Matthew 3:15

Sunday, 8 September 2024

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. Matthew 3:15

“And Jesus, having answered, said unto him, ‘Permit now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he permits Him.” (CG).

In the previous verse, John had tried to prevent Jesus from being immersed by him and said that rather he needed a baptism from Jesus. However, Matthew next records, “And Jesus, having answered, said unto him, ‘Permit now.’”

The Greek bears emphasis on the word “now.” The moment is being highlighted and set aside as an important point upon which John was to comply. Things would be different as time continued to unfold, but the immediate time bore its own particular significance and need. John’s immersion was one of reconsideration. People were asked to change their minds about their position before God. Jesus did not need to do this.

As the people were immersed, they confessed their sins. Jesus did not need to do this. John, having observed Jesus’ life, knew this. But yet, He had come to be baptized, saying, “for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Notice the plural word “us.” This was not something laid solely upon John, nor was it something that only pertained to Jesus. There is a sense of corporate need.

Where was it that the Jews normally went to confess their sins? They went to the temple, taking along a sacrifice as mandated by the law. Who did they go to? They went to the priests who ministered the law before God. The system was designed for this by God, and it was brought forth through the hand of Moses.

Along with any individual confessions of sin, there were various sacrifices each day, month, and annually. On the Day of Atonement, all the people were to refrain from work and to afflict their souls. There is nothing in the law that says, “When the Messiah comes, He will be exempt from the statutes, rules, and ordinances of this law.”

John was called as a prophet, but he was also called to have the people turn from their wicked ways and redirect their lives. Rote observance of the rituals of the temple did not change the inner man. However, they were required by law and the people were to submit to them. These were all ministered by the priests. John was of the priestly class, being a son of Zechariah.

If Jesus was required to observe the rituals of the law, and if God had called John to supplement those rituals with the people’s inward reconsideration of their ways along with an outward demonstration of that reconsideration, meaning immersion, then it was right for Jesus to submit to this ordinance as well.

On the Day of Atonement, He had no need for atonement, but being born under the law, He had a need to observe the day accordingly. With John’s immersion, the same need existed to fulfill all righteousness, meaning those things which God had ordained.

A true prophet of God under the law called forth the will of God in accordance with the law. Jesus understood this and He has informed John that He acknowledges John’s authority and position, including his status as a priest who administers before God in relation to the sins of the people, even if they had not committed a particular sin or any sin at all.

To understand this more fully, Leviticus 4:13 begins the section of corporate guilt by the congregation –

“Now if the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which should not be done, and are guilty.” Leviticus 4:13

Israel was a corporate body as well as a nation of individuals. Jesus could not disassociate Himself from the nation’s corporate guilt just because He was the Messiah. All righteousness demanded that Jesus enter into John’s baptism regardless of His personal state before God.

As for the word prepó, translated as “fitting,” HELPS Word Studies defines it, saying it “refers to acting appropriately in a particular situation, i.e. as it is seemly to God and therefore ‘conspicuous amongst others; hence eminent, distinguished. . . seemly fit.’”

Jesus is identifying Himself as a person of Israel, born under the law and who was required to observe the law, just as any other Israelite was required to do. Whether John fully grasped everything Jesus’ words meant or not, it next says, “Then he permits Him.”

John submitted to Jesus’ submission. Thus, as a member of the priestly class of the law and also the prophet called to return Israel to the right road before God, his immersion included conducting that rite on the One who Created Him, gave Moses the law, and who would fulfill that same law. Astonishing.

Life application: Jesus. All hail the name of Jesus!

Heavenly Father, we come today to hail the great and exalted name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Hallelujah and Amen.