[ColdWater]

but if you aren't baptized, you aren't a Christian

Was Jesus a Christian before he was baptized?

[Cicero]

Kind of a silly question. If a Christian is a follower of Christ, then the answer is “no.”

Also, baptism is necessary because of original sin. But Jesus was born without sin. He allowed John the Baptist to Baptize him as a lesson to others. But as John himself said, his baptism in the Jordan was merely a forerunner of what Jesus would later do.

“I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Yes, the meaning of that needs discussion too. But it points up the difference between John’s pre-Christian baptism and baptism in the Church that Jesus later founded. John was the fore-runner, the last of the Prophets.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“Was Jesus a Christian before he was baptized?”

Jesus was not a Christian after he was baptized by John in the Jordan.

[Ann Archy]

That could be the DUMBEST question I’ve seen on FR.

[Delacon]

Acts 11:26 (New International Version)
26and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2011:26;&version=31;

 

Side note. Jesus was never called that in his lifetime. He was called Joshua. Or that is as close as we can get.

 

"Jesus" (pronounced /ˈdʒiːzəs/) is a transliteration, occurring in a number of languages and based on the Latin Iesus, of the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), itself a Hellenisation of the Hebrew יהושע (Yehoshua) or Hebrew-Aramaic ישוע (Yeshua, Joshua), meaning "Yahweh rescues" or "Yahweh delivers".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus#Etymology

[American in Israel]

Jesus was baptized, and was not a Christian anymore than you are your own son.