The Farmville herald and farmer-leader. (Farmville, Va.) 1934-1957, 1955-10-14

event. may be that Or. Foreman
the church does not know quite
what 1t means We know what
other Christian festivals mean -
Pentecost Sunday. Christmas.
Good Friday and so on But
what does the baptism q Jesus
mean
surely Not fsr His Sin.
The heart Of the difficulty is
just this Jesus was baptized b.
John, and Johns baptism we
read over and over again, was
baptism Of repentance 50 We can
put the dilemma this way Was
this baptizing Of Jesus also a
baptism Of repentance, and II 50,
what could he have had to re-
pent OF Or vas 1t altogether dif.
ferent. and II so. then What did
it mean il il did not mean re-
pentance7 Since the Bible does
not answer this question clearly
and since the church has no
standard or orthodox" explana-
ton perhaps the best thing this
column can do is to run over
few answers TO that question
Why was Jesus baptized The
reader is invited TO think about
these and take his choice one
answer. which has three forms
the church has thought about
but CENTRALLY has not taken Seri-
ously It is the theory thatsJ esus
was baptized. like every one else
there at the Jordan, in token Of
repentance for sin. One extreme
form OF this theory is that Jesus
repented Of his own sins Only a
person Who thinks Of Jesus as an
ordinary man could believe that
and the church does not believe
it. Another form Of this idea is
that Jesus repented OF his sinful
nature; the idea being that if il
had really human nature il must
have been sinful one even if he
never sinned tJust as one may
have a weak constitution that ncV-
or breaks DOWN. This again the
church has overwhelmingly OPP
posed.
"To Fulfill All Righteousness"
Jesus himself gave reason
FOR being baptized, The trouble
is, he did not explain what he
meant He said he did it TO full
fill all righteousness Matthew
3:l5) It is quite plain that. he
meant ne would not be doing right
il he we're not baptized But just
what does fulfilling all righteous
ness mean The explanation
most widely accepted in the
church is that being baptized was
part Of the Jewish law at the
time. and that Jesus as a loyal
Jew observed this as he observed
other laws of his religion There
are two weak spots in this theory
one is that there is little or no
evidence that haptizlng or being
baptized was a regular religious
observance among the Jews and
the other is that Jesus did not feel
obligated TO keep strictly all the
laws. otherwise he would hardly.
have had the attitude toward the
Sabbath which We know ne had
Friend Of sinners
Stll another explanation which
Is inprestlng large number Of
Christians today, is that Christ
by insisting on being baptlzed,
over John protests that he did
was taking the side ~ sinners
We think Of Jesus taking our part
and representing US on the Cross
But. II is asked. when did Jesus
first Identify himself with sin
ners7 Mt until his last Friday
morning. On the contrary. the
SdG ~tstItfl3 II ttdt &fIlhA iD1it
at the jordan had the opportunity
10 take his place publicly and
Tor all TO see. either With those
~ho despised sinners and made 1t
hard for them and were proud
Of themselves. or With those Who
by beng baptized Uere honest
enough 10 confess their Sins and
r. express their deep desire to
&c rid Of them. 50 Jesus ldenti
hes himself once and for al with
the repentsnt. not that he him
SELF needed 10 repent. but 10 SHOW
that the repentant are his PEG
pie First 10 last. he vas the
Friend Of Sinners
ss.eo On outlines eepyrtIhted nv tn.
Division Of h,tstIa, Fesssttoo Ma
uonai trnnesl 81 the Church,s 81 th-fst
In the $. Reiesstd ~ Cow n r~its
Press setvieet
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