           "JESUS WASN'T BAPTIZED FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS
                  AND WE ARE TO FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE!"

We can agree with much within this argument.  For example, we are to
follow the example of Christ (1 Jn 2:6; 1 Co 11:1).  We can also
agree that Jesus was not baptized for the remission of His sins, for
indeed He had no sin (He 4:15).  However, the fact He had no sin
itself might show something different between His baptism and ours.

Why was Jesus baptized anyway?  Do those who make this argument
against baptism follow it consistently, and submit to baptism for the
same reason Jesus did?  In Jn 1:29-34, John the Baptist told why he
baptized Jesus:

                29  The next day John seeth Jesus
                coming unto him, and saith, Behold
                the Lamb of God, which taketh away
                the sin of the world.
                30  This is he of whom I said, After
                me cometh a man which is preferred
                before me: for he was before me.
                31  And I knew him not: but that he
                should be made manifest to Israel,
                therefore am I come baptizing with
                water.
                32  And John bare record, saying, I
                saw the Spirit descending from heaven
                like a dove, and it abode upon him.
                33  And I knew him not: but he that
                sent me to baptize with water, the
                same said unto me, Upon whom thou
                shalt see the Spirit descending, and
                remaining on him, the same is he
                which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
                34  And I saw, and bare record that
                this is the Son of God.

Indeed, the reason John baptized Jesus was not for the remission of
His sins, but to enable God to show John the Baptist that Jesus was
the Messiah He promised in the Old Testament!  God had told John the
Baptist that one day while he baptized people, the Spirit would
descend on one of them in the form of a dove.  When this happened,
John would know he had baptized the Messiah.

Now, who do you know who ought to be baptized for the same reason
Jesus was?  Who has been baptized for the same reason Jesus was?
Today, none of us follows the example of Jesus in being baptized so
God can show we are the Messiah!
This document (last modified September 13, 1997) from the Christian Classics Electronic Library server, at @Wheaton College