The Symbolical Confession Of Baptism
Romans. 6:4-5
Notice the connecting word,
"Therefore." It refers to verse 3. Because baptism looks to Christ
and his death upon the cross, this is how and why it must be performed.
Baptism is a burial. "We are buried
with him by baptism." It is a picture of death. What do you do with a dead
corpse? Sprinkle sand in its face? Pour dirt on its head? Of course not! You
bury it. And when a person is baptized, he is buried in water. Immersion is not
a mode of baptism. It is baptism. Without immersion, baptism cannot be
performed.
Baptism is unto death. It is the
believer's confession of faith in the merit, efficacy and sufficiency of
Christ's death for his eternal salvation. Baptism says to all
the world, "I trust Christ for all my salvation. Looking to him,
his bloody death upon the cursed tree, trusting him alone, I am justified
before God."
In baptism we confess our commitment to
Christ. Rising up out of the watery grave, we confess to all
the world that as Christ arose from the dead by the glorious power of
God the Father, "even so we also should walk in newness of life." We
have been raised from spiritual death to spiritual life by the glorious power
of God's almighty grace. Henceforth, we declare in baptism, we are determined,
by the grace of God, to walk in newness of life. We renounce our former life,
ways, hopes, and beliefs. Christ is our Life, our Way, our Hope and our Truth.
We are no longer our own. We belong to Christ. We will no longer live under the
rule of sin, self and satan. We give ourselves to the
rule and dominion of Christ our Lord, to walk with him in newness of life (I
Cor. 6:19-20; II Cor. 5:17).
And the believer confesses his hope of
resurrection glory with Christ in the ordinance of baptism (v. 5). As baptism
looks back to the cross in faith trusting Christ's finished work of redemption,
it looks forward to the second coming in hope of the resurrection, trusting the
power of the risen Christ to bring us safe and complete into his heavenly
kingdom. This blessed ordinance is our symbolic confession of faith in Christ,
redemption by his blood, regeneration by his Spirit and resurrection by his
power.
Don Fortner