Dying to Live Again: The Grace of Baptism

Because he is convinced that God takes sin seriously, Tom Riley is convinced that we should take baptism just as senously. So he has written this pointed study of Paul's letter to the Romans-focusing on Paul's portrait of baptism in Romans 6-to help us see the power and grace of God at work in this holy rite.

When the apostle sat down to write Romans, Riley ably shows, Paul had no intention of penning a letter about baptism. Instead he wrote the strongest statement in the Bible about how we can escape the power of sin and get right with God by trusting in the cross of Christ. "The just will live by faith," Paul taught. His opponents howled that his message of justification by faith and salvation by grace and not by works of the law would let sin and sinners run wild.

That's nonsense, Paul rejoined in Chapter 6 of his Roman letter. People come to Jesus to get free from their sins, not to find an excuse to sin more. And he offered his famous comparison of Christian baptism to the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord. A believer being immersed in obedience to the gospel, Paul said, is being buried with Jesus. The penitent person, now "dead to sin," comes out of the watery grave, just as Jesus escaped the tomb, raised by the power of God to a marvelous new life.

Baptism is faith in action, Riley contends. More than a symbol, this simple ritual is God's way for a sinner to express total trust in the blood of Jesus to wash away guilt and atone for sin. It is God's way into grace.