By Jim Mettenbrink
Last week, we considered that trusting (true faith) in Jesus as the Divine Savior is the first repentance (change) necessary to receive His promise of pardon and eternal life with Him in heaven (Eph 1:12-13). That trust is based upon the gospel (good news) – defined as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Jesus proved there is life after death, that He is God and the guarantor of eternal life (1 John 2:25; 5:20) via His own resurrection.
Further, the apostle Paul wrote there is just one faith, i.e., only one way of salvation (Eph 4:5). To the Roman church he wrote, “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17). The context is that the word of God is the gospel of peace and that it is to be obeyed (Rm 10:15-16). So Jesus wants us to obey the gospel. How does one die, be buried, and be resurrected in this realm? Jesus did, but how do we?
Paul wrote, “…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). The parallel: Jesus died for our sins – one who submits to Jesus in baptism dies to sin. Jesus was buried in the grave – now one with the attitude of being dead to sin, submitting to Jesus is buried in the grave of water. Jesus rose to reveal to us that He is God and that there is life after death – rising from the grave of water, the new Christian has committed himself to “walk in newness of life” according to the New Testament.
Paul revealed this commitment in a nutshell “that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2). And he declared that folks have been translated into Jesus’ kingdom having the “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). And the new resolve to live for Jesus. But what if the Christian sins after he is baptized?