Matthew 3:15 Commentary and Bible Study

Christ answers John in such a way as to acknowledge that his reservations are justified. It was certainly true that, as John said, ‘he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear’ (Matthew 3:11). Christ by requesting John to baptize him was not denying this in any way. Therefore he uses the word ‘Suffer’, ‘Permit’ or ‘Allow’: ‘Allow it to be so now’. Yes it was true that John was the forerunner to prepare the way for the Christ, and that as Christ increased John would decrease, nevertheless it was the will of God that this should take place. The reason Christ gives is that it was fitting for John to baptize the Lord Jesus in order to fulfil all righteousness. But how could that be? Why wasn’t John right that it was inappropriate for Jesus to submit to baptism when he was without sin? The answer is that there were deeper meanings in Christ being baptized than John had realised up till now. Spurgeon says, ‘Baptism beautifully sets forth our Lord’s immersion in suffering, his burial, and his resurrection.’ Our baptism has meaning because he has died and risen again. As Paul says in Romans 6, ‘Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.’ He too had to die to sin: ‘For in that he died, he died unto sin once.’ Though he was without sin, nevertheless, as Hendriksen says, ‘he did, after all, have sin, namely ours.’ Christ, in fulfilling all righteousness, submitted to various aspects of the law which were typical in nature. He was circumcised (Luke 2:21); he attended the feasts of the Jews (Luke 2:42); he told his disciples to observe whatever the scribes and Pharisees bid them do because they sit in Moses’ seat (Matthew 23:2-3); he told the healed leper to show himself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded (Matthew 8:4), and he too was baptized. His circumcision also implied the removal of a fleshly nature which in his case he did not possess. Christ led the way where his disciples were to follow, even though for him the meaning of those symbolic acts did not apply. He did it because he was our representative and needed to fulfil all righteousness for our sakes.Whether or not John fully understood this answer, he accepted that Christ knew why this needed to happen, and that it must be done in order to fulfil all righteousness. Nothing must be left out in all that the Father had appointed the Son to do. John therefore allows himself to be corrected by Christ and carries out his baptism. He has met with one who knows infinitely more than he does.