Matthew 3:13-17

While John was preaching and baptizing those who accepted his teachings, Matthew tells us Christ came to John. He was there for John to baptize Him. John refused. He told Him, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me” (Matthew 3:14).

“The synoptic Gospels all attest to the fact that Christ was baptized by John in order to ‘fulfill all righteousness’ (Matthew 3:13–17; cf. Mark 1:9; Luke 3:21). W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann explain Christ’s baptism in relation to Matthew’s goal of showing Christ’s fulfillment of ancient scriptural prophecies. These scholars explain the term fulfill all righteousness as a reference to the ‘fulfillment of those Scriptures in which those demands are set out—law, prophets, writings. In any event, the baptism administered by John was a direct response to the will of God, and so the Messiah must submit to it.’ Thus Christ’s baptism, for Matthew, fulfilled both divine commands and ancient scripture (notably Isaiah 43:2[1] and Psalm 2:7[2]).”[3]

“When John expressed his conviction that Jesus needed no baptismal cleansing, our Lord, conscious of His own sinlessness, did not deny the Baptist’s imputation, but nevertheless pressed His application for baptism with the significant explanation: ‘Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.’ If John was able to comprehend the deeper meaning of this utterance, he must have found therein the truth that water baptism is not alone the means provided for gaining remission of sins, but is also an indispensable ordinance established in righteousness and required of all mankind as an essential condition for membership in the kingdom of God.”[4]

Christ answered John, telling Him it must be done, for He must “fulfil all righteousness.”[5] He then baptized Christ.

“When Jesus came to John the Baptist to be baptized, ‘John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee . . . Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousnes’ (Matthew 3:14—15). The New Testament student might be left puzzled inasmuch as there is no explanation offered as to what it means to fulfill all righteousness.

“The prophet Nephi was blessed with a vision of the ministry of Christ. In the vision he was shown the prophet that would baptize the Savior. Years later, in one of his final sermons, Nephi discussed the baptism of Jesus and taught his people the meaning of Jesus' words to John:

“‘And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!

‘And now, I would ask you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?

‘Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments…

‘And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straightness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them’ (2 Nephi 31:5—7, 9).’”[6]

After John agreed, Christ went into the water and was baptized. “[W]hen he was baptized, went up straightway [GR immediately] out of the water” (Matthew 3:16). Then, the heavens were opened and John “saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him” (Matthew 3:16).

“The four Gospel-writers record the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the baptized Jesus as accompanied by a visible manifestation ‘like a dove;’ and this sign had been indicated to John as the foreappointed means by which the Messiah should be made known to him; and to that sign, before specified, was now added the supreme testimony of the Father as to the literal Sonship of Jesus.”[7]

“And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

“And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water” (2 Nephi 31:5).

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[1] “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee” (Isaiah 43:2).

[2] “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee” (Psalms 2:7).

[3] Baptism for the Dead in Early Christianity, David L. Paulsen and Brock M. Mason, Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 19/2 (2010): 23.

[4] Jesus the Christ, Chapter 10, Elder James E. Talmage.

[5]  “And Jesus, answering, said unto him, Suffer me to be baptized of thee, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

“And John went down into the water and baptized him.

“And Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and John saw, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Jesus.

“And lo, he heard a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him” (JST Matthew 3:43–46).

[6] The Book of Mormon, an Interpretive Guide to the New Testament, Dennis Largey, Maxwell Institute website.

[7] Jesus the Christ, Chapter 10, Elder James E. Talmage.