There are few religious acts in which there are more controversy than baptism. Most of the Christian world do not believe that it has anything to do with our salvation. As many say, it is only a symbolic ritual to show what has already taken place in our hearts and lives, namely, the forgiveness of our sins. I believe there are few passages that speak against this attitude more clearly than Romans 6:3-4. “Or do you know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 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.”
We need to understand that Romans 6 is not about baptism. It is about sin. The word “sin” is used 16 times in this chapter. Paul was discussing the Christian’s relationship to sin. Knowing that our sins have been washed away should motivate us to lead godly lives. The question is, “When are our sins washed away?”
Paul said that it occurs in baptism. Baptism is much more than just a symbol or a ritual. Baptism is more than just a physical act of obedience. In Romans 6:2, Paul said that we died to sin when we were baptized. In 6:3, Paul declared that we are baptized into Jesus Christ as well as baptized into His death. Most people would agree that it is the blood of Jesus that actually washes away our sins (Revelation 1:5), but how can we contact the blood of Jesus? The blood of Jesus was actually shed at the cross. When Jesus died, the soldiers put a spear into His side, and blood and water flowed out (John 19:34). When we are baptized, we are baptized into the death of Jesus, which is where the blood was shed. Thus, we come in contact with the blood of Jesus, which washes away our sins. No one can be saved without dying to sin. No one can be saved without being united with Christ. No one can be saved without contacting the blood of Jesus. All of these occur in baptism, according to the apostle Paul.
Paul also said that after baptism, we are raised to walk in newness of life. In baptism, Paul showed us how our baptism is, in effect, a reenactment of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus ended His physical life only to begin a new, resurrected life. In like manner, we die to sin; thus, we ended our previous lives of sin through baptism and began a new life of purity. We do not just change a few things or erase a few mistakes. We start a new life. This makes baptism the physical point in which our old lives end and our new lives begin. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Consequently, we begin a life of single-minded devotion to Jesus.
Considering what Paul said happens at baptism, how can anyone say that baptism is only a ritual or a symbol? While it is a symbol, what it symbolizes actually comes to pass, not by the power of any man or by the water, but by the power of God.
