NT in 40 Days: Matt. 1-6

Having moved to Virginia, my wife and I have been going to the Greater Richmond Church of Christ, a sister church to the one we went to in Texas.

This year, they're (we're) reading through the New Testament in the 40 days from late September through October, so I decided to do something new with my blog -- post an insight from my daily readings.

Of course, there are lots of things to write about, and I'm nervous about what the content of my studies reveals about my relationship with God, but I'm going to do it anyway. So no promises about anything earth shattering, but anyway, here goes.

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In Matthew 3, John the Baptist started baptizing people in the Jordan River after they confessed their sins. I've often wondered what the precedent was that John drew on. At the time, he must have seemed like the prophets of old, but how did he get the idea to baptize people?

2 Kings 5 shows one idea -- the healing of Naaman of Aram. Elisha told him to dip himself in the Jordan River seven times, after which he would be healed of leprosy. It was a life-changing event in Naaman's life (not just because it cured his disease), but it was only possible through his humility and obedience.

Given that precedent, along with the practice of ceremonial cleansing, I can see how John was something both familiar and fresh to society at the time.

Because of the baptism that was to come, John's version was a passing phenomenon, but it was an important transition -- a decision to repent was matched by a public kind of ceremonial cleansing. That pattern would be picked up by the early church in the book of Acts.