The Baptism of Jesus, What Does It Mean?

In John 4:1-2 we read an interesting description of the early part of Christ’s earthly ministry:

“Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples),” (John 4:1–2, ESV)

John’s whole ministry was preparing for Christ, so what happened to John once Christ stepped into the public eye? There was probably about 6 months of overlap between Christ and John. How did John handle this transition? This passage gives us the answer, since this passage records the response of John the Baptist to the public ministry of Christ.

The beginning of Jesus’ ministry overlapped with the end of John the Baptist’s ministry. Jesus set up his base of operations in the Judean countryside where John used to teach and baptize (3:22). ) Meanwhile, John was now in the wilderness of Samaria, to spread the news about Jesus further and because there was a lot of water there for baptisms. During this period, before the arrest of John, Jesus had not yet unveiled the full message of the Gospel (Mk 1:14-15; Mt 4:12-17). Therefore, the timing indicates that Jesus’ baptism was preparatory like John’s. It was a baptism of repentance in preparation for the Gospel. Theologically, this must have been the case, because without the resurrection there can be no Christian baptism (Rom 6:3-5).

At this point in John 4, Jesus and John were doing the exact same ministry, except now Jesus was doing it bigger and better than John had ever done (Jn 4:1). There is one little detail, however, that the Gospel writer wanted to clear up. John had to set the record straight on the baptisms that were taking place in Jesus’ ministry. Jesus did not physically perform the baptism because he did not want people to value who performed the baptism over the spiritual significance of the baptism. The apostle Paul later followed this same pattern (1 Cor 1:14-17).

This teaches us that the one who administers the baptism is not what makes it signifiant. If you were baptized by a pastor who was later disqualified from ministry, your baptism is still valid. The significance of baptism is the truth that it points to, not the circumstances and ceremony of the event.