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
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the form of a dove saying “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” It should be noted that the dove spoke as if it was speaking about Jesus rather than speaking to Jesus. In the Gospel of Mark, John doesn’t put up a fight when Jesus comes to him to be baptized. He immediately baptizes Jesus in the Jordan River, and the spirit of God descends saying almost the phrase to Jesus that he did in Matthew. This time, the dove spoke saying “You are my beloved son in, you I am well pleased.” The dove spoke directly to Jesus and not about him like what was done in Matthew Unlike the other Gospels, the Gospel of Luke doesn’t give much detail into Jesus’s baptism. Luke 2:21 mentions that all the people are baptized, and it came time for Jesus to be baptized as well. It isn’t even mentioned if John was the one who baptized Jesus. After being baptized, Jesus prayed, and the dove with the spirit of God descended again saying “You are my beloved son in, you I am well pleased.” Luke and Mark are similar in God’s message to Jesus. Compared to other three Gospels, the Gospel of John makes more of an indirect approach when describing Jesus’s baptism. Jesus and John don’t talk to each other, and there is no verse that describes whether Jesus was baptized or not. John saw Jesus walking to him, and spoke, saying that man walking towards him was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John recalls seeing the dove with God’s spirit descend upon Jesus, but it isn’t clear when that event took place. Lastly, it isn’t mentioned whether the spirit of God said “This is my beloved son, in thee/whom I am well pleased.” Even though only two of the gospels made direct references to Jesus being baptized by John, I believe that John did baptize in all four accounts.
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
Jesus. It is possible that the authors of Matthew, Luke, and John had a problem with Jesus being baptized by John. Jesus was already sinless, and he was asking sinful man to baptize him. In Matthew, it is clear that John was taken aback when Jesus asked to be baptized by him. He tried to protest by saying the Jesus should be the one baptizing him. It also seems that the author of Luke could have had a problem with John as well, but it’s less obvious than Matthew. The account in Luke doesn’t make a reference to John while Jesus is being baptized. This could be seen as sign that he didn’t want to portray someone baptizing Jesus, but rather, wanted to portray Jesus baptizing himself. Lastly, John doesn’t give a clear story of about Jesus’s baptism or who did it. The gospel only seems to imply that he was baptized. Despite the word of these gospel, it’s biblical canon that John was the one who baptized Jesus. I doubt the authors really had something against John. I believe that they just wanted to tell the story of Jesus in a different way to give us a clear picture of who he was. There are many reasons on why Jesus was baptized, but it isn’t clear on which it’s the real reason. He could have been baptized simply because God asked him to or it could have been that Jesus was to identify himself with people he was trying to save. I am more inclined to believe the latter. To me, the baptizing of Jesus was more of a symbol to the people. The baptism allied Jesus with the all the faults and failures of the human race. He did this so he could truly be the one who would take the punishment for all our sins. Jesus was about to begin his journey to spread the word of God, and it would be appropriate to be recognized by his predecessor. It was mentioned in Isaiah 40:3 that a “voice crying out into the wilderness” would call the people to repentance in preparation for the arrival of the Messiah. John was known to have baptized many people already, so there is reason to believe that John was the “voice” prophesized in the book of Isaiah. By baptizing Jesus, John was declaring to the people that Jesus was the man who would deliver all from sin. Jesus’s baptism was the first step that led him to spreading God’s word. The four gospels have different accounts of how it happened, but they are meant to share the one meaning. The meaning that I have accepted is that Jesus was baptized so he could truly take the burden of our sins and give us a chance to repent. Sometimes, actions need to be reviewed before making judgements. A person could have read about the baptism but understand nothing on its significance.
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
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.
The foundation of a Christian worldview is the belief in a personal God, creator and ruler of the universe. The Christian worldview views the world through God’s word, providing the framework for humanity to live by giving meaning and purpose to life. It defines who Jesus is, human nature, and how salvation is achieved. In essence it is the basis of which Christians behave, interact, interpret life and comprehend reality. A Christian worldview imparts confidence, answers to life’s problems, and hope for the future. In this paper I will discuss the essentials of a Christian worldview and an analysis of the influences, benefits, and difficulties sustaining the Christian faith.
Let me tell you about an amazing creator who is the God of three persons – The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit otherwise known as the Trinity. Jesus took on human flesh so that he can be one of our mankind. To go to eternity, you need to obey the covenant of God and make sure that as a human you have justification by faith where your human heart is restored and your follow Gods word. Be a true Christian follow God word, don’t fall to humanity and let your heart be restored to follow God’s wisdom
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.
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.
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
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
All four gospels present Jesus as both the Son of God and son of man. They all record His baptism, the feeding of the 5,000 from five loaves and two fishes, Mary's anointing of the Lord Jesus, His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, His betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. However, each writer does so in a slightly different way, recording additional details or emphasizing one aspect more than the others.
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
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 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.
The difference is that in John this event took place in the very beginning of Jesus’s career and in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it was the last things to happen in his ministries and is the event that lead him to his arrest. The Caesarea Philippi incident and the praying at Gethsemane that is talked about in the Synoptics is not mentioned in John. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke the Last Supper is the Passover meal and only takes place with Jesus and his 12 disciples. According to the Gospel of John, the Last Supper is not the Passover meal and it does not occur with just him and his disciples. It is found that in the Synoptics Jesus was executed during Passover but in John his death happens the day before Passover. In the Synoptic gospels there are numerous miracles that Jesus performs, most being private exorcisms. He performs these miracles out of compassion and never to prove who he is. In the Gospel of John only nine miracles are performed and none of them are exorcisms. These miracles also were public and were not done out of compassion but strictly to prove himself. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus’ main messages were about the coming of the Kingdom of God, final judgment
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