Summary:

The process of embracing a resurrected life in Christ is not merely a spiritual metaphor but a tangible act of obedience that underscores our faith. This episode delves into the intricate relationship between baptism and the transformative power of grace, highlighting that true faith is characterized by action. We explore the theological nuances surrounding the necessity of baptism, which some may dismiss as non-essential, yet we argue that it is an essential expression of faith that signifies our death to sin and rebirth in righteousness. Drawing from Romans 6, we emphasize that to obey "from the heart that form of teaching" is to align ourselves with the very essence of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Join us as we dissect these profound concepts, challenging misconceptions while illuminating the path to a life renewed in Christ.

Notes:

This episode is designed to show the process of the new life, the resurrected life in Christ. It is often mistaken as just being a spiritual application that is not intended to be literally obeyed. Many theologians would say that the necessity of being baptism would eliminate the need for grace. That would be the same as saying that Abraham's refusal to leave Ur of Chaldees or offer Isaac as a sacrifice would negate the promises of God. The chapter emphasized the need of "obeying from the heart that form of teaching" that freed them from sin and set them up as servants of righteousness (Romans 6:17-18).

Once again, it is critical that we see baptism as an act of faith and the character of faith will always obey God.

Takeaways:

• The process of new life in Christ involves a tangible act of obedience, namely baptism, which cannot be dismissed as merely symbolic.
• Baptism is essential as it represents the believer's identification with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, thus marking the transition from sin to righteousness.
• One must obey from the heart to experience the transformative power of grace, emphasizing that faith and obedience are inseparable in our journey.
• The argument that baptism is unnecessary undermines the biblical narrative of salvation, as it is a vital expression of one's faith and commitment to God.
• The act of baptism is not merely a ritual; it signifies a profound commitment to live a new life free from the bondage of sin.
• Understanding baptism as an act of faith reveals its significance as a necessary step in the believer's journey towards righteousness and newness of life.

Christianity is very diverse, but all denominations share a common source that by its nature has created problems for which there is no biblical antidote.

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Join him each Wednesday at 10am to share his studies with you.

I would like to study with you from Romans chapter 6.

It seems that based on Paul's study in chapter 5, that there may have even been someone claiming this.

Or at least Paul anticipates someone to abuse some of the things that he'd been teaching regarding God's grace and justification by faith.

And so he asked the question in chapter six, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

It's almost as if Paul is switching gears here and contrasting two different abuses in chapter five.

It may be said that, well, you know, how can we know that we're saved?

How can we be assured of that?

And so chapter five talks about having peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by virtue of the fact that we have been justified by faith.

He talks about he has a triumphant spirit of victory and assurances that we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

And so there shouldn't be any doubt about God's word if we can be assured that what he has promised, he will perform.

And yet on the other hand, there's the other side of that coin which seems that people will abuse it on the other end, and that is to take liberties with God's grace as if it was a license to sin.

And so the question is raised, shall we continue in sin and let God's grace abound?

I mean, chapter five ends with this discussion of the first Adam, or with Adam compared to Christ.

And he says, the gift is not like the one which came through the one who sinned.

For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation.

But the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.

For if by one man's offense, death reigned through the 1, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness would reign through the one Jesus Christ.

He uses the term abound quite often and much more when comparing that which Adam brought as contrasted to that which Christ brings to the world.

For example, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous.

Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.

As if he's just accentuating the fact that in Christ we have.

Of course, that's the point.

We have victory, we have reconciliation.

That God demonstrates his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And it seems as if he's saying if.

If.

If we were.

If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, then much more there it is again.

Having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

So based on this emphasis on God's grace and the free gift and reconciliation, it may be that someone would take the idea or get the idea that, well, we can just sin and let God's grace abound all the more.

Since there's much more of it to go around, we'll just go ahead and take advantage of the situation and use it as a license to sin.

After all, God's grace will cover it.

Of course, Paul takes up this argument.

Whether people were making it or not, I think they would eventually he anticipates it anyway, and he says, no, certainly not.

How shall we who died to sin live any longer therein?

How can you live in something from which you've died to.

I mean, you're dead.

You can't live in it if you've died to it.

