New Life: Baptism

Introduction

Me

We

Romans 6:1-14

Romans 6:1–14 CSB

1 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? 2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

This question is for those who are believers in Jesus Christ as the Lord and saviour, who worship and follow the Father God most high. Those who know that they need a saviour cannot do it on there own.

They cannot live a life perfect in works and law so that they can get into the paradise.

Those who have commited to following Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. Those who believe that no one gets to the Father except through him.

We died to sin. This is a completed action. It’s done. It’s in the Past.

How can we live in it any longer? This is a future ongoing repeated action.

I am not a huge fan of the Message Bible but I do like the commentary he says here

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 6

If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good?

Something permanent has happened to you in the past. You Died to sin.

Baptism

That is the Meaning of Baptism.

Paul here is referring to water baptism.

I find this interesting.

As Paul is writing to this church in Rome where he has never been is assuming that all believers in Rome have been baptized. All the non-believers were not baptized but Believers were.

Baptism does not appear to be an optional event in the Christian experience at the time.

The book of Acts gives evidence that baptism occurred in the immediate context of faith-conversion. None of this signing up for the water tub to be heated like we often do. You believe well there’s water.

I think that’s because we focus on the intellectual event of “believing” which is consistent with the post-enlightenment environment of rational intellectualism.

But the culture in the time of the NT being written was very different. and in the culture equal emphasis appears to be placed on the physical - repent and be baptized.

For example Acts 2:38

Acts 2:38 CSB

38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

That is why it is said that Baptism is an outward visible sign of an inward spiritual grace

Baptism is more than just a confession of faith. It is the Physical manifestation of the grace of God in your life.

In Baptism we identify with Christ as we too have died, crucified with Christ. As we go under the water we have been to the grave and will raise to walk in a new life.

We were baptized into his death, so that we can live a new life.

Sin was the old life, and your baptism means you agreed to be identified with a new life. How can you possibly think of leaving your new life and going back to your old life?

Sin was a one way journey to death. The only way to be freed is to allow it to take its natural course - death- or be rescued.

Colossians 1:13 CSB

13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

The Letter to the Roman Assembly is clear that salvation is a result of Faith. it is also clear that the process of identifying with Christ through baptism is a high priority in the salvation scheme.

Nest Steps

Have you been washed in the Blood of Jesus?

Have you been Washed in the grave raised to walk in a new life?

Baptism is not a ceremony; it is an ordinance that illustrates profound theological truth.

The believer, through identification with Christ, died to sin and was raised to new life—by faith.

The believer’s life after coming to know Christ should be different than before coming to know Christ.

Bibliography

Boa, Kenneth, and William Kruidenier. Romans. Vol. 6 of Holman New Testament Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000.

W., Jackson. Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes: Honor and Shame in Paul’s Message and Mission. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2019.

Questions

According to the sermon, why is baptism considered more than just a confession of faith?

How does the sermon explain the relationship between baptism, identification with Christ, and living a new life in Romans 6:1-14?

Why does the sermon emphasize that baptism is not just a ceremony but an ordinance that illustrates profound theological truth?

In the context of the sermon, why is it important for believers to understand that their life after coming to know Christ should be different than before?