Since baptism is a burial, shouldn’t everything be under simultaneously?
Question:
Dear Minister,
I was recently baptized. The water was not very deep, but the baptizer said it was deep enough. It was deep enough to be immersed in, but still shallow enough to be risky to have part of the body not fully immersed at the same time. The photo of my baptism shows me being immersed (except it does not show my feet). I've analyzed the photo as best I can and think my feet would have been immersed.
I was thinking about Romans 6:4-5 and Colossians 2:12-13, about baptism being a burial. What does "buried with Him through baptism into death" (Rom 6:4 NKJV) mean? Aren't we dead in sin before baptism (Ephesians 2:1-3,12)? Then why does Romans 6:4 say buried with Him "into death?" Does baptism symbolize a grave to go into because we are already dead from our sin (like we bury an animal or person that is already dead or like Jesus was already dead when He went into the grave), or does "into death" somehow mean that we are not dead until the immersion of baptism? And then, if the immersion is incomplete (for example, the toes came out of the water when the head went under), did the person being baptized not make it "unto death"?
Would not God understand it that I have made an appeal for a good conscience toward Him by faith in Jesus as my Saviour (I Peter 3:21)? Or, just say my toes were exposed, would He say, "your toes were not under, you never obeyed the gospel"? Obeying the gospel is to die, be buried, and then be resurrected, right (I Corinthians 15:3)? Again, I'm confused by what Romans 6:4 says, "into death"?
Physically, if someone dies and then is buried, but their toes are still exposed, they are still dead. Most people are dead before burial.
I have read your post (thank you for it) entitled: What if a person does not go completely under the water at the same time? Is it still a baptism? Your response was very brief. Would you mind carefully explaining (with Bible verses or other reasoning) why you stated that "... if everything did not go underwater at precisely the same time. It would still be an immersion"?
Thanks for your assistance.
Answer:
"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin" (Romans 6:3-7).
The answer to your question is in this passage. We are buried into Christ's death; in other words, we join in a representation of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. What dies is our old self -- the one that lived after the ways of the world. Yes, we were dead in our transgressions (Ephesians 2:1-2), but that is not Paul's focus at the moment. What dies is our old way of life, and what rises is a new way of living. Our old life was enslaved to sin. Our new life is freed from sin.
Baptism represents a burial, but it is possible to take an illustration too far. For example, we bury people six feet underground, but we don't have to put someone six feet underwater to baptize them. Jesus spent three days in the grave, but we don't have to remain underwater that long for it to be considered a baptism. As I stated before, we all strive to have someone fully immersed at the same time when baptizing but to obsess about whether a toe stuck up is carrying things too far, in my personal opinion. "Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?" (Ecclesiastes 7:16). Insisting on absolute perfection can be a dangerous thing.
