Baptism and the Lord Jesus

Baptism is an Initial Response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ(1)

Baptism is the initial response to Christ conveyed by the proclamation of the gospel. Baptism signals the beginning of the Christian life. One responds to the gospel by repentance and faith. References include: Acts 2:1-47, 8:12-13, 8:30-38, 10:34-48, 15:11-15, 16:25-34, 18:7-8, 19:1-7, and many other New Testament passages. Let us consider Acts 2:1-47.

Acts 2:1-47 can be seen to fall into three sections. The first section, vv. 1-13, describes the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost. Then, in the second section, vv. 14-38, Peter addresses the crowd who heard the apostles speaking in other languages. Peter proclaims the gospel, interpreting the coming of the Spirit and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in light of the Old Testament. When his listeners hear this, a number of them “were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” Then Peter, recognizing that they believed the message, said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:37-38). Peter continues to admonish his listeners, and then, in the final section, vv. 39-47, the writer describes how the first believers repented and were baptized, and as a result of their repentance, began to live the Christian life. According to verse 41, “those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” In other words, receiving the preached word leads to baptism. Further passages in Acts, listed above, tell the same story. Baptism was and is an initial response to hearing the gospel, and it entails repentance and a commitment to lead a new life.

Baptism Initiates Believers into a Personal Relationship with Christ

When someone truly hears the gospel, whether by reading Scripture or hearing a sermon or testimony, they are not merely hearing words or listening to the opinions of the preacher, they are hearing the very Word himself, Jesus Christ, alive and active as the spoken or read words. That is, to hear and respond to the gospel message means to hear the risen Jesus speaking. He speaks. We listen. He acts. We obey.

For example, I recently heard the testimony of Federico Mendoza. Federico was raised as a communist, but one day at a party, he heard a speaker explain the message of salvation. As the man spoke, it seemed to Federico as if God were speaking directly to him. When he returned home, his wife was in bed with a migraine headache. He prayed silently in his heart for his wife with the words, “If it is true, everything that you have said to me today, I ask you to heal her." In other words, he knew the Lord had said things to him as he listened to the gospel message at the party. To confirm this, the Lord heard his prayer, and his wife was instantly healed.

The Trinitarian and Incarnational basis for God becoming present in his spoken Word was theologically described in the essay Trinity and Incarnation, but we may also recognize that Scripture itself teaches that the gospel conveys the person of Christ. Here are two quotations from the Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible. The first is from an article describing the biblical meaning of the word “gospel.” The second is from an article on the biblical meaning of the word “word.” Both of these quotations state that the gospel message conveys the very person of Christ.

But Jesus is more than the first recipient and the propagator of the good news. In his ministry, he is himself the good announced. He is God's power and wisdom (I Cor. 1:24); our peace (Eph. 2:14); the end of the law (Rom. 10:4); our righteousness, consecration, and redemption (I Cor. 1:30). The great "I am" statements in John (6:35; 10:7, 11; 14:6; 15:1) have the same function. In his whole ministry, Jesus himself is the gospel.(2)
There is an intimate connection between Christ and the word of which he was first the author and then the theme (cf. Heb. 2:3). This is shown by the way in which the word “preach” can have as object “the word” (Rom. 10:8; II Tim. 4:2); “the gospel” (Gal. 2:2; Col. 1:23; I Thess. 2:9); “Jesus” (II Cor. 11:4); “Christ” (I Cor. 1:23; 15:12; Phil. 1:15); “Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 1:19). Moreover, the word is not a formula, but something living and dynamic (cf. Heb. 4:12); it was accompanied by manifestations of divine power (cf. Heb. 2:4), both in the case of Christ and in that of his apostles. It is the “power of God” (I Cor. 1:18; cf. I Cor. 2:4): “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom but in demonstrations of the Spirit and power,” and a little further on, Paul describes Christ as the “power of God” (I Cor. 1:24). This intimate connection of Christ and the word makes less surprising their eventual identification.(3)

It must be emphasized that Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets. The law and the prophets conveyed God’s will for every aspect of life--social, economic, political, and religious. Therefore, the Kingdom proclaimed and lived by Jesus transformed and still transforms every aspect of existence. Those who follow him will be engaged in that process of transformation.

In sum, baptism begins a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and in order for this personal relationship to continue, it is necessary to devote oneself “to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:41).

Baptism Initiates Believers into a Personal Relationship with the Lord Jesus Received in Faith

Those who hear the gospel are called to respond in faith. They are asked to believe. For example, when Christ began his ministry of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God, he began by saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). Or, John summarized the purpose of his gospel with the words, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31). Or, when the jailor of Philippi asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved, they replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Act 16:31). Or, in the famous early chapters of Romans, Paul sets forth the doctrine of justification by grace through faith, with faith being belief and trust in the message of salvation as God’s saving Word to us. It is by faith that we receive the gospel message, by faith that we believe it, by faith that we live it to the end of our lives. It is faith, faith in God’s goodness, trust in his promises, and faith issuing in love and hope, that brings one into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, and the beginning of that relationship is signed in baptism. These ideas can be further clarified by looking at some of the usages of the word “baptize.”

First, the word “baptized,” when used of someone being baptized, is never in the active tense, indicating that God is the one who baptizes. These words by W.H. Griffin Thomas in his text, The Principles of Theology, state the matter clearly,

It must be noted also that the verb βαπτ?ζειν, baptize, is always found in the middle or passive voice, never in the active. “What doth hinder me from being baptized” (Acts viii. 36); “Repent and be baptized” (Acts 11. 38); “Arise, and be baptized” (Acts xxii.16). From this it is clear that the Divine side of Baptism is primary, the minister being the representative of God. Baptism is thus fundamentally and primarily something from God to us, not from us to God.(4)

In other words, baptism represents something God does. The question then becomes, what, above all, does God do?

When the word “baptized” is used with prepositions, it indicates the purpose or direction of baptism. Five New Testament passages (Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, Acts 11:6) speak of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, and in those cases, the preposition for “in” is the word “?ν.” Each of these five passages speak of Jesus as the one who baptizes. In the remaining cases, some eleven in all, nine of them use the word ε?ς, the words ?π? and ?ν each being used only once. Of these eleven cases, one mentions being baptized into Paul (First Corinthians 1:13), one into the forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:4), one into Moses (First Corinthians 10:2), and one into the Father, Son, and Spirit (Matthew 28:19), with the remainder being baptism into the person of Jesus, or Christ Jesus, (Acts 2:38, 8:16, 10: 48, 19:5; Romans 6:3; First Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:27). The statements about Paul and Moses do not denote Christian baptism, so that the primary meaning of baptism when used with a preposition means that God baptizes believers into the person of Jesus, with ε?ς being the dominant preposition. Further, it is Jesus who baptizes into the Holy Spirit.

Exactly how one enters into Jesus is not defined by the word ε?ς, the preposition simply designates a new state of being for those who are baptized into Christ. The essay, Trinity and Incarnation, as well as the essay, In Remembrance of Me, describe how past and future events can become present realities through the dynamic action of the triune God. Entering into Jesus entails a process in which preaching, teaching, sacraments, and ministry, enlivened by the Holy Spirit, actualize the biblical witness to Christ so that the person of Jesus becomes the decisive factor in present experience.

The Personal Knowledge of Jesus is Two-fold Yet One

The Lord Jesus is one person with two natures, the human and divine. His two-fold nature is normatively known in Scripture and set forth by preaching, teaching, sacraments, and ministry. As believers learn of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit reveals the divine nature in union with the human nature as one person. This implies that human beings have the capacity, when led by the Spirit, to perceive profound spiritual realities -- God himself, acting, speaking, and appearing by means of the empirical realities of preaching, sacraments, and ministry. How this is so is described in Trinity and Incarnation as well as other essays.(5)

In recent centuries churches have often failed to recognize the glory of God manifested in the words and deeds of Jesus, reducing the biblical revelation to facts or perspectives about God and human life, whether read by fundamentalists or critical exegetes. By contrast, the patristic fathers of the first five centuries believed that human beings possessed what they called a nous, the capacity to know God as God. Dr. Mary Ford, in an important article on patristic exegesis, relates how the church fathers described the nous as “’the eye of the heart,’ or the ‘innermost aspect of the heart,’ and is quite distinct from the reason, or mind (dianoia). It is spoken of as a ‘power’ of the soul, but is also sometimes identified with the whole soul.”(6) This power of the mind is not contrary to rational thought, but uses rational thought to apprehend spiritual realities.

