Romans 6:1-11
There are a number of responses to God’s Word that I simply do not understand. Some people for example, feel they can live their lives as recipients of God’s Grace without ever spending quality time in God’s Word. There are others who seek out what I like to call cheap Grace. Cheap Grace is simply taking God for granted. Paul addresses the cheap Grace opponents. He responds to them with these words, “What then shall we say? Shall we be remaining in the sin in order that Grace may increase? Perish the thought! We such as died to the sin, how shall we still be living in it?” In other words, Paul is letting us know that we are to avoid living contrary to the Will of God and we are certainly to avoid sinning even though the Lord has covered us in Grace. We are not to take wrongful advantage of the Grace and Mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by willfully and purposefully sinning just so that you can test the Grace of God or as Paul’s opponents sought to do, receive larger doses of Grace. That would make as much sense as a person standing in their burning home and asking, “Should I stay here in my burning home so I will continue to get undivided attention from the firemen seeking to save me?”
Paul offers his negative response to these people seeking to cheapen God’s Grace when he says, “PERISH THE THOUGHT!” My personal translation is a bit more modern. I would have responded with these words, “ARE YOU INSANE?” God’s Grace is a wonderful gift, one that should be appreciated and one that should be honored. We honor God when we seek to live according to His Will and his plan. We honor God when we shout out “NO!” to ungodliness and worldly passions and “YES” to Christ. We also honor God’s Grace when we seek to correct errors. 2 Timothy speaks on this as we read, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” (2 Tim 4:2)
There are thoughts and reasons outside of Christianity and even within Christianity that we stand firm against. We outwardly reject that which seeks to take away or at the very least cover over the holiness and most merciful work of our Lord. We stand against it even when it comes out of our own lips. It is true we have all found ways to cheapen the Grace of God whether it comes by refusing to worship or by adopting ideas that lighten the burden of God’s laws or limits the goodness of God’s Grace. Thankfully, we have God’s Word that seeks to correct us in our “OLD ADAM” behavior. We also have a loving God that looks upon the repentant heart of man and still has Mercy on us thanks in full the Work of Jesus Christ.
But when it is time for Paul to correct and admonish he goes all out in this case because he wants to explain to his opponents just how far God is willing to go in order to remove sin from our lives. Earlier Paul said, “WE DIED TO SIN HOW CAN WE LIVE IT IN ANY LONGER?” Now, Paul wants to explain just how we indeed DIED TO SIN! This sort of death can’t be rested upon our promises or our good intentions that once we learned about Jesus we would make every effort to figuratively DIE TO SIN! Leaning on such a human promise on what we do will leave little comfort in the end for us to lean on. Instead all the changes that take place within us come from God. That way Satan has no ground for attack. If he comes to us one night and says “your promises to remain faithful to God are pathetic” we can respond and say, “Why Yes Satan you are correct, that is why I lean totally on God’s promises. And God says I have died to sin by what He has done for me. And what God has done is take me into his death.
Paul now explains further just how God went all out to remove sin and to provide an eternal promise when he says, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
Here we get into the depths of Baptism. Baptism is an area of contention between some Christian churches. There are some who claim that Baptism is but a mere symbol. It is believed that Baptism is an outward expression of our faith and commitment to God and that any words or phrases that talk about Baptism is merely symbolical. Now to this group I lovingly would like to ask you a question. Do you remember what happened to the men who were bit by poisonous Serpents? You can find this accounting in Numbers 21:4-9. The Word of God tells us that because the people grew impatient and spoke against God, the Lord sent upon them venomous snakes. Many Israelites were bit and died. The remaining people cried out in fear saying “WE HAVE SINNED” and so Moses did something that would become a MEANS OF HIS GRACE upon these people. Moses told them to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. Now I ask those who call Baptism a symbol this question, “What saved the people of God from dying by way of the venom? Were they saved from the bronze snake or from the Word of God?” The response of course is that the people were saved because God made a promise and attached that promise to the bronze snake. The snake had no power! Only the Word of God believed, conveyed life for the people who were on their way to certain death. Now here we are, a people who were dying in our sins, and God fashioned a new MEANS OF GRACE in order to apply his Grace directly and physically upon us. I usually end my conversation with my Christian opponents to Baptism with these words, “if you can believe that God’s Word was attached to the Bronze snake and brought healing to His people through that image because God said “anyone who is bitten can look at it and live” then how can you deny that he does it again with Baptism?
But it is not my words (THANK GOD) that create faith or a change of heart it is of course God’s Word that can convince us of His truth. So let’s break down Paul’s Words here because what convinced me that Baptism was more than just a symbol is that a symbol does not actively make the sort of changes that Paul talks about.
