Romans 6:3: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”

May 1st, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

This verse is no doubt referring to both water baptism and that spiritual baptism with fire that Jesus promised. Years ago, someone described baptism to me as being like a wedding ring, symbolizing a transaction or an official permanent agreement—meaning as a wedding ring symbolizes marriage, so baptism symbolizes salvation. But just as wearing a wedding ring does not make you married, being baptized does not make you any more saved. A little girl in kindergarten can wear her mother’s wedding ring, but we immediately understand that she’s just pretending. She is simply too young to be married or even understanding the concept of such a deep commitment. In the same way, a person can be baptized without having accepted Jesus Christ into their heart.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace [God’s free gift of His Son] you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Salvation is a free gift that God grants to those of us who have simply placed our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. We understand that we are saved through our faith in Jesus Christ, not through baptism. The purpose of baptism is to identify us openly and publicly with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

To come back to the illustration of the wedding ring, if we see a person without a ring, we can almost always assume they are not married. In the 1st century, if a person was not baptized, you could assume that he or she was not a believer. Baptism is an important symbol of salvation but it remains only a symbol. But, like a wedding ring, it is such an effective symbol that it can never be taken for granted.

“LORD, we proudly wear our public baptism as a symbol of our very public relationship with You the Living God.”