Get Buried…and Raised in His Likeness!

I’ve had my share of ritual washings.

As an infant in a Presbyterian family, I was sprinkled with holy water—or so I’ve been told. Then, when I was twenty-six years old, my wife and I agreed to be baptized by water immersion before we could be accepted as members into a Baptist congregation.  It was the second time my wife was immersed, having previously chosen to do so as a younger adult.

So, I’m probably like a lot of other people who sometimes reflect on whether or not their baptismal record is sufficient—or even relevant.

Because I’ve found that arguing about a comprehensive meaning of Biblical baptism is seldom productive.  Its definitions have emerged from centuries of varied ecclesiastical traditions.  Nonetheless, the word recorded as “baptize” in the English translations of the Greek New Testament is the verb βαπτίζω [bôptîzō], meaning “to baptize” or “to wash.”

That’s it.

But even though this verb and its cognate noun βάπτισμα [baptism] have a limited lexical range, both Jesus and the apostolic authors had no problem expanding its semantic boundaries with figurative speech.

And that’s what’s important to understand about baptism.

For example, when asked if they could sit at His right hand in His glory, Christ replied to Zebedee’s sons:

“Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism [with] which I am baptized?” [Mk.10:38]

This response didn’t mean He would dunk Himself in the river again.  While some of His disciples might not have had a clear understanding of what He meant, the Biblical reader today can easily put this narrative into the proper context.

By definition, washing [or baptizing] implies the cleansing of an object or person, either one having been duly cleansed, having been also renewed.  It’s often a difficult process. Metaphorically, it can define a painful course of action, such as a rite of passage.  In Luke’s gospel account, Jesus is recorded as having cried out:

“I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! [Lk. 12:50]

His physical baptism in the Jordan river was accomplished to “fulfill all righteousness.” [Matt.4:15]  Yet He also underwent a series of subsequent “baptisms” which purged His dignity, strength and, eventually, the breath of life from His body.  Perhaps that’s why He then turned His previous question into a proclamation to Zebedee’s sons:

“…the cup that I drink, you shall drink, and you shall be baptized [with] the baptism [with] which I am baptized.” [Mk. 10:39] [my emphasis]

Interestingly enough, both Biblical and reliable historical accounts confirm that all but one of Jesus Christ’s personally chosen twelve disciples suffered and died in a manner similar to the way He did.

In his letter to all who [were] beloved of God in Rome, called [as] saints, the apostle Paul aptly equated the act of being physically baptized with the symbolic concept of ritual immersion, the latter appearing to be the only part they needed to get right.

He first defined a pattern of conduct which was worthy of imitation:

“Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, in this manner also, we might walk in newness of life.” [Rom. 6:4]  [my emphasis]

In the same submissive act of sacrificial obedience that He expressed by His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection, those who truly belong to Him also “bury” their inherent desire to live in bondage to this evil age and seize the opportunity to be “raised” back into a new life of abundant joy and freedom.

But it didn’t end there:

“For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, we shall also be of His resurrection…” [Rom. 6:5]  [my emphasis]

[Why is the word “if” important to understand in the Bible?  see: The Other Half of “If”]

If I’ve done away with [or buried] my former lifestyle in order to live a righteous existence, then I’m certainly living in a manner which demonstrates the essence “of His resurrection.” But only in that existence lies my hope to be raised in the future resurrection of the righteous dead in the age to come.

Isn’t that worth being buried for?