Is Jesus' Baptism the Same as John's?

T. A. McMahon:

We are going through the gospel of John with a particular emphasis on the gospel and hey Dave, I’ve got a bone to pick with you about this.  You’ve been saying in the last couple of shows, you say, Well, we could look at John 8, if we ever get there.  Now, you might be giving the impression that we’re really dragging our feet.

Dave Hunt:

Oh No, not that Tom, but I am expecting the rapture at any moment.

T. A. McMahon:

Are you?  Okay, but this is a good trip here even if it’s syllable by syllable.  This is God’s Word so let’s enjoy the meal.

Dave Hunt:

All right.

T. A. McMahon:

Okay, we have reached John:3:22After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
See All..., which I will start reading.  John:3:22-23 [22] After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. [23] And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
See All..., “After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.  And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there:  and they came, and were baptized.”  Dave, since these verses deal with baptism, I think gives us an opportunity to go back to our last segment where I quoted Acts:2:38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
See All..., “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”  But all through the New Testament you never find that baptism removes sins. It’s all by faith, scripture after scripture.  So, when we look at that verse where it says, for, the preposition for the remission of sins, that doesn’t mean in order to, but it really means because of the remission of sins which came about through faith.  So yet, we have major denominations, major movements of the church that believe in baptismal regeneration; that it’s efficacious and it does wipe out your sins.  Lutherans would believe that, many Reformed movements, certainly the Catholic Church.

Dave Hunt:

Now Tom, can you back that up from the Greek?  You’re saying well, it shouldn’t read that way in the Bible.  Why does it have “for” then?

T. A. McMahon:

You know, in many of the translations do use “for,” but again, regardless of what the Greek is, the Greek word is eros if I’m pronouncing that correctly, my Greek is Greek to me.  But the point is, “for” is a preposition and it can mean, “because of,” not just—

Dave Hunt:

That same word, eros can mean “because of?”

T. A. McMahon:

Right.

Dave Hunt:

Okay.  Now, the point, I think, that is being made here, it says there was much water there.  I don’t want to offend any of our listeners out there but you wouldn’t have to have much water if all you had to do was to place a damp hand on someone, or sprinkle a little water on them to baptize them.  The Ethiopian and Philip in Acts 8, which we referred to earlier, it says they went down, both of them together into the water and when they came up out of the water the Holy Spirit took Philip and the Ethiopian saw him no more.  I don’t think you can escape baptism by emersion.  Now, I am not going to quarrel with somebody over this and we are not saying that if you are baptized by sprinkling rather than by emersion you are not saved.  That’s not what we are saying but our program is called Search the Scriptures Daily, and everywhere that I read of baptism it indicates baptism by emersion.  Now, that would make sense because baptism in Romans 6, it’s a picture being dead with Christ, buried with Him and then raised in new life and you don’t bury a dead person by sprinkling a little bit of dirt on them.  So, I think it puts that statement in here for some reason.  It says John also was baptized in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there and they came and were baptized and Jesus it says and His disciples are baptizing as well.  Now, the fact is, jumping ahead to chapter 4, verse 2, it says, “Though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples.”  Now again, we have something rather distinct.  John is baptizing, the disciples of Jesus are baptizing but Jesus himself is not baptizing.  Now if baptism is essential to salvation it seems very odd that the very Savior himself does not baptize anyone.

T. A. McMahon:

And even the apostle Paul baptized few according to his own words.

Dave Hunt:

Very few, he couldn’t even remember who he had baptized and if we can just turn there, I can quote it, but lets turn there very quickly to 1 Corinthians.  He says, I quoted it earlier, verse 17: 1—well, verse 16, “I know not whether I baptized any other, can’t remember, for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel.”  Now, baptism is part of the gospel and if a person is not really saved unless they both believe and are baptized, then Paul isn’t doing a very good job.  He specifically says that Christ didn’t send him to baptize but to preach the gospel.  And then, if you wanted to turn over to chapter 4:15, he says to the Corinthians:  “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers:  for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”  So Paul says it is through the gospel that I preached unto you, I didn’t baptize you, that wasn’t my purpose, others can baptize.  He’s not putting down baptism because we believe in baptism.  Baptism is an act of obedience to Christ; we are identifying ourselves and, in fact, as you know, in these Middle Eastern countries especially and in other countries like in a Muslim country, to be baptized—wow! You are making a public declaration, identifying yourself with Christ.  That’s very serious; you could be persecuted and even killed for that.  So, the Bible does teach baptism but not for salvation.  So, Paul says I have begotten you into Christ, you have been born again through me, I am your father in the faith, but how did I do it?  I didn’t baptize you so obviously baptism is not the means of regeneration.  He says I have begotten you through the gospel.  And then, Peter, of course, 1 Peter 2 says that we are born again and not of corruptible seeds such as silver and gold but of incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever.So it is through the gospel and he says and this is the Word by which the gospel we preach unto you.So it is through believing the gospel that salvation comes.It is not through baptism.

T. A. McMahon:

Dave, baptism is another example of something that the Lord institutes; he gives us, yet—

Dave Hunt:

Tom, let me go back because this was an Old Testament practice of the Jews.  My wife and I were just over in Israel with a group of pastors and Christian leaders and someone very kindly made that possible and everywhere you go you see the mikveh, the baptismal pond, the idea of—well, the Muslims still carry on that idea today to go into the Mosque and so forth they wash their hands.  Jesus talks about washing His hands and feet and Peter says, oh Lord, not just my hands and my feet but my head and everything.  Jesus says, You’ve been washed, you have no need but— you are really cleansed by the Holy Spirit— You have no need but for your feet, you know, to be washed again because you have been out in the world walking and it could be contaminated.  And so, to the Jew they understood baptism as a picture of cleansing, of being willing to repent and to turn from your sins.  This was essential and this is the baptism that John is involved in, come and repent of your sins and the Jews understood what he meant by that.  This was the cleansing and the disciples of Jesus are now baptizing in the same way that John did because John was baptizing unto repentance as a preparation for following the Messiah and the disciples of Jesus are doing the same thing.  They are not saying that someone is born again by this means.  And then it goes on and says “For John was not yet cast into prison.”  And Tom, I don’t know what the time is or how far you want to get but of course, he was still baptizing, he had not yet been cast into prison and then we read of that later.

T. A. McMahon:

Dave, just to finish off here with the little time we have left, if we take baptism wrongly, if we begin to see it as efficacious, if we begin to see it as only a part of the priest or a priest or a part of the certain individuals can do it, we are really destroying the very meaning that Jesus wanted us to do it for.

Dave Hunt:

Well Tom, the problem is like this.  You see as soon as I have a physical act, a sacrament, which now provides salvation, redemption, then although you may say well, we expect you to believe as well, but how do I know that I have real faith, that I really come to Christ, that I really belong to Him—well, I was baptized.  So the problem is now, that our faith is in that outward act, that sacrament and we look to that as that which saved us, or proved that we we’re saved, however you want to look at it, and as soon as you do that you have stepped back away from real faith in Jesus Christ as the power of God unto salvation.