Baptism In Jesus

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

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The last instruction Jesus Christ gave His followers before He ascended to His throne in heaven is known as The Great Commission. In it, He delegated His authority to His disciples and directed them to take the gospel to all people, baptizing them and discipling them as they had been taught. This command is a foundational tenet of the Christian faith.

We become placed in Jesus Christ through our acceptance of Him as our Lord and Savior. We are baptized to identify with Jesus’ Death, Burial, Resurrection, Life, Power, Inheritance, and His Ascension. To understand being in Christ, we must look at how we identify with Him through baptism.

Our identity in Christ begins with His death. In Galatians 2:20 (NIV), Paul explained, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” In Colossians 3:3, he taught again that, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Point blank, he questioned the Roman church, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” Romans 6:3 (NIV). We had a spiritually dead hole that was filled with Christ’s life. Since Jesus took on our sin at His death on the cross, we can now have life in Him.

Paul continued to instruct the Romans, “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.” Romans 6:4 (NIV). He shared that sin would no longer rule because we know that we were crucified with Christ and that the body was buried with Him. Just as sin has no authority over Jesus, it has no mastery over us because we are in Jesus. “Anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” Romans 6:7 (NIV).  Moreover, we were raised in Christ from death to eternal life through His resurrection. Our new life in Christ has reconciled us to God and given us peace from the judgment of sin.

In Christ, we have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit, who has sealed us at salvation, resides in us and, because of that, our mortal bodies will be raised from the dead. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength to lead a holy life, serve as Jesus' example of compassion and justice, and fulfill the ministry description Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1.

We have been placed in Jesus Christ at salvation, and, in baptism, we have shared in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. We have been raised and empowered by new life in Christ, making us children of God and sharing with Christ in an inheritance of God. Not only are we alive in Christ, but we have been seated with Him on His heavenly throne as a witness of God’s grace, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 (NIV). 

You might ask, “If I am in Christ Jesus, then how is my mortal body still facing down sin?” Hank Marshman has explained it this way. Imagine that you are facing Jesus. Your spirit is dead because of sin that has infested the earth when Adam sinned in disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Jesus stands before you, alive in the righteousness of Holy God. When you choose Jesus as Lord and Savior, you are placed eternally in Jesus. You learn how to live in Jesus’ ways and become more and more like Jesus, and less and less like your old, dead self. You are fulfilling renewal in the flesh per John 3:30 (NIV) “He must become greater; I must become less.”

Anderson, N.T. & Park, D (2001). The Bondage Breaker Youth Edition (pp 52) Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers