As John the Baptist baptized people, he proclaimed that the baptism of the coming Messiah would be far greater than his own.

Matthew 3:11 (NKJV)

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

So when Jesus came to him asking to be baptized, John was troubled. He felt unqualified, and wanted Jesus to baptize him instead.

Matthew 3:13-15 (NKJV)

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

John's instinct was sound: his was a baptism of repentance, a washing for sinners who turned from their sin. Jesus had no sin to repent of. So why would the sinless Son of God step into a river meant for the guilty? Scripture points to several reasons.

• Identification with sinners: In being baptized, Jesus took His place among the contrite people of God who came to John in repentance — and not among the watching Pharisees who stood apart in self-righteous judgment. From the start, He stood where sinners stand.
• Intercessory identification: Like the Old Testament intercessors who stood before God on behalf of a guilty people — Moses, Daniel, and others — Jesus stepped into the sinner's place. He did so not to confess any sin of His own, for He had none, but to identify with those whose sin He had come to bear.
• Affirmation of His messiahship: At the Jordan the Father testified audibly from heaven and the Spirit descended, publicly confirming Jesus as the beloved Son and the promised Messiah.
• The beginning of His public ministry: The baptism marked the opening of His public work, from which He would carry the message of salvation to all.
• Endorsement of John's ministry: By submitting to John's baptism, Jesus affirmed John's God-given mission and the call to repentance at its heart.
• An example of obedience: In willingly submitting to baptism, Jesus set a pattern for His followers, showing baptism to be an act of obedience to God.

Jesus gives the answer Himself: His baptism was “to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). He was not confessing sin, for He had none. He was doing the whole will of God on our behalf, taking His place among the very people He had come to save.

This is the crucial difference between confession and identification. The repentant who came to John confessed sins that were truly their own. Jesus identified with a guilty people — not because He shared their guilt, but because He had come to bear it. The Jordan pointed forward to the cross, where that identification would be carried to its end.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus, the perfect man, did not need baptism for the repentance of sin. Still, He accepted the act of baptism in obedience and as an example for us to follow.