Since Jesus was sinless why was it important for Him to be baptized?

Answer 1

• Christ had to be baptized because he had no Holy Spirit! When he came out of the water he saw the spirit decending like a dove. He needed to be baptized to receive the Holy Spirit. Before he was baptized he was a body and soul man. Jesus was a man, he is not God, and therefore had to do what we had to do, being as he was a man.

• Jesus was providing an example to all the world when he was bapsitzed. In the Bible, John the baptist asks Christ how it is that Jesus came to be baptized of John. Jesus' answer, paraphrased, tells us that to fulfill all righteousness, and to complete the requisites to return to heaven, all men must be baptized, including the son of God. He was doing the Father's Will............He left nothing out.

• First; if you read the account in the Scriptures, you will notice that John the Baptist had been performing baptisms for some time in preparation for Jesus. That was the "new" way for believers to separate themselves out from the world and declare their committment and intention. When Jesus approached John, John himself expressed skeptism. Jesus replied (something to the effect of) ...let us do things THIS WAY...indicating that this new way of declaring yourself a worshipper (baptism) was acceptable to God. By being baptised himself, Jesus was also putting his stamp of approval on the act of baptism. Place this action in the context of the times. For centuries, Israelites had been approaching God through the Levitical priesthood at the temple. A simple man performing bapitsms in the coutry was a radical change.Second; under the Mosaic law, priests and kings were annointed with oil during a ceremony. After Jesus was baptised, he was annointed with Holy Spirit. This was a very special event which fully prepared him for his ministry, gave him power, knowledge, prepared him for the sacrifice to come and changed his very being from the son of a carpenter (albeit a very special person) to Jesus Christ. The word "Christ" means "annointed".

• Jesus was perfect, and essentially had no 'need' to be baptized. However, Jesus was ushering in the next phase of Judaism---Christianity. Judaism was a picture of Christ. The animal sacrifices were a foreshadowing of Jesus' sacrifice. The king and priest Melchizedek was a foreshadowing of Jesus. The serpent that was lifted up in the wilderness that saved those who had been bitten was a foreshadowing of Jesus being lifted up(Numbers 21:9). (See Colossians 2:16-17, Hebrews 8:5-13, Hebrews 10:1).The Bible was written in koine, or 'common' first-century Greek. Baptism comes from the Greek word, 'baptizo,' which means 'to immerse.' It was administered by John the Baptist to those who had repented of their sins. (Matt. 3:11). Jesus was baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness (Matt. 3:15). Upon Jesus' baptism, the Spirit of God descended and lighted upon Him, and God spoke from heaven. (v. 16,17). This was the first clear expression of the concept of the Trinity.

• Baptism is also a Jewish ceremony for Gentile converts to Judaism. Orthodox and Conservative rabbis require both male and female conversion candidates to immerse themselves in a ritual bath called a mikveh.

• When Jesus was baptized, he was just giving an example of how we are to live.We can now live new, refreshed lives, cleansed of guilt.

• 1. Jesus did serve as the ultimate example of how to live by declining the enticements of temptation. 2. Jesus did go to a lake and dunk his head in the water. 3. Dunking your head under water in front of a crowd of believers is just a sign of you and your new life. It is telling the world that God has changed you. 4. Jesus did it to show us that God can really change us. 5. Going under water doesn't change us. It is simply a sign of a new and refreshed life. 6. Going under water doesn't save us from hell. It, again, is a good way to show everyone that we are changed!

• Why not simply look at the scripture where John whom was baptising stated he needed to be baptised by YESHUA HA MOSHIACH and not the other way around. YESHUA HA MOSHIACH replied that it must be this way ,"-so that the scriptures be fulfilled-". For until they were fulfilled HIS sacrifice could not be accomplished. Without HIS sacrifice there would be no hope.

• Chistian Apologetics and Research Ministry offers the following:What is baptism? Baptism is the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It signifies and seals our ingrafting into Christ and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of Grace and our engagement to be His.Quite simply, Jesus was baptized so he could enter into the Melchizedek priesthood so He could be the High Priest and offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.Jesus was baptized because He had to fulfill the legal requirements for entering into the priesthood. He was priest after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4; Heb. 5:8-10; 6:20). Priests offered sacrifice to God on behalf of the people. Jesus became a sacrifice for our sin (1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Cor. 5:21) in His role as priest.To be consecrated as a priest, He had to be: - washed with water (Lev. 8:6; Exodus 29:4, Matt. 3:16). - Anointed with oil (Lev. 8:12; Exodus 29:7; Matt. 3:16). Both of these were bestowed upon Jesus at His baptism. Additionally, He may have needed to be 30 years old - (Num. 4:3)

