I want to look at a text that we typically pass over without
giving it much thought. It's the baptism of Jesus in Matthew
3. We'll focus mostly on verse 15, but let me describe the
setting, and we'll read the surrounding verses, so we can
consider the context properly.
This is the starting point of Jesus' public ministry. John
the Baptist is baptizing "in the wilderness of Judea." This is a
desert region at a low elevation south and east of Jerusalem,
close to where the Jordan river flows into the Dead Sea. If
you have ever visited Jericho, you know the region. These
are rolling badlands, chalky, desert terrainCtotally barren
except for the rocks. The only greenery is a thin strip of trees
that grow on the banks of the Jordan riverCand as you travel
south even that little strip of life turns to scrub brush and
begins to diminish. The Jordan is mud-colored at that point.
The last traces of vegetation finally disappear about two
miles north of the Dead Sea. In the heart of that desolate
region is where John the Baptist was baptizing people.
We can pretty well pinpoint the spot. John 1:28 says,
"These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where
John was baptizing." That's not the same Bethany where
Lazarus, Mary, and Martha lived. It was a smaller town on
Matthew 3:15 2
the east bank of the Jordan River, about five miles north of
the Dead Sea, where there was a ford in the river. There's a
baptismal site and an Eastern Orthodox church there today.
Other than that, it's still a totally barren region. It's five miles
east-southeast from Jericho and at least two days' journey to
get there from Jerusalem in Jesus' time.
But John the Baptist was drawing huge crowds to hear
him preach and be baptized. Matthew 3:5-6 say, "Jerusalem
and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out
to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan,
confessing their sins."
So this was a baptism of repentance. John himself says so
in verse 11: "I baptize you with water for repentance." Verse 6:
those who came were "confessing their sins," and John the
Baptist required convincing evidence of genuine repentance.
Matthew 3:7-12 is where we have that famous incident
where a team of Pharisees came to be baptized. Remember,
Jesus' complaint against the Pharisees (Matthew 23:5) was
that "They do all their deeds to be seen by others." This is
where the crowds were, so naturally, this was a good place
for Pharisees who wanted to be seen doing penance (or
whatever).
John refuses them and rebukes them (v. 7): "You brood of
vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" And
then he preaches a sermon full of damnation and hell fire,
To Fulfill All Righteousness 3
aimed at these phony religious virtuosos. But notice: the
central point of John's sermon is that Jesus is coming. John is
merely the forerunner, "the voice of one crying out in the
wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet
Isaiah said" [John 1:23]. And John understands his role,
because he says in verse 11: "He who is coming after me is
mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
By the way, the fire John mentions is not a Pentecostal
outpouring of strange phenomena. It's not a good thing at all.
Fire is used repeatedly by John the Baptist in this immediate
context to refer to judgment. Verse 10: "Every tree therefore
that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire." It's the same fire he's still speaking about in the very
next verse (v. 12)Ca fire that burns up "the chaff" with flames
that will never be quenched. In other words, verse 11 means
that Christ will baptize His elect with the Holy Spirit, and the
rest (including any Pharisees that haven't truly repented) He
will baptize with fire (v. 12): He will "gather his wheat into
the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." He
is warning these phony Pharisees about a baptism of
judgment that is coming on unrepentant people.
That's where our text comes in. Right after John rebukes
the Pharisees, through the end of Matthew 3, we're given this
Matthew 3:15 4
brief vignette about the baptism of Jesus. So let me read the
text, starting in verse 13:
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be
baptized by him.
14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be
baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is
fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he
consented.
16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up
from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to
him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and coming to rest on him;
17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my
beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
I love this story. It's tied forever in my mind to my first
Sunday at Grace Community Church, back in 1983. Darlene
and I had just moved from Chicago with two small boys and
a third on the way. Our eldest was just three and a half years
old, and we came from a small church where the nursery was
just one big room that housed all children up to age 4Cwith
beds for the infants and toys on the floor for toddlers.
So that first Sunday we were at Grace was the first time
Jeremiah had ever been to a Sunday-School class with a
To Fulfill All Righteousness 5
Bible story and lesson. And this story about Jesus' baptism
was the lesson for that week.
So we picked him up after Sunday school, and he came
out waving this paper he had colored, and I asked him what
he learned. I really wasn't expecting a profound theological
treatise. I figured he would say something like, "We should
be kind to one another," or something really basic like that.
