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“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! [God forbid! KJV, ASV, KJ21, etc., etc]. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6.1-4 NKJV; emphasis mine, jb).

There is a death, a burial, and a resurrection in Romans 6, verses 1 through 4. In fact, there are two deaths, two burials, and two resurrections in these verses. The first death, burial, and resurrection is the one after which the second death, burial, and resurrection is modeled. The first death, burial, and resurrection is the one experienced by Jesus Christ. The second death, burial, and resurrection is the one that is experienced by everyone who comes to be “in Christ.” The first belongs exclusively to Jesus; the second is reenacted every time a person is saved from past sins and granted access to the new life that is spoken of as “newness of life.”

It is entirely fitting and picturesque that the baptism of a penitent sinner is akin to the burial of Jesus Christ. Paul explains that there is a similarity between these two events; just as Jesus died and was buried, so does the penitent believer die to sin (i.e. to his allegiance to sin) and is baptized (buried) into Jesus Christ. Baptism is a burial as the word itself has been shown to mean at the time the New Testament was penned. Even when man changed the meaning of baptism to include differing “modes” of baptism (i.e., sprinkling, pouring, and immersion), he could not divorce it from the model which Jesus exhibited for all to see. Jesus died; so also does the sinner die. Jesus was buried; so also is the sinner buried by baptism. Finally, Jesus was resurrected; in a similar manner the baptized believer also rises from what has been styled “that watery grave” and that in order to walk in “newness of life.”

Being baptized into Christ is a great privilege that only penitent sinners who wish to find forgiveness can experience. Baptism into Christ is a point of transition at which a man’s allegiances and his citizenship are changed. Baptism into Christ is the time at which the Father translates us “from the power of darkness” into the kingdom of His dear Son (Colossians 1.13). We are “baptized into Christ” and at that point we “put on Christ.” (Galatians 3.27). Regardless of how many say otherwise, baptism (biblical baptism that is) “saves us.” (1 Peter 3.21). Some how, the world inserted her doctrines into religious practices all around the globe, and baptism ceased to have the significance that was assigned to it by God Himself.

A parallel will serve to illustrate a crucial point here. Marriage is an institution ordained of God; what He joins together, man ought not to separate (see Matthew 19.6). Likewise, man ought to realize that God alone sets the conditions of marriage; it is a Divine institution. Two men can no more be married in the sight of God than can two apple trees! God establishes the terms of marriage. Likewise, God defined New Testament baptism; He established the terms! Man may call sprinkling, baptism, but it is not. Man may call immersion of infants, baptism, but it is not. Man may call the immersion of folks who already claim to be in Christ, baptism, but it is not! Biblical baptism is what God made it and He made it so that we are “Baptized into Christ!”

Questions:

1. To what is the believer’s death to sin likened?

2. To what is the believer’s baptism likened?

3. To what is the believer’s resurrection likened?

4. Not according to the doctrines of man, but according to the Bible, how does one get “into Christ?”

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

Comfort in Isaiah II (12-14-10)