COMMON VIEW
A public declaration of personal faith — true, but not yet what Paul means
PAUL'S VIEW
An enacted identification with an accomplished death
YOU ARE SAYING
"I have decided to follow Jesus"
YOU ARE ENTERING
"I was crucified with Christ — and I am reckoning it true"
THE OLD MAN IS
Still subjectively alive — being drowned by commitment
THE OLD MAN IS
Already crucified — being buried because he is dead
THE PROBLEM
What baptism teaching often misses
THE BASIS
What gives the water its meaning
"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."
ROMANS 6:4
A wife would never bury her husband if she believed there was life left in him. You only bury the dead when you know they are dead.
Baptism is the same. You do not go into the water hoping to finish something off. You go in when you have seen that the old man was crucified.
THE ENACTMENT
What baptism actually does
COMPANION FIGURE
Romans 6 — The Logic of Freedom