It is absolutely vital that believers know Christ, and know him in his two-fold way as the one person who saves by his divine power at work upon the cross. In my view, many, many Christians know God in this way, especially as they worship. How this happens is described in the essay, Eucharist as the Highest Form of Fellowship. If the theological foundation for knowing the Lord Jesus were more widely recognized, perhaps there would be a greater appreciation of his speaking and appearing in our midst.

Finally, in this connection, as believers come to know Christ as God and man, they come to know the transcendent Father. This will be discussed in the essay, Baptism and God the Father.

Within the New Testament, there are many passages and ideas associated with baptism, but in the history of Christian teaching on baptism, two sets of biblical passages have been preeminent.(7) First, there is John 3:1-8 which has its foundation in the baptism of Jesus. Second, there is Romans 6, proclaiming baptism as a participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These two events, Christ’s baptism at the beginning of his redemptive life, and his cross and resurrection (followed by ascension and rule at the right hand of God), at the end of his redemptive life, form the beginning and the end of Christ’s life. By baptism, believers enter into the whole of Christ’s life, from beginning to end. In this next section, we will discuss the baptism of Jesus followed by Romans 6 in the subsequent section.

Baptism Enables Believers to Enter into Christ’s Baptism

When believers are baptized, they enter into Christ’s redemptive life. The redemptive aspect of Jesus’ life began with his baptism in which he received the Spirit and was proclaimed as God’s son. Matthew 3:1-17, Mark 1:1-11, Luke 3:1-22, John 3:5.

The period prior to his baptism was a time of preparation, a time when “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). With his baptism, however, Jesus began his ministry. At that time he was called by the Father and equipped with the Spirit. Before going any further, let us quote Matthew’s version of Christ’s baptism.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:13-17).

We will note six points from this passage -- baptism as forgiveness, as entering into Christ’s reconciling suffering, as repentance, as becoming adopted son or daughter of God, as receiving the Holy Spirit, and finally, as entrance into the whole of Christ’s redemptive ministry.

John, as the passages listed in this section indicate, preached a baptism of repentance and the remission of sins as preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Christian baptism includes John’s baptism since Christians are sinners, and Christian baptism is for the forgiveness of sins. More will be said on this theme in the essay, God’s Baptismal Promises, where the forgiveness of sins will be linked to Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross. All forgiveness is founded upon the cross, and the forgiveness of John’s baptism was fulfilled by Christ’s cross and resurrection.

The words spoken from heaven at Jesus’ baptism, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” are a composite of Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1. Isaiah 42:1 is the opening verse of what scholars have termed the “suffering servant songs” in Isaiah. Isaiah 42:1-7 is the first of four such songs. These four servant songs describe the servant of the Lord, one whose ministry culminates in an atoning death described in Isaiah 53. From a biblical perspective, “righteousness” means words and deeds that restore community, putting the people of God at peace with God and each other. Jesus was sinless, but in order to “fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15), he gave himself up to baptism as the first of those public acts whereby Christ identified himself with sinful humanity. In the end, he became the obedient servant of God, even to death on the cross. By baptism, believers enter into this reconciling work which is manifested daily as believers take up their cross to follow the Lord Jesus.

John was called to announce the coming Messiah, and to prepare the way for him by calling the people to repent and to be baptized. By doing this, those who accepted John’s message prepared themselves to meet the Lord. Similarly, believers today prepare themselves to meet Christ by repentance, faith, and baptism. His first words to us, the words first spoken by Jesus to his disciples, were “follow me,” and that means, in regard to baptism, that we commit ourselves to follow Jesus on a daily basis.