• According to Mormon beliefs, the Savior had to be baptized to "fulfill all righteousness" (2 Nephi 31:5). The doctrine is both little understood and marvelously important. In the high spiritual sense there is no righteousness without willing submission to all the ordinances of salvation. No more perfect example could be found than Christ himself. Christ, who was sinless, had to be baptized in order to be considered righteous. To be righteous, as the word is used in its highest spiritual sense, means far more than being sinless, pure, or merely good. Righteousness is not simply the absence of evil or impropriety; it is the active seeking of the mind and will of the Father and compliance with that will once it has been obtained. In Matthew's account of Jesus' baptism, Christ responds to John's reluctance to baptize him by saying, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15). The text is quite literally true. Neither John nor Jesus could have been considered righteous had the baptism not taken place. In the general sense, righteousness was understood to embrace the filling of obligations or the observance of legal requirements. In a more strictly religious sense it was understood to mean conforming to the will of the Father. Thus we see Christ as the personification of righteousness because his whole nature, his every action, conformed to God's will (Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, pp. 169-70). The scriptures refer to Christ as the Son of Righteousness (2 Nephi 26:9; 3 Nephi 25:2; Ether 9:22), or even as the Righteous (Moses 7:45, 47). "Righteous," as a name title for deity, is intended to convey the idea of unswerving faithfulness in the keeping of covenant promises. Salvation and righteousness are thus inseparably linked. "God's righteousness in his judicial reign means that in covenant faithfulness he saves his people." (Theological Dictionary, p. 171.) Nephi identifies four ways in which Christ fulfilled all righteousness through his baptism: (1) He humbled himself before the Father (2 Nephi 31:7); (2) he entered a covenant relationship with the Father, promising obedience in keeping the commandments (2 Nephi 31:7); (3) he opened to himself the gate to the celestial kingdom (2 Nephi 31:9); (4) he set a perfect example for all to follow (2 Nephi 31:10). None but the righteous can be saved; that is, only those who are willing to enter into and honor the covenants of salvation will be heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Christ is the example; all who obtain salvation must obtain it in the same manner that Christ obtained it. As baptism was required of Christ so that he might be an heir of salvation, so it is required of all who seek that blessing. Extending this principle beyond the ordinances of baptism, Joseph Smith taught that "if a man gets a fullness of the priesthood of God he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the house of the Lord" (Teachings, p. 308).Christ is our example in all things. He ceases to be that if we excuse him from compliance with the ordinances of salvation or the obligation to keep the commandments. it would hardly be consistent to announce one system of salvation for Christ and another for the rest of mankind, and then to stoutly maintain that Christ's actions are the example to be followed. Was it necessary for Christ to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands? Was it necessary for him to receive the priesthood in the same manner? Did he comply with temple ordinances? In response it could be asked: Did he "fulfil all righteousness" in baptism or was more required of him? Could he have fulfilled all righteousness by selectively keeping the commandments, or was it necessary, as Joseph Smith taught, for him to keep all the commandments? On such matters Nephi is very emphatic- there is, he declared, but one path to the divine presence and only by following that path could Jesus show us the way (2 Nephi 31:9, 18-19). "This is something of which uninspired men have no comprehension," stated Elder Bruce R. McConkie. "Truly, he was the Lord Omnipotent before the world was; truly, he was like unto the Father in the pre-mortal life; truly, he was the Son of God here on earth- and yet, with it all, as with all the spirit children of the same Father he too was subject to all of the terms and conditions of the Father's plan. He also was born on earth to undergo a mortal probation, to die, to rise again in immortal glory, to be judged according to his works, and to receive his place of infinite glory in the eternal kingdom of his Everlasting Father. How well Paul said: "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect he became the author [that is, the cause] of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. (Hebrews 5:8-9)." (Bruce R. McConkie, "The Mystery of Godliness.")It was required of Christ as it is required of all men, taught Nephi, that he follow the strait and narrow path (2 Nephi 31:9). A straight path is one without deviation, whereas a strait path as spoken of in this text, is one that is strict, narrow, and rigorous. Both expressions are appropriate descriptions of the path that leads to the presence of God. In this instance, however, the emphasis is on the strictness with which all who would be saved must comply with the ordinances of salvation. Salvation is found only in willing obedience to the Father, never in neglect, disobedience, or the pursuit of one's own will. As it was, it was necessary for Christ to be obedient in all things to work out his salvation. It is necessary for all men to do the same. Jesus was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). Though, in the words of Paul, our Lord was made, in the hours of atonement, "to be sin for us," he "knew no sin" personally (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our mediator "suffered for us, leaving us an example, that [we] should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" (1 Peter 2:2-22). For him, therefore, the ordinance of baptism served neither an expiatory nor a purging function: Christ was not baptized for a remission of sins, for he neither had committed sin nor would do so. He required neither redemption nor deliverance. Our Savior was baptized because baptism is requisite for entrance into the kingdom of God. Christ fulfilled all righteousness in being baptized: he evidenced his obedience to the will of the Father, he covenanted to keep the commandments of the Father, he obtained membership in the kingdom of God on earth, and he opened for himself the doors to that kingdom in the world to come. In so doing he set an example for all the children of men. In all things Christ could say, "Follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do."

Answer 2

Mark's Gospel, now known to have been the first New Testament gospel to be written, portrays Jesus as an ordinary person adopted by God at his baptism. Thus, the baptism and the subsequent temptation in the wilderness were essential before Jesus commenced his mission. In this Gospel, Jesus is not sinless, as he tells the disciples in Mark 10:18: "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God."

The later gospels were based on Mark's original, and the evangelists struggled to explain the baptism. Matthew 3:14 has John argue with Jesus that he should not be baptised, with Jesus insisting. John's gospel alludes to the baptism, but avoids an actual description of the event.