“All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.” This is an action that puts us into Christ. “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death” This is another action and the result of these actions is…”in order that just as Christ was raised from the death through the glory of the father, we too may live a new life.” Here is another result of this action. “If we have been united with him like this in death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
Here is another action that leads to a result in Baptism. “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 because anyone that died has been freed from sin.” I am sorry but something that is merely symbolic does not create all this action or offer us all these promises.
We go back to those words about cheap Grace. We can often cheapen God’s Grace whenever we feel that we are the ones creating our own faith or moving closer to God by way of our good efforts. We can cheapen God’s Grace whenever we look to ourselves as people who might be able to draw closer to God by sheer force of will. But we embolden God’s Grace when we look to God as our only source of faith. We embolden God’s Grace when we look to and cling to all the gifts that God gives to us with as much passion and drive as those people dying from snake bites and longing to live. If you have ever wondered why Paul connected the idea of cheap Grace with a reminder of what takes place with Baptism, you now have your answer. We are carried by baptism INTO the Name, INTO Christ, INTO his death. We were baptized IN CONNECTION WITH the Name of the Holy Trinity. We were baptized IN CONNECTION WITH Christ, with his death and all its saving power. A symbol does not put you INTO anything. Imagine if we Christians symbolized the death and resurrection of Christ, where then would our hope be if his work was but a mere illusion?
Baptism is God’s guarantee to us. It is a function of God! It is a divine spiritual means, one that derives its power from a connection with Christ and his atoning death. It is one that affects in us a death to sin and a new life. When I talk to those who challenge these words, I do so in the love of Christ but I, as with Paul, am passionate against the idea of cheapening a wonderful gift of God by refusing to believe that whatever His Word touches can becomes Holy. I am passionate against the idea that God cannot use any means at his disposal to apply to us a promise or a guarantee.
Here in God’s own Word Paul encourages his opponents to see that God did not give us the gift of Baptism because his Work on the Cross was incomplete, rather God gave us the gift of Holy Baptism, so that he could have a physical means to apply Christ’s atoning Work. Just as the WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US, just as the promise to look upon a bronze snake could produce life so to the WORD attached to Water brings death to our old nature and new life in Christ. If God says it, believe it!
First Peter 3:21 tells us clearly that BAPTISM NOW SAVES YOU! Paul elaborates on just how this gift of God saves. He says, “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is free from sin.” It is so totally comforting to me to know that God has given to me something physical that touches me and as it touches me just once, it conveys to me God’s promises and actually accomplishes his work. It is comforting to me to know that God gave us the gift of Baptism so that He would enable us to no longer be slaves to sin. I know that if I tried to avoid sin on my own I would be helpless against its grip but here God gives me Christ who has no problem overcoming sin. So even when I fail, he does not. His promise attached to me remains perfect and enduring. Therefore since we die to sin, we believe that we shall also live with Christ for all eternity. That is yet another promise attached to this gift.
We Lutherans learn not to take God’s Grace for Granted. We know that Jesus’ death upon the cross was a painful act that had to be done in order to pay for the high cost of our sins. Jesus, then made sure His Holy Word would remain before us so that we knew no only that he destroyed our sins upon the cross but that through his resurrection he could now convey to us the sure and certain promise that those who are in Christ will discover that sin no longer has mastery over us. Yes, we still fall to sin in this life but, sin does not keep us down because God’s Grace lifts us up again and restores us. We can continually go back to our Baptism and remember the promises of our Lord. We can remember that through Baptism we died to sin. We remember that through Baptism our sins have been forgiven and that we were purchased into God’s family. That is what makes Baptism so very special to us. The best of all is that we do not have to be continually re-baptized just as Jesus does not have to continually go back upon the cross. Scripture assures us that we have One Lord, One Faith and only One Baptism (Eph 4:5). Anything less will again cheapen God’s Grace and cheapen the fully atoning work of Christ.
Dear family in Christ. In faith we long to do away with sin and we will eventually receive that exact reward. For upon our death sin gets left behind as Christ carries us into His Kingdom. Yet God helps us even now and every day through Baptism so that we can look the devil in the eye and tell him to send all accusations to Jesus. He is standing in for us and will answer all accusations with His Blood. We also take to heart that we have been Baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We also take heart that the Grace of God is not cheapened in our hearts but, longed for. May we continue to look to sin with contempt and look to Grace with passion, so that the Work of our Loving Lord will be Honored and Praised. Amen.
