Richard de Klerk
The Sinless Sinner
But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:15-17
John the Baptist recognized who Jesus was. He knew Jesus was the Son of God. How could he possibly baptize the Son of God? But Jesus insisted. It was to “fulfill all righteousness” that He must be baptized by John. Unlike us, Jesus had no sins from which to repent. He knew no sin Himself, but He came to this world to take the sins of every person upon Himself.
When we recognize the sin that is present in all of our lives and hearts, we first need to confess those sins to God. Christ did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Satan wants us to dwell on our shortcomings and the messes we have made of our lives. Jesus wants us to focus on Him. He has done for us what we are incapable of doing for ourselves. The best of our efforts are as filthy rags, but Jesus offers us forgiveness, atonement and acceptance into His family as a child of God.
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:37-38