Matthew 3:13-17

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. ¹⁶ When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. ¹⁷ And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Commentary

Vs. 13-15 It seems most fitting that after John’s rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees and then his declaration of the Holy Spirit’s baptism that comes to each and every believer, that the Lord Jesus Christ now goes out to be baptized by John. For the Captain of our salvation, and the Author and Finisher of our faith must always go before those whom He leads unto everlasting life. And so Jesus according to the Will of God goes out to be baptized by John. Not that Jesus needed to be baptized by John as John and the Lord clearly reveals (vs. 14-15), rather as Jesus says to John when John is adamant that he needs to be baptized by Jesus, and not the other way around: “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” For that is what the Lord Jesus Christ came to do not only die on the Cross for all our sins and transgressions, but also and very importantly to fulfill all righteousness for us, so that we who believe and trust in Him can have His righteousness imputed to ourselves (consider Acts 13:38-40; 2 Cor. 5:21). 

Vs. 16-17 ¹⁶ When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. ¹⁷ And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Now when the Jesus had been baptized by John, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. Now in this beautiful scene there are a couple of things we should note, first John did not bring the Holy Spirit upon Christ, God the Father did. And this He did as His Son obeyed Him (consider Acts 5:32; Heb. 5:9). Second is the Nature of the Holy Spirit Himself He descended like a dove and alighted upon Jesus. Thus in the beauty, dignity, grace, love, gentleness and purity of God’s Holy Spirit a visible sign is seen by the Lord Jesus Christ of a dove gently descending and alighting upon Him, alighting meaning God’s Holy Spirit remained upon Him, just as He now does on one and all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in this poignant moment in history between God the Father and His Holy Son, God Himself will now openly declare His great pleasure at His Son obeying Him and fulfilling all righteousness by being baptized by John, saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This then begins the Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ who will go on and follow His Fathers will unto death on a Cross for us all. Similarly then when we are baptized by God by His Holy Spirit when we believe and receive Christ we too become ministers of His, being given Spirit gifts and talents at that time (though untested and unrefined they are given us to equip us to be ministers of God). The only question then is are we pursuing and doing the ministry and God given purposes God has assigned to us, just as Christ pursued and fulfilled His God given purposes here on earth, when being baptized by God’s Spirit He willingly went into God’s Service, how about us? (Consider Luke 9:57-61)

Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.