What does baptism mean for the Christian? For many of us, baptism is something we remember as a significant moment in our spiritual journey. We remember the church service, the water, the people watching, and the decision we made to follow Jesus. But what if baptism is more than a memory of something you did? What if baptism is a promise of something God has done?
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:1-4
Like many things in modern Christianity, baptism can easily become a test of whether we are “enough.” Am I dedicated enough? Sincere enough? Committed enough? Serious enough about following Jesus? Do I love Jesus enough? Baptism is often described as my decision to follow Jesus or my way of going public for Jesus. And certainly, there is a public—and sometimes costly—dimension to Christian baptism that we should take seriously. But when we listen carefully to the language of the New Testament, another perspective begins to emerge. The New Testament speaks about baptism less as something you did and more as something that happened to you. There is very little language suggesting that baptism is something you produce for God. Instead, there is abundant language suggesting that baptism is something God provides for you.
This is why the apostles repeatedly bring Christians back to their baptism. When you’re struggling with sin, remember your baptism. When you’re confused about the nature of grace, remember your baptism. When you’re tempted to perform for God, remember your baptism. When you’re tempted to add something to Christ, remember your baptism. When your conscience is troubled, remember your baptism. The apostles take Christians back to baptism because baptism takes Christians back to Christ.
Baptism Is for the Struggling Christian
The significance of baptism isn’t limited to the beginning of your spiritual journey. Baptism isn’t merely the first step of obedience you take when things are going well; it is a promise you need precisely when things aren’t going well. It’s for your struggle with disobedience, for the days when your faith feels weak, for the moments when your assurance is shaky, and for the times when you wonder whether you’ve done enough, believed enough, or changed enough. Dear friend, remember your baptism.
The apostles’ repeated appeal to baptism reminds us that baptism is just as much for the struggles of the Christian life as it is for its successes. And when the apostles tell you to remember your baptism, they’re directing your attention to something outside of you, not something inside of you. They’re pointing you to something that happened to you, not something that happened through you.
That’s a significant shift for many of us. We’ve been taught to think about baptism primarily in active terms: our decision, our dedication, our public declaration, our first step of obedience. But the New Testament’s language about baptism is overwhelmingly Christ-centered. Christian baptism isn’t ultimately about the strength of your commitment, the sincerity of your faith, or the quality of your obedience. It is fixed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
And Romans 6 takes us directly to the heart of that work.
Baptism and the Death of Christ
Paul writes, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death…” (Romans 6:3–4).
That’s right. Baptism is a drowning. It is the execution of the Old Adam who is always trying to bring something good to the table. It is the burial of our self-sufficiency. It is God’s final word of judgment on every attempt we make to establish our own righteousness before Him. In baptism, God puts an end to our attempts to stand before Him on the basis of what we have done.
There’s a scene in How to Train Your Dragon where Hiccup’s father is explaining everything that’s wrong with him, gesturing toward his head, his body, his clothes—essentially his entire person. Hiccup finally responds, “You just gestured to all of me.” That’s what baptism does. In the waters of baptism, God gestures toward all of you and says, “That’s the problem.”
Not just your worst sins, but your best efforts. Not just your failures, but your righteousness. Not just the parts of you that need fixing, but all of you. The problem isn’t that you simply need to become a better version of yourself. The problem is that the whole Old Adam needs to die. God isn’t interested in making the Old Adam slightly better. He puts him to death. And so, in baptism, God drowns you into the death of His Son.
This is why the gospel is so much more radical than simply becoming a better person. Christianity is not God’s program for improving the Old Adam. It is God’s promise to put the Old Adam to death and raise something new in Christ. Our problem is deeper than a few bad habits that need to be corrected, and God’s solution is greater than a few principles for living a better life.
Baptism and New Life in Christ
But baptism doesn’t end at the grave. Just as baptism points to death with regard to the Old Adam, it also points to the promise of new life in Jesus Christ. The final word of baptism isn’t death. It’s resurrection.
Paul continues in Romans 6:4: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
The Christian life isn’t simply a renewed vision for the Old Adam. It is the resurrection of a whole new person through the power of God. And if resurrection is something only God can accomplish—something that doesn’t depend upon our fitness, contribution, or performance—then baptism isn’t ultimately a declaration of our personal piety. It is a promise of God’s mercy. Baptism says that the God who drowned your old life in the death of Christ has also raised you to new life in Christ.
This changes the way we live. We stop trying to justify ourselves and begin to breathe the air of justification. We stop trying to prove ourselves and begin to rest in the mercy of God’s provision. We stop staring at our own sense of goodness and begin beholding the glorious nature of God’s boundless grace. And this is where new life begins to take shape: humility, love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, patience, joy—all flowing from what God has done for us in Christ.
The good works of the Christian life are not an attempt to convince God that we belong to Him. They are the fruit of knowing that, in Christ, we already do. The Christian doesn’t obey in order to become God’s child; the Christian learns to live as God’s beloved child.
Baptism Is God’s Promise, Not Our Performance
Your baptism isn’t ultimately a declaration about what you can do. It is God’s declaration about what He has done. It isn’t your pledge and promise about what you can do for God. It is God’s pledge and promise about what He has already done for you. Christ died for you—and you have died with Him. Christ was buried for you—and you have been buried with Him. And Christ was raised for you—and you have been raised with Him.
This is why baptism can provide such profound assurance for the Christian. When you’re tempted to measure your standing before God by your performance, baptism points you somewhere else. When you wonder whether your faith is strong enough, baptism points you somewhere else. When your conscience reminds you of your failures, baptism points you somewhere else. It points you to Christ.
So when the apostles tell you to remember your baptism, they’re not telling you to remember some emotional high or to look back and ask, “Did I mean it enough? Did I want it enough? Am I doing enough?” They’re not telling you to look inside yourself for evidence of spiritual progress. They’re telling you to look outside yourself—to the water, to the cross, to the grave, to the resurrection, and to the raw, objective promise of God.
Remember your baptism.
Because when you remember your baptism, you’re not ultimately remembering something you did. You’re remembering something God did. And the God who made that promise to you then is the same God who keeps that promise to you now.
Your baptism is not ultimately about how strongly you once committed yourself to Jesus. It is about how completely Jesus has committed Himself to you. So when you struggle, remember your baptism. When your assurance is weak, remember your baptism. When you feel like you haven’t done enough, remember your baptism. And when you wonder whether God’s grace is really for you, remember this: Christ died for you. Christ was buried for you. Christ was raised for you.
And in Christ, you have died, been buried, and been raised to newness of life.