And so he uses this kind of common sense approach, that verse three.

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death?

Therefore he says we were buried with him through baptism into death.

Notice now he says we were buried with him.

You might just ask, how is it that we're buried with him?

It's through baptism into, or through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

If we have been planted together or united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

Knowing this that our old man was crucified with him.

There's the death again.

We've died to sin.

The question is, how can we that have died to sin live any longer therein?

We've died to it.

And so since we have been, he says, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with.

It's kind of like bearing the hatchet.

It's gone, it's over, it's done with, it's dead.

He then asks the question, or continues the sentence, that we should no longer be slaves of sin, for he who has died has been freed from sin.

But if we died with Christ, he says, we believe that we shall also be live with him, that Christ.

This is verse nine.

That Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.

Death no longer has dominion over him.

For the death he died.

He died to sin once for all.

But the life that he lives, he lives unto God.

Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God or in God to God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Therefore let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in its lust.

Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

For sin shall not have dominion over you.

For you're not under law, but under grace.

What then?

Shall we sin because we're not under law but under grace?

Certainly not.

See, same question that he raised earlier.

So he asked the question twice.

He attacks it from a different approach in the next series of answers when he says, certainly not.

He says, do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey?

You are that one slave whom you obey, whether of sin to death or of obedience to righteousness.

He's saying the same thing.

If we've died to sin, we can no longer live in it.

Or as he puts it here, you are slaves to whomever you obey.

So obviously, if you're obeying and you're presenting your members as instruments of unrighteousness, then it's not dead.

You've not killed the old man, you've not crucified the old man.

For all intent and purposes, he's still much alive.

So there is no new man.

There's no resurrection of a new man, there's no new life.

It's still living the old way.

And so the question is, no, you can't, because you've died.

I want to talk with you a little bit.

It's been argued that because baptism is a figure or represents something that it cannot in any way be essential to salvation, because it's just as we've heard it said by so many people.

It's an outward sign of an inward grace.

We've heard that a lot.

I would argue with you, if that's your thought, that the Bible really teaches the opposite with regard to grace and faith, two very essential elements to our salvation.

And that is that baptism is an act of faith.

It's the proof of one's faith in God.

I guess it would imply, of course, that there would be grace there too.

But it is essential that we understand that faith works.

You know, Galatians 5, 6.

Paul says that circumcision doesn't avail anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith that works by love.

In James 2:24, James would say that we're not saved by faith only.

It's clear that he would say that we're justified by works.

He would go on to say, and not by faith only.

Of course, there's works that are works of the law.

There's also works of the flesh.

No one would suggest that we're saved by that.

But it certainly doesn't represent the works that Paul is talking about in Romans 4 or in the context of this Roman letter.

No one would argue that.

Of course, what I'm saying is there are different kinds of works.

There's works of the flesh, there's works of the law, and, and there's works of faith.

And so when Paul would express this salvation by faith, or rather the identity of children of God by faith, he explains it in Galatians.

You remember In Galatians chapter 3, in verse 26 and 27, Paul would say in 26, you're all the sons of God by faith.

Well, no one would argue that, right?

But then he goes on immediately and, and ties that into baptism.

For as many as of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

So baptism is an expression of that faith.

Faith is always expressed.

It's seen well, it's expressed when necessary by virtue of God's demands or his terms that he puts forth.

For example in the Hebrews, chapter 11, when the Hebrew writer talks about faith, he talks about a number of people and not all of them.

There are a few exceptions, but in most cases by faith they did something.

They obeyed.

They did exactly what God told them to do.

Now, at no time were they working out their salvation so that it they didn't no longer need God's grace.

It wasn't as if they somehow were able now to save themselves and that God's grace had no part to play in it.

It's only that when God's grace oftentimes includes, and most of the time includes some deeds of pardon on the part of man to express his confidence in God's promise.

When God told Abraham to leave Ur of Chaldees and go to a land that he would show them, the Bible says that Abraham obeyed going not knowing where he was going.

He accepted what God said, but that didn't mean that he just passively waited for God to respond, as if he was just going to pick him up and carry him there.

But he said leave Ur of Chaldees.

That was the requirement.

And he would show him the place that would be his inheritance, the land that he would show him.

