Baptism

to be prophet, priest and king to fulfil the mosaic regulation – to fulfil all
righteousness. Jesus was indeed a prophet, a priest and the rightful heir to the
throne of David. So the baptism was the legal consecration of these positions.
There was this element of forgiveness of sin, which bothers many Christians
when it comes to Jesus. We need to differentiate between personal sins and
sins that we bear for being in the society. Every member of the human society
bears the responsibility of all evil that perpetuates in human society. Jesus was
bore this as a human and carried this to the cross. It was the struggle against
these that led Jesus to the Cross. Every Christian is expected to bear this cross
unto death.
Jesus used the word baptism only in reference to his suffering, death and
resurrection. Baptism for Jesus meant Cross-. Any Christian baptism that does
not bear this symbolism is not real baptism as seen by Jesus. Christian
baptism is also a statement of resurrection and newness of life, clothing with
righteousness etc. The early Church used baptism to express one's faith
conversion and rebirth-recreation into the Body of Christ.
During the initial Apostolic Period, greater emphasis was placed on adult
conversion/initiation. But Jewish regulations did agree to the conversion of
the infants and minors even without their consent by proper immersion. The
concept was that minors are brought up within the faith of the head of the
family. They were permitted to repudiate it when they reach the age of
maturity, which were 13 in the Jewish tradition. Religion was always a matter
of family and not individual. Deities were always family deities – Kula
Daivam. In fact the Yahvite tradition was that God was the God of Israel, not
of the individuals, not even of families. We see this picture in the story of
Jacob and Laban. Rachel stole the family idols. Each family in the period
judges had their own Puja rooms with their own pujarees – either of Levitical
tribe or elsewhere. Individuals can choose to go to a specific god for specific
purposes. These are Sadhanas, personal choices for special specific reasons.
By the time of Jesus these idols and personal deities were angels. The book of
Hebrews takes up the matter and shows how Jesus is much greater than angel.
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