Baptism—Identifying with Jesus’s Death, Burial, and Resurrection
David W Palmer
(Matthew 28:19–20 NKJV) “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, {20} teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you …”
When Jesus gave this commission to his apostles—about making disciples and baptizing them—the full revelation of baptism’s meaning hadn’t been released. That came later as the Holy Spirit revealed it to Paul. Meanwhile, people submitted to baptism simply because Jesus said they should—obedience before understanding. Decades later, the apostle Paul recorded the revelation he received from heaven; it gives deeper meaning and understanding to baptism—the first commanded act of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ:
(Romans 6:1–5 NKJV) “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? {2} Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? {3} Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? {4} Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. {5} For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”
Public Baptism identifies us with four key aspects of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ: his death, burial, resurrection, and being seen of witnesses:
(1 Corinthians 15:1–5 NKJV) “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, {2} by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you; unless you believed in vain. {3} For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, {4} and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, {5} and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.”
1. Baptized into his death
(Romans 6:3 NKJV) “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”
Baptism is a means of identifying with Jesus’s death. The reason for this is that by being baptized, we are committing ourselves to turning completely from our old life. So much so, that our old life will be dead. That is, our old sinful nature will no longer have any expression through our physical body.
This “death,” however, is not automatic. We do not annihilate the sinful nature out of existence at our baptism, (so that we will never have to deal with it again). On the contrary, death in the Bible doesn’t mean annihilation; it refers to separation from the means of expression. For example:
(James 2:26 NKJV) “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
In this Scripture, we can see that death occurs when the spirit is separated from the body. This renders the spirit unable to express himself in the physical realm. Death to our old sinful nature is the same; it occurs when the old man can no longer express himself through our body. This happens when we deny him any more opportunities to do his will through us. We can only achieve this with God’s help, of course—by putting faith in his promise that Jesus crucified us with himself, and that he has raised us to newness of life in him:
(Romans 6:6 NKJV) “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
(Galatians 2:20 NKJV) “I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me.”
2. Buried with him
(Rom 6:4 NKJV)
(Col 2:12 NKJV)
