Matt 3:6 And they were baptized by [John] in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. Rom 6:3 Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (5) For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.
Righteousness is to be right by living, walking, and doing things in the way God has ordained. In the Old Testament, to keep the law that God had given was righteousness. Now God had sent John the Baptist to ordain baptism. To be baptized is also to fulfill righteousness before God, that is, to fulfill the requirement of God. The Lord Jesus came to John, not as God, but as a typical man. Hence, He must be baptized; otherwise, He would not be right with God. At the time of John the Baptist, God ordained baptism as the way. Anyone who wanted to enter the kingdom of the heavens had to pass through the gateway of John's baptism. Not even Jesus Christ could be an exception. Even He had to pass through this gateway. Otherwise, He would have lacked the righteousness of passing through this doorway. After the Lord answered him in such a way [v. 15] , John understood and baptized Him. To be baptized is to be righteous in the eyes of God. The termination and germination of our being is righteousness before God. One who has been baptized, who has been terminated and germinated, is right with God. God's economy is to terminate our natural man and germinate us with a new life. If we would be right with God, we must be terminated in our natural life and germinated with His divine life. Termination and germination is the highest righteousness.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Matthew, 1986, pp. 127. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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