But he said, "We learned about when Jesus' was
baptitized."
So I said, "Tell me about it."
And he said, "Well, John the Baptist was this guy who
dressed funny and ate bugs, and he baptitized people in the
desert."
And I thought, Wow! That's a lot for a three-year-old to
absorb. So I said, "Yes, that's right! What else?"
Jeremiah said, "Well, Jesus came to John to be baptitized,
and John the Baptist said, 'I can't baptitize you. You should
baptitize me.' But Jesus said, 'Do it anyway,' and so he did."
And I just thought, Amazing! They're actually teaching
these three-year-olds the Bible. And I was mentally
congratulating myself that my son was such a good listener.
But then Jeremiah lowered his voice in a kind of dramatic
whisper, and said, "And thenCa very strange thing
happened!"
And I said, "What?"
Matthew 3:15 6
He said, "This big duck came down . . . "
And I looked at the paper he colored. He had drawn a big
duck bill on the dove.
So I had to straighten his understanding of this passage a
little bit. And that had the beneficial effect of provoking me
to look at the passage to try to get a clear and careful
understanding of it for myself.
It's an important passage. R. C. Sproul says "there's [no]
more important text in all the New Testament that defines the
work of Jesus than this one."
And I have to admit that this passage had mystified me
ever since I first read it as a young Christian. I found myself
trying to explain something to a three-year-old that I didn't
fully grasp myself. Why did Jesus insist on being baptized?
Baptism wasn't required or even mentioned in Moses' law, so
this is not a matter of legal obedience.
Furthermore, John's baptism signified repentance, and it
was usually accompanied by a public confession of sin. Jesus
had no need for such a sacrament. He was "full of grace and
truth" [John 1:14]. Hebrews 7:26 says He was "holy,
innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above
the heavens." So what's going on here, and why was getting
baptized with a baptism of repentance so important to the
mission of Jesus [Luke 19:10]C"to seek and to save the lost"?
To Fulfill All Righteousness 7
Even John the Baptist was shocked and confounded when
Jesus came to be baptized. John has just refused these
Pharisees, demanding "fruit in keeping with repentance" (v. 8).
Now He tries to refuse Jesus, but for the opposite reason.
John is not like any Baptist I ever met. He has no interest in
inflated statistics or evangelistic numbers. He will baptize
only those who genuinely repent and confess their sin. And
here's the problem: Jesus has no need to confess sin or
demonstrate repentance, and somehow John understands
that. So this little drama unfolds, and it sheds great light on
what Jesus was doing to insure the justification of His
people, from the moment He began His public ministry.
Notice, in the span of the five verses I just read to you,
three different voices speak, and each one expresses a
distinctive opinion about the baptism of Jesus. Here are the
three voices in this three-part drama: you have John the
Baptist in verse 14; Jesus in verse 15; and "a voice from
heaven" in verse 17 (that, of course, is God the Father). As I
said, each voice expresses an opinion about what's
happening. John objects to it; Jesus insists on it; and all
heaven adds a blessing to it.
So let's look at those three voices one at a time, and we'll
consider what each one says and what it all means. Three
voices, each expressing an opinion about Jesus at his
baptism. FirstC
Matthew 3:15 8
1. JOHN OBJECTS TO IT
This whole event comes as a great surprise to John. Jesus
shows up where he is baptizing people from "Jerusalem and
all Judea and all the region about the Jordan." That's what it
says in verse 5. Now, it wasn't an easy journey for any of
these people to get where John was baptizing. But Jesus
comes from further yet. Verse 13: "Jesus came from Galilee to
the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John [who is clearly
caught off guard by this] would have prevented him, saying, 'I
need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?'"
John instantly grasps the impropriety of this situation.
How can he, a fallen man, baptize God incarnate? And
clearly, John understood something of Jesus' divine
perfection. "You ought to be baptizing me instead of the
other way around." This was not an artificial statement of
deference or humility. He had just said (v. 11), "He who is
coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not
worthy to carry." In Mark 1:7, John says it like this: "The strap
of [His] sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie."
Did John the Baptist fully recognize Jesus' deity?
Perhaps. He was, after all, a prophet. In fact, according to
Jesus, "A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet . . .
Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater
than John the Baptist" (Matthew 11:9, 11).