Well, Abraham trusted God.

He trusted the promise of God, that land promise.

And so he went, not knowing where he was going.

But if he had not gone, my friends, would he have been acting in faith?

No.

Nor does his acting in some way act counter to God's grace and his promise.

It's just that when God asks us to do something, we accept it and we obey.

We submit to that willingly.

And the Hebrew letter, chapter 11 is just full of examples like that.

And I would encourage you to read that.

You'll be impressed with it.

If you haven't saw that.

If you haven't seen it, you would certainly recognize that faith is an expression of, or obedience rather is an expression of one's faith in God.

And Romans 4 is no exception.

When he talks about Abraham, there perfect examples uses great descriptive terms to define really what faith is.

Something that is not as though it were fully assured in his own mind.

In other words, they trusted God explicitly that what God had promised, another expression, he would be able also to perform.

There was never any question that God would do it.

But when they accepted that, it was obvious that there were certain things that must be done, must be carried out.

And so in the example that we just noted in Hebrews 11, they obeyed.

So you know that which takes place in baptism represents a death, a burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As Jesus died and was buried and was resurrected, so we must die.

Die in what sense?

We must die to sin.

This is what he picks up in the very first part of the sixth chapter and bury that old man.

And the sense of burying it is that it doesn't.

You're not going to bring it up again.

It's buried, it's gone, it's done with the intent that it never does, is never seen again.

So you bury it, but you resurrect a new creature, a new man.

There are many that are teaching us that the sixth chapter of the book of Romans shows that baptism isn't essential, that somehow baptism is a spiritual thing that's really unfathomable to take this view.

And for the reasons that we're going to look at.

First of all, the newness of life is what follows, this combination.

You can't have newness of life, a resurrected life, without first having died and then burying that old man.

This is a process, and we must see chapter six as a process.

And so to demonstrate the essential nature of this figure, that life would follow death, the burial and the Resurrection.

So do you think life is essential?

Well, certainly no one would.

That's obviously the end result that we want.

And if that's the case, then how would you reach the point of life?

Well, the answer is by dying to sin, number one.

Number two, in the process bearing the old man, and number three, resurrecting the new man.

And so the last two of which takes place in baptism.

Baptism is a burial and a resurrection.

You'll remember in Acts chapter 8, a very perfect example of baptism.

The Bible says that after Jesus, or excuse me, after Philip had.

Had preached the gospel, preached Jesus.

The Bible says to the Ethiopian, in Acts chapter eight, they came to a certain water.

And the eunuch, this Ethiopian said, see, here is water.

Now, why on earth would a man who had been taught Jesus say such a thing?

And why would he ask the question, what hinders me to be baptized?

Here's water.

What hinders me to be baptized?

Well, the point that I'm making in looking at chapter eight is not just the significance and the value placed on baptism as a response to preaching Jesus, but furthermore, the Bible says that he stopped.

They went both down in the water, both Philip and the eunuch.

So they went down into the water and Philip baptized and they came up out of the water.

What I'm suggesting to you is that there was a burial and there was a resurrection.

And of course he went on his way rejoicing.

And why shouldn't he?

He had his sins washed away.

And it's for this reason that Peter could say in 1st Peter 3, 21, the like figure whereunto baptism doth also now save us.

No, it doesn't have anything to do with washing the physical body clean.

It has nothing to do with the filth of the flesh.

It is the response.

It is the answer of a good conscience.

It is the response of what God would require of all men who have faith in Jesus Christ.

Baptism, friends, is an act of faith.

So we can't quibble about baptism.

If we believe in faith, they go hand in hand.

And so the first thing that I want you to realize is that by dying to sin and burying the old man and resurrecting this new man, this takes place when one, like the eunuch did, goes down into the water and comes up out of the water in response to what hearing Jesus Christ preached.

Why?

Well, Jesus did likewise.

Jesus died.

He was buried and he was resurrected.

And so must we.

If we're going to be buried with him, we are going to be buried with him by baptism.

And when we do that we're baptized into his death.

It is there that we reach the benefits of that saving blood.

So that's the first thing that I want us to realize.

