BAPTISM OF JESUS. – The scene narrated by the Synoptics (Mt. 3, 13-17; Mk. 1, 9-13; Lk. 3, 21-22) and alluded to by John (Jn. 1, 32-34) can be easily reconciled as follows: at about the age of thirty (Lk. 3, 23), Jesus leaves Nazareth, presents Himself at the Jordan among the crowd gathered at the Baptist’s preaching, and asks to be baptized as well (Mt. 3, 15). As He comes out of the water and is immersed in prayer (Lk. 3, 22), the heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove, alighting upon Him, and a voice proclaims: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” In the dove, the Baptist perceives the sensible, “corporeal” sign (Lk. 3, 22) of the descent of the Holy Spirit and understands that He who has just baptized is the Son of God (Jn. 1, 33-34).
The baptism of Jesus is therefore: 1) The consecration of the messianic mission of Jesus. That descent of the Holy Spirit indeed fulfilled two texts considered messianic in Sacred Scripture (Ps. 2, 7; Is. 61, 1; cf. also Is. 42, 1); and the Forerunner himself had declared: “After me comes one who is mightier than I... and I have come baptizing in water, that he might be made manifest to Israel” (Jn. 1, 30). 2) A new proclamation of the natural filiation of the Incarnate Word. That the words “This is my beloved Son” must be understood in the sense of natural filiation rather than merely adoptive is demanded both by the text itself (Jesus is the Son [ὁ υἱός] and the beloved Son [ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός], not only beloved, i.e., most dear, but uniquely dear, the only-begotten [cf. J. Lebreton, Les origines du dogme de la Trinité, Paris 1919, pp. 38-39]) and by the context, when we consider them in light of similar expressions recurring in other episodes of Jesus’ life (e.g., in the virginal conception of the Word [Lk. 1, 34-37], in the Transfiguration [Mt. 17, 5], in the finding of Jesus in the temple [Lk. 2, 49], and in what He taught about Himself and His relationship with the Father as the Messiah, ever more openly as He approached His Passion [cf. J. Lebreton, ibid., pp. 286 ff.]).
Many modern critics of the liberal Protestant school have sought to conclude from the episode of Jesus’ baptism that He then received for the first time the dignity of the Messiah, or first became conscious of it, or received divine filiation. But these interpretations plainly contradict what St. John and St. Paul say about the pre-existence of the Word. On the other hand, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon a person chosen by God for a particular mission does not in itself imply any divinization; it merely serves to demonstrate a special impulse from God, as happened with Othniel (Judg. 3, 10), Gideon (Judg. 6, 34), Jephthah (Judg. 11, 20), Samson (Judg. 13, 25), Balaam (Num. 24, 2), Saul (1 Sam. 10, 6), etc.