{"id":91987,"date":"2025-11-08T15:11:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T21:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=91987"},"modified":"2025-11-08T21:24:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T03:24:06","slug":"was-jesus-baptized-to-usher-in-his-priestly-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-jesus-baptized-to-usher-in-his-priestly-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Jesus baptized to usher in his priestly ministry?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Good morning, Jeffrey,<\/p>\n

I pray you are well! I have a couple of questions that I’ve been pondering, and I would love your help in finding answers in the scriptures. Thank you in advance!<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What does I John 5:6-8 mean? Especially the part that says that Jesus “came by water and blood”?<\/li>\n
  2. I read somewhere that Jesus got baptized to usher in his priestly ministry, similar to how Aaron had to be “cleansed” as part of his initiation into the priesthood. Scriptures used to support this include Matthew 3:13-17, Exodus 40:12-15, Matthew 4:18-19, and Hebrews 4:14-16. Collectively, these scriptures are meant to illustrate this point, especially by demonstrating that Jesus is our high priest and didn’t start his ministry until after baptism. Is the water in baptism tied explicitly to “cleansing” and initiation into the priesthood? How does scripture as a whole corroborate or debunk this?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.<\/p>\n

    Sincerely,<\/p>\n\t

    Answer:<\/h2>\n

    Regarding I John 5:7-8, see “What does I John 5:7-8 mean?<\/a>“<\/p>\n

    Jesus’ priesthood is after the order of Melchizedek, not the order of Aaron (Hebrews 4:14-5:10; 6:19-8:6). To apply the rules given to the descendants of Aaron to Jesus would be a mistake. Perhaps someone could point out parallels between the two priesthoods, but this does not prove that the rules of one priesthood apply to the other.<\/p>\n

    Jesus stated the purpose of his baptism: “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness<\/strong><\/em>” (Matthew 3:15). Doy Moyer wrote a good article expounding on what Jesus meant by “fulfill all righteousness<\/em>.” See “Jesus and Baptism<\/a>.” I know of no passage that directly connects Jesus’ baptism to his priesthood.<\/p>\n

    Aaron and his descendants washed with water before putting on the priestly garments. It wasn’t a one-time event. It was done every time they prepared to serve the Lord (Exodus 30:18-21). The washing was a symbol of the fact that only holy people could properly offer worship to God (Exodus 19:10, 14). Throughout the book of Leviticus, you find that uncleanness was removed by washing. This doesn’t apply to Jesus. Jesus was without sin. He was holy and did not need washing to remove uncleanness.<\/p>\n

    Jesus’ baptism was a full immersion in water. The word “baptism” means “immersion.” This is different from the washings in the Old Testament, where the priest was washed in front of the Tabernacle (Exodus 29:4).<\/p>\n

    The two events are too different to be tied together.<\/p>\n\t

    Response:<\/h2>\n

    Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Question: Good morning, Jeffrey, I pray you are well! I have a couple of questions that I’ve been pondering, and I would love your help in finding answers in the scriptures. Thank you in advance! What does I John 5:6-8 mean? Especially the part that says that Jesus “came by water and blood”? I read…<\/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":[52,1223,73],"class_list":["post-91987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-high-priest","tag-jesus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67689,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-and-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":91987,"position":0},"title":"Jesus and Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer On the third day of creation, God separated the dry land from the waters, and life came through the water (Genesis 1:9-13). This pattern was seen again when life came through the waters after the flood (Genesis 8:6-12). Again, it was seen when the children of Israel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28066,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-receiving-the-holy-spirit-mean-baptism-in-water-is-unnecessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":91987,"position":1},"title":"Does receiving the Holy Spirit mean baptism in water is unnecessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have another friend that believes you don't need water baptism because once you believe that's when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and that's when you're baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. She gave me theses Scriptures: Acts 11:14-16, Acts 11:47-48, Matthew 3:11-15, Acts 10:44-48, Titus 3:5,\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":7433,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-purpose-of-johns-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":91987,"position":2},"title":"What was the purpose of John’s baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: As part of our mid-week bible study, we have been discussing John the Baptist and how he prepared the way for Christ. I understand John's mission and the importance of baptism, but was it also used to prepare the people for the conversion (burial) into Christ? What was 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":8987,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-have-to-know-that-baptism-is-for-the-remission-of-sins-in-order-to-be-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":91987,"position":3},"title":"Do you have to know that baptism is for the remission of sins in order to be forgiven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The question I pose is, \"Does one have to have the knowledge that baptism is for the remission of sins, for such to occur?\" I understand that if one is taught by one who knows the truth, this would not even be a question. However, I can not logically\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":90615,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-melchizedek-be-without-father-and-mother\/","url_meta":{"origin":91987,"position":4},"title":"How could Melchizedek be \u201cwithout father and mother\u201d?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bob Prichard Melchizedek is one of the more mysterious figures in all of scripture. He is mentioned only in Genesis 14, Psalms 110:4, and in the book of Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews demonstrated that Melchizedek foreshadowed the ministry of Christ, serving as both priest and king. After the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5702,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":91987,"position":5},"title":"Jesus’ Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Jesus had no sins, and John was baptizing people who needed their sins washed away. When Jesus requested that John baptize Him, John \"tried to prevent Him, saying, \"I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?\" Baptism is for sinners\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\/91987","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=91987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}