The second thing I think is also important is that this figure was something that the Romans, the Roman saints, they had obeyed.

I believe it's the same form that is discussed in verse 17 when Paul writes, you were the servants of sin, but you've obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, that teaching which was delivered you.

And so if language means anything at all, what were they prior to having obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, that teaching, what were they?

Well, they were servants of unrighteousness.

In Romans 6:17, you were servants of sin.

And so they were servants of sin before or prior to having obeyed from the heart.

And then having obeyed from the heart, they became servants of righteousness.

Well, what form of teaching was delivered to them how that Christ died, was buried, and was resurrected.

And if we want to be buried with him, it's by baptism.

It's not talking about some spiritual thing, though.

That's true, it is spiritual, but it is something that is displayed.

It's an act of obedience.

It's an expression of faith.

And you can't deny that.

I mean, there's too many examples of it.

The very one we looked at in Acts 8.

In Acts 10, Philip said, can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized?

Who received the Spirit as well as we?

Can any man forbid water?

And he commanded them to be baptized.

What was that?

It was a baptism in water.

Just like when the eunuch said, see, here's water.

What hinders me to be baptized?

It wasn't a Holy Spirit baptism, it was a baptism in water that was an expression of one's faith.

It's the same thing that was required when Peter said, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.

That baptism was the baptism of water.

It's amazing to me, and I know why we tend to think that, well, that's a meritorious work of law, and you can't do anything, any work to be saved.

And therefore that would do away with baptism.

We want to look at that just a bit later.

But you need to realize that just like we looked at in Hebrews 11, where these examples of faithful men and women, they demonstrated their faith when they obeyed God, when they did exactly as he told them to do.

And so the same thing, the same point I think, is being made in verse 17.

You were the servants of sin.

What did you do?

What changed it?

You obeyed.

You obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine.

And then so before obeying it, they were servants of sin.

After they obeyed it, they were made free from sin and became servants of righteousness.

Verse 18.

So the change from life to death according to our text, or from sin to righteousness, same difference.

It takes place in the context of Romans 6, where an individual will obey the form.

I believe the form is the death, the burial and the resurrection of Christ.

That's the pattern.

That's the form that is obeyed.

We die to sin, we bury the old man, and we resurrect a new man in Christ.

Again, as is often the case, we have a tendency to interpret text of Scripture based on our own predispositions.

And those things arouse our attention.

It frustrates us because that's just not what we've been taught.

It's not what we've been teaching for years and years.

We imagine one who thinks salvation is based on their own works by submitting to this human act of baptism.

We think of it as just preposterous to think that baptism is necessary.

I say we many religious organizations would feel this way.

And many of you may be listening to me today and watching this broadcast.

You might think the same.

But salvation is not in the physical water tank, nor is it left in the hands of man to procure it.

It's not something that man has meritoriously done.

He doesn't deserve it any the more or less he's not doing anything to deserve it, as if he's in some way paying for or in some way, you know, meriting his justification.

Salvation is not based on meritorious works.

But baptism, friend, is not a meritorious act.

It is not a meritorious work.

So no, the promise and the power of salvation is based on the promise of God.

He says, and to receive newness of life, you'll be resurrected to a new life.

You'll have a new man, you'll be a new man.

Old things passed away.

Paul would tell the Corinthians, behold, all things are made new.

And so salvation is in the hands of God that promised salvation based on these certain terms based on faith.

And faith expresses itself by doing what God asks.

Hearing the term faith causes some to ignore the idea of works.

As I've already pointed out from James chapter two and Galatians five, six.

There's too much evidence to support the idea that faith is always expressed or it isn't faith.

This is the whole point that is being made by James.

It's if he's challenging his readers, he says, show me your faith without your works.

I dare you, just try it.

And I, by my works, will show you my faith.

That's the nature of faith, friends.

And any other kind of faith isn't faith.

The faith that doesn't obey is not the faith that saves.

Well, the devils believe and tremble.

So I guess you could put that, put them in that category, but they're not going to put their faith and confidence in God.

So baptism is a work of faith.

We've already demonstrated that from Galatians 3.

It's not a.

A work of law.

That's what Paul is discussing in the Roman Letter, and that's what confuses people.

