Why does the Bible give four different descriptions of the baptism of Jesus?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

The baptism of Jesus is in all four of the Gospels. Why do we have four Gospel accounts? EXAMPLE If you took a photo of a building from the front that is all you would see and you would not really know what the rest of the building looked like. If you took a photo of all four sides of that building you would have a better understanding of that building. The same goes for the Gospels. Most of the time each gospel will have a slightly different story of some event. If you only read one event you don't get the complete story. If you read each account in each Gospel you will get as much of the story that God wants you to know. Sometimes quite a bit is revealed if you read all the accounts.

Answer 2

The original account of the baptism of Jesus is in Mark's Gospel. Here, the author's purpose is simply to introduce Jesus and tell us who he is, so it is a simple account without elaboration. John the Baptist prophesied of one to come, greater than he. Immediately, in Mark 1:9, Jesus comes and is baptised, so we are left in no doubt that Jesus is the one of whom John prophesied. Coming up out of the water, Jesus sees the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending on him. Then the voice of God from heaven says to Jesus, "Thou art my beloved son." We are thus assured from the very beginning of the gospel just who Jesus is. Immediately after the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit leads him into the wilderness where he is tempted by Satan, while being ministered by angels.

We now know that Matthew's Gospel was substantially based on Mark's Gospel, including some 90 per cent of the verses from the original, often in exactly the same words in the original Greek language. In copying from Mark, the author has no need to introduce Jesus, since that has already been done in the nativity story. He recognises that if Jesus is without sin, it is not necessary for Jesus to be baptised, so has John forbid him, but Jesus prevails. In Mark, the voice of God spoke to Jesus alone and so said to him, "Thou art my beloved son." In Matthew, the announcement is intended for all those present, so God says, "This is my beloved son."

Luke's Gospel was also based on Mark's Gospel, and once again it was not really necessary to introduce Jesus, because of the preceding nativity accounts. However, this gospel follows Mark more closely than does Matthew, apart from the genealogy that intervenes between the baptism and the temptation in the wilderness.

John's Gospel is loosely based on Luke, so it is further removed from the original, and consequently differs most from it. In this account, John recognises Jesus even as he approaches, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God," and then telling the reader that Jesus is indeed the man of whom he had been prophesying. The Baptist says this was proven to him when he saw the Spirit descend on Jesus, a sign he had been expecting. Mark's subtlety is absent. So too are the forty days in the wilderness, which this gospel dispenses with in order to begin the selection of the disciples Andrew and Peter.