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(fl:l?e ~ p t h m t of Wesus
Luke 3:21-23; Matthew 3:13-17;
Mark 1:9-11
INTRODUCTION13
In Luke's account of the baptism of
Jesus the emphasis is on four events
connected with His baptism: (1). The
praying of Jesus
during His bap
tism; (2). The
opening of the
heavens; (3). The
descent of the
Holy Spirit
on
Jesus;and(4).The
voice of God from
heaven. AtJesus'
baptism the
opened heavens,
the
descending
Spirit and the
voice of he Father
alike
bore
testi
mony
to
the perfection of the
Son. -G.c. Morgan,
THE CRISES OF
THE CHRIST, pg. 86.
THE TIME OF JESUS' BAPTISM
The
crisis
separatingJesus'
private
and
public life
The baptism ofjesus separated his
thirty years of private life from his
three years of public life. Between
these two phases of Jesus' life stands
His baptism
by
John, which at once
divided
and
united those phases. "As
Jesus left that in His life which was
preparatory, and entered upon the ac
tual work of the ministty, He devoted
Himself to the ultimate issue of His
work, that rtamely, of an identification
with men even to death. His being
baptized was an act by which
He
con
sented to take His place among sin
ners. - s
in
the act of baptism He
yielded Himself, a sacrifice
and
an
of-
fering; the opened heavens, the de
scending dove, the living voice, each
having its own significance, unite in
the attestation of the perfection ofthe
One so yieldingHimself, to the mighti
est phase in the purpose ofGod, thatof
redemption by way of sacrifice. --
Thus the thirty years of privacy merge
into the three years ofpUblicity, by the
way of solemn and significant cer
emony. (G.c. Morgan, THE CRISES
OF THE CHRIST, pg.
82f.
The prayer-life ofJesus
Of all the synoptic Gospel writers,
only Luke brings out the fact thatJesus
was praying while He was being bap
tized:
.
.j
es
us also
havingbeen
baptized,
and praying . While Jesus was en
gaged in deep communion with the
Father
in
prayer, the heavens opened.
Jesus attached great importance to
prayer. He loved
to
prayand therefore
He loves for us to pray He not only
prayed
in
connection with His bap
tism, he also prayed while the crowds
were gathering,
5:
15,16; before choos
ing the twelve apostles,
6:
12; before
and after the feeding of the 5000, Mk.
6:41,46;Mat.14:19,23;whenheques
lioned the disciples, Lk.
9:
18;
at
His
transfiguration, Lk. 9:28;
just
before
is iIivitation
to
come toHim and find
rest, Mat. 11:25-30; Lk. 10:21; before
He taught His diSCiples the Lord's
Prayer, Lk. 11: 1; atthe tombofLazams,
In. 11:41, 42; for Peter, LIe 22:32;
during the night of the institution of
theLord'sSupper,Jn . 17; 14: 16;
in
the
garden ofGethsemane,Mk 14:32,35,
36,39; Mat. 26:39, 42, 44; Lk. 22:42;
on the cross, Lk. 23:34; Mat. 27:46;
Mk.
15:34; Lk. 23:46; and after His
resurrection, Lk. 24:30.
A study of Jesus' prayer life is
an
edifying study. He turned aside to
pray: (1). In the
midst of
an
almost
incrediblybusy ife
and
while
sub-
jected to a con
stantly high pres
sure of work, Lk.
6:12; Mk. 1:35;
(2). When He, as
man,
was
sub-
jected,aswe, to the
upsurges of deep
emotion, espe-
cially the emotion
of profound sor
row and great joy,
Mk.
8:11; (3). In the midst of spiritual
conflict and death, In. 12:20-28.
Prayer to Jesus was: (1). Thanks
giving,
Lk.
10:21; Mat. 15:36; (2).
The
taking of solemn counsel with the Pa
ther, asking Him for help
in
making
important deCisions,
Lk. 6:
12; (3). In -
tercession, In. 11: 15;
and
supremely
communion with God,
Lk. 9:28.
