John the Baptist thought the idea of Jesus being baptized was ridiculous. After all, John had come to preach about God’s holy wrath against sin. He’d come declaring, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). He baptized with water, which would’ve reminded the people of the judgment flood that overwhelmed God’s enemies in the days of Noah and at the Red Sea.
Crowds flocked to the Jordan to drown their old lives of sin and to commit themselves to a new start. Then Jesus came with them, and he got in line. On its face, Jesus’s baptism makes no sense. Frederick Dale Bruner described it this way: “It’s as if one were to announce the coming of a great preacher at a series of evangelistic meetings, and one night the preacher arrives—not at the platform but at the altar, not at the podium but at the penitents’ bench, not to preach but to kneel.”
Jesus isn’t unworthy or a sinner. He’s the One whose sandals John isn’t worthy to untie. Jesus doesn’t need to be baptized. He’s the One who will baptize his people with the Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11). Knowing this, John reacts viscerally: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (v. 14).
Jesus answered, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (v. 15). What could Jesus mean by this statement? How does his baptism fulfill all righteousness? Here the Savior says his baptism was essential not for his sake but for ours. Jesus’s baptism was part of the perfect obedience necessary to accomplish our salvation.
‘Fulfillment’ in Matthew’s Gospel
Matthew is fond of the verb “fulfill” (plēroō). Already in the first two chapters of his Gospel, he’s used the term repeatedly to show how Jesus’s life is the deeper, prophetic goal to which the Old Testament Scriptures point.
Jesus is the virgin-born Immanuel whom Isaiah predicted (Matt. 1:22). Jesus survived Herod’s Pharaoh-like slaughter of innocents, then, just like Israel, he was brought up out of Egypt (2:15). Already in Matthew 3, we see that John fulfills the first prophetic announcement of the nation’s restoration (v. 3; Isa. 40:3). Just as Israel went through the sea and then was tested in the wilderness, Jesus will now pass through the waters of judgment (Matt. 3:13–17) then be tempted in the desert by the Devil (4:1–11). Jesus embodies in his life everything Israel was called to be.
Jesus’s baptism was part of the perfect obedience necessary to accomplish our salvation.
Matthew also uses the word “fulfill” in another way—to describe obedience to all that God’s law required. Charles L. Quarles reads Matthew 3:15 as saying it was necessary for Jesus to fulfill “each and every act of justice.” When we look ahead two chapters to the Sermon on the Mount, we see that’s exactly what Jesus says about his ministry: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (5:17). Jesus didn’t come to discard God’s law and commands. He came to obey them.
As G. K. Beale observes, “He came to set right what Israel and Adam had done wrong; he was coming successfully to obey, in contrast to Israel’s former disobedience.” Where Israel and all humanity had failed to live up to God’s standards, Jesus prevailed.
Christ’s Active and Passive Obedience
What makes Jesus’s fulfillment of “each and every act of justice” so important? Moses’s law contained both blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Deut. 28). It punished every criminal who transgressed its sanctions (21:23), and it promised life and flourishing to those who faithfully kept its commands (Lev. 18:5). In his passive sin-bearing and his active life of love, Christ both bore the law’s full penalty and merited all its rewards.
As John Murray explains, “Christ as the vicar of his people came under the curse and condemnation due to sin and he also fulfilled the law of God in all its positive requirements. In other words, he took care of the guilt of sin and perfectly fulfilled the demands of righteousness.”
These active and passive aspects of Christ’s obedience work together to accomplish our full redemption. Reformed theologians call this the doctrine of double imputation. Our sins were named to Christ’s account, and his righteous merits are now credited to us (2 Cor. 5:21).
Jesus Christ, Baptized for You
What does this have to do with Jesus’s baptism? Just think: Crowds hear John’s message of repentance. They come to the Jordan and are washed. It’s as if their sin, shame, and guilt are left there in the river. Then the Savior comes. He’s the perfect Lamb of God without blemish, but he steps into those judgment waters. Jesus identifies with the people’s sin so he might save them. He obediently carries their burdens all the way to the cross.
In this way, Jesus’s baptism at the Jordan points forward to the baptism of his death (Mark 10:38; Luke 12:50). But it also points to the glorious blessings merited by his righteous life.
In his passive sin-bearing and his active life of love, Christ both bore the law’s full penalty and merited all its rewards.
After Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened. God’s Spirit came down like a dove, and a voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:16–17). These verses tell of Jesus’s identity as the anointed Servant (Isa. 11; 42; 61) and Davidic Son (2 Sam. 7; Ps. 2); they also reveal what’s true of all those united to him by faith (Rom. 8). Jesus’s baptism reveals the beauty of his person and the fullness of his saving work. His baptism was part and parcel with the work he did to merit our redemption.
Don’t misunderstand. I’m not suggesting we trade in our hymns about the blood to sing only of Jordan’s waters. But when we remember Jesus’s baptism, it should remind us of all he did to save. His incarnation, life, death, and resurrection; his obedience, both active and passive; the fullness of his person and his work—they all add up to our redemption (Gal. 4:4–5).
The Gospel Coalition