It's a work of which man could boast.

It would be a work as if reality says no man has accomplished that.

In fact, that's the question that's raised in chapter four.

What did Abraham our father find as pertaining to the flesh?

Well, you know, he's experienced the same thing everybody else has.

The man can't be justified by works of law.

It is evident the righteous, the just shall live by faith.

And that's the only way.

And so justification or the pronouncement, the acquittal of God is based upon faith, man's faith.

But faith is expressed.

And that's my point in chapter six.

Baptism is the expression of it.

You know, again, as one responds to a question with an answer.

So baptism is a natural response to the Savior's work at Calvary.

So when you hear the Gospel and the good news of Jesus Christ and his death, his burial and his resurrection, the figurative, the nature of baptism does not.

That figurative lesson of our dying to sin, that figure, that form or that pattern is in no way lessens the importance or the significance of physically adhering to my obedience.

Just like we find a perfect example of it with the Ethiopian in chapter eight, it would be the natural response upon hearing Jesus Christ preached.

See, here's water.

Let's go find some water.

I want to be baptized.

I want you maybe to baptize me and to do what God wants us to do.

And so it heightens its importance.

It doesn't lessen its importance.

When Jesus gave the Lord's Supper as a memorial of his sacrificial death, he said, this is my body and this is my blood.

And the fact that he had not yet died suggests that he was not teaching that the bread and the wine were the literal body and blood of Christ.

It was representative.

And yet what did he tell his Disciples to do on that occasion, take, eat, this is my body.

So while there are figurative and metaphors in the scripture, they don't exclude our physical adherence to certain requests, I guess you could say.

So while it's true that the physical body in Christ are not at the table of the Lord, but that there is bread and there is the wine that represents his body and his blood, this is.

He says, my body, this is my blood.

And he says, take, eat.

Likewise, take, drink.

So just the fact that something is figurative or has Semitic for value does not exclude a physical element to it is my point.

The same thing is true of baptism.

While there are figurative elements to baptism that help us understand the process of dying to sin and resurrecting the new man, it doesn't in any way exclude the physical element requirement of being baptized.

So I hope this helps.

Hope this helps a lot.

One final thought.

Did Jesus just die on the cross for our redemption?

And if he had just done that and died and was never raised, never was put in the tomb and never raised, would that have procured for us eternal redemption and the hope of heaven?

Well, no, it wouldn't have.

And yet it was important that he die.

That, that was very important.

I'm not taking away from that.

But it wasn't the only thing.

It was what it was a process.

Having died, he was buried, was he not?

He was buried and then he was resurrected.

So I want to live, don't you?

I don't want to be just freed from sin.

I don't want to just.

And that's the point.

While it's true that we who have died are free from sin.

That's true.

If, if you're dead, you're freed from sin, you're no longer alive in it.

But that's not what you want.

You want to live the resurrected life.

So the figure is, you die to sin, you put off the old man, then you bury that old man.

That takes place in baptism, does it not?

It's an expression of faith to carry out what Christ has done.

You bury that old man and you resurrect a new man in Christ.

And so it is true that he that has died and the individual that has said no to sin, the individual that has said no to sin and has put to death that sinful way of life, yes, he's free from it, but he's not alive yet.

He's still dead to sin.

Notice it.

For if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.

It's not just a matter of dying with him.

Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed.

To sin, that's one thing, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord, that's altogether another.

And that's where we want to get to.

It's a process, therefore, having this life, this resurrected life.

Do not let sin reign in your mortal body.

It shouldn't.

It has no power over us because we're under grace and not under law anymore.

And so don't let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it, the lust thereof.

See, you died.

You've died.

Your life is hid with God in Christ.

Paul would say to the Colossians, and so don't yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness.

You put that old man away.

You resurrected a new man.

You buried that old man, I might add.

And it carries with it the force of.

Just like we would say, we buried the hatch.

And as such, we need to present ourselves to God as being alive from the dead.

See that point?

Verse 13.

So shall we continue.

Descend and God, let God's grace abound now that you've died to it.

I thank you so much for sharing or listening to me, allowing me to share these thoughts with you.

I trust that you'll have a good day and a pleasant week ahead.