Romans 6: 3
There are many words in the Bible that almost defy description in English because of the differences in culture and languages. But two of the most difficult words to understand are in and into. Our text today says that we were “...baptized into Christ.” Before we understand what it means to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, we need to understand what the word baptism means. Most of us understand baptism in the sense of a public confession of our faith which we make when we are immersed in water. Others understand it to be a sprinkling done with holy water as part of a Christian pilgrimage, while others understand it to be included in the New Testament covenant and something done to infants during the christening ceremony. A few actually believe it to be synonymous with salvation itself.
A number of years ago I attended a Ligoner Conference in Orlando, Florida. I walked into the conference just as Alistair Begg and R.C. Sproul were in the midst of a formal debate on the importance of infant baptism. R.C. Spoul believed that in the same way that circumcision was part of the Old Testament covenant God made with the Jewish people, infant baptism was the thing that sealed the New Testament covenant with Christ. He said, “Scripturally, it is an argument from silence but a very pregnant silence.” His only Scriptural reference was
I Corinthians 1:16, where Paul mentions as an afterthought that he had baptized the family of Stephanas, which must have included some babies. I’ll let you do with that what you want.
I’d have to say that the real meaning of baptism has been greatly obscured by all the different practices which have come into existence since the time of Christ. Paul is not referring in our text to water baptism. Years ago, I heard an old Quaker preacher say, “There’s not a drop of water in this chapter!” Paul told the Ephesians that there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism” (Ephesians 4: 5).
But words often have many different meanings. For example, we know the word iron to mean the most common of metals. But you may also refer to someone having an iron constitution. There’s a passage in Psalms which refers to “iron entering the soul”, which simply refers to a person going through a time of tribulation. Iron can also refer to a strength of character or strength of physique or to a stubborn will. In the same way, baptism can refer to something that has nothing in the world to do with water. Baptism in much of the New Testament refers to “a change of identity or to identify”. Here is how it came to have that meaning. In the Old Testament times, especially when the Jewish people were in captivity, many of them intermarried. If a Jewish girl married a young man from outside her “faith”, he had to go through a formal process of indoctrination. He had to be circumcised, all of his old religious relics and idols were publicly burned, and finally, he was baptized by being dipped seven times in the water. After each dip, he had to recite Scripture. It was not until then that he took on a new identity. The baptism “sealed” his transformation. So literally, Jesus sent his disciples to “...teach all nations, identifying them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” And again, “There is one Lord, one faith, and one identification.”
The most important thing to understand about our new identification is that it is not just a renaming of an old thing. Rather, when we are baptized with God’s Spirit, the old thing is made new. Paul told the Corinthians that “...if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away and everything has been made new” (II Corinthians 5:17). It is not just re-labeling an old package. You have been given a quality of life which is eternal. Man is made up of three parts…body, mind and spirit. But until Christ baptizes us with His Holy Spirit, the spiritual part of us is dead. We cannot comprehend the things of God because they are spiritually discerned. They sound foolish to the man whose spiritual component is not alive.
Our new identity came about when God called us out of the darkness and into the light. The Bible refers to God “quickening” our spirits… “He that raised up Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). One of the great mysteries of the Christian faith is the calling of God on our lives. It should fill us with delight and wonder that God sought us and that we responded and that we have been made alive with Christ!
I want to look this morning at some of the ways we are “identified”, or baptized into Christ. When Jesus left eternity and stepped down into time, He entered our world through the normal birth as a baby. He was given birth by Mary, who was like us in every way. After the angel visited Mary and explained to her what was happening, Mary exclaimed, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” Mary needed a Savior as much as the rest of us do. Her body is part of the dust of the earth awaiting the resurrection, like ours will be one day. Some religions have tried to make Mary to be without sin, but to do so is to obscure a great truth related to the birth of Christ: that is, just as God the Father placed the life of the Lord Jesus Christ within the mortal flesh of Mary, so when we become a Christian, God places His divine nature within our old sinful bodies and brings forth life out of death.
When the angel announced to Mary that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah, her first response was, “How can this be?” And the angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the Child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). To each of us the Word of God says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore that holy Thing born in you will be the Divine Nature making you the son or daughter of God.” When you are baptized into Jesus Christ, you are identified with the Lord Jesus Christ in His virgin birth. You now have the mind of Christ
(I Corinthians 2:16). Paul said, “In Christ there is all of God in a human body; so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ” (Colossians 2:9, 10).
