The Baptism of Christ

“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17). 

According to this passage, the Son of God was baptized, the Spirit descended like a dove, and a voice spoke from heaven. Luke 3:22 adds the further information that “the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him.” 

To understand this scene, we must remember that God is omnipresent. Jesus is God and was God manifested in flesh while on earth (1Tim.3:16). He could not and did not sacrifice His omnipresence while on earth because that is one of God’s basic attributes, and God does not change. Of course, the physical body of Jesus was not omnipresent, but His Spirit was. Furthermore, although the fullness of God was resident in the body of Jesus, the omnipresent Spirit of Jesus could not be so confined. Thus, Jesus could be on earth and in heaven at the same time (John 3:13) and with two or three of His disciples at any time (Matthew 18:20). With the omnipresence of God in mind we can understand the baptism of Christ very easily.

The voice and the dove do not represent different persons any more than the voice of God from Sinai indicates that the mountain was a second intelligent person in the Godhead. Since the voice and the dove were symbolic manifestations of the one omnipresent God, we may ask what they represented. What was their purpose? 

*The purpose of Jesus’ baptism*

Jesus was not baptized for remission of sin as we are, because He was sinless (I Peter 2:22). The Bible says He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). He is our example and He was baptized to leave us an example to follow (I Peter 2:21). Moreover, Jesus was baptized as a means of manifesting Himself, or making Himself known, to Israel (John 1:26-27, 31). In other words, Jesus used the baptism as the starting point in His ministry. It was a public declaration of who He was and what He came to do. For example, at Christ’s baptism, John the Baptist learned who Jesus was. He did not know that Jesus really was the Messiah until the baptism, and after the baptism he was able to declare to the people that Jesus was the Son of God and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29-34).  

The Scriptures speak of Jesus as being "firstborn among many brethren" that is He was the first to set the example of the new birth. He was baptized immersed in water we should be baptized immersed in water in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He received a visible manifestation of the Holy Ghost we should receive the visible manifestation of the Holy Ghost which is speaking with other tongues.

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Rom. 8:29)

Having established the purposes of Christ’s baptism, let us see how the dove and voice furthered those purposes.  

John 1:32-34 clearly states that the dove was a sign for the benefit of John the Baptist. Since John was the forerunner of Jehovah (Isaiah 40:3), he needed to know that Jesus was really Jehovah come in flesh. God told John that the One who would  baptize with the Holy Ghost would be identified by the Spirit descending upon Him. 

"And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." (John 1:33)

Of course, John was incapable of seeing the Spirit of God anointing Christ, so God chose a dove as the visible sign of His Spirit. Thus the dove was a special sign for John to let him know that Jesus was Jehovah and the Messiah. 

The dove also was a type of anointing to signify the beginning of Christ’s ministry. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed with oil to indicate that God had chosen them (Exodus 28:41; I  Kings 19:16). Priests in particular were both washed in water and anointed with oil (Exodus 29:4, 7). The oil symbolized God’s Spirit. The Old Testament foretold that Jesus would be similarly anointed (Psalm 2:2; 45:7; Isaiah 61:1). In fact, the Hebrew word  Messiah (Christ  in Greek) means “the Anointed One.” Jesus came to fulfill the roles of  sacrifice, prophet, priest, and king (Acts 3:20-23; Hebrews 3:1; Revelation 1:5). He also came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17-18), and to keep His own law He needed to be anointed as prophet, priest, and king. Since Jesus was God Himself and a sinless man, an anointing by a sinful human and anointing with symbolic oil was not enough. Instead, Jesus was anointed directly by the Spirit of God. Thus, at His baptism in water, Jesus was officially anointed for the beginning of His earthly ministry, not by symbolic oil but by the Spirit of God in the form of a dove. For at this time all the fullness of God it was in that body no one else at the anointing. 

"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (Col. 2:9)

The voice came from heaven for the benefit of the people. John 12:28-30 records a similar incident in which a voice came from heaven and confirmed the deity of Jesus to the people. Jesus said it came not for  His benefit but for the people’s sake. The voice was God’s way of formally introducing Jesus to Israel as the Son of God. Many people were present at the baptism of Jesus and many were being baptized (Luke 3:21), so the Spirit singled out the man Jesus and identified Him to all as the Son of God by a miraculous voice from heaven. This was much more effective and convincing than an announcement coming from Jesus as a man. In fact, it appears that this miraculous manifestation effectively accomplished Jesus’ purpose at His baptism. The baptism of Jesus does not teach us that God is three persons but only reveals the omnipresence of God and the humanity of the Son of God. When God speaks to four different people on four different continents at the same time, we do not think of four persons of God but of God’s omnipresence. God did not intend for the baptism to reveal to the monotheistic Jewish onlookers a radically new revelation of a plurality in the Godhead, and there is no indication that the Jews interpreted it as such. Even many modern scholars do not see the baptism of Christ as an indication of a trinity but as a reference to “the authoritative anointing of Jesus as the Messiah.”

The Voice from Heaven 

Three times in the life of Jesus a voice came from heaven: at His baptism, at His transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9), and after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (John 12:20-33). We  have just explained that a voice does not indicate a distinct person in the Godhead but only another manifestation of the omnipresent Spirit of God. In each of the three cases, the voice was not for the benefit of Jesus but for the benefit of others, and it came for a specific purpose. As we have discussed, the voice at Christ’s baptism was part of the inauguration of His earthly ministry.  It was for the people’s sake, just as the dove was for John’s sake. The voice introduced Jesus as the Son of God: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). The voice at the Transfiguration unquestionably was for the benefit of the onlooking disciples, for the message was, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him” (Matthew 17:5). The third manifestation of the voice occurred when a group of Greeks (apparently Gentile proselytes) came to see Jesus. Jesus explained that the voice was not for Him but for the people (John 12:30).

It is important to note that this was a voice "from" heaven not a voice "in" heaven. That voice spoke out of the body of the Christ and said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased it is important also notes that God was announcing that he was pleased to dwell in that body! The Father was IN the Son (2Cor. 5:19; John 14:11; Col. 1:19)