According to the gospel accounts, Jesus received the Holy Spirit at his baptism. More will be said on this in the essay, Baptism and the Holy Spirit, but for now, it must be said that believers also receive the Holy Spirit through baptism, enabling them to enter into Christ’s redemptive ministry. By means of the Spirit, a baptized person is enabled to witness to and manifest the very words and deeds of Christ.

Further, baptism means that one becomes a daughter or son of God. When Jesus was baptized a voice from heaven proclaimed, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). Psalm 2 is referenced in these words, and Psalm 2 is an enthronement psalm recited when someone was crowned king of Israel. It designates a status, an exalted status, and when applied to Jesus at his baptism, it means he was chosen as God’s Son and thereby a child of the Father. By adoption in baptism, believers are also exalted, named as children of the living God. More will be said on this in the essay, Baptism and God the Father.

By baptism, a believer enters into the whole of Christ’s redemptive ministry. Believers are to obey all that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). This follows from everything we have already said in this essay. Further, one can note that in John 3:5 Jesus tells Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus established the Kingdom of God in the whole of his ministry culminating with his crucifixion and resurrection. One enters this Kingdom by baptism, and its fullness needs to be proclaimed and established by the Church.

Within the broader Christian community there are, at present, three broad currents which compose the river of life which flows from the throne of God and the Lamb (Revelation 22:1). There are those who hold to the ancient catholic traditions, where catholic means “universal,” the historical traditions of the universal people of God through time. There are many such traditions, and those that have their roots in the redemptive works of Christ can be a great blessing. Among them is the fact that Jesus performed visible acts with prophetic significance -- his baptism, his entrance into Jerusalem on a donkey, his cleansing of the temple, his instituting the Holy Eucharist, the washing of the disciples’ feet, and above all, his crucifixion and resurrection. The church has always celebrated these acts (apart perhaps of the cleansing of the temple), and among these great celebrations, baptism and Holy Eucharist stand out with particular clarity. As seen in the lessons on the Holy Eucharist, Eucharist is a glorious manifestation of the person of Christ, deeply attested in Scripture, and rooted in the ministry of Christ, above all his cross and resurrection. When one is baptized one enters into the Eucharistic reality, and it has always been the belief of the church that only the baptized can partake of the Holy Eucharist. As will be seen in subsequent sections, baptism is a sign of the covenant, and Eucharist is a renewal of the covenant of baptism.

Another aspect of the great tradition received in baptism is the belief that Christians are called to work in the world for justice and mercy. From the beginning the church cared for the sick, nurtured orphans, fed the hungry, welcomed the homeless, and more. In the fourth century, when Christianity became the official religion of the empire and persecution came to an end, Christians began to work openly to implement aspects of the Kingdom, influenced by the biblical emphasis on economic and social justice. The great monastic movements of the church were especially active in efforts to humanize society, known for their acts of mercy carried out by Christians bound by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. All of these traditions are given in baptism because they are rooted in the life of Christ, and baptism introduces believers to a life of justice and mercy in their families, their church, and the wider society.

Second, there is the great evangelical tradition with its emphasis on the Word of God -- preaching, teaching, and evangelism. This must be affirmed as it is rooted in the ministry of Christ who went from town to town preaching the Kingdom of God. As we have already seen, baptism is a response to the gospel, and the preaching of the gospel is to be given its full evangelical emphasis. Within this tradition is the recognition that disciples, like the original twelve, are those who listen to Christ daily, speak with him, and put his words into practice. Christ is not with us in the flesh, but the gospels, and Scripture as a whole, are Christ speaking to us. Evangelicals have always affirmed the importance of daily Bible study, and baptism begins a life in which one walks daily with Christ through prayer and both individual and corporate Bible study, as well as evangelistic preaching.

Finally, there is the Pentecost tradition in which baptism is associated with the work of the Spirit. More will be said on this in subsequent sections, but for the moment, it must be said that Jesus not only preached and taught as affirmed by evangelicals, he not only instituted the sacraments as affirmed by the great tradition, he also ministered in the power of the Spirit. He healed the sick, cast out demons, fed the hungry, protected the marginalized, blessed children, and much more. The church, if it is to follow its baptismal commitments, will do as Jesus did, above all, healing the sick, casting out evil spirits, and feeding the hungry. It would be good at this point to summarize aspects of Christ’s ministry, enabling us to recognize what is entailed in being baptized. In making this summary, it is good to keep in mind that the full ministry of Christ is carried out by the body of Christ, with each individual contributing only a portion of the whole.

