Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Romans 6:3

"Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" — Romans 6:3 (ASV)

The explanation of how this death to sin occurred follows immediately (vv.3–4): by being “baptized into Christ Jesus.” What is being described is a spiritual reality of the deepest import—not a mere ceremony, not even a sacrament. The metaphor of baptism is clearly used by Paul in a relational sense elsewhere, as in the Israelites being baptized into Moses when they crossed the Red Sea (1 Corinthians 10:2). They became united to him as never before, recognizing his leadership and their dependence on him. Union with Christ means union with him in his death. It is significant that although Jesus emphasized discipleship throughout his ministry, he never spoke of union with himself until he was on the verge of going to the cross (Jn 14–16). He had earlier spoken of his death under the figure of baptism .

Baptism illustrates this vital union with Christ in his death, though baptism does not accomplish it. Apparently, Paul pictures burial with Christ, however momentarily, in the submergence of the body under the baptismal waters. The importance of burial is that it attests the reality of death (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). It expresses with finality the end of the old life governed by relationship with Adam. It also expresses the impossibility of a new life apart from divine action. The God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead has likewise imparted life to those who are his. The expression to “live a new life” is literally “to walk in newness of life,” the walk being the evidence of the new type of life granted to the child of God. This is a distinctive type of life realized only by one united to Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17), so that Christ is its dynamic. In this connection the question arises, Why should the resurrection of Christ be described as accomplished “through the glory of the Father?” It is because “glory” here has the meaning of power, as in the resurrection of Lazarus .

The latter half of v.4 has a noticeably balanced structure (“just as Christ... we too”), recalling the pattern in 5:12, 18, 21. This suggests that the principle of solidarity advanced in 5:12–21 is still thought of as operating here in the significance of baptism. There is no explicit statement that in baptism we were raised with Christ as well as made to share in his death. Resurrection is seen rather as an effect that logically follows from the identification with Christ in his death (but see Col 2:12, where resurrection is verbally connected with baptism).