Fulfilling All Righteousness
Matt. 3:15
John was a wild and wooly evangelist preaching “hell fire and brimstone” to all who would listen. He was the very personification of Elijah in his garment of coarse camel hair and leather belt. This is how Elijah was identified by King Ahaziah in II Kings 1:8 when he asked his servants about the man they had met on the road. They answered, “He was a hairy man with a leather girdle about his loins.” Ahaziah knew immediately, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
Malachi prophesied that Elijah would come before the Messiah. Malachi 4:5, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.” Although John would deny that he was Elijah reincarnated, In Matt. 11:14, Jesus identified John the Baptist as Elijah that was promised to come. That is, John the Baptist fulfilled the role of Elijah as the forerunner of Jesus.
John as the forerunner of Jesus was prophesied in Isa. 40:3. Matthew quotes that prophesy in Matt. 3:3, identifying John as “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ’Make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”
John was preaching repentance and was baptizing as a sign of repentance. John prophesied in verse 11, that “One greater than me” was coming. When Jesus arrived on the scene, John recognized him physically because they were cousins and within six months of being the same age. No doubt they had spent many hours together.
However, John apparently did not fully recognize Jesus as the Messiah until after he was baptized. In John 1:33-34, John the Baptist states, “I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
John did recognize Jesus as being greater than he and this is why he was taken aback when Jesus asked John to baptize him. This is why John responded with “No way Jose.” “You are the greater, I need to be baptized by you.” But Jesus insisted. “Permit it.” - “John, let it happen.” “At this time.” - “Let’s do it now, we cannot delay.” “It is fitting.” Or as Martha Stewart would say, “It is a good thing.” “To fulfill all righteousness.” “John, let it happen. It is the right thing to do right now so that we can fulfill all righteousness.”
So the primary reason Jesus was baptized was to fulfill all righteousness. “Fulfill all righteousness” What does that phrase mean? John knew exactly what Jesus meant but to us it is a rather cryptic phrase.
It is significant that these are the first words of Jesus that Matthew records. Righteousness is a major emphasis in Matthew. We read in 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” In 5:20, Jesus says, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” And in 6:33, Jesus says that we are to “strive for God and his righteousness.”
To understand the purpose of Jesus’ baptism, we must understand the meaning of righteousness. Righteousness originally meant to be straight or right. In essence, righteousness is “the state of him who is as he ought to be” (Thayer). That is God.
In the bible, righteousness presumes a covenant relationship between to participants. The one who upholds, or is faithful to the covenant is termed, “righteous.” The one who is unfaithful to the covenant is termed “unrighteous.” God’s righteousness is revealed in his faithfulness to his covenant. Man’s unrighteousness is revealed in his unfaithfulness to the covenant. He is no longer in a “right relationship” with God.
God’s righteousness is closely related to his salvation, mercy and lovingkindness (covenant love). We see this association in many places in the Old Testament. For instance, in Jer. 9:24, God says through Jeremiah, “ . . . I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth for I delight in these things.” And in Isa. 51:5, “My righteousness is near, my salvation has gone forth . . .”
The righteousness of God revealed in salvation must be understood within the context of God’s covenant relationship with Man. In fact, righteousness means “covenant keeping.” What is right is always stipulated in a covenant. In Gen. 12:1-3, God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants. In the covenant, God promises, among other things that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” This is an allusion to the Messiah through which all men will be blessed with righteousness.
The sign of the covenant with Abraham was circumcision. Through circumcision, Abraham established a covenant with God and through his faithfulness to that covenant, God declared Abraham to be righteous. Gen. 15:6 states, “Then Abraham believed in the Lord and he reckoned it to Abraham as righteousness.” God declared Abraham righteous, not because of his perfect behavior but because of his faith within the covenant relationship.
That covenant relationship was extended through Isaac and Jacob as an everlasting covenant (I Chron. 16:16). God renewed that covenant with Israel through Moses. The law of Moses was a covenant. God remained faithful to that covenant even though Israel did not. The covenant did not make sinful Israel immune from punishment but after God punished Israel, he delivered his covenant people and displayed his righteousness. The apostle Paul says in Rom. 3:1-6 that the unrighteousness of Israel did not nullify the righteousness of God.
The law of Moses made it abundantly clear that no man could be perfectly faithful to his covenant with God. But God had a plan. That plan was to extend his grace and mercy to all mankind through Jesus and make a new covenant of grace that would make it possible for God to extend his righteousness to all, declaring them to be righteous, like Abraham, by their faith. The apostle Paul in Rom. 3:21-22 makes it clear that God declares as righteous those who have faith in Jesus. This is what Jesus meant and John understood when Jesus said that he needed to be baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness. It was through Jesus that God’s plan for the salvation for man was to be fulfilled.
So why baptism? How did baptism accomplish the goal of fulfilling all righteousness? First, it anointed Jesus as the great High Priest. At this time in Jewish history there were three reasons for baptism.