To Fulfill All Righteousness 9
Now, sometimes people read a lot into the fact that Jesus
and John the Baptist were related to one another, and they
were born about six months apart. Sometimes you'll hear
someone speculate that they must have grown up together.
They didn't. This might well have been the first time they
ever met face to face.
It's true that according to Luke 1:36, Mary (the mother of
Jesus) was related to Elizabeth (the mother of John the
Baptist). The expression used suggests they were cousins.
That's how it is translated in the King James Version.
Literally, the word means "kinswomen," but they could not
have been closer kin than cousinsCor (more likely) cousins
once removed, or perhaps even second cousins. For one
thing, according to Luke 1:36, they were from different
generations. Elizabeth was already advanced in age when she
bore John the Baptist. Even more significantly, Luke 1:5
says Elizabeth was one of "the daughters of Aaron"Cmeaning
she was from the priestly tribe. And Hebrews 7:14 says, "It is
evident that our Lord was descended from Judah." So Mary
and Elizabeth must have been related through their maternal
lines of descent, which would mean the closest possible
relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist would be if
they were second cousins.
And remember that Mary visited Elizabeth when they
were both pregnant. According Luke 1:39, in order to do
Matthew 3:15 10
that, Mary had to travel "into the hill country, to a town in
Judah." The hill country is south of Jerusalem, overlooking
the southern end of the Dead SeaCa desert wilderness. So
Jesus, growing up poor in Nazareth, and John the Baptist,
growing up in the desert wilderness of the hill country of
Judah, certainly weren't geographically close when they were
children. The last verse in Luke 1 settles the issue for us.
This is the biblical description of John the Baptist's
childhood: "The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he
was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to
Israel." So there's no reason to think Jesus or John the Baptist
had ever even met.
That's why in John 1:31, 33 John the Baptist twice says of
Jesus, "I myself did not know him." However, John, because he
was a prophet, recognized Jesus as the One "who baptizes
with the Holy Spirit." That's what he says in John 1:33: "I
myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with
water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and
remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'"
Therefore by prophetic means, John knew that Jesus was
greater than him, and by a miraculous sign at Jesus' baptism,
Jesus' identity was confirmed to John. He says in John 1:32:
"I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it
remained on him."
To Fulfill All Righteousness 11
Also, Remember that even as an infant, when Mary
greeted Elizabeth, According to Luke 1:41-42, "When
Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her
womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she
exclaimed with a loud cry . . . " a kind of prophetic blessing
for Mary. It's as if there was hard-wired into John the Baptist
the ability to recognize Jesus instantly. That makes perfect
sense, given the role John the Baptist was called to.
So now, as Jesus comes for baptism, John the Baptist
immediately recognizes (by some prophetic means) that this
is the One for whom He has been preparing the way.
And he correctly assesses the awkwardness of the
situation. John is a fallen man. Although John was filled with
the Holy Spirit from infancy, and by Jesus' own testimony,
he was the greatest man ever bornChe was a sinner. Baptism
is more suited for someone like Him than for Jesus.
In fact, John freely acknowledges his own need for a
baptism of repentance (v. 14). He says to Jesus: "I need to be
baptized by you."
Jesus is not only more qualified to perform a baptism than
John the Baptist; John the Baptist has been prophesying that
Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit. John wants that
baptism. John knew (and freely testified) that "[Jesus] must
increase, but [John] must decrease" [John 3:30]. So although
our text says, "John would have prevented him," there is
Matthew 3:15 12
nothing in John's response that is doctrinally erroneous,
motivated by pride, sinfully presumptuous, or otherwise
blameworthy. It's hard to fault John the Baptist for this. In
fact, this may be the only time ever when someone tried to
refuse Jesus but didn't sin in doing so.
It's tempting to compare this to John 13:8, where Peter
tells Jesus, "You shall never wash my feet." But we know Peter
was struggling with pride and a desire to be first. There's no
hint of that in what John does here.
