Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

When the congregation had strengthened its dogmatic hold in the faith in the sacrificial death and resurrection of the Redeemer, and religious theory had received the strength and leisure to shape the development of the work of salvation historically, the rounding off of the historical view demanded that the beginning of salvation also be proven, i.e., the point in time fixed where the Lord replaced the Baptist and went about his task. But where was this starting point? When did the Lord come to the certainty of his destiny? Nobody knew. Rather everybody knew it – at least every connoisseur of the holy history had to know it. According to the law, which had proved itself sufficiently in the Old Testament, that starting point could only be the moment when Jesus, like the prophets, was called by the divine voice and the spirit of God descended upon him.Of course, this voice could be no other than the one that lbn had already proclaimed in the prophecies of the OT (Ps. 2, 7. Is. 42, 1) as the sovereign of God and as the object of divine favor.
But the certain time! What question! He is to replace the forerunner – in order to replace him, he must find him on his place – both must therefore meet on the scene at the decisive moment – but what occasion could lead him to the Baptist? Did it not have to be his baptism? Yes, indeed! He had to undergo John’s baptism and at the same time be raised above the whole past, be endowed with the undivided power of heaven and be placed at the beginning of his work.

Yet even in this machinery a substantial thought lives its hidden life – it is the thought that the gospel was imparted through the baptism of John