For
the Forgiveness of Sins
Those obeying the double command
(“repent and be baptized”) did so to receive forgiveness of sins and be brought
back into a covenant relationship with God. John’s message was electrifying and
the response was immediate and enthusiastic: “And the people from the whole
Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and
were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins” (Mark 1:5; Matt
3:5). (R. Alan Streett, Caesar and the Sacrament—Baptism: A Rite of Resistance
[Eugene, Oreg.: Cascade Books, 2018], 46-47)
