Did Jesus baptize John the Baptist?

Interesting. To be honest, I've never thought about it til now. I would say John was baptized by the Holy Spirit while in the womb. So my answer is yes, he was baptized, but not with water.

Luke 1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

 

Yet John confesses in Matthew 3:14, "I have need to be baptized of thee".

 

Oddly overstated, in that even Jesus evidently "needed" to be baptized, and by John, but John the Baptist himself didn't "need" it - and after he himself tells Jesus he needs to be baptized? Sure, we don't know that John was baptized (and why its crucial to determine escapes me) but saying there is no reason to believe it is inaccurate. (Would be ironic to say the least though if the original baptizer never got baptized himself. (This issue is so much more crucial than the Calvinism/Armenianism debate - why can't this be debated for the next several months.)

 

Jack Hyles, Let's Baptize More Converts (Sword of the Lord, 1967):

 

Has someone else already printed these:

(Mat 3:13-14) Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?"

(John 3:22) After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing.

(John 3:23) John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and were coming and were being baptized--

(John 4:1-3) Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.

(Luke 3:16) John answered and said to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

 

For the record, I do know and affirm that Jesus was sinless - didn't feel I needed to do that for an audience of 50 or so fellow Baptists. But the fact remains that it was crucial to Jesus' ministry, for whatever reason, that he be baptized. And if it was even worthwhile for the Savior of all mankind to be baptized, is it completely without basis for someone to think that John might have been baptized as well (or at least wonder if he was)? The quote you listed that I commented on said that John had no "need" to be baptized -unfortunate choice of words, as John himself said he "needed" to be baptized - by Christ.

In all honesty the long list of reasons you provided for why Jesus was baptized, was pretty much all speculation - reasonable to an extent - but still speculation. In fact it is far more extensive and elaborate speculation than the simple thought that possibly John was baptized.

This first one however is not speculation, just obvious and really a non-answer in that we all already affirm that whatever Jesus did was the father's will, including getting baptized. It doesn't explain why God the father wanted Jesus to be baptized

But there was another instance where the scripture says

(John 1:29) The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

So evidently this public proclamation could take place without Jesus being baptized (so it doesn't explain the baptism).

Interestingly, this apparently happened more than once, and before Jesus was baptized - in John 1:33, John says he didn't even know who Jesus was until he saw the Holy Spirit descend on him (which God told him would happen). But he knew who Jesus was when he baptized him, so he was referring to a previous incident. So evidently the Holy Spirit descending on Christ did not require his baptism.

How would John baptizing Jesus tend to make people quit thinking that John was the Messiah. Sure the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus right afterwards, but that had happened at a previous occasion as well.

So, as I say, this is all more speculative than people just saying Jesus might have baptized John. Actually though, I don't believe Jesus baptized John, because those verses I listed in #10 establish that, for me anyway. I won't go over my rationale there, judge for yourself.

Not trying to be overly critical, just engaged in the discussion.

 

I have to revise my comments above regarding John 1:29-33. I had a teacher in the past that said it related another instance when the Holy Spirit descended on Christ, as John says there he didn't know who Christ was until that happened, and he knew Christ before actually baptizing him. That's a reasonable extrapolation, but actually, John maybe just meant that he did not absolutely know it was the Messiah until the Holy Spirit descended, and after the baptism.

But really my objection to your list there, is that you're just indicating auxiliary events that accompanied the baptism of Jesus - but they don't explain the baptism itself. Another whole thread should be started just on that.

 

Perhaps he pulled a John Smythe and baptized himself? Just kidding.