In the previous installments, we’ve been examining the question: What Does Baptism Accomplish? Those who have been following will know the answer to that question is multifaceted and can be described from several angles.
At the most basic level, we saw that Baptism initiates a covenant relationship with the Triune God and with each of the three Persons in particular. In relation to the Father, baptism is adoptive: we become members of the Family of God. In relation to the Son, it is marital: we become members of the Bride of Christ. In relation to the Holy Spirit, it is ministerial: we become members of the Universal Priesthood of the Church. Therefore, baptism simultaneously functions as an adoption, marriage, and ordination ceremony.
Having established the first two propositions, we turn now to the third. The argument to follow is structured around three points: first, the baptism of Jesus was His ordination ceremony; second, our baptism was our ordination ceremony; third, in keeping with the pattern, we will consider the objective and subjective dimensions involved.
Baptism: Jesus’s Priestly Ordination
As Jesus was baptized and the heavens opened, the Father spoke from above and poured His Spirit on His Son (Luke 3:21-22). In that complex and momentous act, the Father was anointing and equipping Jesus Christ for ministry. And though His baptism served as His anointing for three distinct offices—prophet, priest, and king—there is a particular emphasis on His priesthood that we need to see. Consider the following details:
(1) John the Baptist was a man with a priestly heritage. Notice that in Luke’s account, he is careful to mention the lineage of John the Baptist, highlighting both his paternal and maternal ancestry. This presents John as the culmination of the Old Testament priesthood, with his father, Zacharias, belonging to the division of Abijah, and his mother, Elizabeth, being a descendant of Aaron (Luke 1:5). Such a connection hints at the significance of Jesus’s baptism, suggesting that it marked the moment of a great transition: the passing of the baton from the Levitical to the Melchizedekian priesthood.
No doubt this is why John initially protested, saying to Jesus: “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” John rightly anticipated Jesus’s ministry to be superior to his own. Nevertheless, Jesus insisted on this order of operations. To establish His royal, everlasting priesthood, Jesus had to first be baptized by John. Therefore He replied, “Let it be so for now.” (Matthew 3:14)
(2) The genealogy of Jesus is placed immediately after His baptism (Luke 3:23-38). Presumably, this placement serves a deliberate, even apologetic, purpose. To illuminate the priestly nature of Jesus’s baptism, certain theological connections must be made for the readers. In the Old Testament, every priest was required to prove his descent from the priestly line, with only those possessing verified ancestry eligible for sacred duties (Ezra 2:61-63). By establishing Jesus’s genealogy at this point, Luke invites us to consider His priesthood within a royal, two-Adam paradigm. Jesus’s lineage links Him, not only to Judah, but also to the original priesthood embodied in Adam. Peter Leithart captures this well:
Luke, in keeping with Hebrews, shows that this Priest is from an older order, but Luke presses the case even further than Hebrews. This Priest is a priest after the order of Adam (Lk. 3:38). As the first Adam, having been given the priestly ministry of guarding the garden, was tested by Satan, so also this newly ordained Priest, who passes through the waters into the wilderness to be tested by the devil (Lk. 4:1-13), so that He could be a priest who was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15).1
This connection to Adam emphasizes the universal scope of Christ’s redemptive work. As the second Adam and the appointed caretaker and redeemer of all creation, Jesus mediates between God and the world—a role that both fulfills and transcends the work of all other priesthoods.
(3) Jesus’s age is mentioned in connection with His baptism and ministry. While there was no minimum age requirement for kings or prophets, there was one for the priests. As we compare Scripture with Scripture, we learn that the training of the priests came in stages: at twenty-five years old, they were given certain responsibilities in the tabernacle (Numbers 8:24); then, at thirty years old, they graduated into the fullness of their vocation (Numbers 4:3). Thus, when Luke makes a special point of mentioning Jesus’s age at His baptism, he’s alerting us to the fact that such was His formal inauguration into His priestly office: “Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age” (Luke 3:23).
