Reading the Bible takes time and patience. Understanding the meaning of the stories can make the Bible more interesting to read. The baptism of Jesus is one such story that may seem small, but it has a deeper meaning to it that sheds some light on Jesus’s mission. The baptism of Jesus is recorded or indicated in all four gospels of the New Testament. It was specifically mentioned in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, and John 1:24-34. All the gospels give different accounts of how the baptism took place. True to their name, the Synoptic Gospels have stories that are almost similar, but the Gospel of John has its own unique story. Understanding the different accounts of the baptism is crucial to understanding the significance of why Jesus was baptized and by whom.
In the Gospel of Matthew, John didn’t want to baptize Jesus. He claimed that Jesus should be the one baptizing him and not the other way around. Jesus answered “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). John gives in and baptizes Jesus. Right after Jesus was baptized, the spirit of God descended to Jesus in
…show more content…
Given how Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the synoptic gospels, their stories are supposed to be a close matchup to each other. Since Matthew and Mark make references to Jesus being baptized by John, it would be reasonable to believe that John did baptize Jesus in Luke. There was nothing in Luke that said John didn’t baptize Jesus. The Gospel of John only makes reference to John seeing the dove with God’s spirit. However, since the dove only appeared at the end of Jesus’s baptism in the other gospels, the dove most likely appeared at the end of Jesus’s baptism in John with John being there to witness it. He could have seen from afar, or he could have seen it up close after he baptized
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis1:1.) God’s perfect wisdom created everything. In Genesis 1 and 2 we can see that God has loving and gentile nature when He created the earth and heavens. God created man in his image and we are the only creation that God breathed in the breath of life for human beings (Genesis 2:7). God did not do this for any of other creations but only for humans. The Bible has many scriptures that tell us how creative God is. Genesis 1;26 states “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created all of this for us to have fellowship with him.
But still, something about it nagged at me. One of the things we can be most sure of about Jesus is that he was baptized by John before the beginning of his own ministry. If it was good enough for Jesus, who am I to argue?
The power of water, a meek and gracious force, as illustrated in the Bible is the source of life and fruitfulness. The prayer has different sections to articulate the overall purpose of baptism, beginning with gratitude and recognition of God’s omnipresence, the prayer then references from the Old Testament, as the church has seen in Noah’s ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism. As the water of baptism gives new life, the crossing of the Red Sea, the liberation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, proclaims the liberation wrought by baptism. The final reference to the Old Testament is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the people of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham’s descendants, an image of eternal life. All the Old Covenants prefiguration’s find their fulfilment in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ begins his public life after being baptised by St. John the Baptist in the river of Jordan. After his resurrection Christ gives this mission to his apostles: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." To fulfil all righteousness, Jesus’ submissive baptism by John the Baptist, is a gesture of
Within the New Testament, it has been often said that the Gospel of Mark had been the original in which Luke and Matthew’s gospels were based off of. Under this theory, it then becomes evident that the Gospel of Matthew seems to be a more detailed version of the Gospel of Mark, but that is not to say there are not any key differences between the two. Through comparing and contrasting Jesus’ baptism, Jesus’ temptation, and Jesus’ death on the cross between the two gospels it becomes evident that the Gospel of Mark lacks the same emotional magnitude as the Gospel of Matthew, but the Gospel of Matthew also expands on points that the Gospel of Mark makes slight mention of therefore revealing more of the story of Jesus and giving more insight
John the Baptist – emphasized the importance of baptism when before he ascended into heaven. He instructed his apostles – “ “ Matthew 28:19-20
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because their writings that tell the story of Jesus is so closely matched, especially when compared to the gospel of John who wrote a very different account of Jesus’ life (Harris, 2014). It is also important to note, that the Synoptic Gospels do not match exactly. There are some significant differences, however, the overall context shares much in common with one another (Harris, 2014). One of the major differences between the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John, is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all state that Jesus went to Jerusalem only once, while John states Jesus made multiple trips there (Harris, 2014). Luke is also the only Synoptic Gospel to declare he never had a personal
In the gospels of Mark and John, both showed a vivid portrait of Jesus in their writing. Mark’s gospel describes much more of Jesus' life, miracles, and parables as suffering servant. However, John’s gospel was written to convince people to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Nonetheless, both John and Mark present many of the crucial events of Jesus' life, including his trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.
