Romans 6:1-11
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Do You Know the Power of Baptism?
Knowledge is power.
I have always lived in a northern climate. I have never gone a year without snow. But I have also never gone a stretch of three straight days where the temperature never rose higher than -30 C… until today. I know that winter is cold. I know that there is the constant threat of frostbite and hypothermia, but I didn’t know that with some of the wind chills that we’ve had this weekend I could have gotten frostbite in as few as 2 minutes. I walk a paper route every Thursday that takes 30 minutes. If even a single square inch of skin were exposed – even just the tip of my nose – I could have been in for a world of hurt.
But, armed with this knowledge, I could still go out on my paper route properly prepared – bundled up from head to toe, but safe and still able to function. So, that’s what I did. Knowledge is power. Without that knowledge I could have either gone out and hurt myself, or done nothing and gotten fired. This knowledge empowered me to do my job safely.
Today we read a portion of Paul’s letter to the Christians living in Rome, where Paul made it clear that he wanted them and that he wants you to know a few things – not about weather, not about snow, but about baptism. And this knowledge is power too. It’s not just an intellectual exercise. It’s not a piece of Bible trivia or a dusty doctrine that you have to know to pass confirmation class. It’s a truth that gives you power. It’s a truth that makes an actionable difference in your life.
Here’s the first knowledge nugget that Paul drops for us today:
Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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.[1]
What’s the first thing that Paul wants you to know about baptism? Paul wants you to know that your baptism connects you to Jesus. He says it a couple different ways here: we were “baptized into his death;” we were “buried with him;” and then he even draws the conclusion that because we are so connected to Christ that also means that we will even rise to new life with him. In other words, because of our baptisms we get to look forward to the resurrection from the dead and eternal life with God in heaven.
All that started at your baptism, where you were baptized into Christ’s death. The central figure – the central symbol of Christianity is the cross, and for good reason. That’s what Jesus came to do. He did not come to this earth to teach us how to be good people. He did not come to this earth to make our earthly lives better. Jesus came to die, because that’s what you and I deserve for our sin.
Paul starts this passage with a question:
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?[2]
Do you follow Paul’s logic here? Paul is writing to Christians – like you – who know that God forgives sin, who know that there is no sin so great that God cannot forgive it. Paul is writing to Christians – like you – who know that God’s grace and his patience and his love are unlimited. You cannot out-sin God’s capacity to forgive you.
In a perverted world some people might take that grace for granted and abuse it and say blasphemous things like, “Well, if God is just going to forgive me anyway, does it matter how I live my life? Wouldn’t it actually make God look even more gracious if I were even more sinful. If he could forgive someone as bad as I am then that would make God really look good.”
You wouldn’t dream of saying anything like that, would you? But has the knowledge of God’s love for you ever made temptation and sin seem that much less serious? Even if you don’t say this out loud, maybe you say it subconsciously in your heart: “It’s just gossip; it’s just the occasional swear word. We’re not talking damnable offenses here. God has forgiven a whole lot more than this. I’m sure he’s not going to keep me out of heaven for the occasional slip of the tongue.” “It’s just pornography. It doesn’t hurt anybody. Everybody does it. I’ll just pray for forgiveness later. God is good that way.”
Even if you don’t consciously, publicly proclaim, “I’m going to sin more to make God’s grace look better,” sometimes your actions say that for you. But that’s why Jesus came and that’s why Jesus died on a cross – to take your sin in his body and to pay the penalty for your guilt with his blood. Jesus didn’t just assume that his heavenly Father would treat sin lightly or shrug it off as if it didn’t matter. No, Jesus knew exactly what it would cost him and he willingly paid the price, because he loves you.
And because he loves you, Jesus wasn’t content just to leave you a word of promise that survived 2,000 years since his sacrifice. He wanted to give you the assurance that his promise wasn’t empty. He gave you baptism too – a sacrament that shared the same promise as the cross but engaged your senses here and now, and allowed you to feel the water that was connected to his Word that connected you to Jesus.
Through your baptism, it is as if you were joined to Jesus, and by your baptism you receive the benefit of all that Jesus did for you. You were baptized into his death, which means that your sins were paid for – your sins, i.e. the person whose forehead dripped with water, your sins were on his cross.
You were buried with him, i.e. your sins were taken away from you and laid in his grave where they will lie – away from you – for the rest of time.
You will rise with him – to the glory of a heaven that you never deserved, by the grace you often took for granted, but by the grace that was shown to you anyway through Jesus.
Your baptism is powerful. Your baptism effects your salvation. Your baptism gives you the assurance of heaven, because your baptism connects you to your Saviour Jesus.
That’s what Paul wants you to know. That’s the powerful piece of knowledge he wants you to cherish. But there’s more:
“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.[3]
Paul says that in baptism your old self was crucified, i.e. the body ruled by sin was done away with. That’s your sinful nature. That’s the natural inclination inside each of us that craves sin, e.g. that hears a juicy conversation and wants to join in; that sees an attractive figure and lets the mind wander. In baptism that old self is stripped from you and nailed to the cross of Christ. It’s crucified, done away with, killed. Because of baptism you are no longer a slave to your sinful nature.
Now, that’s not to say that after your baptism you never even have the urge to do a sinful thing ever again. In reality, it’s quite often the opposite. That’s when trial and temptation truly begin, as the devil tries ever so hard to disrupt the connection that baptism forms between you and Jesus. But what this knowledge does is remind you that after your baptism you are not a slave to sin anymore. Sin isn’t the only thing you can do. Now you can fight. Now you can resist. Now there can be godly desires in your heart that want to do what is good and right, godly desires that fight against the sinful ones. And baptism can help with that!
Luther quotes this passage from Romans 6 when he comments on the meaning of baptism for our daily lives:
Baptism means that the old Adam in us should be drowned by daily contrition and repentance, and that all its evil deeds and desires be put to death. It also means that a new person should daily arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.[4]
It starts with baptism. Baptism connects you to Saviour and assures you of your salvation. But baptism also equips you to live a godly life by drowning your sinful nature with daily contrition and repentance.
That’s one of the reasons I love our tradition of the baptismal stones. Everyone who has ever been a member of or been baptized in this congregation has their name on a rock under the water of the baptismal font by the door. It’s the same font that you saw last week be used to baptize James and two weeks before that to baptize Nathaniel and two weeks before that to baptize Freya. That stone with your name on it is constant a reminder that remains immersed in the blessings of your baptism every day. It doesn’t matter if you come here on a Sunday or a Monday or a Friday, your stone is still there. You, as a Christian, are still in the state of being baptized. That’s why we even sometimes change the way we say it: not, “I was baptized,” but, “I am baptized.” You are and always will be a baptized believer, connected to Christ, whose old self was crucified with him, so that you could go and live a new and godly life every day.
Baptism isn’t just a symbol. It isn’t an act of dedicating ourselves to God. It is a gracious gift from God to us that accomplishes our salvation and gives us power to live our lives of faith. You are connected to Christ. You are free from sin. Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] Romans 6:3,4
[2] Romans 6:1
[3] Romans 6:6
[4] Luther’s Small Catechism; Baptism: The Meaning for Daily Life