Ask a Pastor: How did Baptism Originate?

Question

How did baptism originate, and who actually commanded John to baptize in the first place?

Answer

First, we must distinguish between John’s baptism and New Testament baptism. The common and prevailing misunderstanding is that they are the same. This misunderstanding has led to many erroneous conclusions regarding baptism, the most notable being that Jesus modeled believer’s baptism when John baptized him. As we will see, the latter is decidedly not the case.

Let me begin by stating why John’s baptism was not New Testament baptism.

1) John’s ministry as Christ’s forerunner transpired at the end of the Old Testament era. That era of redemption history did not end until God the Father endorsed the perfect sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, by dramatically rending the veil of the temple after the Savior had cried out, “It is finished.” That moment marked the conclusion of the Old Testament administration of the covenant of grace.

2) John was, therefore, a minister of the Old Covenant and was the last of the Old Testament prophets—the one who had the privilege of introducing the Messiah to Israel. Christ said of him, “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist” (Luke 7:28). In other words, John’s ministry occurred when the Old Testament and all of its ceremonial rituals were still in full force! Consequently, his baptism could not possibly have been New Testament baptism. 

How could John’s baptism possibly be New Testament baptism when Christ had not yet died and risen from the dead? After all, the sacraments of the Old Testament (circumcision and the Passover) anticipated the finished work of Christ, whereas the sacraments of the New Testament (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) reflect the finished work of Christ. 

3) Christ did not institute New Testament baptism until shortly before His ascension when He commissioned His disciples to go forth into the world to disciple the nations and baptize them in the Name of the Triune God (Matt. 28:19-20). Therefore, the first administration of New Testament baptism took place on the Day of Pentecost.

4) Further evidence that John’s baptism was not New Testament baptism is found in Acts 19:1-5. There, Paul encountered believers who had received the baptism of John. Paul clearly did not view that baptism as New Testament baptism. Rather, he identified John’s baptism as the baptism of repentance and then proceeded to baptize these believers in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Thus, he administered New Testament baptism to believers who had been baptized with the baptism of John. Why? Because John’s baptism was not New Testament baptism. Had that been the case, Paul would have been rebaptizing those already baptized. Clearly, that was not the case, for then Paul would have been the first Anabaptist (= re-baptizer), which obviously would have been utterly inappropriate. 

I will now briefly address the nature of John’s baptism. 

1) The nature of his baptism is intimately connected to the purpose for which God had called him to be the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets. John’s calling was to be the forerunner of the Messiah. He articulated this when he uttered these significant words: “…that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water” (John 1:31). His unique baptism was the divinely appointed way (v. 33) to formally introduce the Messiah, the Lamb of God, to the nation of Israel.

2) Clear insight into the nature of John’s baptism is given in the same chapter when the Jewish leaders sent a delegation of priests and Levites to determine whether he had the legitimate credentials to baptize the multitudes (John 1:19-28). Why would they question the legitimacy of what John was doing him if he had been engaging in a practice that had never been witnessed before? The answer is that John was administering a common and well-established Levitical rite that only priests and Levites could legitimately administer. This credential’s committee did not know that John was the oldest son of a priest, Zacharias—and thus that he, having been taught by his father, was qualified to administer the Levitical rites of cleansing and purification. Significantly, these rites or washings are referred to as “baptisms” in the book of Hebrews (Heb. 6:2; 9:10). 

3) Thus, John was performing a Levitical rite that all the Jews who came to hear him would have recognized. Since the Levitical purification rites signified the moral defilement of a sinful people, John’s use of the Levitical rite of cleansing perfectly matched repentance as the essential focus of his preaching—and thus the designation of John’s baptism as the baptism of repentance. Consequently, John repeatedly states that he baptized with water, for all Levitical baptisms were administered by way of sprinkling and/or pouring. 

4) The fact that John was a priest performing a Levitical rite—a Levitical baptism—explains why Jesus, at a precisely determined moment, sought him out to be baptized by Him. He did so to formally begin His public ministry as Israel’s Messiah. This also explains why, insisting with John that He be baptized, He stated, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15). 

What righteousness did Jesus have to fulfill? For a priest or Levite to begin his public ministry, the ceremonial law demanded that three requirements be met: 1) he had to be thirty years of age; 2) he had to undergo the ritual of cleansing as prescribed in Numbers 8:7; and 3) he had to be anointed with oil. Thus, Jesus resided in Nazareth until He was thirty years of age and then sought out John, who, as a legitimate priest, could perform the purification ritual as prescribed in Numbers 8. When John complied by administering this Levitical baptism, thereby fulfilling all righteousness (= requirements of God’s ceremonial law), the heavens were opened, and Jesus, rather than being anointed with oil, was anointed with the Spirit Himself. The Father then expressed His full approval of His Anointed One—the Messiah, the Christ—by declaring Himself well pleased with Him. 

5) John’s baptism of Jesus was therefore an entirely unique event that marked Christ’s formal inauguration as Israel’s Messiah. It also marked His full and willing acceptance of His Messianic calling and the cross as the ultimate consequence of that acceptance. To suggest that by having John baptize Jesus, He modeled believer’s baptism is to read something into this historical event that simply is not there. As stated earlier, the New Testament sacrament of Baptism was not administered until Christ instituted it just before His ascension. 

(For a more in-depth treatment of this subject, please contact me for a written version of a sermon I have preached about the baptism of Christ. My email address: belshout@gmail.com).