The Words and Deeds of Jesus Christ

1. As a true Israelite, the Lord Jesus worshipped God by attending a synagogue each Sabbath and by keeping the great festivals such as the Passover. He loved God and kept his commandments. The baptized will be faithful in their worship and keep the Lord’s commands.
2. The Lord Jesus Christ reconciled sinners to God and each other by his atoning sacrifice on the cross and powerful resurrection. The baptized will further this work by working for reconciliation in their families, church, and community, and further, by being willing to suffer for Christ’s sake.
3. Christ forgave sinners and created a community based on forgiveness and self-sacrificial love. The baptized will forgive others daily and give up their lives in service.
4. He proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom and taught people about God. The baptized will teach and preach the words and deeds of Jesus.
5. He associated with people of all sorts, especially the lost, broken, and abandoned. The baptized will enter into friendships with all sorts of people including non-Christians and the friendless.
6. He fed the hungry. Believers will feed the hungry.
7. He healed the sick and cast out evil spirits. The baptized, in the name of Jesus, will heal the sick and cast out evil spirits.
8. In regard to material possessions, his life was a sacrifice. He lived simply and did not accumulate wealth, and he called his followers to help those in any kind of material need. The baptized will not pursue wealth and will work to improve the lot of the poor.
9. He was Lord, but he was also a servant, exercising his authority in sacrificial service of others and calling all in authority to do likewise. He chose leaders, the apostles, who were to exercise authority after his death. The baptized will honor their leaders and their leaders will be servants of the flock of Christ.
10. He was a prophet, proclaiming God’s judgment on a sinful people, especially those who led Israel astray. The baptized will speak against corruption in the church and world, and they will be willing to suffer its consequences.
11. He chose apostles to be his chosen witnesses after his death, and by virtue of their being witnesses, were responsible for maintaining Christian truth against false teaching. The baptized will submit themselves to Scripture, defend the faith, and fight against false doctrine.
12. In all of this, he fulfilled the law and the prophets, establishing a Kingdom that encompassed all areas of life – spiritual, economic, personal, and social. The baptized, in spite of their sins and weaknesses, will accept the daily forgiveness of Christ and set about establishing his Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

A healthy congregation will reflect the life of Christ through ministries such as teaching, preaching, sacraments, ministries of healing and deliverance, prophetic words and deeds, and works of justice and mercy. Most churches have some of these forms of grace, but not all. All are needed because Christ is alive and calls, convicts, forgives, heals, commissions, and redeems the world.

In the next section, we consider a second important baptismal passage, Romans 6.

Baptism Introduces Believers into Christ’s Death and Resurrection

In Romans, Paul after his initial greetings and expression of longing to see the Romans, passes at once to his primary theme,

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith" (Romans 1:16-17).

Paul then shows that both Jew and Gentile have sinned and are thereby subject to the wrath of God and under condemnation. God, however, in his mercy, sent his Son to die for sinful humanity, and by faith in his atoning sacrifice, believers are justified and thereby set right with God. “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:23-25).

Paul follows by giving an example of faith, that of Abraham. He then shows that Abraham is the father of those who live by faith, those who are justified by faith and not by works of the law. Then, in chapter 5, he considers the same theme in light of Christ and Adam, showing that just as sin entered the world by one man, many were made righteous by the obedience of Christ.

Since believers are justified by faith and not by keeping the law, whether the Mosaic law of the Jews or the law found in the conscience of the Gentiles, it could be said that believers are free to sin since it is faith and not works of the law that save. Paul, beginning in chapter 6, addresses the question of whether Christians, saved by faith and not by works, can continue in sin. He says they cannot, and they cannot because, by baptism, they have passed from one condition to another, and in their new state, they are called to live holy lives. To show this, let me begin with the verses that state the heart of Paul’s argument,

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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. 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 (Romans 6:3-5).