Theologically, John is spot on, according to everything he
knew to be true at that time. John's Baptism was a public
demonstration of repentance. Jesus had nothing whatsoever
to repent of. If one of them should be baptizing the other, by
all rights it should have been John repenting and Jesus
performing the baptism. It speaks well of John's humility and
his spiritual insight that he raised this objection (v. 14): "I
need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
That's the first voice in this mini-drama, and it's the voice
of John the Baptist. His response to the proposal that he
should baptize Jesus: John objects to it. But John's objection
is answered conclusively by voice number two. This is the
voice of Jesus. Here's our Lord's own opinion of this event:
To Fulfill All Righteousness 13
2. JESUS INSISTS ON IT
Verse 15: "But Jesus answered him." I should pause here
and point out that these are the first words ever recorded out
of the mouth of Jesus as an adult. Luke 2 gives that little
vignette where Jesus as a child gets left behind in Jerusalem,
and they find him in the Temple among the teachers. They've
been anxiously looking for him, and when they find him, he
says, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I
must be in my Father's house?" He's about 12 years old at that
point.
The biblical record on Jesus' life is totally silent for the
next 17 or 18 years, and then here, in our text, we have only
the second time ever that the actual words of Jesus are
recorded. This is the very first statement He makes as He
launches His public ministry.
Notice: He didn't scold or argue with John the BaptistCor
even suggest that John was out of line or wrong. John wasn't
wrong, given the facts he was working with. And Jesus
himself tacitly affirms that John's rationale is valid. But he
quietly turns to John and gives him a reason why he should
"Let it be so [for] now"Cin other words, Do it just this once.
"Then [John the Baptist] consented."
Why? the simple reason Jesus gives is laden with
significance: "For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all
righteousness." Christ has work to do. It His whole life's
Matthew 3:15 14
calling to render perfect obedience to the Father. John 4:34:
"My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish
his work." John 6:38: "I have come down from heaven, not to do
my own will but the will of him who sent me." John 8:29: "I
always do the things that are pleasing to [the Father]."
Everything Jesus ever did was in obedience to the will of His
Father. John 5:30: "I seek not my own will but the will of him
who sent me." Hebrews 10:7 quotes Psalm 40 as a Messianic
prophecy: "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God." So
Jesus' whole life was one long work of obedience, and what
we have here at His baptism is the first public act of
obedience rendered to the Father. And Jesus clearly explains
why He is doing this: "It is fitting . . . to fulfill all
righteousness."
Now think about that statement for a moment. Why would
Jesus need to do anything "to fulfill all righteousness"? He is
God incarnate. He innately possesses the most perfect
righteousness you could ever conceive. His righteousness is
the very righteousness of GodCthe fulness of all that is truly
righteous. So there was no lack of righteousness in Jesus'
character or His person; He was perfect in every way, from
the very start. In and of Himself, He was fully and
consummately righteous before he ever obeyed one jot or
tittle of the law.
To Fulfill All Righteousness 15
Furthermore, as God, He is the Lawgiver. By definition,
He is above the law. "The Son of Man is lord even of the
Sabbath" (Mark 2:28). According to Matthew 9:6, He had
"authority on earth to forgive sins." He is the rightful object of
all true worship. Hebrews 1:6-8 says He is the object of
angelic worship and the recipient of the very highest divine
blessing. He did not need any new obedience to procure
righteousness for Himself. In Hebrews 1:8, God the Father
speaks to the Son, and this is what He says, "Your throne, O
God, is forever and ever, the scepter of [righteousness] is the
scepter of your kingdom."
So Christ by His very character defines what
righteousness is. He didn't become righteous (or somehow
gain more righteousness) by becoming human. It was
impossible for Him in and of Himself to be more righteous
than He is innately. That's the nature of divine righteousness:
it is absolutely perfectCimpeccable. Deuteronomy 32:4: "The
Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of
faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he."
Christ, even as a man, did not need to prove anything for
His own sake, or for His Father's sake. That was not the point
of His obedience. This was not a test of Jesus' character. He
had absolutely nothing to prove or demonstrate for His own
sake. When the voice from heaven says in verse 17, "This is
my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," that expresses
Matthew 3:15 16
the eternal verdict of the Father with respect to the Son. It's
not a statement about this one act of baptism. It's not
contingent on the Son's obedience. This was the Father's
appraisal of the Son before He ever rendered one act of
obedience in the execution of His earthly ministry.
So do you see how amazing this is? By His very nature
Jesus is above the law, not under it. His righteousness is the
impeccably perfect righteousness of the divine Godhead. His
glory, concealed under robes of human flesh, is "glory as of
the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John
1:14). He is perfect in every way.
What aspect of righteousness remains to be fulfilled?
