Believer's Baptism And
The Death Of Christ
Romans. 6:3
"Know ye not that so many of us as
were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" We know
that baptism does not put us into Christ. No work performed by man can do that!
If we are in Christ, God put us in him (I Cor.
In this verse Paul is showing us the
connection between believer's baptism and the death of Christ. Actually, the
word "into" in this verse would be better translated
"unto", just as the word "for" in Acts 2:38 would be better
translated "because of." Romans 6:3 really should read, "Know ye
not that so many of us as were baptized unto Christ were baptized unto his
death?" Baptism does not put us into Christ; but it looks to Christ. It
does not put us into his death; but it has reference to his death.
Baptism, if it is true baptism, is an act
of faith. It looks to Christ. It is an act of obedience to Christ. And it
follows the example of Christ. As he was baptized by immersion, as an act of
obedience to God, identifying himself as the Son of God, to fulfill all
righteousness, so are we.
Baptism has reference to the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is a picture of his death as the sinner's Substitute and
of our death in him. We died in him representatively. And by baptism we
publicly avow our faith in the redemption he accomplished by his death.
Baptism is an outward, visible picture of
grace experienced in the heart. Baptism declares that we are with Christ and
that in him we are dead, dead to sin, dead to the world and dead to the past.
It shows a connection between the believer and his Savior, between us and the
death of Christ. As he is dead to sin, in him we are dead to sin. As he lives
unto God, in him we live unto God. Until this grace is experienced in the heart
baptism has no meaning. It is nothing but an empty, hypocritical, deceiving
religious ritual.
Don Fortner