James Bradford Pate's comments on religion, politics, entertainment, books, and life
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Anointed at Baptism
At church this morning, we had a baptism. The liturgy said, "We praise
you for sending Jesus your Son, who was baptized in the waters of the
Jordan, and was anointed as the Christ by your Holy Spirit." This made
me think about adoptionist controversies: When was Jesus the Son of
God? Did he become that through the virgin birth? Through his
baptism? Through his resurrection? Was he God's son in a pre-existent
state? I'm sure that my church believes that Jesus was the Son of God
in his pre-existent state. But what happened at Jesus' baptism? At his
baptism, I take it from the liturgy, Jesus was anointed as the Christ,
the Messiah of Israel.