Rom 6:3 (NIV) Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

The key concept here is “all of us who were.” The only people who are dead to sin are “all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus.” Those who aren’t baptized into Christ Jesus, aren’t baptized into His death. What does it take to be baptized into Christ Jesus? Romans 6:2 says it takes dying to sin and not being able to live in it any longer. It isn’t saying we can’t live in it any longer if we want to. It is saying that, if we truly died to sin, we won’t want to live in it any longer.

This word “baptized” means to submerge or bury someone. Baptism is a burying of a person in water so as to represent a burial into a spiritual grave. We have been baptized, buried, or submerged into Jesus’ death on the cross and in His tomb. The unsaved person enters into this baptism by accepting Jesus as their Lord, Savior, and King.

Rom 6:4 (NIV) 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.

The new and untrained Christians are living in the submerged or burial area of the baptized life. Being dead to sin through burial is the only part of their Christian experience so far. They haven’t been trained from God’s Word on how to be raised with Jesus to a whole new way of life.

Romans chapter seven covers the life of the new and untrained Christians. It tells what has happened and describes how the new Christian is to start thinking about Jesus’ death (Romans 7:1-6). It then goes on and explains the importance of the law that was spiritually killing them before salvation (Romans 7:7-14). Romans 7:15-25 describes the life of a person who has only taken advantage of Jesus’ death. Romans chapter 8 starts helping us to learn how to take advantage of Jesus’ resurrection life.

Baptism consists of two parts. We are submersed into it depicting our burial into Jesus’ death. If we stopped there, we would have drown and died a real physical death. However, fortunately, the second part is bringing us up out of the water. This represents our resurrection with Jesus into our new way of living.

Rom 8:1 (NIV) Therefore, there is NOW no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus,

Rom 8:2 (NIV) because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of LIFE set me free from the law of sin and death.

Rom 8:3 (NIV) For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His Own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man,

Rom 8:4 (NIV) IN ORDER THAT the righteous requirements of the law might be FULLY met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.