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The significance of baptism

Text: John 3:22-36

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BAPTISM

How significant is baptism? Some take it lightly. Others insist that baptism is of paramount importance!

John, the forerunner of the Messiah, baptized! To him, baptism was important, for it symbolized a number of things. John preached a message of repentance from sin. Of course, this theme also included the promise of forgiveness and cleansing. John’s baptism symbolized these three things – repentance, forgiveness and cleansing.

John noted that Jesus also baptized people! We have a very clear statement of this activity of Jesus in the following statement.

“After these things Jesus and His disciples
came into the land of Judea, and there He remained
with them and baptized.”
John 3:22

Whom did Jesus baptize? Why did He baptize? How extensive was His work of baptism? These questions naturally arise. Let’s take time to consider some of these questions.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE BAPTISMS OF JOHN AND JESUS!

1. Where there would be areas of similarity

We must expect that there would be areas of similarity between John’s Baptism and that performed by Jesus. The reason why they are would share areas of similarity would be because of the fact that both preached the same theme…

“Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand!”
Matthew 3:2; 4:17

2. Where there would be areas of differences

The areas where we may expect differences are the following:-

a) Whereas John only baptized people in preparation of the coming of the Messiah, the baptism Jesus gave would be to affirm that they were baptized in the Name of the Messiah!

b) The baptism given by Jesus would demarcate the difference between the forerunner and the Messiah Himself!

c) Jesus Himself must have baptized the first group of disciples. Subsequently, this work of baptism was done by His disciples, while He concentrated on other things. The following text verifies that this was the case.

“Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
(Though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples)”
John 4:1-2

d) Those who became the disciples of Jesus received baptism to signify that they were indeed His disciples!

THE FAITHFUL MINISTRY OF JOHN

Though John had already done his work, which was to proclaim to the world that Jesus was “The Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), nevertheless he continued to do his work faithfully. As long as he had breath, he would still preach powerful evangelistic messages urging people to repent from their sins. Of course, he would also continue to preach about the Messiah.

John’s distinctive characteristic in his ministry was to baptize people who repented of their sins. This he continue to do.

“Now John was baptizing in Aenon near Salim,
because there was much water there.
And they came and were baptized.
For John had not yet been thrown into prison.”
John 3:23-24

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

One of the meanings associated with baptism was “purification”. Interestingly, though the Jews did not believe in John’s message or ministry, there were certain things they had in common. John and his disciples believed in “purification”. They believed that water baptism symbolized that the sinner has been cleansed and is thus “purified”.

The Jews’ concept of purification was quite different. They believed in ritual cleansing. They believed that purification is not limited to the single act of baptism. The Jews believed that the more important concept was their doctrine of purification and not just the water baptism offered by John. The Jews believed that many things must be “purified”. They had a long list of things that must go through the ritual of purification or cleansing. They were fastidious about this ritual.

They believed that one must wash the hands before meals in a special, ritualistic way, otherwise the person is unclean. They had cleansing rituals for many other things. Obviously, when both sides met, they clashed with each other. John noted the controversy they had between them.

“Then there arose a dispute between some of
John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.”
John 3:25

John merely noted that there was a dispute between the two camps. However, there was no indication that this dispute was ever resolved. It would be unlikely that this controversy would ever be resolved, because apart from the fact that both used water to symbolize cleansing or purification, there was no common ground for further discussion.

It was truly much ado about nothing. Whereas the Jews needed to repent from their sinful hypocritical ways, they refused to come to John for baptism. They were virtually saying to John that they did not need to respond to his doctrine of being cleansed. They had their own ideas about how a person may be cleansed from his sins. The Jews would have strongly argued that the faith that they had would have been sufficient. They did not have to subscribe to John’s teaching and practice of baptism – and thus the controversy raged on.