Matthew 3:15

John agreed to baptize Jesus only after Jesus convinced him that by baptizing Him both of them would "fulfill all righteousness." What did Jesus mean?

An important prerequisite to understanding Jesus’ words is an understanding of the meaning of "righteousness." Matthew’s use of this word is different from Paul’s. Paul used it mainly to describe a right standing before God, positional righteousness. Matthew used it to describe conformity to God’s will, ethical righteousness. [Note: Benno Przybylski, Righteousness in Matthew and His World of Thought, pp. 91-94.] Ethical righteousness is the display of conduct in one’s actions that is right in God’s eyes. It does not deal with getting saved but responding to God’s grace. In Matthew a righteous person is one who lives in harmony with the will of God (cf. Matthew 1:19). Ethical righteousness is a major theme of the Old Testament, and it was a matter that concerned the Jews in Jesus’ day, especially the Pharisees.

Jesus understood that it was God’s will for John to baptize Him. There is no Old Testament prophecy that states that Messiah would undergo water baptism, but there is prophecy that Messiah would submit Himself to God (Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 53; et al.). That spirit of submissiveness to God’s will is primarily what John’s baptism identified in those who submitted to it. Consequently it was appropriate for Jesus to undergo John’s baptism, and John consented to baptize Him. In doing so, Jesus authenticated John’s ministry and identified Himself with the godly remnant within Israel.

"The King, because of His baptism, is now bound up with His subjects." [Note: Toussaint, p. 73.]

"Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan stands as a counterpart of Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea at the onset of the Exodus. Thus Jesus transversed the Jordan and then, like Israel, spent a period of time in the wilderness. Jesus, another Moses, on whom the Spirit had been placed (Isaiah 63:10-14), would lead the way." [Note: Don B. Garlington, "Jesus, the Unique Son of God: Tested and Faithful," Bibliotheca Sacra 151:603 (July-September 1994):287.]

"Jesus fulfilled the Scripture by replicating in His own life the patterns of God’s historical relations with Israel and by accomplishing in His own history the predicted events of prophecy." [Note: Craig A. Blaising, "The Fulfillment of the Biblical Covenants," in Progressive Dispensationalism, p. 195.]

It is significant that Matthew did not describe Jesus’ baptism. His emphasis was on the two revelatory events that followed it (cf. Matthew 2:1-23).