Piper's Notes

May 25, 1997

Bethlehem Baptist Church

John Piper, Pastor

WHAT BAPTISM PORTRAYS

Romans 5:20-6:4

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace

abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might

reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord.

6:1 What 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.

Today is the last message in this short series on baptism. I know there is so much

more to say. I'm sorry if I have left unanswered some of your questions. But we will

have more opportunities in various settings to discuss these things.

Recall that one of our main motives for putting this series here at the beginning of

the summer is that we believe the New Testament calls for people to come to

Christ openly and courageously. We want to see people who have been believers

come to that point of public testimony and we want to see people become believers

through your witness and through the ministry of the word here all summer long.

Why Did Jesus Ordain the Act of Baptism?

Sometimes we might wonder why Jesus ordained the act of baptism. Why is there

such a thing as baptism? If salvation is by grace through faith, why institute a

required ritual or a symbol to act out that faith? That is a question the Bible does

not answer. But experience teaches some interesting things.

For example, after my first message three weeks ago a former missionary to the

Philippines came up to me and expressed her appreciation for the series and then

said why. She said that in the Philippines, where there is a good bit of nominal and

syncretistic Catholicism, converts were tolerated and scarcely noticed by their

family - until they came to be baptized. Then the Biblical predictions of hostility and

separation came to pass. There is something about this open ritual of new-found

faith that makes clear where a person stands and what he is doing. In other words,

in many cultures today the situation is a lot like the situation with John the Baptist.

He came preaching a baptism of repentance and those who thought they already

had all they needed were often enraged.

That same week this missions magazine (The Dawn Report, May 30) came. On

page 7 there is a picture of a man baptizing in a missionary setting in a river, with

this caption under the picture: "Outdoor services and river baptisms are sometimes

the best vehicles for growth." We simply do not know the whole constellation of

reasons God had in his wisdom for prescribing baptism as a normative way of

expressing faith in Christ and identification with him and his people. We can think

of several reasons why it is a good thing, but we probably cannot come near to

thinking of all the good effects that God intends. In the end it is an act of trust in

our Father that he knows what he is doing and we are happy to act on his

command.

Immersion or Sprinkling?

But today I will try to show from Romans 5:20-6:4 a little more of the meaning of

the act. This will also address the question that some of you have regarding the

mode of baptism - that is, immersion rather than sprinkling. In fact, let me begin

with a general word about the mode of immersion as opposed to sprinkling. There

are at least three kinds of evidence for believing that the New Testament meaning

and practice of baptism was by immersion. 1) The meaning of the word baptizo in

Greek is essentially "dip" or "immerse," not sprinkle. 2) The descriptions of

baptisms in the New Testament suggest that people went down into the water to

be immersed rather than having water brought to them in a container to be poured

or sprinkled (Matthew 3:6, "in the Jordan;" 3:16, "he went up out of the water;" John

3:23, "much water there;" Acts 8:38, "went down into the water"). 3) Immersion fits

the symbolism of being buried with Christ (Romans 6:1-4; Colossians 2:12).

We won't linger over this, but let me say a word about how we may look at the fact

that our church and our denomination make baptism by immersion a defining part

of membership in the local covenant community (but not in the universal body of

Christ). We do not believe that the mode of baptism is an essential act for

salvation. So we do not call into question a person's Christian standing merely on

the basis of the mode of their baptism. One might then ask: should you not then

admit to membership those who are truly born again but who were sprinkled as

believers? There are two ways to account for why we do not.

1) Should we call a manmade method of baptism "baptism," if we believe on

good evidence that it departs from the form that Christ inaugurated? Would this

not run the risk of minimizing the significance that Christ himself invested in the

ordinance?

2) Local Christian communities, called churches, are built around shared Biblical

convictions, some of which are essential for salvation and some of which are not.

We do not define our covenant life together only by the narrowest possible set of

beliefs one must have to be saved. We believe rather that the importance of truth

and the authority of Scripture are better honored when communities of Christian

faith define themselves by clusters of Biblical convictions and stand by them,

rather than redefining the meaning of membership each time one of their

convictions is disputed. When different Christian communities can do this while

expressing love and brotherly affection for other believers, both truth and love are

well-served. For example, the fact that many of the speakers we invite to the

Bethlehem Conference for Pastors could not be members of this church says

that we take love and unity seriously and we take truth seriously.

Which non-essentials will be included from generation to generation in defining

various communities depends largely on varying circumstances and varying

assessments of what truths need to be emphasized.

What Baptism Portrays

With that background let's look at Romans 5:20-6:4 to see what baptism portrays,

and only secondarily what implications this has for the mode of baptism. My aim

here is to help you see the glorious reality that baptism points to so that, mainly,

the reality itself will grip you, and that, secondarily, the beauty and significance of

the act will rise in your mind and hearts. Romans 5:20-6:4:

And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin

increased, grace abounded all the more, (21) that, as sin reigned in death, even so

grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord. (6:1) What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might

increase? (2) May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (3) Or do

you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been

baptized into His death? (4) Therefore we have been buried with Him through

baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the

glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

One of the great things about this text is that it shows that, if you understand what

baptism portrays, you understand what really happened to you when you became a

Christian. Many of us came to faith and were baptized at a point when we did not

know very much. This is good. It is expected that baptism happens early in the

Christian walk when you do not know very much. So it is also expected that you

will learn later more and more of what it means.