1. Repentance from sin. Jesus certainly did not need to be baptized for the repentance of sin because he was already sinless.
2. Baptism of conversion. When a Gentile wished to convert to Judaism, he had to be immersed in the waters of baptism. Jesus did not need the baptism of conversion because he was already a Jew.
3. Baptism of anointing. This is the baptism associated with the anointing of the priests and especially the high priest to consecrate them as priests. In Lev. 8, God instructs Moses to consecrate Aaron and his sons as priests. This was a rather complex ceremony that involved animal sacrifices, dressing them in special garments and baptizing or “washing” them with water.
In Lev. 8:6 we read, “Then Moses had Aaron and his sons come near and washed them with water. This was a baptism or immersion in water. Later in vs. 12 Moses poured anointing oil on Aaron’s head. That initiated Aaron’s ministry as High Priest. When Aaron and his sons were washed with water and anointed with oil, they began their priesthood and were empowered to make sacrifices and handle holy things as God’s representatives. At that point God put his mark of approval on the ministry of Aaron and his sons.
Now let’s go back to Jesus and John at the Jordan river. Jesus has requested that John baptize him to fulfill all righteousness. Like Aaron, Jesus needed to be washed and anointed so that he could begin his ministry as High Priest.
Let’s see what happened. Jesus and John went into the water and Jesus was immersed. When he came up out of the water, the heavens were opened up and the Holy Spirit in the bodily form of a dove came and rested on Jesus. The Holy Spirit is spirit and therefore invisible. The Spirit’s descending as a dove was for the benefit of John and the others present.
The dove was a symbol of purity, peace, gentleness, love and truth, all characteristics of the one true God. That John understood that it was the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus is made clear by Peter in Acts 10:38 when he is preaching to Cornelius and his family and says, “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power . . .” Jesus was the Son of God but he was also human and would need the power of God given to him in the Spirit to accomplish the will of God here upon the earth.
Then after the Holy Spirit came, God spoke from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This began Jesus’ ministry as High Priest. As the writer of Hebrews says in Heb. 2:17, “Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” From the day of his baptism to his death on the cross, Jesus as our High Priest prepared the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, his own body.
The second way that baptism helped Jesus fulfill all righteousness, was by anointing Jesus as the Messiah. For years and years, the Jews had been waiting for a Messiah to come. In the Old Testament, when God chose a king or priest or prophet, he would have them anointed with oil to mark the beginning of their ministry. God had planned that one special person would be anointed as the Messiah, the Savior of the world. When Jesus was baptized, it was a loud and clear sign that Jesus was the Christ, the Anointed One (Christ means Anointed), the Messiah for whom the Jews had waited so long. Jesus’ baptism, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and the proclamation by God the Father, left no doubt whatsoever that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah.
To review, Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. That is, to fulfill the plan through which the righteous God would extend righteousness to all man through their faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ baptism accomplished this because it anointed Jesus as High Priest and as the Christ or Messiah.
What has this to do with us? As we have already noted, when Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit came to him and dwelled with him. Likewise when we are baptized, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us. Jesus needed the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish his mission of bringing salvation to all mankind. He needed power to resist the temptation of the devil, to perform the miracles and to withstand the terror of the cross and the horrible torture that lead up to it. The Holy Spirit empowers us to resist sin and live the Christian life successfully.
When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit anointed him as the great High Priest and Messiah so that Jesus would have the authority to teach and bring God’s word to the nations. When we are baptized, we too receive an anointing from God through the Holy Spirit (I John 2:20), anointing us as priests in the kingdom of God. In I Pet. 2:9 and in other places, it is clear that we are a “royal priesthood” serving as priests and making spiritual sacrifices to our Lord.
Baptism is a visual aid of the gospel because it is connected to Christ’s work of redemption. Baptism ties us to Jesus’ work as the promised Savior. Baptism reminds us that we are cleansed through the blood of Christ shed on the cross. By sending Jesus to be our Savior, God kept his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Israel, David and to us.
Just as circumcision was the sign of the covenant between Abraham and God, so baptism is the sign of the covenant between us and God (Col. 2:9-13). Through the baptism of Jesus Christ, God’s righteousness was fulfilled in that now ALL men have the opportunity to have a right relationship with God through faith in Christ Jesus. Each time a person is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins, he receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and receives the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus and so fulfills all righteousness.
Through Jesus Christ, a person becomes righteous so that person IS AS HE OUGHT TO BE!. When Jesus approached John that day so long ago at the Jordan river, and asked John to baptize him, John hesitated but Jesus said, “It is the right thing to do right now so that we can fulfill all righteousness.”
What about you. Have you been hesitating to be baptized? Why? Being baptized is the right thing to do right now so that you can be washed in the blood of Christ, which will wash all your sins away. Through baptism, you can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit which will empower you to live the Christian life and anoint you to be a priest in the household of God. Through baptism you can, like Jesus, fulfill all righteousness and BE AS YOU OUGHT TO BE.
