We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (NIV)

Paul’s fragmentary phrasing gave me fits reading this verse. Did you breeze right through it? I had to read it three times just to conceptually grasp it. The presence of the early ‘therefore’ triggered a mnemonic device I was taught as a teenager – “When you read a verse with therefore, you have to go back and see what it’s there for.” All right, so what’s it say earlier in Romans 6? What’s this about?

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Here we go: (Romans 6:1-3)

^“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

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Paul was addressing questions circulating the church of Rome (and unsurprisingly, questions we still ask today). 1) If God gives us grace, can we just…continue sinning? 2) What is the point of baptism…what does it represent?

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The venerable Charles Spurgeon had thoughts. In 1881 he preached a 7,000-word sermon on Romans 6:3-4. Ten years later, he preached an equally lengthy message on just the latter half of verse 4! He compared Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection to baptism. When we immerse in baptismal waters, we are symbolically buried with Christ in a “representative union.” He died for you and me. Therefore, unity with our resurrected God requires the death of who we were before (vs. 6).

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The suggestion that a believer could willfully sin just because God’s grace was close at hand really got Spurgeon’s blood pumping: “The notion that the doctrines of grace give license to sin comes from the devil and we scout it with a detestation more deep than words can express.”

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Sin is bad! It separates us from our holy and righteous God. Baptism proclaims the believer’s old self is dead and was buried with Christ and their new self is resurrected in God’s glory. That’s how Spurgeon describes the process of sanctification. The believer dies to sin, is buried with Christ through baptism, and then receives “heavenly quickening” in order to partake in a resurrected new life.  “Quickening” was often used in the KJV to mean “reviving” or “refreshing.”

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Baptism represents our rejection of sin to the point where our old rebellious self is dead and gone. We join Christ in his burial as we’re immersed in the water, acknowledging his personal sacrifice. Then we’re drawn up out of the water, revived and refreshed in a new life that symbolizes Christ’s resurrection.

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Baptism is a significant public statement. To a first century Roman, it was a strong political statement that carried weight and risk. Overtly aligning with those upstart Christians meant you were a threat to the status quo, the establishment. You might even be an enemy of the state.

Speaking of political statements, if you’ve never shared your ultimate allegiance with the world – it’s time to get baptized! Baptism proclaims that your eternal allegiance is to the King of Kings. In Butler’s The Party Crasher, he explains: “When you came up out of the waters, you were sealed as a citizen of his kingdom and given a passport with your new identity.”  

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If you’re a new believer who hasn’t yet been baptized, it’s time to make that statement. You belong to a higher calling than the blue donkey tribe or the red elephant caucus. If you’ve already been baptized, let this serve as a reminder – in the grand scheme of things, the hoopla over yesterday’s election results are insignificant. God is good.

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And if you are not yet a believer, but you’re searching for more – a better party awaits.

Dear Lord – yesterday’s election was messy, divisive, and stressful. Please help me fix my eyes on your eternal Kingdom and rest on your promises. Thank you for your never-ending gift of grace. Help me to reject sin and yearn for your heart. Thank you for the assurances of baptism. I love you. Amen.