The first chapter gives the Gospel’s view of what the early church though about baptism. “The references to repentance and the forgiveness of sins make clear that John's baptism is to be understood not merely in terms of ritual purification and religious observance but as essentially moral and Ethical” (pg. 3). Throughout the Gospels there are many references to hearing the word, believing and then being baptized. After which the believer is to go and make disciples. “First, the rite of baptism
The Gospel of John An Essay Written for A Humanities Course That Studies the Bible As A Historical Document THE GOSPEL OF JOHN: "The Man from Heaven," "Bread of Life," "Light of The World," "Living Water," .... and of course, "Son of Man." This is who Jesus is in The Gospel of John. Jesus' life is portrayed very differently from the other Synoptic Gospels; he lives completely within symbolism, and glorification.
The Gospel of John is significantly different from the Gospel’s of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in the setting, omissions, sequence of events, and focus on its teachings (Wilcox, 2014). The focus of the setting of Jesus’ ministry was the area around Galilee in the Synoptic Gospels, but John emphasizes Jesus’ travel to and from Jerusalem. Moreover, the writer of John omits the birth account of Jesus, does not refer to Jesus casting out demons, and does not refer to problems between Jesus and His family (Harris, 2014). Additionally, John never depicts Jesus reinterpreting the Jewish law, nor the prophecies of Jerusalem’s eventual downfall.
In continuing to examine and understand Jesus of Nazareth, Aslan turns to the gospels, the early sources written by Jesus of Nazareth’s followers and disciples. The gospel of John was written, “To produce faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God” (Jn 20:30-31a). This gospel concentrates more on the heavenly nature of Jesus Christ than any of alternate accounts, and as a result of this, Alsan does not look as carefully at this Gospel than he does for Luke, Matthew and Mark. The gospels Luke, Matthew, and Mark at one point talk about the baptism of Jesus, however “Luke goes one step further… choosing to gloss over Jesus’s actual baptism.”(Aslan, R., 2013, p.87.) Nevertheless, Aslan makes one comment on the Gospel of John stating that in John,
In both the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John, Jesus perform many miracles, but the most notable one is the healing miracle that Jesus performs. Diseases and physical impairments are symbolisms of spiritual uncleanliness and sins, and Jesus’ healings restore their complete bodily function as well as the spiritual well being. The healing illustrates the relationship between men and Jesus through the value, faith. The function of Jesus’s healing are very much alike in both the Gospels of Mark and John because it serves more than simple physical healing. It not only establishes faith in Jesus and His power, but it also confirms and supports pre-existing faith in Jesus. His healing also serves as a kind of societal purification, which is shown
Based on the text, the Gospel of John was mainly set in Judea and Galilee. The setting of the text is stated throughout John, and it gives context to the type of people that Jesus was preaching to at any particular point in the text. This can also show a purpose as to why the author of John wrote their gospel the way they did. D. A. Carson states in part that traditionally, the purpose of the fourth gospel “revolved around the location of the Johannine community” and had to do with the “trajectories of developing Christianity” (Carson 1987). This would make sense given the fact that the Johannine community was focused on the teachings of Jesus, and thus the Gospel of John would fit nicely into that mold. However, Carson goes on to
John also gave a testimony about Jesus in John chapter three. John was baptizing in Aenon and an argument broke out amongst his disciples and a Jew about ceremonial washing (baptism). the disciples were complaining of another man baptizing on the opposite side of the river. The man was Jesus, and John's heart was filled with "complete joy” as he says the words "he must become greater; I must become
John. When it comes to Jesus’s baptism the Synoptics say he was baptized by John the Baptist and after he went into the wilderness where he was tempted by the Devil. There is no account of his baptism or the wilderness in the Gospel of John. Based off the birth of Jesus in Matthew and Luke, Jesus was about 33 when he started his public ministries. In John there is no sign of his age but early Christians concluded he was in his late 40s. According the Synoptics, Jesus’s ministry lasted for nine months and took place mainly in Galilean. In John,