by Jerry Senn
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:1-5, ESV) .
Paul always assumed in his writing about baptism that members of the body of Christ (the church) had been baptized (See 1 Corinthians 1:13; 6:11; 10:1-2; 12:13; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:12-13).
“In apostolic times baptism appears to have followed immediately on confession of faith in Christ. The repeated accounts of baptism in Acts give ample proof of this … What is expressly related in Acts (2:37-38) is implied in the Epistles. Faith in Christ and baptism were, indeed, not so much two distinct experiences as parts of one whole. Faith in Christ was an essential element of baptism, for without it the application of water, even accompanied by appropriate words, would not have been Christian baptism.
“But when believers were baptized, what happened? This, says Paul. Their former existence came to an end; a new life began. They were, in fact, ‘buried’ with Christ when they were baptized in the baptismal water, in token that they had died so far as the old life of sin was concerned; they were raised with Christ when they emerged from the water, in token that they had received the new life.” (FF Bruce, TNTC, Romans, 128,129.)
We were DEAD in sin … Now we LIVE in Christ !!!