Baptism is Death

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:3-4

 

In Romans, Paul makes the case that baptism is death. It is death to self, death to sin, death to all things apart from God. In the early church, and in many churches today, people were baptized as adults in a river. They were fully immersed and held underwater and emerged as a new creation. They were not only cleansed of their sins, but their old self was drowned and left for dead. Baptism into Christ’s death means that our sin died on the cross and that we have new life in the power of the resurrection. This is a powerful and life-giving promise.

In the Lutheran tradition, where we most often baptize very young children with a splash of water, I wonder if we miss the power of baptism into Christ’s death. While I am not suggesting we hold toddlers underwater in the rapids of the Mississippi, I do think we need to internalize the power of baptism as death. If baptism is death then we no longer need to fear our own mortality. If baptism is death then the end of our story has already been written. If baptism is death then we are free to live this life as children of God, walking in newness of life. Baptism is more than forgiveness it is liberation from all that binds us.

This liberation however does not except us from the real struggle of human existence. It does not prevent human suffering. But what it does offer is real hope in the midst of suffering. (see Romans 5 Boast in Hope and Suffering ) We have hope because we know how the story ends for us and for the world: redemption, reconciliation, and the Kingdom of God. In baptism, this promise is secure and when we understand and accept this promise, it has the power to change our lives. May we trust the promise and walk each day as a child of God and in newness of life.