Paul is saying that believers, by baptism, were united with Christ in his death, baptized into his death, and again by baptism, united with him in his resurrection to walk in newness of life. Paul develops his argument by describing two conditions, and baptism is the passage from the first to the second. Here are the two conditions as a series of contrasting statements.

1. We were once slaves to sin, but by baptism the old self was crucified so that we are now no longer slaves to sin, but freed from it by death to sin (6: 6-7).

2. By baptism, we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, (and by implication, we were once alive to sin and dead to God). This passage from one condition to another, given in baptism, has its foundation in that Christ died for sin once for all and was raised from the dead to be alive with God (6: 8-10).

3. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your body, do not offer the members of your body to sin (as you once did, verse 17), but offer yourselves to God and your members to righteousness. Sin was once your master, but no longer, now you are ruled by the grace of God (6: 11-14).

4. You were once slaves to sin, but now you are slaves to righteousness by obeying the teaching you received (6: 15-18).

5. The result of being slaves to sin is death, the result of becoming a slave of God and of righteousness is eternal life. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (6:23).

This section of Romans 6 has a certain temporal pattern. In general, the verbs describing Christ’s death and resurrection, as well as the believers’ baptism, are in the aorist tense, that is, something that happened in the past and is completed. The verbs describing the new life in Christ, are in the perfect (present state as a result of past action), the future, or present, indicating that the new life began as a consequence of Christ’s atoning act and the believer’s baptism continues into the present and future. That is, the new life is a present reality which continues, as will be seen, into Christ’s final victory over all things.

Reviewing these contrasts we may summarize with this sequence: 1. The old condition: slaves to sin, sin once reigned, members offered to sin and unrighteousness, doomed to die. 2. Baptism: the old self crucified, death to sin and its condition, resurrected to Christ and a new condition. 3. The new condition: alive to God, ruled by grace, slaves of righteousness, and recipient of the free gift of eternal life.

Once this transition from death to life is described, Paul then draws out its implications in succeeding verses. We may summarize:

1. He illustrates what he has just taught by an example from marriage (7:1-6).

2. The law is holy, righteous, and good (7:12), and by the law Paul recognizes sin, but the law allowed sin to kill him (7:9).

3. Now, under the new condition of being dead to sin and alive to Christ, the realization of this new state is a spiritual struggle (7:7-23). But Christ has rescued him and given the Spirit so that because of Christ’s sacrifice as an offering for sin and the gift of the Spirit believers may live according to the Spirit and not the sinful nature (7:24-8:13).

4. An immediate result of this new life, rooted in the sacrifice of Christ and the work of the Spirit, is to become children of God, calling him “Abba, Father” (8:15), and “if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17).

5. Present sufferings are as nothing in comparison to the future glory that awaits those who believe, and even now, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). In fact, nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

The final chapters of Romans deal with God’s relationship to the Jewish people as well as ethical questions.

Looking back over the first eight chapters of Romans we have these themes: 1. Gospel 2. Justification by faith

3. Baptism 4. Sin and righteous living 5. The Holy Spirit 6. Children of God 7. The future glory. The themes following upon baptism -- the forgiveness of sin, the Spirit, and children of God -- were found in the baptism of Jesus as well. In earlier sections of this paper we also noted that baptism was a response to the gospel received in faith, points 1 and 2.

As we have seen, being baptized into Christ Jesus means being baptized into his death in order to participate in the new life of the resurrection. These two go together, and the Christian lives both, death and resurrection. There is no resurrection, no inheritance, without death. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:16-17).

