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new life. If we have been united with Him in His death, we will certainly also be united
with Him in His resurrection" (Rom. 6: 4, 5, N.I.V.).
To be united with Christ in His resurrection a believer must be united with Him in His
death. This is achieved by being "buried with Him through baptism into (eis) death" but
to which baptism is Paul referring? Is it baptism with (en) water or baptism with (en)
Spirit? Nowhere in this passage, or indeed the whole epistle, is it stated what the
baptizing agency is. Yet a baptism requires an agency. It must have one to change "the
character, state or condition". The N.T. knows of only two such agencies: water or the
Holy Spirit. To which is Paul referring in Rom. 6: 3-5? Certainly it cannot be water.
Paul's words in I Cor. 1: 17 and the attitude he displayed towards it in I Cor. 1: 14-16
preclude it. Thus Rom. 6: 3-5 must be the result of being baptized with (en) the Holy
Spirit.
"In these passages (Rom. 6: 3, 4; Col. 2: 12; Eph. 4: 5) the holy Apostle is not
considering ritual baptism at all. The sublimity of thought, the context of the argument,
the exalted nature of the spiritual verities taught, support this position. He is speaking of
something infinitely higher, not of a mere symbolic ordinance that is powerless to effect
intrinsic change, but of a divine operation which places us eternally in Christ, and into
His experience of crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection" (Merrill F. Unger,
Bibliotheca Sacra).
"The conclusion therefore at which I arrive is that baptism by water is not in the mind
of the Apostle at all in these two verses (Rom. 6: 3, 4); instead it is the baptism that is
wrought by the Spirit . . . . . that is because water baptism does not achieve union, it does
not produce it; indeed at that point it does not even represent it. This is a baptism which
is carried out by the Holy Spirit when He incorporates us into and engrafts us into the
Lord Jesus Christ" (Martyn Lloyd Jones, Romans Chapter 6).
Both these great writers reject water baptism in Rom. 6: but Martyn Lloyd Jones
speaks of a baptism "wrought by the Spirit . . . . . carried out by the Holy Spirit", but is he
correct? In the N.T. there is the baptism with (en) water for (eis) repentance and
remission of sins and this was carried out by men; John the Baptist, Peter, etc. Also
there is the baptism with (en) the Holy Spirit which is carried out by Christ Himself
(Matt. 3: 11). Rom. 6: implies that this baptism "incorporates us into, engrafts us into
the Lord Jesus Christ". It identifies believers with His work on the cross and ensures
them identification with His resurrection.
It is interesting to note that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself links together baptism and
His death. In Luke 12: 50, speaking of the crucifixion which lay ahead of Him, He
said, "Behold I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished". That wasn't the only occasion He brought the two together. The mother
of Zebedee's children came to Him to ask if her sons could sit on His left and right hand
when the kingdom came in. His reply in Matt. 20: 22, 23, contains the words, "Are ye
able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with?".
Writing to the church at Corinth, Paul stated that "by (en) one Spirit are we all
baptized into (eis) one body" (I Cor. 12: 13). Again he cannot be referring to water
baptism as the reference to the Spirit here, and later in the verse, makes clear. Also