Why Two Baptisms?

There are two types of baptism, physical and spiritual.

A person is physically baptized with water. Water baptism is a symbolic ritual and neither saves or redeems a person. A person may be water baptized a number of times in a number of different ways, and never realize a genuine change of heart. A person is spiritually baptized by the Spirit of Holiness. Spiritual baptism is the result of a genuine change of heart and a surrendered life to God, through faith in Christ.

Water baptism is a Jewish practice based upon the Torah teaching that requires one to be ritually pure prior to entering the Tabernacle or Temple.

In his book, the Jewish New Testament Commentary, David Stern writes;

"Ritual purity could be lost in many ways; the preeminent means of restoring it was through washing. A quick review of Leviticus shows how frequently the matter is mentioned…"

To become ritually pure, one must immerse the entire body in water. The Greek word for immersion (to immerse) is "baptizo" and is generally transliterated as "baptized."

"The root meaning of the word 'baptizo' is 'dip, soak, immerse' into a liquid so that what is dipped takes on the qualities of what it has been dipped in - for example, cloth in dye or leather in tanning solution. A person who immerses himself participates in an obvious yet living metaphor of purification, with water, as it were, washing away the impurity."

In the beginning of Matthew, chapter 3 John the Baptist proclaims a new context for the old practice of immersion, cleansing from a lifestyle of sin, not ritual purity. Ritual purity, while commanded of God, is an external, religious practice, which - as noted in Colossian 2:17 and Hebrews 10:1 - were a shadow of things to come. They could never bring into perfection, the person who practiced them. Thus, the rituals were repeated endlessly.

As was pointed out above, ritual purity could be lost in many ways. Moreover, as the above passages in Colossians and Hebrews clearly state,

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming-not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." Hebrews 10:1-4 (NIV)

"These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." Colossians 2:17 (NIV)

Thus, place was given for the fulfillment of God's plan of salvation in the New Covenant, established through the life, death and resurrection of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua; or in the Greek, Iesou (Jesus) Xristos (Christ).

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am-it is written about me in the scroll - I have come to do your will, O God.'" Psalm 40:6-8 (See Septuagint)

"First he said, 'Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them' (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, 'Here I am, I have come to do your will.' He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Hebrews 10:5-10 (NIV)

Why then, did Jesus come to John to be baptized in the Jordan? According to Scripture, Jesus led a sinless life (cf. Hebrews 4:15) and had no need to be baptized "for the remission of sins" or to become ritually clean. Why then, did he seek to be baptized?

Remember that Jesus was brought up in the Jewish faith (Judaism), and he observed all the rites and traditions faithfully. His baptism served both a physical and a spiritual purpose. Physically, it honored a Jewish tradition based on Torah. Then, as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), Christ had to be baptized, just as he had to be crucified. The baptism of Jesus is the first 'public' display of Christ's purpose on earth as the Lamb of God.

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