What is the meaning of your baptism? - Romans 6:3

Romans 6:3, “Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

As we saw in our previous article “How are we delivered from the power of sin?”, we saw that in order to be delivered from the power of sin we need to believe that we were impaled with Christ. When Christ died we died with him. It is an act in the past. In Greek this is in the aorist tense, that is, it is an action finished once and for all. We do not have to put our flesh to death. Neither do we have to do anything to mortify ourselves. We just have to believe that this happened 2000 years ago. We do not have to screw up our faces and squeeze faith out of ourselves to believe that we died with Christ. It is a fact that you and I died with him, whether we feel it or not. Our death with Christ is an objective fact. If you try to feel it you wouldn't. A fact has to be communicated to you. And you have to be objective about it and believe it. Jehovah tells us this fact in the Bible. Once you know this fact, you believe. Jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32) In the context he was talking about freedom from sin. What is it that you and I need to “know” in order to be free from sin's power? We need to “know” that our old nature, the rotten nature we inherited from Adam, was impaled with Christ.

When we acknowldge this fact we get baptized. When we get baptized we agree with Jehovah that he was right in nailing us to the torture stake “in Christ.” He did something that we couldn't do ourselves. And because we are “in Christ”, we did it too. Just as we were all “in Adam” when Adam sinned, and had to take the consequences of his disobedience, so too we are “in Christ” and take the benefits of his obedience.

So going back to baptism, when we go under the water we identify with Christ's death and burial. Our baptism is a real death. It is not just symbolic. True, it is an outward expression of our faith in our death with Christ. But when we go down and are buried in the water, Jehovah identifies that with our real death with Christ on the torture stake. And then here is the awesome truth. When we come up out of the water, we now identify with his resurrection power.

Romans 6:4, 5, “Therefore we were buried with him through our baptism into his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised up from the dead through the glory of the Father, we also should likewise walk in a newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection.”

Because we believe in our death, burial and resurrection with Christ, the holy spirit begins to make this death real in our lives. The outer man is put to death by the spirit and the inner man is renewed day by day. Death and resurrection power begins to operate in us. (2 Corinthians 4: 16)

Many of us got baptized without understanding the significance our baptism. It was no different back in the first century with the congregation in Rome. Notice what Paul writes to them in Romans 6:3, “Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Paul asks them, “Do you not know?” Apparently they didn't. We need to first know the truth. When we know this fact, this truth, we will be set free from the power of sin.

Notice how he continues in Romans 6:6, “Because we know that our old personality [our old nature that we inherited from Adam] was impaled with Christ, that our sinful body might be made inactive, that we should no longer go on being slaves to sin.

Now lets go back to Romans 6:3, “Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

When we were baptized in water we were baptized into Christ Jesus. Now you are in Christ and Christ is in you. Everything that is attributed to Christ is now attributed to you. Jehovah views you now as he views Christ. Everything that Christ inherits you inherit. Everything that belongs to Christ belongs to you. Christ is chosen, you are chosen. Christ is holy, you are holy. Christ is a beloved child of God, you are a beloved child of God.

The Greek word baptizo literally means to immerse into, to put into. So you have been immersed into Christ. You have been put into Christ and thus you have put on Christ.

Notice Galatians 3:27, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Paul says this "baptism," or immersion into Christ, is an integral part of becoming a Christian. He often refers to God's act of placing believers into Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 he says, "By one spirit we were all baptized into one body." This is why those who believe are called the body of Christ. In I Corinthians 1:30 Paul says, "It is due to God that you are in Christ Jesus." Jehovah God has baptized you, or placed you into Christ.

Now you have put off the old man, Adam, and put on the new man, Christ. Everytime you walk by these objective facts revealed in the Bible, about your position in Christ, and remain objective, keeping your focus on your standing in Christ, then you are walking in Christ. When you walk by your faith that Jehovah views you always as he views Christ you are walking in Christ.

However when you become subjective and are led by your feelings and emotions then you walk by flesh, you are walking in Adam. In Ephesians 4:22 Paul tells us to put off the old man. In verse 24 he tells us to put on the new man. However, in verse 23, the middle verse, he tells us how. By renewing the spirit of our mind. (Ephesians 4:23) Our mind is renewed by objective facts, truths that we need to believe in objectively. That is how we renew our mind. We refuse to be subjective, that is, we refuse to be led by our feelings, emotions or opinions. When we go from being subjective to being objective, objectively looking to our position in Christ, we renew our minds. Then we are living by the truth of our baptism.

We will discuss more about our position in Christ in another article.