Suffering, taking up one’s cross daily, being crucified with Christ, is a vital part of the Christian life. Only by dying can we live. “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). More will be said on this in subsequent essays, above all, the essay, The Believer’s Baptismal Promises. There it will be seen that baptism is a commitment to a life of continual spiritual dying which varies in intensity according to the work of the Spirit across time. Through this death the soul is cleansed, and the result of this cleansing is that the heart is transformed so that one can see and hear God, and not only God, the risen Lord Jesus, angels, archangels, and the company of heaven. This capacity to know God and the glory of his Kingdom is brought to birth in baptism, enabling a person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

What, then, is the new condition that one inherits in baptism as a result of Christ’s atoning death and resurrection? Paul used the following terms to describe this condition: 1. Dead to sin (6:2). 2. New life (6:4). 3. United to Christ in his resurrection (6:5). 4. Living with Christ (6:8). 5. Dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (6:11). 6. Free to offer oneself to God for righteousness (6:13). 7. Not under law but under grace. 8. Free from sin and slaves of righteousness (6:18). 9. The gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus (6:23). 10. Belonging to Christ and bearing fruit for God (7:4). 11. Released from sinful passions and the law and serving in the Spirit (7:5-6). 12. Given the Spirit, and by the sin offering of Christ, empowered to live by the Spirit and not the sinful nature (8:3-4). 13. A child of God, one who can call God “Abba” (8:15). 14. Heirs of God, coheirs with Christ, sharing in his sufferings and his glory (8:16-17). 15. Empowered to be more than a conqueror (8:37). 16. Given the love of God in Christ Jesus that overcomes all things (8:37-39).

What are we to make of these terms? Simply reading them conveys to us that something astonishing happened to Paul and the early Christians. They entered into a new life that burst the boundaries of their former existence. This new life is possible today. The essay, Trinity and Incarnation, describes how God uses visible, tactile, and auditory realities, such things as the preaching, the sacraments, and the ministry, to convey the very life of the risen Jesus, the living God upon the throne, and the New Jerusalem let down out of heaven like a bride adorned for her husband, and all these as a present reality.

From this point of view, receiving eternal life (6:23) means to hear and see manifestations of God today that convey victory over death as an incipient present fact with an eschatological consummation. Or, to be alive to God in Christ (6:11) entails words, deeds, sights, and sounds in worship, Scripture or ministry, that convey God as a present, living reality who speaks and acts in our midst. Or, being united with Christ in his resurrection (6:5) means to hear words, see images, and taste bread and wine in ways that convey the resurrected Christ as alive in our experience. Or, being free to offer oneself to God for righteousness (6:13) means receiving the power of God, his living strength, to put away sin, and walk in righteousness.

All personal relationships are dynamic, characterized by moments of longing, absence, appearances, words, deeds, silence, disappointments, suffering, joy, and even at times, abandonment (Mark 15:34), in which the other becomes utterly real. And so it is with God. He is a living, active God whose actions, words, appearances convey the very life of Christ and result in righteous living and a hope that overcomes the world.

This reality, baptism into a life of seeing and hearing God with the senses of the heart, was formerly represented in baptismal liturgies. For example, according to the Sarum Rite, one of the great liturgies of England before the Reformation, those who were to be baptized were taught and exorcised during the period of Lent as preparation for their baptism on Easter Eve. On certain days of Lent they could come to the church for their teaching and prayers. They would be greeted at the church by the priest. Among other things, the following ensued, quoting from the Sarum rite,

The Priest lays his hand upon the head(s) of the candidate(s) saying:
Depart, O Devil, from this image of God, being rebuked by Him, and give place to the Holy Spirit.

The Priest signs the candidate(s) saying:

I sign thee with the seal of God, of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. I sign thine eyes that thou mayest see God's glory. Thine ears, that thou mayest hear of His mighty works. Thy nostrils, that thou mayest smell the fragrance of His sweetness. Thy heart, that thou mayest believe in Him. Thy mouth, that thou mayest confess Him. The seal of God, of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, do I impose upon thy whole body, and may it make thee whole through all seasons of thy life, that the Devil may have no portion or power in thee, but the Divine Trinity have His kingdom in thee, ages of ages. Amen.

Then, a bit later, there is the “Opening of the Senses” as follows,

The Priest touches his thumb, with spittle, to the right ear, nostrils, and left ear (see Mark 7:33-34 & John 9:6).
Effeta, that is, be thou opened, to an odour of sweetness. But thou, Devil, flee, for the judgment of God draweth nigh.

