Commentary on Romans 6:3-11

Not surprisingly, the lectionary gives us an epistle reading that deals with baptism for the day of Easter Vigil. Let’s begin by clarifying that in this text Paul isn’t advocating a particular method for or theology of baptism. Instead, baptism is one of four models or metaphors he uses in this part of the letter to enable Roman believers to grasp the life and renewal God offers them via Jesus.

The Roman context for our text

Paul wrote this letter to believers who were divided, apparently over Jew-Gentile differences. Given that the Roman world of which they were a part was strictly divided along race, class, and gender lines, we know they’d been raised to compare and compete with “others” they should view as adversaries. Consequently, we shouldn’t be shocked at the tensions among them. Few of us discard lifelong perspectives overnight. The Roman believers were no exception. Our best understanding of their situation is that some believers, mostly Jews, were continuing to practice Jewish ritual acts like eating kosher and observing Sabbath. Other believers, mostly Gentiles, responded by boasting, “We’re so over that!” The impact on the believing community isn’t hard to imagine.

Paul begins the letter arguing that all of us are sinners and all of us are saved by faith because of God’s grace, “for there is no distinction” (3:22). God, Paul insists, is the One God of both Jews and Gentiles (3:29–30). As he concludes the opening part of his argument (3:21–30), he insists that boasting is thereby excluded (3:27). Then, beginning in Romans 5, Paul sets out the difference God’s salvation makes in the way we live with one another via four models, as noted above, which are Adam-Christ (5:12–21), baptism (6:3–11), slaves to sin/slaves to righteousness (6:15–23), and a married woman (7:1–6). Our text is his second model.

Resurrection, “sin,” and “death” according to Paul

As we turn to Paul’s words, let’s remember that all believers at this point came to faith as adults. They would easily remember their baptisms, which likely took place outdoors where they were immersed in a natural body of water. If Galatians 3:27–28 presents part of the early church’s baptismal liturgy, as many scholars believe, then at their baptisms believers were told, “You are all one in Christ Jesus.” We can see why Paul would remind divided believers of their baptism experience in this moment.

Paul also makes use of their experience of being immersed in the water and then raised up by the officiant. Being “buried” in the water, Paul says, is “baptism into death” (6:4) and being united with Jesus “in a death like his” (6:5). Rising up from the water indicates that we are united with Jesus in resurrection (6:5) so that we “walk in newness of life” (6:4). Key for grasping Paul’s claims is the first-century understanding of resurrection. As part of Jewish apocalyptic hope, our Jewish forebears understood resurrection to happen at the end of the present age and the beginning of the age to come (or, as Jesus preferred, the kingdom of God). 

God had promised to renew all of creation in this moment, which included drawing all people together on God’s holy mountain as God’s beloved children (see Isaiah 25:6–8). Thus, there are no more comparisons or competitions among people who are no longer adversaries because all are welcome. Jesus had declared that God’s kingdom “has drawn near” (not future tense). His resurrection in this context confirmed his proclamation: God’s kingdom has indeed drawn near! The newness of life to which Paul refers is our invitation to live now as citizens of God’s kingdom. Therefore, we should consider ourselves “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (6:11).

Another contextual component important for understanding Paul is his use of “sin.” When he speaks of “sin” in the singular, as in our text, he’s not referring to individual moral failures as we often mean. Instead, he views Sin (capitalized intentionally) as a great evil force in the universe which has us in bondage (see 5:12; 7:19–20). He’s also likely more concrete in what he means than may appear to us. Roman rule and order divided people, as noted above, and pitted them against each other. Rome much preferred that subject peoples compete for the scarce favors and resources available to them so that they considered “others” as enemies to be hated and feared, rather than as people with whom to unite and resist Roman oppression. 

Many scholars understand Paul as viewing these fearful and violent forces at work in his world as Sin. Such forces lead to death, literally and spiritually. Further, Rome threatened with actual death anyone who refused to comply with their rule and order, as they had done to Jesus. In a world where resurrection hope was still new among Jews and largely nonexistent among Greco-Roman folks, their threat weighed heavily. No wonder Paul links Sin and death.

Raised to new life!

The divisions among believers in Rome meant, in Paul’s thinking, that they were still living according to these destructive forces. But the good news is that they don’t have to! They can “die” to those forces and “live to God” (6:10–11; the Greek can be translated as “in God,” “with God,” “for God,” or “because of God”), as Jesus did. That is, they can live as citizens in God’s kingdom where grace abounds so that all peoples are welcome to God’s holy mountain. There’s no need, therefore, to compete or compare, to hate or fear others, even those we were taught to see as adversaries, for in this kingdom of grace we are all beloved children of God. 

When we grasp this grace and God’s power to raise Jesus from the dead (which destroys the power of Rome’s fiercest weapon), then believers need no longer comply with forces that bring death. They can choose to welcome one another and share life-giving practices with each other instead. As a result, we unite in Jesus’ resurrection and walk in “newness of life.”

Doesn’t this text make our history of arguing and judging each other over methods and theologies of baptism particularly tragic?