Romans 6:3-7 “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, (6) 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. (7) For he who has died has been freed from sin.”
We have seen earlier that the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the church, has instructed His church to be baptized in water. So what role does water baptism fulfil in the Christian walk? We know that water baptism has nothing to do with our salvation, because in all the instances that we have looked at in the previous section, the people who were baptized in water were already saved before they were baptized; and so all believers are destined for heaven whether they are baptised in water or not. We also know that water baptism has nothing to do with the baptism in the Holy Spirit, because in at least two of the examples that we looked at i.e. Paul and the gentiles; they had already been baptized in the Holy Spirit before being baptized in water. Nevertheless as we will see in this section, even though water baptism does not impact our eternal salvation, it does serve a purpose in this life in which we now live. More specifically, water baptism deals with the physical body of the believer, for the main reason we are baptised in water is so that the body of the sins of the flesh can be dealt with. We have already explained the truth that all believers are baptized into Christ. But in the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul reveals to us something further that took place when we were baptized into Christ, for He tells us that we were also baptized into His death and that our old man died with Christ. When someone dies in the natural, their bodies must be buried, and that is exactly what happened to Christ’s body. It was buried. In this passage the Holy Spirit goes on to say that as believers, our bodies are also buried with Christ through baptism. The baptism that the Holy Spirit is referring to in this passage is water baptism, for the immersion of our bodies in water it is a type of burial that takes place. The Holy Spirit goes on to say in the above passage that just as Christ was raised from the dead, even so our bodies are also raised as a type from the dead through water baptism, as they are raised up out of the water. The whole purpose being that we can therefore walk in newness of life, having put off our old man’s body of sin. And so we see that water baptism deals specifically with our physical bodies. Therefore, although the believer who has not been baptized in water has still died with Christ, they have not yet buried the body of sin and been raised up in newness of life. Many Christians today are walking around in a dead man’s body, because they have never buried (through water baptism) the body that their old man once occupied. Although water baptism is a type of burial and resurrection of our physical bodies, there is also a very real spiritual event that takes place when saints are baptised in water. The Holy Spirit explains to us in this passage that the reason we died with Christ and were buried with Him, was so that “our body of sin could be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin”. A more accurate translation of that verse would be “that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves of sin”. The Holy Spirit teaches us very clearly that our bodies, which are contaminated with sin, have very real power to bring their owners into the captivity of sin (Romans 7:23). And so we see that all unbelievers are slaves of sin because their bodies wield the power of sin over them. When a person dies however, their spirits are separated from their bodies to either ascend into heaven or descend into hell, depending on whether they were believers or not; and thus their bodies are no longer able to exercise the power of sin over them. Once the spirit of the individual departs, the body ceases to function and the people left behind take that body and bury it. However when individuals are saved, two things happen simultaneously. The first thing that happens is that the old man dies, and so just as if they had physically died, their bodies are no longer able to exercise the power of sin over them. The second thing that happens however is that, unlike when someone physically dies and departs thus leaving a vacant body behind, the person is instantly born-again and so a new spirit takes up residence inside that same body. That body is still contaminated by sin however, and if nothing is done with that body, it will continue to attempt to exercise its power of sin over the new spirit. And so what believers are required to do is to bury the body of the old man in water, and raise up a resurrected body out of the water that the new man can dwell in. When the body of the believer is raised up out of the water, it does not at that stage transform into our future resurrected spiritual bodies that will be incorruptible; for it still remains a natural body that is still contaminated by sin. However a very real spiritual event takes place, in that the “new” body has been rendered powerless to force the believer to become enslaved by sin. And so because sin still resides in the believers’ body, it can still tempt the believer to walk in sin, but because it has been stripped of its power, it can no longer force the believer to commit sin. And so believers that have been baptised in water, can now walk free from the power of the sins of the flesh, and they can only be brought under its power once again if they willingly submit to the temptations of the flesh. That truth however is not applicable to the saints who have not yet been baptised in water, for the bodies they indwell still retain the power of sin over them and they remain slaves of sin. And so they will always struggle to overcome sin in the flesh.
1 Corinthians 10:1-2 “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, (2) all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”
So how does water baptism deal with the power of sin that resides in our bodies? In order to understand that concept we need to look back to the Old Covenant. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit teaches us that the children of Israel were baptised into Moses in the cloud and the sea. The type and shadow in this passage refers firstly to the saints being baptised into Christ, for Moses is a type of Christ. The second type is the saints being baptised in the Holy Spirit, for the cloud is a type of the Holy Spirit. And then the third type is the saints being baptized in water, for the sea is a type of water baptism. And so we see that our water baptism can be illustrated by the Israelites passing through the Red Sea. The account of God redeeming Israel from Egypt was a type of God redeeming His saints from the world. Egypt was also a type of sin that is in the world. And so the account of God redeeming Israel from Egypt, was a type of God redeeming His saints from the sin of the world. When the Israelites were held in bondage in Egypt, it wasn’t the ordinary Egyptian citizens that enforced their captivity however, because the Israelites were far more numerous than the Egyptians and the scripture teaches us that they were actually fearful of the Israelites (Exodus 1:9-12). It was in fact the Egyptian army that enforced the captivity of the Israelites, for had that army not been in existence, the Egyptians would have been powerless to enforce their rule over the Israelites. Nevertheless there came a day when God took Israel out from Egypt and Israel escaped through the Red Sea. But Pharaoh had a change of heart and took the Egyptian army to pursue the Israelites and bring them back into captivity. God however intervened and destroyed the Egyptian army by drowning them in the Red Sea after the Israelites had passed through it (Exodus 14:5-31). And so it was in that event, that Egypt lost the power they once had to enforce the captivity of the Israelites. Although Egypt still existed as a nation they no longer had the power of their army to enforce the Israelites captivity. And so Egypt still represented temptation for the Israelites, and many turned back to Egypt in their hearts and thus became enslaved once again in their hearts to the sin in Egypt. Nevertheless Egypt had lost its power to force the Israelites to do their will. In a similar manner our bodies are a type of Egypt, and before water baptism, our bodies have the power of sin to hold us in captivity to sin in our flesh. When the saints are baptised in water however, the power that our bodies have over us is removed and we are no longer subject to sin in the flesh. Our bodies can still tempt us to commit sin but they can no longer force us to commit sin, for they have been rendered powerless. It is therefore only those who choose to turn back to sin, that become enslaved to sin once again. Saints that have never been baptised in water however, have never rendered their bodies of sin powerless, and are therefore still subject to the power their bodies exercise over them to commit sin. And so these believers will always struggle in their Christian walk, because of their inability to overcome the power of sin in the flesh. All of these truths only work by faith however. In other words we must believe it to be able to walk in it.
Colossians 2:11-12 “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, (12) buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that as we in faith, obey the Lord’s commandment to be baptized in water, He performs the circumcision made without hands and removes the body of the sins of the flesh. So what does that mean? It does not mean that our bodies of sin are done away with, but rather it means is that our bodies are rendered powerless to force the believer to commit sin. And so as we enforce that truth in faith, we can begin to walk free from the sins of the flesh. But the starting point for all of this to happen is that we must be baptized in water. This is another reason why the early church baptized all new converts in water as soon as they were saved, for they recognised the need for believers to be able to overcome sin in the flesh. Believers however, who choose to disobey the Lord’s command to be baptized in water will never be able to fully overcome sin, for they have not put off the body of the sins of the flesh. We can make one further observation from these passages of scripture, which is that because water baptism depicts the individual being buried and raised back to life, that is the reason why water baptism requires full immersion and not just a sprinkling of water.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments