9 In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
All four Gospels open Jesus’s public career with John the Baptist, and the baptism is one of the events most historians accept with confidence, partly because it was awkward for early Christians: why would the sinless Messiah submit to a baptism of repentance at the hands of a lesser figure? Reading the accounts side by side shows how each evangelist handled that difficulty.
On the usual view (Markan priority), Matthew and Luke both worked from Mark’s short account, adding to it or trimming it. John’s Gospel, probably written independently of the Synoptics, never actually narrates the baptism. Instead the Baptist testifies to what he saw, calling Jesus the Lamb of God, so the event is known only through his witness.
- Only Matthew has John’s protest (“I need to be baptized by you”) and Jesus’s reply about fulfilling righteousness.
- In Mark and Luke the heavenly voice speaks to Jesus (“You are my beloved Son”); in Matthew it speaks about him (“This is my beloved Son”).
- Luke mentions the baptism only in passing, after all the people were baptized; John reports the descent of the Spirit as a dove as the Baptist’s testimony, without describing the baptism itself.
Hover a word to find it in every account
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”
15 But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”Then he allowed him.
16 Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him. 17 Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
21 Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized and was praying. The sky was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”
29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.’ 31 I didn’t know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water, that he would be revealed to Israel.” 32 John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him. 33 I didn’t recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”