Pauls Footsteps #309

Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?  For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” Romans 6:3-4 NLT   

Footsteps #309. Baptism is the perfect symbol of death to the old way and resurrection to a new way of life. V4 is one of the clearest on the meaning of baptism in the New Testament. Not only are those being baptised “buried with Him” (NLT) in the watery grave, but they are “raised” out of the watery grave just as God raised Christ from the dead. Any other form of baptism would completely miss the meaning of Paul’s symbols. In fact, if baptism in Paul’s day were of any other form than immersion (such as sprinkling or dipping) Paul would never have used the illustration. He couldn’t have employed it, since it would have made no sense. But immersion perfectly illustrates the death, burial, and resurrection process as re-enacted by all new Christians when they become part of the body of Christ.  

Paul claims that just as Christ was raised, so are we that “we too might walk in the newness of life.” The word “walk” is important here, because it not only expresses a process of ongoing fellowship with God, but signifies directionality since every walker has a goal, a thought especially clear in 1 John: “If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth; but if we walk in the light, as He is light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6, 7. RSV). Again, “He who says ‘I know Him’ but disobeys His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in Him: he who says that he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked” (1 John 2:6. RSV). Christians, Paul emphasises in Romans 6, will walk with God in the newness of life – in God’s way. It is impossible for them to knowingly tread the path of sin as a way of life. 

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