Why in the plan of God was it necessary for Jesus, the
Lawgiver, "lord of the Sabbath," to be subject to the law? And
why would He "who knew no sin" submit to the ritual of
John's baptism? Why did Jesus insist on undergoing this
ritual, which wasn't even prescribed by Moses' law, and
served only as a public testimony of repentanceCa ritual
suited only for contrite sinners? What is the point?
The answer is clear from Scripture. Galatians 4:4-5 says
Jesus was "born under the law, to redeem those who were under
the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." In other
words, His subjection to the law was not for His own sake,
but for others. His obedience to God was rendered for the
sake of His people. Romans 5:19: "For as by the one man's
To Fulfill All Righteousness 17
disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's
obedience the many will be made righteous." He obeyed not to
make Himself more righteous, but to procure a perfect human
righteousness under the law for the justification of His
people. He was doing for us what Adam failed to do. His
obedience counts on our behalf. His whole life of obedience
was essential to make full propitiation. Hebrews 2:17: "He
had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he
might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of
God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."
And the obedience He rendered included even the symbol
of our repentance. That's why He insisted on being baptized.
It was obviously not for His own sake. It cannot signify His
own repentance, because He never had anything to repent
for. And in the words of John Owen, If He wasn't doing this
for Himself, it must be for us, or be useless. There is no other
reasonable possibility: He is doing this as a proxy for His
people. He is fulfilling all righteousness for our sake, on our
behalf. He is already standing in the place of sinners.
Jesus is doing this for His church. Scripture is clear: we
are obliged to perfect obedience. We are in urgent need of
perfect righteousness. In Matthew 5:20, Jesus Himself said,
"For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the
scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of
Matthew 3:15 18
heaven." How perfect must our righteousness be? Matthew
5:48: "You . . . must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is
perfect." The idea is not that we must work harder than the
Pharisees worked. The point is that no amount of human
work rendered by fallen people will ever be sufficient to
please God.
The demand for Godlike perfection automatically would
seem to relegate every sinner to a hopeless state of eternal
doom, because considered by ourselves, outside of Christ,
we are already hopelessly imperfect. But the righteousness
we need is imputed to us, in the very same manner that our
sins were imputed to Christ. Second Corinthians 5:21: "For
our sake [God the Father] made [Christ] to be sin [though He]
knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God." We who lack righteousness are made perfectly
righteous by imputation, through our union with Christ.
Romans 4:6: "God imputes righteousness apart from works."
Apart from any work or merit or legal obedience of our own,
"God imputes righteousness"Ctransfers an alien righteousness
to our account. That's what Paul spoke of in Philippians 3,
where he speaks of tossing a lifetime of fastidious religious
work on the dung-heapCin order to "be found in [Christ], not
having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that
which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from
God by faith."
To Fulfill All Righteousness 19
That's the righteousness of ChristCand it is replete with
all the merit we will ever needCnot merely the forgiveness of
our sins (that would give us nothing more than a clean slate).
But the law of God doesn't demand either obedience or
punishment; it demands both. Suffering is not righteousness;
obedience is. Deuteronomy 6:25: "It will be righteousness for
us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the
LORD our God, as he has commanded us." So the
righteousness of Christ includes a lifetime of meticulous
obedience to the will of GodCnot only all the demands of the
law, but even the baptism of JohnCa public symbol and
expression of repentance from sin.
Reformed theologians sometimes make a distinction
between the active and passive obedience of Christ. His
passive obedience would be His death on the cross. That's
what made atonement for our sins and purchased our
forgiveness. That (of course) fulfilled the penal demands of
the law. But His active obedience speaks of the fact that He
also positively fulfilled all the moral, civil, and ceremonial
demands of the law on our behalf. Remission of our sins
bought us escape from hell; perfect obedience to all the
commandments gave us title to heaven. So both the life and
the death of Christ were essential to the atonement. To quote
R. C. Sproul: "Jesus not only had to die for our sins, but He
had to live for our righteousness."
Matthew 3:15 20
Here's how Wayne Grudem says it: "If Christ had only
earned forgiveness of sins for us, then we would not merit
heaven. Our guilt would have been removed, but we would
simply be in the position of Adam and Eve before they had
done anything good or bad." I don't need a clean slate. I need
a robe of perfect righteousness. And given the fact that "we
are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like
filthy rags" [Isaiah 64:6], no amount of virtue or work on my
own can possibly add up to the righteousness God requires.