Don't think, "Oh, I must go back and get baptized again. I didn't know it had all this

meaning." No. No. That would mean you would be getting re-baptized with every

new course you take in Biblical theology. Rather, rejoice that you expressed your

simple faith in obedience to Jesus and now are learning more and more of what it

all meant. That is what Paul is doing here: he is hoping that his readers know what

their baptism meant, but he goes ahead and teaches them anyway, in case they

don't or have forgotten. Learn from these verses what you once portrayed in the

eyes of God, and what actually happened to you in becoming a Christian.

I am going to deal with only two things that baptism portrays, according to these

verses.

1. Baptism portrays our death in the death of Christ. Verses 3-4a:

"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus

have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him

through baptism into death,"

Here is a great truth about us Christians. We have died. When Christ died he died

our death. This means at least two things.

1) One is that we are not the same people we once were; our old self has died.

We are not the same.

2) Another is that our future physical death will not have the same meaning for us

that it would have had if Christ had not died our death.

Since we have died with Christ, and he died our death for us, our death will not be

the horrible thing it would have been. "O death where is your victory? O death,

where is your sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55). The answer is that the sting and the

victory of death have been swallowed up by Christ. Remember from last week: he

drank the tank. Notice the repetition of the word "into" in verses 3 and 4. Baptized

"into Christ Jesus," and baptized "into his death" (verse 3), and baptism "into

death" (verse 4a).

What this says is that baptism portrays our union with Christ, that is, we are united

to him spiritually so that his death becomes our death and his life will become our

life. How do we experience this? How do you know if this has happened to you?

The answer is that it is experienced by faith. You can hear this in the parallel

verses. Galatians 2:20 makes the connection with faith: "I have been crucified with

Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the

flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. . ." In other words, the "I" who died was the

old unbelieving, rebellious "I" and the "I" who came to life was the "I" of faith - "The

life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God." And the basis of all this is union with

Christ - "Christ lives in me." And I live in him - in spiritual union with him. His death

is my death and his life is being lived out in my life.

Another illustration of this would be Colossians 2:6-7a:

"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having

been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith."

Here again you can see that faith in Christ is the way you experience union with

Christ. You receive him as Lord and Savior and in that faith you are united to him

and walk "in him" and are built up "in him."

So when Romans 6:3-4a says that we are baptized into Christ and into his death, I

take it to mean that baptism expresses the faith in which we experience union with

Christ. This is presumably why God designed the mode of baptism to portray a

burial. It represents the death that we experience when we are united to Christ.

This is why we are immersed: it's a symbolic burial.

So know, believer, that you have died. The old unbelieving, rebellious "I" has been

crucified with Christ. This is what your baptism meant and means.

2. Baptism portrays our newness of life in Christ. Verse 4:

"We have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as

Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might

walk in newness of life."

Nobody stays under the water of baptism. We come up out of the water. After

death comes new life. The old "I" of unbelief and rebellion died when I was united to

Christ through faith. But the instant the old "I" died a new "I" was given life - a new

spiritual person was, as it were, raised from the dead.

The most crucial commentary on this truth is Colossians 2:12. Paul says, "Having

been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him

through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." Notice: We are

raised up with Christ just like Romans 6:4 says we walk in newness of life. And

there is the working of God who raised him from the dead just like Romans 6:4

says that Christ was raised through the glory of the Father. And this happens

through faith in the working of God who raised Jesus from the dead.

So Colossians 2:12 makes explicit what Romans 6:4 leaves implicit - that baptism

expresses our faith in the working of God to raise Jesus from the dead. We believe

that Christ is alive from the grave and reigning today at the Father's right hand in

heaven from which he will come again in power and glory. And that faith in God's

working - God's glory as Paul calls it - is how we share in the newness of life that

Christ has in himself.

In fact, the newness of life is the life of faith in the glory and the working of God. "I

am crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live . . but the life I live in the flesh I

live by faith in the Son of God." The newness of life is the life of day by day trusting

in the working of God - the glory of God.

Baptism Portrays What Happened to us When We Became Christians So let's

summarize and come to a conclusion.

Baptism portrays what happened to us when we became Christians. This is what

happened to us:

We were united to Christ.

His death became our death.

We died with him.

And in the same instant, his life became our life.

We are now living out the life of Christ in us.

And all this is experienced through faith.

This is what it means to be a Christian - to live in the reality of what our baptism

portrays: day by day we look away from ourselves to God and say, "Because of

Christ, your Son, I come to you. In him I belong to you. I am at home with you. He

is my only hope of acceptance with you. I receive that acceptance anew every day.

My hope is based on his death for me and my death in him. My life in him is a life

of faith in you, Father. Because of him I trust your working in me and for me. The

same power and glory that you used to raise him from the dead you will use to help

me. In that promise of future grace I believe, and in that I hope. That is what makes

my life new. O Christ, how I glory in what my baptism portrays! Thank you for dying

my death for me and giving new life to me. Amen."

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