Who's Name was Jesus Baptized into??

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by seekerman

I wonder if they were publicly confessing their sins? Publicly confessing one's sins before they're baptized would be an interesting thing to watch/hear.

Not that it matters, public or privately to God, but when I read your comment it made me wonder. I've read that passage many many times and I really never thought about what actually was going on during the confession stage of the process.

Considering the biblical and even the traditional Jewish way of 'confessing' things, I would say it is almost certain their confessions were vocal, and not just 'mental'.

Also, we are to 'confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus', and the context seems to indicate baptism. So a public confession of one's sinfulness and need of forgiveness would be highly appropriate to John's baptism. Of course, one might argue that simply the act of coming to John to submit to his baptism was just such a confession (which is probably why John exclaimed to Jesus 'I need to be baptised by you, not you by me!').