(4) Jesus appeals to His baptism as the basis for His authority to cleanse the temple. In Matthew 21, Jesus performs a bold and distinctly priestly duty by cleansing the temple of God. The elders, observing this, confront Him: “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” (v. 23). One might expect Jesus to assert His authority as the Divine Son, but instead, He counters with a challenge: “I will ask you one thing, and if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” (vv. 24-25).
This response is significant. Jesus knows that His actions are grounded in His priesthood, which grants Him the authority to purify the temple. To bring this out, He shows that to locate the source of His authority, one must first understand the significance of the baptism He received from John.
Baptism: Our Priestly Ordination
Having shown the priestly character of Jesus’s baptism, we now turn our attention to the second point: our baptism was also our ordination ceremony.
One way to understand this is by recognizing that several priestly ordination rituals from the Old Testament have been integrated into Christian baptism. This gives recognizable theological continuity. For Aaron and his sons, at least four key actions were performed during their ordinations: (1) they were washed with water; (2) they were clothed in priestly robes; (3) they were anointed with oil; (4) they were sprinkled with blood. All of these elements are outlined in Leviticus 8:
- In verses 6-7, we see the water and the robe: “And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. And he put on him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe.”
- In verse 30, we see the oil and the blood: “Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, on his sons” (cf. vv. 12, 22-24).
With these four elements in view—water, clothing, oil, and blood—we can now discover their presence in the New Testament’s presentation of Christian baptism. And while these elements are not all found in a single text or presented in the same order as they appear in Leviticus 8, they can nevertheless be assembled with relative ease.
Priestly Consecration
In Hebrews 10:19-22, Paul asserts that we can enter boldly into the presence of the Lord, indicating that we possess the authority to do so. According to the text, our entry is facilitated by the “new and living way” consecrated through the “veil” of His flesh. When Jesus died on the cross, Scripture records that the veil in the temple was also torn “from top to bottom,” signifying that we now have full and complete access to the inner sanctuary of His presence (cf. Hebrews 9:8; Mark 15:38).
In light of our unworthiness, however, we may question the reality of such a privilege. How can we access what was once reserved for the priests—and more specifically, the High Priest alone—in the Old Testament? How can we be certain that we have been consecrated for this ministry? This inquiry reflects an acute awareness of God’s holiness. Yet the answer is both clear and reassuring: the washing of baptism sanctifies us for this work. Therefore, Paul commands, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22).
In this verse, two of the Levitical elements listed above (blood and water) are alluded to, though there is no reason to assume that they must be applied by two distinct ritual actions. Rather, in view of John 19:34—where the blood and water flowed immediately and simultaneously from Jesus’s side, forming a single testimony concerning his identity (cf. 1 John 5:8)—we can understand how these two elements converge in our baptismal cleansing and ordination: to be baptized with water is to be sprinkled with the blood of Christ and thereby consecrated for the Lord’s service. In Revelation 1:6, John weaves the various elements together when he says: “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has [thereby] made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”2
To further appreciate the priestly significance of our baptism, note the parallel Paul draws between the ritual cleansing of the Old Testament priests and his description of baptism in Titus 3:5. When he states that we are saved by the “washing of regeneration,” he actually refers to the “laver (λουτροῦ) of regeneration,” directly referencing the vessel of water that stood at the entrance of the tabernacle. Thus, according to Paul, the baptismal font functions as the New Testament counterpart to the Old Testament laver, showing that baptism serves to cleanse and consecrate God’s people for a priestly ministry.
Priestly Clothing
In Galatians 3:27, Paul connects baptism with the imagery of putting on clothes: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” By doing this, he paints a vivid picture of the reception of a new status, marked by the donning of a new garment.
