for it becometh us to fulfill all Scripture”, but he
doesn’t: by quoting 1 Sam 12:7, Jesus points to the Scripture in the Law about
the crossing of the Red Sea, when Isreal, God’s son, was brought out of Egypt
across the Red Sea. (Andrew Perry,
“Marginal Notes: Matt 3:15,” Christadelphian Ejournal of Biblical
Interpretation [April 2007]: 76-77)