In this rite, reflecting the Lenten disciplines of purification, the senses are opened so that the baptized may be able to apprehend the spiritual realities proclaimed throughout the New Testament. Apart from purification, apart from crucifying the passions and cleansing from evil spirits, the spiritual senses are clouded and often blocked from perceiving the living reality of God. Baptism, however, introduces a believer to the cleansing power of the blood of Christ, and by means of his suffering, brings the redeemed into the resurrected life where, according to Romans 8:38-39, “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Of the two primary ways the early church understood baptism, Christ’s baptism and Romans 6, the West, essentially from Cyril (313 – 386) onward, has downgraded the baptism of Jesus in its understanding of Christian baptism. This has had serious consequences. McDonnell and Montague describe several of them as follows,

If the baptism of Jesus as a birth event in the Spirit, as Hilary and the Disdascalia pointed out, it blurred, then the specific birth in the Spirit character of Christian baptism is imperiled. Then Christian initiation as the locus of imparting the Spirit, whereby we become daughters and sons of God, adopted but real, is diminished. The living in the memory of that experienced presence which calls us to praise, then being equipped with the power of God in the charisms to serve the community, is attenuated. …. the downgrading of the baptism of Jesus, a foundational mystery mentioned in all four gospels, is a significant loss. Some way of compensating within the rites of initiation needs to be found.(8)

By focusing on Romans 6 to the detriment of Jesus’ baptism, the West has not only weakened an understanding of the Spirit (often, in actual practice among Protestants, limiting the Spirit to being a witness to the biblical Word found in the Epistles), but also, diminished the recognition that Christ’s baptism was an initiation into the whole of Christ’s redemptive life. Then, following Christ is defined by the tradition of one’s church, rather than following Christ as revealed in the gospels. For that reason, I listed the aspects of Christ’s life in the section entitled “The Works of Christ.” Most churches leave out portions of that work. Christ’s life is the norm of the Christian life. One begins that life by baptism, and its consummation is the resurrected life in the glory of God.

Finally, the glory of the resurrected life is essential if one is to follow Jesus from his baptism onward. By his atoning cross and resurrection as described in Romans and elsewhere throughout the New Testament, forgiven sinners are given access to the throne of God. By the cross, believers can enter into the presence of God. By adoption, they can call him “Abba,” receive his blessing, his empowerment, the suffering of the Son, and only there can they receive the love they need to follow Jesus. Both understandings of baptism, the beginning of the redemptive life and the end, and each in relation to the other, are required to live the baptized life.

Endnotes

1. According to Johnson, The Rites of Christian Initiation, p. 31, the New Testament presents a four step sequence of initiation: 1. The proclamation of the Gospel. 2. The response of those who hear the gospel. 3. The water bath itself. 4. Life of the Spirit-filled community with apostolic teaching, eucharistic prayer at home, and prayer in the synagogue, leading to a new way of life. Maxwell E. Johnson, The Rites of Christian Initiation (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1999), p. 29.
2. The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, George Arthus Buttrick, ed. (Volume II, New Work: Abingdon Press, 1962), pp. 445-446.
3. The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, Volume IV, p. 871.
4. Griffith W.H. Thomas, Principles of Theology (London: Church Book Room Press, 1951), p. 372.
5. Knowing the Christian God and Barth on Anselm.
6. “A Brief Reconsideration of the Term ‘Pre-critical’" by Mary Ford. St. Tikhon's Theological Journal, 3, 2005, pp. 11-16. With the author’s permission, this essay also appears on my website: A Brief Reconsideration of the term "Pre-critical."
7. Johnson, The Rites of Christian Initiation, p. 31. In reference to the early church, McDonnell and Montauge comment as follows, “This sacramental mode [baptism] of entering into the communion uses two primary paradigms to lay bare the realities: the baptism of Jesus and his death and resurrection. As baptismal paradigms, both of these mysteries are of great antiquity.” Kilian McDonnell and George T Montague, Christian Initiation and Baptism in the Holy Spirit, (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1991), pp. 339-340.
8. Kilian McDonnell and George T Montague, Christian Initiation and Baptism in the Holy Spirit, pp. 340-341.