I have a question in regards to baptism: Was baptism authorized after Jesus’ death or while Jesus was walking on earth? Please, could you provide clarification?<\/p>\n\t
After discussing with Nicodemus about the necessity of being born again of water and the Spirit, which alludes to baptism, (John 3:5), we find that Jesus left and began baptizing disciples. “After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized<\/em>” (John 3:23). A bit later we learn that the baptisms were actually done by his disciples, but since they were done with Jesus’ authority, they were his baptisms. “Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee<\/em>” (John 4:1-3). Notice too that these baptisms were not the same as John’s, that is, they were not done for the same purpose. Those who were baptized with Jesus’ baptism became His disciples. This became a point of contention between John and Jesus’ disciples. “Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified–behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!”<\/em>” (John 3:25-26). John then explains that this was what was supposed to happen.<\/p>\n Some will ask when were the apostles baptized and these same passages explain it.<\/p>\n A few people have difficulty with the idea that New Testament baptism could take place before the New Covenant was executed by Jesus death. But there really is no conflict except what is imagined. I might leave one of my children a favorite heirloom in my will, but nothing is out of place if I decide to give that heirloom to him before my death. Circumcision was a required sign of the covenant under the Old Testament law (Leviticus 12:3). Yet the Lord required it of Moses’ children prior to the giving of the Law (Exodus 4:24-26). And, the first Passover meal (done before the covenant was made at Sinai) required all males to be circumcised. “For no uncircumcised person shall eat it<\/em>” (Exodus 12:48). People can begin following the terms of a covenant prior to its official start date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I have a question in regards to baptism: Was baptism authorized after Jesus’ death or while Jesus was walking on earth? Please, could you provide clarification? Answer: After discussing with Nicodemus about the necessity of being born again of water and the Spirit, which alludes to baptism, (John 3:5), we find that Jesus left…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[78,52,825],"class_list":["post-6791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-authority","tag-baptism","tag-convenants"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":791,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-the-apostles-baptized-in-the-name-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":6791,"position":0},"title":"Were the apostles baptized in the name of Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Were the apostles baptized in the name of Jesus? Answer: Right after telling Nicodemus that no one can enter the kingdom unless they are born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5), we read in\u00a0John 3:22, \"After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47151,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-the-them-in-acts-241\/","url_meta":{"origin":6791,"position":1},"title":"Who are the “them” in Acts 2:41?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since John's baptism did not give people the gift of the Holy Spirit and the promise that we read about in Acts 2:38-39, did the ones who received his baptism receive the gift and the promise if they lived into the New Testament? Some in the church believe the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52771,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-jesus-baptism-save-before-his-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":6791,"position":2},"title":"How could Jesus’ baptism save before his death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of the Church of Christ. My son-in-law has decided to follow the Baptist teachings. I have done much study on baptism since his decision. I have studied many questions on your site. I am perplexed by your responses on one set of verses: John 4:1-2.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14284,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-was-johns-baptism-different-from-jesus-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":6791,"position":3},"title":"How was John’s baptism different from Jesus’ baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have some questions about John's baptism. I've read about how it was a fulfillment of prophecy to prepare the way, but I'm really confused about what that really means and what the point of John's baptism was. I am curious about a few things: What does \"preparing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2763,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-whose-name-are-we-to-be-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":6791,"position":4},"title":"In whose name are we to be baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: It appears to me that you missed the main point about the Jesus name baptism.\u00a0 Jesus commanded that his disciples be baptized in the \"name\" of someone.\u00a0 Who do you suppose he meant that name to be?\u00a0 He didn't say (about\u00a0Matthew 28:19) \"repeat after me now\".\u00a0 Do you suppose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12689,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-help-me-answer-some-arguments-that-baptism-isnt-necessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":6791,"position":5},"title":"Can you help me answer some arguments that baptism isn’t necessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I still haven't been baptized since repenting again and coming back to the Lord a year ago. I'm just patiently waiting, you see, for my pastor to preach the truth. I know God wants me to be in that church because every time I wanted to leave, the pastor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6791\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}