That should be self-evident.
But let me add this: the distinction between Christ's active
and passive obedience is merely a matter of convenience and
clarity to help us understand how utterly dependant we are
on the righteousness of Christ. Such a distinction is
necessary only because there are those who deny the
significance of Christ's obedience "under the law." But as you
think this through, don't make the mistake of carving the
obedience of Christ into two parts. Scripture always treats
the obedience of Christ as a seamless garmentCone whole
actCa lifelong habit of unbroken obedience to the will of the
father.
If you don't like the terminology of "active and passive
obedience," that's OK. Neither do I. The important point is
that "the one man's obedience [by which] many will be made
righteous" is not merely what happened one Friday at
To Fulfill All Righteousness 21
Calvary. The righteousness Christ sought to fulfill
encompassed an entire lifetime of devotion to the will of the
Father.
Plus, bear in mind that there was nothing "passive" about
Jesus' death. He Himself said (John 10:18), "No one takes [my
life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have
received from My Father."
But by the same token when Romans 5:19 says, "By one
Man's obedience many will be made righteous," we can't reduce
the notion of His obedience to the single act of dying on a
cross. Consider this: If the cross alone fulfilled all the
demands of righteousness, Jesus' baptism would have been
wholly unnecessary. When Jesus, with His dying breath,
said, "It is finished"CTetelestai! the finished work of
atonement He spoke of included an entire lifetime of faithful
obedience as a man under the law. Listen to Philippians 2:8:
"Being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming
obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." The
cross was simply the crown and culmination of a whole
lifetime of humble obedience. And we see that fact clearly in
this first public act of Jesus.
To quote John Owen once more: "He needed no
obedience for himself . . . for us it was that He fulfilled the
law in obedience to God." And He did more than fulfill the
Matthew 3:15 22
law perfectly. Christ became the archetype and the perfect
paragon of every fruit of the Holy Spirit, every conceivable
human virtue, every one of the beatitudes, and every
expression of grace and glory that the human frame can
possibly embody.
Again, the baptism of John had no warrant in Moses' law.
This was in no way obligatory under the law alone. This was
a true work of supererogationCgoing beyond what the law
requires. And again, as a demonstration of repentance it
would have been utterly worthless if Christ were doing it for
His own sake alone. But He treated it as an absolute
necessity "to fulfill all righteousness" for the sake of His
church. He was already accruing a lifetime of human
righteousness to be given awayCimputedCto sinners who
had no righteousness of their own. He was doing this for
sinners who have no possibility of gaining the righteousness
required to stand before God.
This is the central lesson of the Law: True righteousness
demands consistent perfection over one's entire life. Adam
illustrates what a difficult requirement that is. He had only
one command to obey, and he failed at the very first
temptation. That's why there needed to be a second Adam.
Christ, representing His people in the same way Adam
represented the entire race, was subject to 613 distinct
positive commandments spelled out in Moses' law, plus 365
To Fulfill All Righteousness 23
negative commandments as wellCand other duties such as
this baptism, not even prescribed in the written law. Yet in
Matthew 5:17 He said, "Do not think that I have come to
abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish
them but to fulfill them." And He fulfilled every jot and tittle
to absolute perfection. He accomplished as the head and
representative of His people what Adam failed to accomplish
as the head and representative of the entire race. "As by the
one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the
one man's obedience the many will be made righteous."
And what we see in Jesus' baptism is that He was already
undoing Adam's failure at the very beginning of His public
ministry; not only at the end.
Look at our text again (v. 15): "Let it be so now, for thus it
is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Why now?
Remember, these are the first words ever recorded that were
spoken publicly by the Lord Jesus. This is His first appearing
in public. And thus He launches His public ministry with an
act that is manifestly intended for the benefit of others. He is
already acting as our substitute.
Many reasons are given by various theologians and Bible
teachers for the baptism of Jesus. Though Jesus had no sins
to confess or repent of, this was nevertheless a public
repudiation of all sin. There's certainly truth in that. This was
also an identification with His people and a public
Matthew 3:15 24
declaration of His intention to be their sin-bearer. He thus
identifies with us through John's baptism, just as we identify
with His death and resurrection through Christian baptism.
