# Baptizing Jesus **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 19, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552 "2008-11-19T23:51:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f14d63/32.png) [@Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jesus_Harold_Christ)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/1 "2008-11-19T23:51:40Z")
If Jesus never sinned, what was the point of his baptism? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/2 "2008-11-19T23:53:47Z")
Managable hair? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/3 "2008-11-19T23:57:03Z")
What about original sin. Did’t Jesus as the son of Mary inherit original sin ? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/4 "2008-11-19T23:57:25Z")
I am not a theologian, but baptism isn’t for the forgiveness of sins. Most denominations believe you only need to be baptized once. I don’t think that’s enough to cover all the sinning. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/5 "2008-11-20T00:09:41Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > What about original sin. Did’t Jesus as the son of Mary inherit original sin ? Mary was born without Original Sin; hence Immaculate Conception. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/6 "2008-11-20T00:10:06Z")
According to John the Baptist, the reason was so Jesus would be revealed and start his ministry. > [@John 1:29-34 NIV](#): > > The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” > > Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” In Luke, it mentions the God saying the “You are my Son whom I love; with you I am well pleased” immedately followed by the note that Jesus was 30 when he began his ministry. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/7 "2008-11-20T02:50:11Z")
Jesus’s and John’s mothers were first cousins, and they didn’t know each other? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/8 "2008-11-20T03:02:36Z")
A lot of historians think that the baptism of Jesus by John is one of the few things in the Gospels that can be counted on as historically reliable precisely because it puts Jesus in a subordinate position to John. The Gospels also become increasingly defensive about it. Scholars call this event authentic under what they call the “criterion of embarrassment.” That is, because it seems to undermine Jesus’ authority, it’s considered to be unlikely to have been invented. It was also apparently well known enough to have to be explained, though. It’s “embarrassing,” not aggrandizing. In any case, most scholars would say the most likely reason the Gospels report that Jesus was baptized by John was because it happened historically. Why is anybody’s guess, but many scholars postulate that Jesus started as a follower of JBap before he began his own ministry (maybe after JBap was killed). ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/9 "2008-11-20T04:06:30Z")
> [@Jesus\_Harold\_Christ](#): > > If Jesus never sinned, what was the point of his baptism? He tells us in the Bible. > [@](#): > > MAt 3:13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” > > 15Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. see,..it’s to fulfill all righteousness…what else? ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/10 "2008-11-20T07:49:58Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Mary was born without Original Sin; hence Immaculate Conception. No! I read postulated that sin can only be passed through the fathers genes. So someone (like Jesus) only had a female parent, thus no sin. It would’ve worked with any female. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/11 "2008-11-20T09:47:23Z")
Some Christians teach that Jesus was modelling for us the use of Baptism as the symbol of the New Covenant between God and mankind that He was ushering in - replacing Circumcision, which was the mark of the old covenant. These churches will insist on “believer baptisim”, where the candidate is old enough to profess their own faith - those who have been baptised as infants must be re-baptised to become full members. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/12 "2008-11-20T19:00:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Jesus’s and John’s mothers were first cousins, and they didn’t know each other? They were relatives of some sort, though not necessarily first cousins. There’s enough difference in age that they were probably of different generations. And I think it’ pretty clear that they did know each other. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/13 "2008-11-20T19:12:20Z")
John’s parents were Zechariah and Elizabeth. When an angle visits Zechariah and tells him his wife will give birth, he states that they are both old and that she is barren. In comparison, Mary is presented as a young woman. There’s probably at least a 40 year gap between them. However, Mary obviously did know them since she goes off to visit Elizabeth and both gab about their divinely ordained pregnancies. There’s little mention of Jesus’ childhood and nothing indicating how often he came across John prior to the baptism. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/14 "2008-11-20T19:30:13Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Mary was born without Original Sin; hence Immaculate Conception. This wasn’t recognized until the 19th century. Jesus was taking no chances. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/15 "2008-11-20T20:07:33Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > This wasn’t recognized until the 19th century. Jesus was taking no chances. It wasn’t made dogma until the 19th century, but it wasn’t invented then either. > [@Proclus of Constantinople](#): > > As He formed her without any stain of her own, so He proceeded from her contracting no stain. > [@Romanos the Melodist](#): > > Then the tribes of Israel heard that Anna had conceived the immaculate one. The belief that Mary was immaculate at the time of _Jesus’_ conception rather than her own can be traced back even further and was much less controversial. ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/16 "2008-11-21T00:56:19Z")
Here is a summery of the Catholic Church’s teachings the Baptism of Jesus. More can be found [here](http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p122a3p3.htm#III). ``` First you are correct. Christ never sinned and was not possessed of original and so did not require baptism anymore than He required the sacrifice of the cross to be able to enter heaven. I make this comparison for reason, because, by His baptism, He was allowing Himself to be numbered among the sinners though He had no sin and this is an anticipation of His death on the cross. He is also, as stated in another post, “coming to fulfill all righteousness,” which in this case is fully submitting Himself to His Father's will and accepting His mission and its culmination on the cross. ``` The Catechism does a better job, but is a bit longer. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baptizing-jesus/473552/17 "2008-11-21T12:48:39Z")
Jack Miles, in CHRIST: A Crisis in the Life of God, has an interesting idea. John has been baptizing people for the washing away of their sins. By going into the water, Jesus takes those sins upon Himself. That may be. I’ll just say that by getting baptized, Christ identified with all of us. Also, a lot of people forget that John was a rogue priest & baptism was a remaking of the Jewish ritual bath, the mikvah.