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works" (Eph. 2: 8-10). In other words salvation by grace leads to a life of practical
conformity to the standards of God. The Apostle continues his answer by saying:
"We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (6: 2, N.I.V.).
A dead man is beyond the capability of sinning! Let us note that it is not a question as
to whether the believer will ever fall into sin or discover some hidden imperfection, but
whether he will "continue in" sin, that is, make a practice of it. To reinforce his argument
Paul brings in the great doctrine of identification with Christ as set forth by the doctrine
of baptism:
"Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into 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" (6: 3, 4, N.I.V.).
The point to be settled here is whether Paul is alluding to the baptism of the Holy
Spirit which identifies a believer with the risen Christ or does it refer to water baptism?
Does it refer to the reality, the work of the Holy Spirit, or the shadow that represents it?
Because we are creatures of time and sense, what we see, hear, touch or feel appears to be
more real than anything spiritual. But we should remember that all ritual is but an
illustration, a "shadowing forth". It can never be the reality which is eternal and spiritual
and God asks us to walk by faith in these glorious realities and not by sight, feeling or
sense (compare Heb. 10: 1 and Col. 2: 16, 17).
Dr. Merril Unger in Bibliotheca Sacra writes:
"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."
In his book on Romans (chapter six), Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones states, in expounding
verses 2 and 3:
"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; instead it is the baptism that is wrought by the
Spirit . . . . . Again take the statement which the Apostle makes in Gal.2:20 which is so
frequently misquoted: `I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me . . . . .'. Now there you have the identical doctrine (as Rom.6:2,3),
but baptism is not mentioned. 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, engrafts us into the
Lord Jesus Christ" (page 36).
It is only fair to say that Dr. Lloyd Jones is not a dispensationalist and accepts that
water baptism has its place, but certainly not in Rom. 6:, Col. 2: or Eph. 4: This
makes his testimony all the more telling. It is this spiritual baptism effected by the Holy
Spirit that is the baptism of Rom. 6: In Eph. 4: it is "one baptism". As to "hope",