One of the few references to Christ during His growing up years simply says, “He increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). When we are baptized by God’s Holy Spirit, we, like Christ, are increased as He was. Solomon said that “...the righteous man walks along in the ever-brightening light of God’s favor, and each dawn gives way to the morning splendor” (Proverbs 4:18). Paul said, “He that has begun a good work in you will keep right on working in you until the day that He returns” (Philippians 1:6). One of the exciting things about a relationship with God is that “...as you get to know Him better and better, He will give you everything you need for living a truly good life; He even shares His own glory and goodness with us! And by that same mighty power He has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessings He promised; for example, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us and to give us His own character” (II Peter 1:3-5). You will begin to think like God thinks because you have been given the mind of God. Wow! How exciting! James says that “...the wisdom that comes from God is first of all pure and full of quiet gentleness. It is peace-loving and courteous. It allows discussion and is willing to yield to others; it is full of mercy and good deeds. It is straightforward and sincere. It will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness” (James 3:17, 18). When we realize that Christ has been made wisdom for us, we can begin to “...bring every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ” (II Corinthians
10: 5). This is because we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the increase of the wisdom of Christ.
But we are also baptized into His stature. Isaiah prophesied that “...in God’s eyes, He was like a tender shoot growing from a root in dry and sterile ground”
(Isaiah 53:2). His stature may have been hidden from some men, but it was not hidden from the Father. Nor is your stature hidden from the Father. Every day, He surrounds you with His presence and dotes over you like any Father does over his children. God has provided for our spiritual maturity by giving us His Holy Spirit to live in us and to guide us into all truth. Paul told the Corinthians that “...the spiritual person has insight into everything, and that bothers and baffles the man of the world…but we actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ” (II Corinthians 5:15, 16). To the Ephesians, Paul said, “God equips us and builds us up to a position of strength and maturity until we become full grown in the Lord, even to the point of being filled full with Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-14).
God has provided everything we need to grow up spiritually to become like Him. He has committed Himself to making that happen. I am reminding you again that Paul said, “We can become mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of God, and as His Spirit works within us, we become more and more in every way like Him” (II Corinthians 3:18). Paul said also that as we mature spiritually, we will “...lovingly follow the truth and so become more and more in every way like Christ, Who is the Head of His Body, the Church” (Ephesians 4:15, 16).
Finally, Jesus increased in favor with God, and when we are baptized by His Holy Spirit, we are baptized into God’s favor. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, the voice of God cried from Heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son, and I am wonderfully pleased with Him” (Matthew 3:17). Then again, shortly before Christ went to the cross to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, He went up to the top of a mountain with Peter, James and John. There He was changed for a moment into a heavenly being, and again God spoke and said, “This is My beloved Son, and I am wonderfully pleased with Him. Obey Him” (Matthew 17:5).
God loves His Son more than anything in all the world. Jesus is His only begotten, dearly loved Son. But when we are baptized into Christ and are in Him, we become God’s beloved as well. Paul told the Romans that “...we should not be like cringing, fearful slaves, but we should behave like God’s very own children, adopted into the bosom of His family, and calling him, ‘Daddy, Daddy.’ For His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we really are God’s children. And since we are His children, we will share His treasures—for all God gives to His Son Jesus is now ours as well” (Romans 8:15-17).
Wow! Are you excited about what it means to be baptized into Christ? But Jesus also increased in favor with man. Jesus had the ability to come alongside people and see them as they really were. This meant that He could see what was in their hearts. He could see that the hated Samaritan woman He met at the well was really wanting to have a relationship with God. And He offered her “living” water.
As we are “in” Christ, the Christ “in” us reaches out and offers hope to a lost and dying world. We become real, and people can sense that we are filled with a special kind of love. They like being around us because we are dying to self and are genuinely interested in them. We are good listeners and are not trying to impress them with our own wisdom. They feel good after they have been with us, and it is only a matter of time before we will have the opportunity to introduce them to the reason for our joy. “Don’t you know that you were baptized into Jesus...” and that you are His ambassador here on the earth? God wants to use you this week to be His representative to those He is calling out of the darkness and into the light. Are you ready?