Lesson 1022

(Lesson 1022)(07-01-14) Luke 20:1-8

"And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders, And spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority? And he answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer me: The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not? But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet. And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was. And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things."

In today's lesson, and in response to the challenge of His authority by the chief priests, scribes, and elders, Jesus asked if they believed "the baptism of John" was sent from God, or was it conceived by man. They admitted they weren't able to tell from where it came. Jesus then said; "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." In simpler terms for us today, Jesus said, if you can't determine on your own where my authority comes from, I am not obligated to tell you.

This lesson has another element that is often overlooked by far too many who call themselves followers of Christ. Many inadvertently interpret the phrase, "the baptism of John", as defining only the water immersion (water baptism) process John administered. That is very, very, wrong and horribly misleading to those who are seeking the truth of God's holy word.
In truth, the phrase "the baptism of John" defines the entire ministry of John. It defines his message of repentance and the coming of Christ as well as the physical practice of ritual Jewish water "baptisms", as they were required under Hebrew law.

What I have said her is verified by the reasoning of the chief priests, elders, and scribes, when they reasoned, "Why then BELIEVED ye him not?"

One cannot disbelieve a water baptism, it is a physical act that is witnessed and either occurs or does not. However, one can, and must, believe or disbelieve a message.

This matters so much to New testament bible study because the phrase appears in some crucial scriptural text that can easily be misrepresented if the wrong definition of the phrase is applied. For example; "And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." (Acts 19:1-5)

We see that those disciples, mentioned in the above quote, said they had been subjected to "John's baptism", meaning they had believed John's message that Christ was coming, and had also subjected themselves to the ritual water immersion John performed, but they had not yet been saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

As the quote tells us, "John's baptism" was not sufficient to there salvation, it had ONLY prepared them for the coming of the salvation that would be made available by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Realizing their dilemma of those disciples, Paul preached to them salvationby grace through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, after which they were "baptized in the name of the Lord".

We will further clarify the meaning of "John's baptism" as these lessons continue.~