Church Practices: Baptism

One of my favorite movies is "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and one of my favorite scenes in the movie is the river baptism.  A white-robed crowd marches by Everett, Pete, and Delmar as they're feasting on a dinner of roasted gopher.  They're singing "Down to the River to Pray," and the song and the movement draw the boys down to the river.  Delmar wades through the river and is baptized by the preacher.  He declares that his sins have been washed away, and proclaims, "Come on in boys!  The water's fine!"

One of the best explorations of the meaning of baptism is in Romans 6:1-10.  There, Paul is engaged in a debate with people who believe that people are saved by their faith and their works.  The apostle uses the image of baptism to demonstrate this point.

Paul's opponents say that if people aren't saved by their works, they have no motivation for not sinning.  They can sin as much as they want and keep receiving God's grace.  That's an important issue.  If salvation is by grace, what's the motivation for not sinning?

Paul responds by saying that when we're baptized, we're baptized into his death.  When we're immersed under water, it's as if we've died.  We've died to our old ways of life, dominated by sin.  We join Christ in his death.  As I put someone under water when I'm baptizing, I say, "Buried in the likeness of Jesus' death."  

But something else happens in baptism.  When we come up out of the water, it's as if we've risen from the dead.  Paul says, we rise to walk in newness of life.  When I raise someone of the water, I say, "Raised to walk in newness of life."

Paul said that our baptism symbolizes our death and resurrection.  We leave behind our way of life dominated by sin.  Before we follow Christ, it's not possible for us not to sin.  But we also rise to a new way of life.  A way in which it's possible not to sin.

The lyrics of the Kyle Matthews song "I've Been through the Water" sums this up well:

I've been through the water, and I've come out clean.

I've got new clothes to cover me.

And you don't put your old shoes on your brand new feet,

Because I've been through the water.

 Come on in boys!  The water's fine!