HAVE YOU DIED SO YOU MAY LIVE?
Have
you died so you may live? If you asked this question to worldly people, they
might think you have lost your mind. They might say, “How in the world could
someone die and then live?” While this might seem like a strange question from
a human perspective, God’s Word makes it clear that a person must die before he
or she can live.
“This is a faithful
saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we
shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us” (2 Tim. 2:11).
Throughout
the New Testament, you will find conditional statements such as this one.
Notice, Paul tells us that IF we died with Jesus, THEN we shall also live with
him. We could also say, IF we did not die with Jesus,
THEN we cannot live with him. We only have two choices. We either die with
Christ to live eternally in Heaven or we refuse to die with him and spend our
eternity in Hell. I would like to think most people would choose to live in
Heaven.
With
this in mind, the next two questions we need to answer are, “How does a person
die with Christ?” and “Is this a physical death or a spiritual one?” Paul has
the answer for us:
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any
longer in it” (
Paul is explaining to the
Christians at
“Or do you not know that as many of us as were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 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” (Rom. 6:3-4).
What Paul has said here
is important because it answers our question, “When does a person die with
Christ?” Friends, this is not hard to understand. Paul tells us that when we
are baptized into Christ, we are also baptized into his death. Please notice the
baptism mentioned here is referred to as a burial. This is the same meaning that
“baptism” carries because it literally means immersion. We also learn from
these verses that once we are buried with Christ in the watery grave of baptism
and raised up with him, we are to walk in the newness of life. Paul continues
to describe what happens during our baptism into Christ:
“For if we have been united together in the
likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His
resurrection, 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. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been
raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the
death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that
He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (
Within
these seven verses, we find many conditional statements related to the freedom
from sin. Let’s examine these conditional statements carefully. Paul states IF
we are united together in the likeness of his death, THEN we shall be in the
likeness of his resurrection (verse 5).
He also tells us that when we were baptized into Christ, our old sinful
body was done away with (verse 6). Paul
reiterates the point that one is not freed from sins until that person dies
with Christ in baptism (verse 7). He states that IF we died with Christ, THEN
we shall live with him (verse 8). Paul then tells us why we can rest assured
that we are being freed from sin and that we will live with Christ in heaven
(verses 9-11). Friends, it doesn’t get any clearer than this. We learn from
these passages that one must be baptized into Christ to be set free from sin.
Many claim that baptism is not necessary for salvation, but there is no denying
these easy to understand passages that explain that one does not become a
Christian until that person is baptized. Let’s examine another passage where
Paul teaches about baptism:
“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. 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).
Again, we find Paul
describing baptism as a burial. One thing that should be emphasized in this
passage is how our obedient faith and the working of God go hand in hand.
Notice, Paul teaches us that it is by our faith in the working of God that we
can know that when we are being lowered down into water that we are being
buried with Christ and our sins are being removed. When we are raised out of
the water, we can know that we have been made alive together with Christ and we
are now children of God. The water itself is not magical. It is simply the
place that God has appointed where we will receive the forgiveness of our sins.
Baptism is one of the
most neglected subjects in the denominations. Many will teach that you must
believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that you must repent, and that you must
confess Jesus as your Lord. However, you will not find them teaching that you
must be baptized to be saved. When people neglect to teach about baptism and
claim that you are saved before baptism, they are putting a big smile on the
devil’s face because he knows that you are still lost in your sins. We need to
remember that Jesus commanded baptism in the great commission.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:19; See also Mark 16:15-16).
Those in first century
obeyed this command, and we have many examples of those who were baptized: the
3000 at Pentecost (Acts 2:37-46); the Samaritans (Acts 8:5-13); the eunuch
(Acts 8:35-39); Saul (Acts 9:1-18,
22:6-16, 26:12-18); Cornelius (Acts 10:34-46); Lydia (Acts 16:13-15); the
Philippian jailer (Acts 16:30-34); Crispus and others (Acts 18:8); John’s
disciples (Acts 19:1-6). The same people who deny the
importance of baptism, usually make fun of those who teach the necessity of it.
It is sad that so many good people that live like Christians will not find
their way into Heaven because they have never been baptized into Christ for the
forgiveness of their sins. Consider one last point that shows the necessity of
baptism. Please notice some of the things that are found in Christ: grace (2
Tim. 2:1), salvation (2 Tim. 2:10), every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3),
redemption and forgiveness of sin (Eph. 1:7), eternal life (1 Jn. 5:11), and no
condemnation (
“For as many of you as were baptized
into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal.
3:27; See also Rom. 6:3).
Paul makes it easy for us
to see that one does not enter into Christ until that person is baptized.
Friends, I hope you will take a serious look at what has been presented about
baptism because it can make the difference of where you will spend your
eternity. We must also understand that at the point of baptism our journey as
servants of God has just begun. We must continue to grow as Christians and
remain faithful to the Lord until the day we die. IF we
remain faithful to God, THEN Jesus will give us a home in Heaven (Rev. 2:10).
So, the question remains, Have you died
so you may live?