Jesus' Baptism: Loyalty

This is the first entry for the series:

Jehovah's Characteristics Reflected in Jesus

Jesus comes to the Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist. Because John “knows that his baptism […] is for those repenting of their sins, but Jesus is sinless” (gt-E, ch 12)¹, he objects with Jesus, stating “I am the one needing to be baptized by you, and are you the one coming to me?” Jesus replies, “Let it be, this time, for in that way it is suitable for us to carry out all that is righteous.” This statement reflects Jesus’ loyalty to Jehovah. In order to “carry out all that is righteous,” Jesus needed to be resolved to do his Father’s will. Jesus’ baptism symbolized that resolve, rather than repentance of sins.—Matthew 3:13-17

Insight on the Scriptures comments on page 249 that Jesus’ insistence on being baptized speaks in harmony with Psalm 40:7-8, which reads

In view of that, I said: “Here I have come,
In the roll of the book it being written about me.
To do your will, O my God, I have delighted,
And your law is written within my inward parts

Footnotes:

¹ Unless otherwise stated, all cited publications on this blog come from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (WTBTS).

Back Again

OK, sorry for being away so long. I'm really gonna try and be more consistent in my posting (although I can't promise anything--life happens). I am attempting to start a series of posts entitled "Jehovah's Characteristics Revealed through Jesus," wherein I plan on analyzing and meditating on stories of Jesus presented in the Gospel accounts. Some material may be original and some will be compiled from the Watchtower Library or other publications. I plan on compiling each post in the series into a separate page with the same name (or not, if I decide at some point that I don't like it). Well, we'll see how it goes. The first one is on Jesus' baptism (I'm reading the Gospels from front to back, so you will likely see updates as I read through new material in the other Gospels).