"To Fulfill All Righteousness"

This past week, I have been studying in 2 Nephi 31, the moving commencement of Nephi's valedictory sermon.  Once again, I was drawn to verses 4 through 7, verses which I have known and loved since before I was a missionary.  But this week I saw them a little differently and perhaps more profoundly than I had ever seen them before.

As you'll recall, Nephi calls upon us to "remember that I have spoken unto you concerning that prophet which the Lord showed unto me, that should baptize the Lamb of God, which should take away the sins of the world."  Nephi then introduces us to what might be called "the paradox of Christ's baptism," stating, "And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!  And now I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water?  Know ye not that he was holy?  But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments" (2 Nephi 31:4-7).

Clearly Nephi had done some thinking about the symbolism and meaning of baptism, the perfection of the Savior, and the interesting need for the Savior to be baptized.  As Primary children, we learn that baptism is an ordinance instituted for the remission of sins and that by receiving this ordinance, we enter into a covenant with God to take the Savior's name upon us, striving to keep His commandments and live as He lived, in exchange for which we are promised that we may "have his Spirit to be with [us]" (D&C 20:79), and ultimately "be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that [we] may have eternal life" (Mosiah 18:9).  Further, we are taught that Baptism is a symbolic representation of both the Savior's death, burial, and resurrection, as well as the death of the carnal and natural man within us, "that the body of sin might be destroyed, and that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Romans 6:6) and our subsequent spiritual rebirth to a higher and more spiritual life.

But considering all of this carefully, we like Nephi are led to ask why the Savior, of all people would need to be baptized.  He lived a perfect life, and needed to enter into no covenants whereby another would promise to pay the price of His sins that He might receive eternal life.  Further, it was His very blood, His very suffering, His very death, His very burial, and His very Resurrection that this ordinance was symbolizing.  Now certainly this act prefigured and prophesied of His coming Atonement, but none of that answers why He needed to be baptized.  

So here is where Nephi helps us along the path to understanding.  Nephi explains that the Savior did so to show "unto the children of men, that according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments."  This simple, and even illogical act, was an act of submission to the will of the Father.  But it was not blind faith nor blind obedience any more than were the sacrifices offered by Adam and Eve, for which explanation Adam said simply "I know not, save the Lord commanded me" (Moses 5:6).  Adam, Eve, and the Savior all had at least one great thing in common:  they knew the Man who had given them the commandments they were asked to obey.  While the Savior undoubtedly had more understanding of what He was doing than Adam and Eve, His submission to the commandment to be baptized was not based upon an understanding of the logical reasoning that underlaid the commandment.  His submission was firmly grounded in His love for, and perfect understanding of, the Father.  He knew that the Father would never ask Him to do anything contrary to the plan of happiness and righteousness.  Therefore, even when the commandment seemed to defy logic, He could obey, because He knew the character of Him who had issued it.

But I came to another realization about this interesting act.  As I considered how illogical it all seemed to me, I realized that in this humble act of submission, the Savior was prefiguring in attitude, as well as in symbol,  what He would do some three years later.  In the thinking of our "me first" world, there is nothing logical about the Savior's willingness to "[descend] below all things"(D&C 88:6) and "to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit" (D&C 19:18) all that we who have "sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) might not be lost.  But love and mercy defy the logic of self-preservation and personal comfort.  By being baptized when He was without sin, the Savior was reminding all of us that in His infinite love, He would do all within His power, even defying logic and reason, to reach out to us and to return us to His Father's fold.  Because He loved us, He was and is willing to sacrifice personal comfort and ease to rescue us in our times of trouble and need.

Considering that kind of love and His perfect example, I indeed "stand all amazed" and "bow in humble adoration" of Him who did "fulfil all righteousness."

Brett