John the Baptist, a witness
The gospel of John presents the Baptist as man who came as a witness. After John’s death and even after Jesus’ resurrection and the spreading of the Christian Church throughout the Roman Empire, there were people who thought of John of being much more than a prophet. Paul found some of his disciples in Ephesus (Eph 19:1). It is possible that some confusion arose between Christians and the disciples of John; that’s why John’s gospel states it very clearly: John the Baptist was just a man. He was not the light, but he came to speak for the Light. In fact, John refused to be the Messiah; instead, he presented himself as a voice crying out in the wilderness and calling on people to come to the Saviour and to accept him.
A witness only can be considered a witness, if he speaks the truth; and John was true to himself and to his mission. Questioned about his baptism, he did not make much of it, since he was baptizing just with water. In a way, that statement presents the difference of the Christian baptism, in which we are baptized with the Holy Spirit.
In baptism, we are born of the Spirit
In the Christian baptism, water is used as symbol and an instrument of the Holy Spirit. Some people think that the most important thing is the water, and that one has to go under water in order to be truly baptized. The Holy Spirit does the miracle of a new creation, which takes place in baptism. It is from him that we are born again as children of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment