To Be Baptized

Brenden Ashby
06/16/24 - Sun AM

To Be Baptized

Brenden Ashby

In the book of Romans, Paul extensively expounds on God’s plan to save man. In the sixth chapter, Paul reminds his readers of what it means to have been baptized. This chapter stands as the summit of the plan of salvation in Romans because our whole lives begin to change when we are baptized! Let us consider what it means to be baptized.

To be baptized is to begin a new life. Paul reminds us in the opening verses of Romans 6 that our old life dies and is buried when we are baptized. And when we come out of baptism, we are given a new life. Paul wants us to remember that when we were baptized, we died to sin and began to live for God.

To be baptized is to have a new outlook. Paul wrote in Romans 6:11 NKJV that we are to “reckon [ourselves] to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Because we have been baptized, we now see our old sinful ways as dead, no longer having authority over us. And we now see our remaining time as a blessing to live in service to the God who loved me and saved me.

To be baptized is to receive God’s gift. Paul reminds us that we were “free” in one sense when we were outside of Christ. We were “free” regarding righteousness, but that “freedom” only brought death. But, when we were baptized, we received God’s gracious gift of eternal life in Christ. And what a wonderful gift it is!

Let us take these reminders with us this week and thank God for all He has done for us.