/3a7n-ifeiK had come to be the regular term alike for those ceremonial washings and for the Messianic baptism of the Forerunner (for detailed proof and reft', on these points see the present writer's Sacra- ments in the NT, p. 56 f. ). And yet, though John's baptism finds its earliest historical roots in the Levitical washings, it is far from finding its com- plete explanation there. It was essentially an ethical rite, and thus very different from an out- ward ceremony to which some value could be attached apart from the moral and spiritual condi- tion of the recipient. In the case of all who came to him John insisted upon repentance ; and they ' were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins' (Mt 3"").
(b) The Messianic lustration foretold hy the prophets. — Long before the time of John, prophetic souls in Israel had seen that for a true cleansing
. the nation must look to those Messianic days when God should open a fountain for sin and for un- cleanness, .sprinkling His jjeople with clean water, and putting a new heart and a new spirit within them ( Jer 338, ^zk 36=^- =«, Zee 13'). It was John's function to declare that those great Messianic promises were now going to receive their ful- filment at the hands of the Messiah Himself. His baptism, we have said, was a baptism of pre- paration for the Kingdom, preparation which took the form of repentance and confession. But even more than a baptism of preparation it was a baptism of promise, promise both of the Kingdom and the King, being a promissory symbol of a perfect spiritual cleansing which the Messiah in person should bestow — ' I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance ; but he that cometh after me . . . shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire' (Mt 3" II).
(c) Another historical moment which should not be lost sight of is the proselyte baptism of the Jewish Church. It may now be regarded as certain that the baptism of proselytes had been the rule in Israel long before NT times (see especially Schiirer, UJP II. li. 319 ; Edersheim, Life and Times, ii. 745 ff.); and pro.selyte baptism helps us to under- stand the baptism of John in certain of its aspects. When a Gentile ' sought shelter under the wings of the Shekinah,' it was understood that he was utterly renouncing his jjast. And John insisted on a like renunciation in the case of (•.incliilatcs for his baptism. The danger of the iirorl.iiiiat ion tli.at the Kingdom of heaven was at liainl lay in t lio fact that multitudes would claim to eiiltr tlial Kingdom as a matter of course, without being prepared to submit to the necessary conditions. Not so, said John. God does not depend upon Israel alone for the peopling of His Kingdom. He 'is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham' (Mt 3"). Even a Jew, if he is to be received, must come as a humble penitent who casts himself upon the Divine grace. He must come like a stranger and a proselyte renouncing the past, not as one who claims an inalienable right, but as one who seeks by fruits of repentance to flee from the wrath to come (Mt 3'- *, Lk 3'- % For the baptism of the Coming One is a baptism of judgment. His win- nowing-fan is in His hand; and while He will gather His wheat into the garner, He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Mt 3'-, Lk 3''). On the baptism of John see, further, art. Baptlsm.
iv. John's Baptism of Jesus and Witness EEGAEDING HiM. — 1. The baptism of Jesus by John is recorded in all the Synoptics (Mt 3"if-, Mk 1"'-, Lk 3^'), but is not mentioned in the Fourth Gospel. The author, however, makes the Baptist refer to the descent of the Spirit upon Jesus in the form of a dove (Jn l'^'^-) as an authenticating sign whicir he received that He was the Messiah ; and this incident is represented by the other three as
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JOHN THE BAPTIST
JOHN THE BAPTIST
following immediately upon the baptism, though the first two, and probably the third also, describe tlie visible sign as bestowed upon Jesus Himself along with the approving voice from heaven (Mt 3"*, Mk I""-, Lk 3~). If the scene of the baptism was the same as that of John's subsequent witness to Jesus recorded in the Fourth Gospel, it took place at 'Bethany beyond Jordan' (Jn 1=*), a site which has been much discussed, but cannot be said to have been certainly identified (see art. Bethabaka).
It was here, then, in all likelihood, that Jesus met John when He came from Galilee to be bap- tized of him (Mt 3'^). At first John was unwilling to perform the rite upon such an applicant, but Jesus insisted. 'Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness' (v.'^). He recognized John's baptism as an appointment of the Divine righteousness which it was proper that He should accept. If the fitness of that baptism in the case of Jesus is called in question, we must remember that it had an initiatory aspect which would commend it to Him as He saw in it an opportunity of consecrating Himself definitely and openly to the Messianic kingdom and its tasks. But if John's words of protest (v.") imply that even in the baptism of Christ the cleansing aspect of the rite was in view, was it not proper that the 'Lamb of God' (Ju jcs. 36)_ ^^,i,o ])a^j no sense of personal guilt, nothing to repent of or confess, should even now begin to bear upon His heart the burden of the sins of others, even as on a coming day He was to bear them ' in his own body on the tree ' (1 P -2-^) ?