It is obvious that prayer is impor
tant to Luke
as
well. He records many
of the prayers ofJesus, seven of which
occur in Luke alone, showingJesus at
prayer before each great crisis of His
life, 3:21;
5:
16;
6:
12; 9:18; 9:28f;
10:21; 11:1; 22
:4lf
; 23:46.
The
baptism of all the
people
Th
e
Identification of e
s
us
with
sinnel'5
Nowitc
ame
aboutwhenall the people
were
baptized, that]esus also
was
bap-
tized.... In the midst and
at
the height
of]ohn's baptizing ministry,Jesus was
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baptized. He was baptized as one of a
great crowd of people, thus identifying
Himselfwith a rebellious generation in
need of redemption and repentance.
From the
very
beginning
of His
public
ministry Jesus shares the heritage and
predicament of he
people.
-Lane,
THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING
TO
MARK,
NICNT.
The
occurrence, (his baptism with
the rest
of
the people), was toJesus one
of remendous sig
nificance: by sub
jecting Himself
to
the baptism, He
fi
nally and openly
took the sin of
mankind upon
Him and placed
Himself on the al
tar for the sake of
the redemption of
the guilty ones. He
Himself
had
no
need to be bap
tized, but He of
fers Himself
as
the
Substitute and Representative ofsinful
mankind and so
He, the Sinless One,
also undergoes this humiliation.
Through this
He
shows
His
solidarity
with the guilty human race
for whose
salvation He
came. He who
is Himself
without sin takes upon Himself the
sins ofmankind in orderto bring about
reconciliation and redemption. So,
because the baptism ofjesus meant to
Him the final acceptance of he work of
redemption which would
have to be
completed throughsufferingand death,
it was a most momentous occurrence.
For this reason
He was
now pray
ing ...
-
Geldenhuys
he
relation of esus baptism to
the
people s baptism
The Bible does not cut
loose
John s
baptism ofJesus
from
John s baptism
of the people. John did not administer
two
totally different baptisms---one
for
the people in general and the other for
only
Jesus. It is
NOT
accurate
to say
that, because Jesus was sinless, not
needing to repent, and the
people
were
sinful needing
to
repent, that
the two
baptisms had nothing in common. On
the other hand we must not go to the
other
extreme
and deny the unique
ness
ofjesus baptism
orHissin1essness,
Mat. 3:13f. Jesus baptism wasinsepa
table from the people s baptism by
John, but there was also something
unique about it by which it differed in
principle from the
rite performed
on
the average
Israelite. -G.
Vos.
By submitting to John s baptism of
repentance, Jesus is expressing
as
clearly
as
possible under those circum
stances
is
vicarious relation
to
the
people of God. Jesus identification
with the people in their baptism had
the proximate end of securing
for
them
vicariously
what the sacrament
(John's
baptism of repentance)
aimed
at, the
forgiveness ofsin.
Even
with regard
to
repentance we may reason analogously;
for
if Jesus bore sin
vicariously,
and
received forgiveness vicariously,
then
there
can be
no objection on prtnciple
of saying that He repented for
the
people
vicariously. -
Vos, BIBLICAL
THEOLOGY,
pg. 319f. Inotherwords,
Jesus took upon Himselfas our substi
tute and representative the
responsi
bility for our sins, Le., the punishment
4 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon May, 994
our sins
deserved
that we might be
forgiven, and the responsibility
for
our
obedience.
He not only
died
in our
place,
He lived in our place. He not
only
suffered
and died for us,
He
be
lieved, repentance and lived in perfect
righteousness for us, so that by His
passive
and
active
obedience, we
who
believe in
Him
might
be saved
and
accepted
into
the family of
God.
he
age
of
Jesus at his baptism
Jesuswasthirty
years
old when
He
was
baptized by
John, Luke 3:23.
This
was
the age
of Joseph when
he became the
gyptian
Pharaoh s prime
minister, Gen.
41:46, and the age
of David when he
became
King
of
Israel,
II
Sam. 5:4.
More imponantly
forunderstandingthemeaning9fjesus
baptism, this was the age
at'
whiCh
Levitical priests began their priestly
service
in
the Temple,
Num.
4:3, 47.
In fact, the
requirements for priests
were that they be thiny years of
age,
called of
God,
and anointed with
oil
and sprinkled with
sacrificial
blood,
Exod. 29:21, upon their public inau
guration into office. CenainlY Luke
makes this reference to Jesus age to
make
us think of the O.T. priesthood,
so that
we
will understand Jesus bap
tism
as His public inauguration as
our High Priest, the Mediator
of
the
New Covenant, Who
would,
as
Priest,
offer
Himself
as Victim, for the salva
tion of His people. The statement of
God
made
from the heavens at
His
baptism--- This is My beloved Son in
Whom
I am
well pleased
--is
drawn
from Psalm 2 and
Isaiah
42,
the first of
which
speaks ofJehovah inaugurating
and installing His
Son upon
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holy mountain,
Le., holy because that
is where the Temple was located, and
where the Lord's
PRIESTS
ministered.
All the ingredients required by O.T.
law forthe irumguration of a pliest are
present
in
the baptism ofjesus: (1).
Jesus was 30 years old; (2). He was
called of God when the heavens opened;
and
(3). He was anointed, (possibly
splinkled with hyssop ) by John
in
baptism, Le., both water from John's
hand and the Spili t from God's hand
WERE POURED OUT on Jesus at His
baptism
in
O.T. fashion.
THE PLACE OF JESUS' BAPTISM
in the wilderness
The
wildemess
theme
in
the old
testament
John the Baptist was
a
voice crying
in
the wilderness, whose preparation,
preaching and baptizing ministlY was
in the wilderness. The people of
Jerusalem were called out into the wil
derness t hear him, repent and be
baptized
by
him. SeeMat. 3: 1 4; Lk.
3:2 4; 7:24;Jn. 1:23. And immedi
ately after His baptism the Spilit dlives
Jesus Himself in to the wilderness,
Mk. 1:12,13; Lk. 5:16.
The reference to the wilderness as
the locale of John's ministry is not a
merely a geographical statement. The
Gospel writers are preserving the em
phasis on the wilderness found in the
O.T. prophedes, [Isaiah 40:3], allow
ing that emphasis to shame their own
theological understanding
of
the gos
pel
of
Jesus. In Exodus 23:20 God
promises to send Hismessenger, Moses,
before the people on a first exodus
through the wilderness to the Land
of Promise in Canaan. In Isaiah 40:3
we see the divineandmessianic proph
ecy that there will be a sec,?nd exodus
through the wilderness to the final
deliverance prepared for God's cov
enant people. In both the citation
from the Law and from the Prophets
the theme of an exodus through the
wilderness is dominant. . . The blended
citation, (of Luke 3:4f and Mark 1:3D,
functions t draw attention t three
factors . . . :the herald, the Lord, and
the wilderness. -Lane, pg. 46. In the
Synoptic Gospels the significance of
each of these elements is emphasized:
the coming
ofjohn
and
Jesus into the
wilderness is the fulfillment of the
promised salvation of which the proph
ets spoke.
The Significance of the appearance of
John the forerunner in the wildemess
The biblical concept of repentance
is deeply rooted
in
the wilderness
theme of he O.T. IntheO.T. prophets
the call to tum signifies a return to
the oliginal relationship with the Lord.
This means a return to the beginning
of God's histOlY with His people, a
return
to
the wilderness. Essential
to
the prophetic concern with repentance
in Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah is the con
cept ofIsrael's time in the wilderness as
the peliod of true sonship to God, a
status into which the Lord is going
to
lead his people once again in a future
time. --- The correlation between the
wilderness and repentance was not
John's innovation and must have been
understood by his contemporaries.
John's call to repentance and his call
to
come out to him
in
the wilderness to be
baptized are two aspects of the same
reality.
ltis
a call
torenewedsonship
in the
wilderness. The peculiar ur
gency in the call lies in the fact that the
crisis of God's final act is close at hand.
The same correlation should be
seen between baptism and the wilder
ness. The summons to be baptized in
theJ ordan meant that Israel must come
once more to the wilderness.
As
Israel
longago hadbeen separated from Egypt
by a pilglimage through the waters
of
the Red Sea, the nation is exhOlted
again
to
expelience separation; the
people are called to a second exodus in
preparation for a new covenant with
God. Both John's call to repentance
and his baptism are intelligible as as
pects of
the prophetic tradition which
expected the final salvation
of
God to
be unveiled in the wilderness.
Repentance in John's proclama
tion is conditioned by the action of
God, who is about
to
enter history
in
a
definitive fashion. The opportunity
and urgency for repentance lie
in
the
fact that
the one who will baptize with
the Holy Spirit is close at hand.
As
the
people heed John's call and go out to
him in the desert far more is involved
than contlition and confession. They
return to a place of
judgement the
Wilderness,
where the status
of Is
rael as God's Beloved Son must be
re-established
in the
exchange
of
pride
for humility.
The
willingness
to return to the wilderness signifies
the acknowledgment of Israel's his
tory
as
one of disobedience and re
bellion, and a desire to begin once
more. John's proclamation of the for
giveness of sins provides the assurance
that God extends grace as well asjudg-
ment. I t is
in
the context
of
judgnlent
and grace that the people ofJerusalem
and Judea
go
out to the wilderness to
be baptized
by
John. - Lane, pg. 49-51
The prophet, Isaiah, described
Israel's trek in the wilderness as a march
under the leadership of he Spilit of he
Lord, Isa. 63:11. He Wlites also that it
was the Holy Spirit who gave the cov
enant people rest
in
the wilderness,
Isa.
63:14. John
the
Baptist links the
bestowal of he Spirit
to
theminisny of
Christ, who comes to him to
be
bap
tized
in
the wilderness.
As
the first
exodus had been a going forth into the
wilderness
under
the leadership of
God's Spirit, the prophet announces the
second exodus as a time when there we
be a fresh outpouring of the Spilit, lsa.
32:
15;
44:3. With this concept in mind
John calls the people
to
thewildemessin
antidpation of the fulfillment ofthe pro
phetic promise.
-Lane,
pg. 52
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The significance ofJesus' baptism in
the
wilderness
By submitting to John's baptism of
repentance with all the people, Jesus
is acknowledging the judgment ofGod
on Israel, and
at
the same time, He is
signifYing that He will endure the judg
ment of
God
in
the
place of His people.
'Jesus comes to J
ohn
as the true Israel
ite whose repentance is perfect. He
IS
the beloved Son, but He comes to the
wilderness because sonship must be
reaffirmed in the
W ilde rne s s
John'sappearance
in the wilderness,
his call to repen
tanceandhis bap
tism signify that
the time has come
when God will
execute a decisive
judgment from
which a new Is
rael will emerge.
--- He comes to
John
as one will
ing
to
assume the
brnnt of
his judgment. The bearing of
its burden constitutes His mission.
Lane, pg.
54
in the Jordan
river
Just
as
John
the Forerunner steps
out ofobscurity into a public ministry,
so Jesus the Messiah now does the
same. He leaves Galilee, (Nazareth),
where he had lived in obscurity all
these thirty years
and
appears publicly
at the Jordan River.
THE PERSONWHO BAPTIZED
JESUS:
JOHN
THE
FORERUNNER
he
ministry
of
John
John
the Baptist is a crucial figure
in the history of revelation and re
demption. In retrospect, his appear
ance
in
the wilderness was the most
important event
in
the life of Israel for
more than three hundred years.
--
The
very fact of]ohn's appearance was an
eschatological event of he first magni
tude, and signified that the decisive
turning point in the history of salva
tion was
at
hand. It was John, th
preacher of radical repentance, who
initiated the messianic
crisis. To
speak
of the gospel ofjesus is to speak of the
good news
which began
with
John' -Lane,
MARK,
pg. 47.
john
is
not
introduced
in
Luke's
narrative because he is important for
his own sake. He is important because
he is the beginning of the unfolding
drama of redemption which centersin
jesusofNazareth. -Lane. Hisministry
was the result of Divine appointment
infulfillmentofO.T. prophecy; and he
bore witness to the supremacy and
dignity of the Lord's Christ, whose
coming was near.
Luke reports jesus' baptism in two
words in Greek----by means of a
genitive absolute participial construc
tion. The report of the actual baptism
with water seems almost incidental to
the record of the descent of the Holy
Spirit and the declaration of the Divine
Voice out of he opened heavens. Since
john and his baptism of repentance
has just been presented to the reader,
it
must be taken for granted that Luke
assumes John is the baptizer ofJesus.
But it
s
extraordinary
that
exactly
at the baptism
of Jesus, where one
16 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon May, 1994
might expect John
at least to share
some of the limelight withJesus, he
isnotmentionedatall. -Stonehause.
The point is this: John the Baptist is
brought into Luke's historical narra
tives because of the light his ministry
castsuponthe meaningofjesus Christ.
The introduction ofjohn the Baptism,
and of Simeon, for that matter, into the
account of the origin and early history
of Christianity has as its purpose: to
interpret authoritatively
the
mean
ing of the stupen
dous event repre
sented by the
birth
of
Christ
and
His presence
in
the world.
-
Stonehouse
Thefocus
of
John's preaching
]ohn'smessage
is telescoped to
fo-
cus
upon
a single
theme, the procla
mation of the Per
son still to come
who will baptize the people with the
Holy Spirit. -Lane, pg. 51. There is
coming a New Baptizer, whose dignity
will far overshadow thatofJ ohn.
John
introduces Christ as
The
Coming
One , which reflects Israel's messianic
expectation that God Himself will
come
to earth to bring salvation to
His covenant people,
Mal.
3:
4:5f.
He who comes in the name of the
Lord,
Psa.
118:26, will bring salva
tionandsudden,siftingjudgment,
Mal.
3:1;
4:5f.
The post-baptismal testimony
of
John regardingJesus
John 1:15, 30
john distinguishes in the life and
ministry of Christ
two
phases:
(1).
The
phase of ministry which
FOLLOWS
the ministry of John the Baptist; and
(2). The phase which precedes the life
of]
ohn. John
bore witness of
Him, and
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cried out,
saying,
"This was
He ofwhom
J said, 'He who comes after me has a
higher rank
thai J,
for
He existed before
me.
' --
This
is He on behalf
of
whom Jsaid,
"After
me comes a anwho has a
higher
J'(11Jk than
J for
He existed before me."
He who comes after me has a
higher rank than
I
is literally
in
Greek,
He who has come after
me
is before
(EMPROSTHEN) me, Le., refening
to Christ's minisny in the O.T. The
Greek
pr
eposition, EMPROSTHEN,
with the perfect of the verb, He who
has come, denotes precedence
in
appearing on the historical scene.
For He existedbefore meisPROTOS,
(before), with the imperfect verb, EN,
(existed), and the pronoun MOU, (me).
PROTOS with the imperfect of the
verb Signifies absolute anteriority
as
tomode
of existence -Stonehouse.
( Anteriority refers to existence pre
ceding time.) The point is that this
second phrase, for He existed before
me, relates to the eternal existence of
the Lord Chl1St, usually called His
pre-existence as the Second Person of
the Trinity. The conjunction, for,
(HOIl), therefore links together the
clauses in such a way so as to signify:
in Christ's eternal existence before
time lies the possibility of
His
appear
ance and
activity under the
O.T. -Stonehouse. Hence, there is
no
mere repetition here.
In saying that this pre-existent One
is a Man who has a higher rank than
I, forHe existedbefore me, John is not
saying that Christexisted physically as
an actual
human
being before John's
binh. He is simply rellecting His un-
derstanding of he incarnationof Christ
in terms of Mal. 3: 1 and 4:5f. The
eternal Lord Himself has visited the
earth
in
HisRepresentative, The Mes
sengerof he Covenant, justas Malachi
had prophesied.
Or
has Luke has
carefully explained: TH
LORD'S
CHRIST IS CHRIST THE LORD.
Therefore, even in His humanity, as
well as His Deity,jesus ranks infinitely
higher than John.
JoI1l11:29 36
Thissecond outstanding testimony
of john the Baptism to Jesus Christ
bl1ngs out
the
vicarious sin-bearing
of
esus
Christ. The next day l e (John)
saw Jesus coming
to
him,
and
said, "Be
hold, the Lamb ofGodwho takes
away
the
sin of the world " --
And he
looked
upon
Jesus as He
walked,
and said, "Behold, the
Lamb
ofGod "
In the dialogue between john and
jesus the point was made that Jesus'
baptism was a vicarious baptism, em
phasizing His identity with sinners
and His substitutionary work in their
behalf. These words are John's com
mentary on jesus' baptism. He also
learned that Chlist was the lamb
of
God, i.e., the substitutionaryand pro
pitiatorysacrifice for sinners, from the
Old Testament in at least two places:
(1).
In the sacrificial lamb of the
Levitical system; and (2). In the repre
sentation of the Servant
of
God as a
lamb
in
Isaiah 53, especially in verses
6 and 7---All of us like sheep have gone
astray,
each ofus has
turned
to his own
way; but the Lord
has
caused
the
iniquity
of
us
all
to
fallon
Him.
He
was oppressed
and
He
was
afflicted,
yet He did
not open
His mouth; like a lamb
that
is led to
slaughter,
and like
a sheep
that
is
silent
before
its
shearers, so
He
did
not
open His
mouth.
The Meaning
o
lamb
In Isaiah 53:6,7 the primary use of
the figure of he lamb forthe Servant of
Godis to depict the innocence, meek
ness and willingness
to
render vicari-
0us service
for
the people through
suffering and death. The features of
innocence and meekness are inherent
in the character of the lamb generi
cally, but they are with special em pha
sissuggested here, because, the people
having been described as a wayward,
wandel1ng Ilock, the very quality of a
lamb sets the Servant in contrast with
this sinful condit on.
But
it
immediately appears that
these traits of innocence and meek
ness are not intended for the general
purpose of idealizing the character of
the Servant, but for the specific
pur-
pose
of
showing Him both fitted
and
willing to bear the sin for others. This
is the transition between verse 6 and
verse 7
in
the prophecy:
because
innocent
He
can bear
sin of
others,
because meek He is willing to do so.
And also his appunenance, (Le., his
connection), (with a distinction)
t
the flock serves its purpose here: be
ing of the flock
He
can suffer for the
flock.-Vos, BIBLICAL THEOLOGY,
pg. 324f.
The Meaning
o
takes away the
sins
o
the world
The Greek word for takes away
denotes to take away the
sins
of the
world by bearing those sins. What
Jesus had done in the baptism was
not
yet the actual removal of sin,
but
only
as yet the taking of sin
upon
Himself.
To the other task His whole life was
to
be devoted. -Vos, pg. 326.
The
meaning of
"the sins o the world"
Isaiah prophesied that the Messi
anie Lamb would take upon Himself
the sin of the chosen people of the
Covenant.
John
speaks of His bearing
the sins of the world. Is there a
contradiction
in
the Bible? Does the
O.T. speak of Christ's death for the
elect
and
the N.T. of His death for the
world? Since there are no contradic
tions in the Bible,and since there isno
dichotomy between the O.T. and the
N.T., there must be a way to interpret
john s
comments in such a way that
they harmonize with the teaching of
the Scripture elsewhere that Christ
came to bear away the sins of the elect,
Rev. 5:9.
May, 1994 THE COUNSEL
of
Cbalcedon t 17
-
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 4 - Sermon on Luke 3:21-23 - The Baptism of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon
6/6
So, what does
it
mean to say that
Jesus takes away
the
sins of the
WORLD ?
In
The Magnificat, Mary
told us that the Messiah would come
to give help to Israel, Lk. 1:54. In
The NuncDimittis Simeon told us that
the chosen peopleofGodwhom Christ
came to redeem are to be found among
allpeoples and that Christ came to be
a light . . . to the Gentiles , as well as
the glory of Israel: Lk. 2:31-32.
These two hymns together teach us
tlult the chosen of
God whom Christ
came to ,save are
not confined to
one nation or eth
mcgroup,
but
they
are to be found
throughout
the
earthamongallthe
world's
nations
and
peoples. It is
in
this light that we
must interpret
John's remark that
Christcametotake
awaythesins of he
wORLD. Christ came to take away
the sins of people from every tribe and
people,
by
nature lost
in
sin,
and
not
merely the sin of
a
particular nation,
e.g. the Jewish nation,John 3:16. He
came to save the world: taken quali
tativelynot quantitatively, andnot ust
the Jews . All the sins, (see IJohn 3:5
for the plural) which the Lamb re
moves are spoken of collectively as
the sin. This passage does not teach
a universal atonement, i.e., that Jesus
took away the sins of everybody who
has every lived withc:mt exception.
If
he
did then everybodyis saved. If hey
are not saved, and He died for every
body withoutexception, then He failed.
Either
of
these views:
(1).
That every
body, Christians and anti-christians,
without exception are saved; or (2).
That Christ tried to saved everybody
by taking away their sins, but He failed
because they would
not
let Him do so,
is dishonoring to Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. John the Baptist did not teach
universal atonement,
nor
did the
Apostle John, nor did Jesus Himself,
In. 1:12, 13; 10:11, 27, 28; 17:9;
11:50-52.
Jesusis the Lamb of God who came
to take away the sin of all
His
people
throughout thewhole world. For God
so loved something as vile and evil as
the world, i.e., mankind
in
rebellion
against God, taken qualitatively not
quantitatively, that He gave His only
begotten Son. That this is the proper
way to take these texts, and that Christ's
death had special reference to His
people is set forth when
He
is said to
have been a
RANSOM---The Son
of
man
came
not
to
be
served but to serve
and to give His
life
a RANSOM FOR
MANY
Mark 10:45; Matthew 20:28.
The nature of a ransom is such that
when paid
and
accepted
it
automati
cally frees those
for
whom it was in
tended. No further obligation can be
charged against them. If the death of
Christ was a ransom
for
all men alike,
ifby His death He purchased all man
kind, then the regeneratingand cleans
ing power of the Holy Spirit which He
purchased for them must then be com
municated
not
merely to some but to
all
alike, and the penalry of eternal
punishment cannot be jusdy inflicted
on any. If, as we have said, God is so
18
THE COUNSEL of
Chalcedon
May, 1994
just that
He
cannot pardon sin without
an atonement, He would certainly be
most unjust ifHe demanded the pen
alty twice over, once
from
the Substi
tute
and
again from the
persons
themselves. -Lorraine Boettner, TH
ATONEMENT, pg. 84
John 1:34
Thisis the third great post-baptismal
declaration
by
John concerning Jesus:
And have
seen
and have borne witness
that this the
Son
of
God. I is I my
seW in Greek in
dicating
that
John's testimony
is an
EYE-WITNESS
testimonyaswell
as
an
OFFICIAL
testimonyby the
Forerunner. The
close relation of
seen
and
have
borne witness
describes the im
mediacy of the
witness, i.e. \ no soo.ner saw that I
witnessed. In this statement John is
reftectingupon His faithfulness in ob
serving and answering by witness the
signalset
for
him by God
in
the descent
of the Spirit upon Jesus. -Vos., pg.
326.
JO N
2:31-32.
In this lengthy passage
John
the
Baptist is the speaker, as most com
mentators agree. He exposes the ab
surdity of supposing any rivalry be-
tween himself andJesus. 'Jesus stands
so incomparably higher than all
mes
sengersof God that
it
could occur to
John as little to conceivejealousyagainst
Him, as the friend of the bridegroom
(the presider at the wedding activities)
could do so with regard
to
the bride
groom.
His
work is
to efface
himself,
and
therein to find his
supreme
joy.n-vos. The Baptism
of
esus to be
c;oncluded next month n