We've all heard the term baptize, and most of us are probably aware that there are different ideas and opinions concerning the act of being baptized today. Regardless of where you stand, we must agree that there is a true, spiritual baptism that each believer experiences.
I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' John 1:33
I would like to focus on the first part of verse 3 in Romans 6, and dig deeper into this spiritual baptism that we experience as children of God. This baptism is no small thing, it is a miracle, it is deliverance, it is freedom, it is promise! Paul will describe in great detail in the verses that follow the freedom that comes through this baptism.
First, Paul references all of us, directing this passage of scripture at believers. All who have experienced a spiritual baptism have been baptized into Jesus Christ.
So, what does it mean to be baptized?
There is no perfect English translation for the Greek word baptize, so interpreters had to determine what Greek writers
baptize (GR baptizo) - to make whelmed (that is, fully wet); used only (in the New Testament) of ceremonial ablution, especially (technically) of the ordinance of Christian baptism: - baptist, baptize, wash.
Not to be confused with, bapto. "The clearest example that shows the meaning of baptizo is a text from the Greek poet and physician Nicander, who lived about 200 B.C. It is a recipe for making picklesand is helpful because it uses both words. Nicander says that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should first be 'dipped'(bapto) into boiling water and then 'baptised' (baptizo) in the vinegar solution. Both verbs concern the immersing of vegetables in a solution. But the first is temporary. The second, the act of baptising the vegetable, produces a permanent change. When used in the New Testament, this word more often refers to our union and identification with Christ than to our water baptism. e.g.Mark 16:16. 'He that believes and is baptised shall be saved'.Christ is saying that mere intellectual assent is not enough. There must be a union with him, a real change, like the vegetable to the pickle!" Bible Study Magazine, James Montgomery Boice, May 1989.
When Greek writers used the word baptizo, they meant that the object would be completely overcome by the substance it was being baptized into, and that the substance would cause a change to the object.
We can take this and see more clearly the magnitude of what Paul is saying, keeping in mind he is writing in the context of us as Christians having died to sin and therefore no longer living in it. We, as believers have been baptized into Christ. This includes, as John wrote, being baptized with the Holy Spirit.
What happens when we, the subject, are baptized into Jesus the substance? We are completely overcome by Jesus,we are changed by Jesus, we are thoroughly and perfectly cleansed by Jesus, we enter into a union with Jesus - there is a bonding that takes place! Jesus speaks of this bonding in John 17:20,21:
"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
This is regeneration...this is being transferred from life to death, from darkness to light. Up until now in Romans, Paul has described in deep detail the sinfulness of man, and God's grace in providing the gift of justification through a sacrifice that must be accepted by faith.
Now, Paul is explaining how this radical change from condemned to justified takes place!
...through a baptism - a spiritual baptism into Jesus Christ, entering into a union with our Savior that changes everything about us...beginning with our heart and mind. At the same time, we are baptized with the Holy Spirit, the seal that makes up the substance that we are baptized with, that equally contributes to the change that takes place within us.
If we have partaken in a spiritual baptism such as this, if we have entered into a holy union with Jesus Christ our Savior and the Holy Spirit our Guide, if through this holy union we have entered into a relationship with the Father - Paul asks, how dare we even attempt to justify our sinful behavior!
Paul will go into more depth the change that ought to take place concerning sin and our reaction to it, now that we have experienced this spiritual baptism.
Lord, help us to understand the magnitude of this baptism, the weight that it carries, the promise that it proclaims! Forgive us for not taking seriously the absolute evil we are guilty of when we attempt to justify even the 'slightest' sin - build within us a desire to pursue holiness - knowing that we have been baptized into, we have been overcome by, we have been changed completely by Jesus Christ!
