-
Read Romans 6:1-14
-
1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.
5 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. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
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. Romans 6:4
God’s gift of Baptism saves by the resurrection of Christ (1 Peter 3:21). It is amazing what God does through water and the word. Martin Luther wrote, “In Baptism there is freely brought to everyone’s door such a treasure and medicine that it utterly destroys death and preserves all people alive.”
I once saw a movie where an escaped criminal happened to see a preacher baptizing people in the river. He looked at his two friends, who were also escapees, and said, “I want to be baptized.” He rushed down into the water and got in line. As the next person in line came to the front, the preacher dunked the sinner into the water and then lifted him up. When the criminal was dunked, his hands began to flail, his legs began to splash. There, with the water and the Word, the old Adam died. Thankfully, the preacher lifted him out of the water and a new man was born. It wasn’t the water or the preacher that did the work, it was God. In baptism, we die with Christ “so that we too may walk in newness of life.”
Prayer
Lord God, you have given me new birth by water and the word. Help me to daily remember my baptism so that I too may live a new life. Amen.