I’ve had the privilege of being a part of a few weddings recently. And I love weddings. I love celebrating with couples who are committing their lives to one another. One of the things we see happen at almost every wedding is the exchanging of rings. As a couple wears a wedding ring, they are showing the world around them that they are married. They are saying, “I have committed myself to another individual.” In other words, they are showing that they have been united to their spouse through marriage.
Rings are an expression of unity for a married couple.
And baptism is an expression of unity for the Christian.
Through baptism, Christians are showing the world that they have been united to Christ by grace through faith. Baptism doesn’t make someone united to Christ - much like a wedding ring doesn’t make somebody married. But baptism is an important [and commanded] expression of the Christian’s union with Christ by grace through faith. I think there are three primary ways baptism expresses the unity a Christian has with Christ.
First, baptism shows the unity of the believer in Christ’s death. Just as Christ was put into a tomb and placed beneath the surface of the earth, the believer - in baptism - is being placed beneath the surface of the water. They are expressing their union in Christ’s death. That just as Christ died for sin, they have died to their sin. Paul says this in Romans 6:1-3, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” The Christian, through baptism, is showing their unity with Christ in his death. That they have died to their sin and are no longer going to live in it.
Second, I think that baptism shows the unity of the believer in Christ’s resurrection. A follower of Jesus hasn’t simply died to their sin - and baptism reflects that. They don’t stay buried. They are raised out of the water just as Christ was raised up from the grave. And they are raised to live in a new way. Paul continues with this in Romans 6: 4-5 “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Our dying to sin doesn’t end with dying but continues with us being raised to walk in newness of life displayed through both personal holiness and missional living. Baptism expresses this unity with Christ’s resurrection. Through baptism, we come out of the water to express the new life we have been given in Christ.
Finally, I think we see that baptism expresses the unity of the believer in Christ’s body. We often say baptism is the outward expression of a new inward reality. It’s showing the world that we have been saved by Jesus. It is showing the world that we no longer live for ourselves, or the world, but for Christ. And the beautiful thing is that we don’t do it alone. Galatians 3:27-28 shows us this reality “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Baptism expresses the unity we have with the body of Christ. As followers of Jesus, we are all one. Our baptism is an expression of the unity we have not just with Christ but with one another in Christ.
So we practice baptism to show our unity with Christ, and we celebrate baptism because there’s nothing better than unity with Christ. If you have been united to Christ by grace through faith but you have not yet demonstrated your unity with Christ through baptism, we would invite you to take those next steps. If you have already been baptized, we invite you to celebrate all the more at our next baptism service, rejoicing in the reminder of your union with Christ and praising God for the unity with your brother or sister in the body of Christ.