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48. Did Jesus baptize anyone? John 3:22 vs. John 4:2
No. (They really think we’re stupid.)
John 3:22
After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.
John 4:2
(though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples),
So … no. Does it necessitate explanation?
Jesus and His disciples were at the river, and His disciples were baptizing people under His supervision and authority.
Shorter way of saying that? “Jesus baptized.” He was, via His disciples.
When we talk about John 6, we say that Jesus fed 5000 men (plus women and children). But Jesus didn’t really do much. Scripture tells us that He had the disciples organize the crowd. The disciples distributed food, and the disciples cleaned up the left-overs.
Why?
I don’t know, but I can think of a few good reasons:
- Jesus is the best leader ever. He was teaching His disciples how to do the ministry they were going to have to do when He left.
- God always has, and always will, use people to do His work.
- No one would have wanted Peter to baptize him, if Jesus was also baptizing people. The line would have been unending, and He would eventually have to turn people away when it was time to go, and how would those people feel?
In Chapter 3, John takes the short-cut of saying that Jesus baptized because it was enough to introduce the conversation, which was really about John the Baptism turning people over to Jesus’ leadership. In Chapter 4, John clarified the point.
Again: