A question recently came up in one of my churches about Jesus baptizing people. One member was sure that Jesus himself baptized no-one, yet and he pointed out that there is no record of Christ's own diciples being baptized.

After some bible study, I pointed out John 3:26 which reports that Jesus baptized more people than John the Baptist:

"...to whom thou barest witness (Jesus), behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him."

Why don't we see Christian or even Adventist art depicting Jesus doing the baptizing? It would be a great witness to show that we as a church baptize because Jesus Christ is our example.

I e-mailed my question to some SDA artists recently. I'll share what they say if I get any responses.

Let us read John 3:25, 26 on this subject of Christ doing the baptizing:

quote:

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John 3:25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.

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From what I am quoting below from John 4:1-3 below, that was what they thought Christ was doing the baptizing when it was really His disciples that was doing it.

quote:

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John 4:1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)
3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.

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It is obvious from verse 2 above that Christ in fact or reality did not baptize anybody.

You got me for a minute on that one. It just illustrates that we-all must take Scripture in context, and not as an isolated verse.

[ April 29, 2002: Message edited by: Gregory ]

The reply I got was the same as Daryl's:

John 4:1-2
1The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John,
2although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.

One other question that came up in our discussion was "Who baptized the disciples?"

Was John's baptism of repentance good enough for the disciples to now have the authority to baptize people into Christ? Does John's delaration that Jesus should be the one baptizing him factor into all of this? And do the disciples referred to in John 2 mean the 70 or the 12?

Well, if the disciples were able to baptize others, could they not also have baptized one another?