​Baptism (part 4) - Baptism and the Gospel

​Introduction/Review. God introduced baptism (immersion in water) and remission of sins to Israel through the preaching of John the Baptist. Because it was such an integral part of his preaching, John stayed where there was much water and all Israel came to him. God also introduced Jesus to Israel by having Him be baptized. After Jesus started His work, the Pharisees soon heard Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John. Immediately after His resurrection, Jesus taught His disciples that baptism would continue into the New Covenant. They would go into all the world and preach the gospel. All who would believe and be baptized would become disciples, be saved, and receive the remission of sins (Mt. 28:19; Mk 16:15-16; Acts 2:38). 

The connection between the gospel and baptism is fundamental to our faith and to our salvation. If we don’t know or can’t explain that connection, we should be concerned about whether or not we truly obeyed the gospel. Paul told the Corinthians exactly what the gospel is:

• Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, (1Cor. 15:1-4)

Thus “the gospel which I preached to you,” was the gospel “you received” and “in which you stand.” It was the gospel “by which you are saved.” What each person believes before they can be saved is: “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” “that He was buried,” “and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

The word gospel is used almost 100 times in the New Testament. Whenever we read this term, we must think of Christ dying for our sins, being buried, and raising from the dead. If we don’t believe this, we don’t believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the cup Jesus was forced to drink and it is the basis of our salvation. God therefore made it the centerpiece of our faith. Paul told the Romans that the same righteousness God imputed to Abraham “shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,” (Rom. 4:24).  The illustration to the right graphically summarizes the gospel Paul preached in 1 Cor. 15.

How is this gospel tied to our baptism? Paul answered this question in his letter to the Romans:

• Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Rom. 6:3-6

Although Paul had never been to Rome, he knew they had all participated with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection when they were baptized. By asking the rhetorical question, “do you not know,” he knew “I do know” would be their answer. Every true Christian knows it because it is the truth they were taught. Everyone hearing the true gospel that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again was also taught that in baptism “we were baptized into His death,” and “we were buried with Him through baptism into death.” God gave baptism so we could still have access to the power of His death, burial, and resurrection. We can’t be “in the likeness of his resurrection” unless we were first “in the likeness of His death,” by being baptized.

​Paul called baptism “the likeness of his death” because when a sinner is buried under the water “with Him,” “we have been united together in the likeness of His death.” At that same instant that we are completely immersed under that water “with Him,” “our old man was crucified with Him.” 

​So the answer to Paul’s question is the heart of our salvation. Only after we were baptized did we enter into fellowship with Jesus. We were in the water with Him. We were crucified with Him, buried with Him and raised with Him when we were baptized. As Paul also told the Galatians “as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal. 3:27).

When Paul again described the connection between baptism and the gospel in the book of Colossians, he said nearly the same thing but in different words.

• buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.  (Col. 2:12-13).

How could God make it any clearer? Baptism, which is the Greek word for burial is just that, a burial in water.  We have to be buried with Him BEFORE we can be raised with Him. If our baptism was not a burial, or we did not know we were being “buried with Him,” we have not followed God’s pattern. Everyone has to do this for it is only “in which” or “in the midst of” this burial that “you also were raised with Him.” 

This is the connection between the gospel and our faith. Only when we have “faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” has our faith reached fruition. Righteousness is only “imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (Rom. 4:24). So it is our faith in the miraculous power of God at the moment Jesus’ life was restored to Him that we acknowledge while we are buried with Him under the water. 

With this faith in our heart, as we are lowered into the water as Jesus was into the tomb, the same power God used to raise Jesus from the dead is also used to raise us from the dead: “you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh He has made alive together with Him,” We entered the water still “dead in our trespasses.” Even though our immersion in water was a short time, in those few moments, the same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead was given to us. Just as we “died with Him in baptism,” so now we are “made alive together with Him!” 

This is why Paul was told “arise and be baptized and wash away your sins.” When we go down into the water we are still dead in trespasses and when we leave the water we have the “remission of sins” Peter said was God’s promise (Acts 2:38). While under the water we were “made alive together with Him, and God then completes the transaction: “having forgiven you all trespasses.” 

In the gospel we learned that Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). In baptism we are delivered from our trespasses and out of baptism we are raised with Him in justification! 

Conclusion. If we can’t answer Paul’s question in Romans with a fervent and resounding “YES”, then the gospel we were taught is not the gospel Paul preached. If we were not buried into His death and buried with Him in baptism, then we have not yet obeyed the true gospel of Jesus Christ.