Thursday, September 29, 2022

          The chances are good that you remember when you were baptized.  Baptism is an outward and public sign that confirms what God has done inwardly and privately in the heart and life of a person who has responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul used the image of baptism in the opening of Romans 6 to help us understand what God has done for His people.  The Bible says, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:3-5).  For Baptists, baptism involves believers being immersed in water fully and completely.  This act of baptism represents or symbolizes our dying to the old ways of life and leaving them behind while, at the same time, being born again in Christ and taking up the new life that He alone promises to us.  There are a few truths that Paul named that we need to see in these verses from Romans 6.  These truths help to frame some central pillars of our faith.    
            First, baptism represents our death to sin and our identification with the death of Jesus.  The gospel says that Jesus died for us (while we were yet sinners).  To be baptized in the name of Christ means that we have applied His death to ourselves so that we do not have to die for our sins.  We accept the payment that Christ made on our behalf.  Going into baptism waters in a church baptistry or even the Jordan River does not save us or gain us any grace.  Water is only water.  But identifying with Christ means everything.  And to be baptized acknowledges that we have died to all the old things and the old order so we could be born again in Christ and through Him.  When one emerges from the water of baptism, one symbolizes that he or she has risen to this amazingly new life in Christ. 
            Second, a new life in Christ is real.  “Born again” is not a work of fiction.  It is not some whimsical hope or fantasy.  By faith, we trade our old and sin-marred life for the new life that Christ won for us by His death and resurrection.  And we know that new life continues into eternity as we go to be with the Lord.  Satan would love to convince us that we are victims of our sin, captive to those sins and forever lost.  These lies deceive many people.  But the words of Romans teach us about a very different reality. There is victory and deliverance in our Savior. 
            Third, we live in anticipation of our resurrection.  Baptism symbolizes and reminds us of the day when the grave cannot hold us.  God calls us to His side through our faith and trust in His Son.  The resurrection of Jesus guarantees our personal resurrection one day.  Because He lives, we too will live through Him.  Jesus said at the graveside of Lazarus that He is the resurrection and the life.  All who believe in Him will live even though we may die physically (John 11:25-26). 
            And fourth, take note of the certainty with which Paul wrote.  There were no doubts, no ambiguity, no wavering and no posturing.  Paul wrote with the conviction of one who knew the truth that he recorded.  The Holy Spirit had clearly revealed to Paul all that the Son had accomplished for our salvation and for the glory of the Father.  We build our faith on this kind of certainty and assurance.  We never have to worry about the changing and unpredictable world scene when we have the unchanging and certain Word of God that tells us what God has done for us. Scripture never stumps us or misleads us.  Have a great Thursday!