"Baptism in Romans 6"
Nick S. Wallace
Romans 6 is the most comprehensive passage on baptism. No other passage on baptism is longer; thus, it is a good starting place to glean its purpose and design.
In the fifth chapter of Romans, Paul explains that we’re in sin. However, He speaks of a solution: “…But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (5:20b–21).1 Jesus provides salvation! However, lest the reader should become confused, Paul raises a question: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” (6:1). Since “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (5:20), shouldn’t we just continue in it? After all, we’ll get more grace, right?
Paul isn’t ambiguous: “Certainly not! 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?” (vv. 2–3). In verse 3, we’re told that Christians have been “baptized into Christ Jesus.” Again, Christ is where grace resides (c.f. John 14:6). It is in Christ that we become a new creation (c.f. 2 Cor. 5:17). Christians have been “baptized into His death” as well (v. 3, emphasis added). Indeed, we access Christ’s death and its benefits in baptism. We’re already beginning to see that baptism is the point where we gain access to God’s grace.
Continuing, we read, “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” (v. 4). In baptism, the sinner joins in Christ’s death, being “buried with Him.” The image Paul evokes cannot be grasped well unless we realize that baptism means immersion, not sprinkling or pouring. He died for our sins and was buried, and we die to our sins and are buried in the waters of baptism. We do this “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.” We’re baptized so we can also be raised! Notice the conjunction that (Greek, hina); we’re buried in baptism “that … we … should walk in newness of life.” The reason we’re buried with Christ in baptism is so that we can officially walk a new life separated from sin, just as Christ was raised.
Paul continues, “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin” (vv. 5–7). From this, we see that in baptism, the “old man” (one’s previous self) is put to death. Before, we were under the influence of sin; we were its slaves. In baptism, we become “freed from sin.” Since the body of sin is crucified when we’re baptized, this implies we still have the body of sin before baptism.
How Not To Preach
(Author Unknown)
We can learn an important lesson from this humorous fictional story. We need to study for ourselves what the Bible teaches so we can recognize when lessons aren’t Bible‐based (Acts 17:11). Otherwise, we could make the same mistake as this “committee of deacons.”
A committee of deacons was interviewing a young prospective minister. “Do you know the Bible?” asked the chairman of the board. “Yes,” replied the young man. “Which part do you know the best?” asked the chairman. “The New Testament,” he answered. “Then tell us the story of the Prodigal Son.”
“O.K. There was a man of the Pharisees named NICODEMUS...and he went down from Jerusalem to JERICHO by NIGHT...and he fell upon STONY GROUND and the THORNS choked him half to death...
“The next morning Solomon and his wife GOMORRAH came by and carried him down to the ARK for MOSES to take care of him...
“But, as he was going through the EASTERN GATE into the ARK, he caught his HAIR in a LIMB and he hung there for 40 days and 40 nights and he afterward HUNGERED and the RAVENS came and fed him...
“The next day the three WISE MEN came and carried him down to the BOAT DOCK and he caught a ship to NINEVEH...
“And when he got to NINEVEH, he saw DELILAH sitting on the wall...and he said, “CHUNK HER DOWN BOYS!” and they said “How many times shall we CHUNK HER DOWN? Till 7 times 7? and he said, “Nay, but 70 times 7.
“And they CHUNKED her down 490 times and she BURST asunder in their midst. And they picked up 12 baskets of the FRAGMENTS...and in the RESURRECTION, whose wife shall she be?”
And the chairman of the committee said, “Men, I think we ought to call him our minister. He may be young, but he DOES know his Bible!”
