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Romans 6:4 – A New Life
Romans 6:4 and Baptism
In this passage, baptism is a short and simple way of expressing the conversion experience as a whole. Paul was writing to Christians who understood baptism as a rite of Christian initiation.
There were other forms of baptism, so Paul made it clear that he is referring to baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.
Gal 3:27 – all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
When we are baptized, we are making the declaration that we identify entirely with Christ.
There is an inseparable connection between identifying with Christ through being baptized in his name, and being buried with Christ in death.
If you want to identify with Jesus, you must take all of him, or none of him. And, that includes his sacrificial nature.
While baptism is not salvation, it is the statement that we identify with Christ in his death and his resurrection.
So, what I want to focus on today in verse 4 are the two ideas: death to our old life in sin and resurrection to new life in Christ.
What is the old life and why is it bad?
Eph 2:1-3 You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
The old life is a “lifestyle” of sin—a habitual practice of sin. It is a life that is characterized by sin rather than by the righteousness God requires.
What is sin?
In short, sin is primarily a wrong relationship with God.
It is a condition deeply rooted in human nature. We are created for relationship with God, but unless God breaks the power of sin, removes the presence of sin, and takes away the penalty for sin, we are doomed to an eternity without God.
As I spoke about last week, the holiness of God and the unholiness of sinful humans will result in our destruction. This is the natural outcome and it is a good thing because anyone less than a perfectly holy God would not be worth worshipping.
Sin is also a lack of trust in God. We demonstrate this lack of trust by seeking distorted ways of attempts at happiness and fulfillment.
God made us for enjoyment, and so when we are lacking enjoyment, we are not experiencing flourishing as humans in the image of God. Enjoyment in life is a good thing.
But, instead of enjoying life in the ways that God intended, we often short circuit the process. We get impatient and chase after pleasure and security in ways that are distortions of God’s intention for food, relationships, intimacy, work, and recreation.
In the Old Testament, the word was first used in Genesis 4:7, where Cain and Abel were bringing offerings to the Lord. Cain brought some fruit offerings and Abel brought some animal offerings.
The Lord liked the animal offering better than the fruit offering, which caused Cain to become angry.
The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
The imagery God uses here is that sin is always present, waiting for an opportunity to take you out.
Sin is not just something we do, it is something that will destroy us. You might think the little lies or anger or hate or lust you have in your heart is harmless. But, the very first warning God gives about sin is that it will devour those who do not get it under control.
This means depending on God to renew us, to give us hearts that want to seek after him.
In Exodus, when the Israelites were waiting for Moses to come from meeting with the Lord, they sinned by worshipping a golden calf that they made.
So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
Moses was willing to sacrifice himself and take the punishment for Israel’s sin by giving up eternal life with God. But, Moses would not have been a sufficient sacrifice to cover the sins, nor would God allow sinners to enter his presence. It would destroy them.
In other words, if there is any hope for those who have sinned, it will come because justice has been served in the form of a perfect sacrifice.
Hebrews 3:2-3 says, Jesus was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
God was indeed willing to have someone take the place of all sinners, but it would need to be someone worthy, someone perfect.
The death of Jesus took the place of sinners so that our names would not be blotted out of God’s book. Perfect justice in the form of sacrifice and perfect grace in the form of forgiveness.
If you believe in Jesus Christ, you been buried with him into death. Baptism is the ritual act that portrays this burial.
The ritual act of baptism is a symbol of the completeness of salvation in the death of Christ. Not as though we are put to death ourselves, but we are alongside Christ in his death. This is important because his death is not final.
Instead of a permanent death, which is the result and consequence of sin, we die with Christ in hope of resurrection.
Death is not the end of the story. In God’s redemptive plan death is followed by resurrection.
The burial symbolized in going under the waters of baptism not only marks the end of the old life but is also part of the transition to a new life. We come out of the water and are resurrected into new life.
What is the new life and why is it good?
2 Cor 5:17 – if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Eph 4:22-24 – You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Col 3:9-10 – Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
John 10:10 – The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Romans 6 and these other passages are about “present tense” salvation. We are being saved by Christ as He releases us from the grip of sin and enables us to live a righteous life now.
As Christ was raised from the dead in a manifestation of the Father’s glorious power, so also are we raised to an entirely new way of living.
Raised from the dead through faith in Christ, we enter an new sphere of existence. We are alive in Christ. As Jesus promised, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
Although the expression “born again,” has possibly been misused or trivialized, the vibrant reality of new life in Christ is still portrayed most graphically by the metaphor of spiritual birth. The lives of believers are to be as different from non-believers as life is from death.
The new life is not dependent on our behaviour. In other words, we do not make ourselves new through obedience to God.
Rather, God makes us new through Christ, which makes possible for us to have the Holy Spirit living in us.
By the power of the Spirit, we are able to live a life that reflects God.
So, while our newness is not the result of our effort, the result of the newness will be a transformation of both our inner being and our behaviours.
If there is no transformation of our behaviours, there must not have been a transformation into the new life.
Habitual sin, “going on sinning” (Rom. 6:1), “living in sin” (6:2), is not possible, as a constant situation for the one who has truly experienced the transfer out from under the rule of sin.
Sin’s power is broken for the believer, and this must be evident in practice (see also Jas. 2:14–26; and perhaps 1 John 3:6, 9).
Does this mean that sin is no longer existent in the life of a believer? Not at all. As was the case with Cain, it crouches, waiting to take us out.
The nature of Christian existence is such that the believer can, at times, live in a way that is inconsistent with the reality of what God has made him in Christ.
Sin remains even though it does not reign over our lives.
Living in sin is incompatible with Christian existence and impossible for the Christian as a constant condition, but it remains a real threat.
A life pleasing to God is not possible on our own strength. The idea of getting to heaven by doing more good things than bad things simply is not the case.
Freedom from the grip and consequences of sin is not possible without surrendering to Christ, replacing the master of sin with the master of Jesus.
So, we come to baptism and we get a picture of this process. Someone going under the water, being buried with Christ, identifying with him in his death. Coming out of the water, being raised to live with Christ, identifying with him in eternal life.
Through baptism Christ makes us sharers in his death, that we may be engrafted in it. And, just as the twig draws substance and nourishment from the root to which it is grafted, so those who receive baptism with right faith truly feel the effective working of Christ’s death in the putting to death of their sin, together with the working of his resurrection in the new life of the Spirit. (Calvin, Institutes, 4.15.5)