That is certainly true as well. But more significant than all of
that is the reason Jesus Himself gave: "Thus it is fitting for us
to fulfill all righteousness."
Christ is weaving that perfect garment of flawless human
righteousness that is required for a right standing with God.
First Corinthians 1:30: "Christ Jesus . . . became to us
wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and
redemption." He is our righteousness. Jeremiah 23:6: "This is
His name by which He will be called: The Lord our
righteousness." Isaiah 54:17: "'No weapon formed against you
shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in
judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,' Says the
LORD." Remember, in Philippians 3, Paul speaks of "the
righteousness which is from God by faith." He says that
righteousness belongs only to those who are found in Christ.
Romans 3:22 says it is "the righteousness of God, through
faith in Jesus Christ, [unto] all and [upon] all who believe."
Second Corinthians 5:21 says believers "become the
righteousness of God [in Him]"Cin Christ. The only
reasonable conclusion is that the righteousness imputed to
To Fulfill All Righteousness 25
believers is a righteousness Christ provided for themCthe
righteousness of a perfect life.
So remember how this drama is playing out. First, John
objects to it. Second, Jesus insists on it. Now, third,
3. ALL HEAVEN ADDS A BLESSING TO IT
At the end of verse 15, John the Baptist consents; Jesus is
baptized; and (verse 16) as Jesus emerges from the water, a
miraculous display of divine glory unfolds over Jesus. At
this point a third voice is heard, and it is the voice of the
Father, speaking His unqualified approval of the Son.
It intrigues me that though Jesus said John the Baptist
occupied the highest position among men under the Old
Covenant, we're told in John 10:41 that "John did no sign."
John performed no miracles. But here the baptism of Jesus is
punctuated and affirmed by several heavenly miracles. The
fact that people would later say of John the Baptist that he
"performed no sign" makes clear that everyone understood
these were heavenly signsCmiracles wrought by God
Himself apart from any human instrumentality.
"Behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him."
This was the sign John the Baptist had been told to expect, so
this is first of all for his benefit. And here you have for the
first time all three Persons of the Trinity manifest clearly all
Matthew 3:15 26
at once. This text is impossible for modalists and other
Trinity-deniers to make good sense of. The Holy Spirit, in
the form of a dove, descends and comes to rest over Jesus.
"and behold [verse 17], a voice from heaven said, 'This is my
beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.'"
I said at the start that this is the Father's eternal
assessment of the Son. The same voice from heaven speaks
at the transfiguration of Christ (Matthew 17:5), saying, "This
is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him."
Same verdict.
And may I say: this part of the drama, too, has great
relevance to our justification. This is the very same verdict
God will render in the end as His final judgment, and it
encompasses not only the Son Himself, but also all who are
"in Him"Cunited with Him by faith.
As a believer in Christ, "You have died, and your life is
hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears,
then you also will appear with him in glory." That's the promise
of Colossians 3:4-5. His lifeCHis whole lifeCcounts as your
life, just as He in His death was a proxy for you.
That's the great truth of justification by faith. It's not
merely that we are forgiven. I cringe when I hear people who
should know better define justification as bare forgiveness.
(You know: "To be justified means it's
'just-as-if-I'd-never-sinned.'") Justification is so much more
To Fulfill All Righteousness 27
than that. Christ not only took away our guilt; He provided
us with the perfect righteousness God demands. He did far
more than restore what Adam had lost; He elevated us to the
highest possible position. God has "raised us up with him and
seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." "He
has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us
to the kingdom of his beloved Son" (Colossians 1:13). All the
merit of Christ's perfect righteousness is ours, and we are one
with HimCso that when the Father says, "This is my beloved
Son, with whom I am well pleased," that verdict applies to all
who believe. That is precisely what the apostle Paul has in
mind in Ephesians 1:6 when he says that God "has blessed us
in the Beloved."
Even at the baptism of Jesus, at the very outset of His
public ministry, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself."
Job 9:2 asks the question, "How can a man be in the right
before God?" Job had no clear answer to that dilemma. You
and I, from a totally different time zone, can look back on the
finished work of Christ and give a definitive reply: We have
a God-blessed Savior who devoted His whole life "to
fulfill[ing] all righteousness" on our behalf. Isn't that an
amazing truth? Don't ever lose sight of it and don't ever be
tempted to let go of it or put your faith in anything less.
Matthew 3:15 28
"There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name
under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."