But what is this status? To answer that question, we have to know what type of garment Paul had in mind. Some theologians argue that it represents the Roman toga virilis, the garment of manhood. In ancient times, a Roman boy underwent a ceremonial transition at about fifteen years of age, shedding the crimson-bordered toga praetexta (the toga of childhood) and donning the pure white toga of adulthood (cf. Galatians 4:1-6). Others see the changing of one’s garments here as an allusion to the ethical transformation that takes place progressively over the course of the believer’s life (cf. Romans 13:14).
However, we may question whether we must choose a single interpretation, since a careful analysis of Paul’s writings shows that he sometimes draws on multiple concepts simultaneously. After all, he does not say that we are clothed with baptism; rather, he says we are clothed with Christ in baptism. This subtle, but significant, difference shows that the sacrament of initiation confers upon its recipients the fullness and diversity of Jesus’s offices. Through baptism, we are incorporated into Christ and become—among other things—sons, prophets, kings, and even priests at the same time. For this reason, and in line with the thesis of this series, we confess that the efficacy of baptism is multifaceted.
That said, the dual reference to the washing with water and the putting on of new clothing presents an undeniable connection to the ritual ordination of Old Testament priests (cf. Leviticus 8; Exodus 29:4-5), necessitating that we include the concept of ministerial ordination as a prominent, if not primary, theological allusion in Paul’s statement. As before, we should avoid any ritual separation or isolation of these elements and instead emphasize their convergence in the single act of baptism. Thus, being washed with water means being vested with Christ and inducted into His priesthood. In baptism, we are united to Christ and incorporated into His body for the purpose of extending His ministry to the world. In Christ, we are the new Israel, His new holy nation and kingdom of priests, called to bring salvation and discipleship to the nations (cf. Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9).
Priestly Anointing
Having seen how baptism integrates the first three ritual elements—washing with water, sprinkling with blood, and clothing with a new garment—we now come to the fourth and final element: anointing with oil. How does Christian baptism relate to this aspect of priestly ordination? The answer lies in the close association between the use of oil and the Holy Spirit in Scripture. To see this, consider carefully the following propositions.
(1) In the Old Testament, inauguration into office was accomplished through the act of anointing a man with oil which was accompanied by the giving of the Holy Spirit. Note that when Samuel anointed Saul as the first king of Israel, he “took a flask of oil, poured it on his head, kissed him, and said, ‘Is it not because the Lord has anointed you?’” (1 Samuel 10:1). In other words, while the oil was provided by Samuel, the Holy Spirit was given by the Lord. To demonstrate this, Samuel told Saul that the Holy Spirit would periodically manifest Himself in visible ways in his ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy…” (v. 6). While this example is sufficient, the connection between oil and the Holy Spirit was even more clearly stated at the anointing of King David: “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13).
(2) In the New Testament, this use of oil gives way and the Holy Spirit now encompasses the full significance of our anointing. Psalm 45:7 anticipated this transition, as the Father prophesied concerning the anointing of His Son: “Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness.” That the oil of gladness refers to the Holy Spirit is evident because this prophecy was fulfilled in the New Testament, performed by God the Father (cf. Hebrews 1:9), and yet there is no record of His use of physical oil. Instead, we find that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 10:38). As Jesus declared to the Jews in the synagogue: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:18; cf. Isaiah 61:1).
(3) In the New Testament, this anointing of the Holy Spirit now occurs in Christian Baptism. When the Father anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit at His baptism (Luke 3:22; cf. 4:18), He provided a model for what to expect in our own baptism. As Peter said to the men in Acts 2:38: “Repent and be baptized… and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Since our baptism unites us to Jesus (as the members of a body are united with its head), we should expect to share in the anointing He received. This is the picture presented in Psalm 133, where Jesus is typified by Aaron, the High Priest of God’s people. The unity between the High Priest and the people is made possible through their shared participation in the priestly anointing, which is first poured on the head, and then flows down to the body, symbolized by his priestly garments.
In New Testament language, this priestly participation is presented as consisting in the “unity of the Holy Spirit” brought about by the “one body” being united to the “one Lord” by the “one baptism” of the Christian Faith (cf. Ephesians 4:1-6). “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Priestly Privileges and Responsibilities
As baptized Christians, we now have access to the temple of God, with all its blessings and privileges. For example, having been washed at the New Testament laver, we enter the sanctuary and partake of the table of showbread—fulfilled in the Lord’s Supper. In the Old Testament, the showbread (lit. ‘bread of presence,’ לֶחֶם פָּנִים) was reserved exclusively for the priests. Now, in the New Testament, we are all priests of God and may partake of the bread and wine in the Eucharist, renewing and deepening our participation in the body and blood of Christ. This sacramental meal is just one example of how our baptism grants us access to distinctively priestly blessings.
We are also given the duties and responsibilities of priests—including (among other things) the ministry of worship, good works, and intercession. For this reason, these activities are often described in Scripture using sacrificial terms. As Psalm 141:2 says, “Let my prayer be set before You as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” Similarly, Hebrews 13:16 states, “Do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” And 1 Timothy 2:1-4 exhorts us, “That supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence; for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (cf. Romans 12:1; Philippians 4:18; 1 Peter 2:5).
Objective & Subjective Categories
As we conclude this series on Baptism, it is important to revisit the objective and subjective aspects involved. Having examined how adoption and marriage relate to the new status bestowed through baptism, let us briefly explore the ministerial dimension of our relationship with God.
Consider a man, like myself, who has undergone the process of ordination. Prior to my ordination, I was restricted from performing certain ministerial functions. However, through the ordination ceremony, my personal identity was transformed. I am no longer merely Paul Liberati; I am now Pastor Paul Liberati. This change grants me the duty and privilege to engage in ministry with official authority. I am entrusted with preaching the word, administering the sacraments, conducting weddings and funerals, and fulfilling a range of other official ecclesiastical duties.
Nevertheless it is crucial to remember, as we have discussed in previous installments, that while ordination alters a person’s identity, it does not guarantee a change of heart. Like adoption and marriage, ordination is a covenantal transaction that is real, binding, and profoundly significant. Yet it remains possible for those who undergo these covenantal acts to deviate from the blessings they received. Just as a child who forsakes his father remains a child—though an unfaithful one—and a wife who forsakes her husband becomes unfaithful in her marriage, so too a pastor who neglects his ministerial duties remains a pastor by virtue of his ordination, but demonstrates unfaithfulness in his calling.
This principle extends to all who have been baptized into Christ since there is no inherent guarantee of our ultimate fidelity to the blessings we have received. Nevertheless we are called to “improve our baptism” (cf. WLC, 167) by striving to be faithful in every aspect of our relationship with the Triune God.
- Peter Leithart’s article, Jesus’ Baptism Into Priesthood, can be found here.
↩︎ - The association between water, blood, and the washing away of sins illustrates why baptism was a necessary first step in Paul’s own consecration for ministry. Through baptism, he would not only be washed from his sins but also consecrated for the work he was called to do. After communicating the details of Paul’s mission from Christ (Acts 22:12-15), Ananias urged him, saying: “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins” (v. 16). ↩︎
- Though we are focusing on our participation in the priesthood of Christ, Scripture shows that we also partake of His kingship and prophethood. Our kingship is evident in references to our ruling and reigning with Christ, sitting on thrones, wearing crowns, judging angels, and in the various descriptions of our royal identity (cf. Revelation 20:6; Luke 22:29-30; Psalm 8:4-5; 1 Corinthians 6:2-3; 1 Peter 2:9). Our prophethood is seen in references to our prophesying, having dreams, seeing visions, and in our preaching and proclamation to the world—all of which is in fulfillment of Moses’ request that all of God’s people would one day be prophets (cf. Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:16-17; 8:3-4; Mark 16:15; Numbers 11:29). ↩︎
baptism, covenant, efficacy, faithfulness, federal, Liturgy, Objectivity, ordination, priesthood, Worship
