‘Why Then Do You Baptize?’

While preaching in the Judean wilderness, John the Baptist proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Mt. 3:2). The Jewish people who came to John to be baptized did so because they had repented: They had changed their minds and acknowledged their sin after hearing his message of the soon-coming Messiah. John’s words stirred their hearts to be ready for the Messiah’s arrival (v. 6).

When Messiah Jesus Himself came to John to be baptized, He did so not because He needed to repent but “to fulfill all righteousness”

(v. 15). His baptism was part of His divine plan. In being baptized, Jesus demonstrated both submission to God the Father and identification with those He had come to save.

Though the religious leaders from Jerusalem questioned who John was (Jn. 1:19, 21), Scripture does not record widespread bewilderment at his immersing people in the Jordan River. In fact, the religious leaders’ only question for John regarding baptism was, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” (v. 25).

This lack of confusion is telling. First-century Jews were accustomed to immersion baptism because it was a part of worship. The Torah stipulates that those who became ceremonially unclean were, in certain cases, to immerse themselves in water (Lev. 15:19–30; Num. 19:18–19). Though such cleansing may have held some hygienic benefit, its purpose was purity in God’s eyes.

During the Second Temple period, Jewish people went to designated pools called mikvaot (singular, mikveh) for this ritual cleansing. Archaeologists have unearthed ancient mikvaot throughout Israel, especially in Jerusalem and particularly near the Temple Mount. Some scholars believe the pools of Bethesda and Siloam were constructed as mikvaot for the thousands of Jewish pilgrims who came to Jerusalem for the holy days each year.¹

Interestingly, the mikveh was not then, nor is it today, to be entered carelessly. Maimonides, the 12th-century Jewish sage, wrote, “‘Uncleanness’ is not mud or filth which water can remove, but is a matter of scriptural decree and dependent on the intention of the heart. Therefore the Sages have said, ‘If a man immerses himself, but without special intention, it is as though he has not immersed himself at all.’”²

Similarly, believers in Jesus are baptized today, not because the water will wash away physical or spiritual uncleanness, but because their “special intention” is to publicly proclaim their repentance and identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3–4).

ENDNOTES

1. 1. 1. 1. “Jewish Practices & Rituals: Mikveh,” Jewish Virtual Library (jewishvirtuallibrary.org/mikveh).
         2. Ibid.

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