Baptism and the Cross
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Paul said that he...
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
The only thing that was worth talking about, worth telling the world about, the only thing worth dying for, the only thing worth living for was Jesus and Him crucified.
But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Paul is trying to help us understand that there is nothing, I mean nothing more important in the history of mankind than the cross. At the cross we see the horrors of sin. At the cross we come to see how hopeless, helpless, hapless & lost we are in our sins. At the cross we realize that the only hope we have is an unimaginable gift of sacrificial love. God Himself…gave Himself…to save us…from Himself. What else is there to talk about? What else has more meaning, relevance, importance to our lives than what took place on the cross. There should be nothing more poignant, precious, profound, & priceless in our life.
One way that we are connected to the cross is through baptism. It is in the act of baptism that we contact the blood of Jesus. Baptism should not be reduced to a meaningless church ritual. Baptism is not an outward showing of and inward faith. Baptism is not a small tiny little part of our Christian walk. It is a key central point of our faith. without baptism we are still in our sins, without baptism we have not been cleansed of our sins, without baptism we are still living for self. baptism is centered on the cross and it should never become common place or overlooked.
Baptism symbolizes the Gospel (Rom 6:17 “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,”
1 Cor 15:1-4 “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
2 Thess 1:8 “dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
In baptism we identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (Rom 6:3-5)
Consider the connections between the cross and baptism.
Death
Death
We deserve death
Eph. 2:1 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,”
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
Eph. 2:12 “remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”
We are sinners and we deserve death
Rom. 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Rom. 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Eph. 4:18 “being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;”
Col. 1:21 “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,”
Jesus died our death
2 Cor. 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
1 John 3:5 “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.”
1 Cor. 15:3 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,”
1 Pet. 2:24 “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”
Gal. 1:4 “who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”
Burial
Burial
Our old self dies
Rom. 6:6 “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;”
we die to self
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
the old life is done away with we live for Christ. He is our Lord and master
Eph. 4:22 “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,”
Gal. 5:24 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Gal. 2:20 ““I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Resurrection
Resurrection
New Birth
at baptism we have anew birth
John 3:5 “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
New life
Rom. 6:4 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
no longer dead in our sins but alive with Christ
New creature
2 Cor. 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Gal. 3:27 “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
Col. 3:1 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
We died to sin so we should not continue to live in sin
Rom. 6.