Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
4. we are buried with him ] Better, we were buried, &c.; the reference being to the past fact of baptism. Burial is the final token of death, and so the strongest expression of death as a fact. Perhaps there is an allusion to the immersion of baptism, as a quasi-burial. (The only parallel passage is Col 2:12.) But the significance of the rite would not depend on such a form of it: the essential is that every true baptism is the ratification of covenant connexion with Christ and His Death. It thus lays the baptized Christian, as it were, with the Lord in that grave where He lay as the slain Propitiation; i.e. it ratifies our share in the Justification of the Cross.
by baptism ] by means of baptism, i.e., of course, not by the mere act, but by all that is involved in a true baptism. Baptism is not an isolated thing, but a summary and seal.
into death ] Better, into the death, the Lord’s Death. Connect these words with “we were buried.” The whole idea is a union with Christ as the Slain One, so real that it is expressed by the figure of a share in His grave.
that, &c.] The sequence indicated is as follows: Our new position and conduct as Christians was both to be, and to seem, radically new; as new as resurrection-life after death. Therefore our admission to the covenant was by a rite essentially connected with the Lord’s Death, and thus intended both to remind us of the price of justification, and of the totally new position, principles, and conduct, of the justified.
by the glory of the Father ] By the majestic harmony of His Power, Holiness, and Love; all consenting in the great miracle. Perhaps the thought is suggested here that the same “glory” shall be exercised in the “new life” of the justified.
walk in newness of life ] i.e. move and act with the new principles and powers of those who, as the justified, are “ born again to a living hope.” “ Newness: ” the Gr. word expresses not so much youth as novelty; a condition without precedent in our experience. “ Life: ” in the sense not of a course of life, but of the principle of life. Through the Death of Christ, the justified “live;” in the “newness” of that condition they are to “walk.” Here again (as in Rom 6:2) note the transition of ideas; from a “death to sin” (with Christ) in respect of penalty, to a “life” (with Christ) in respect not merely of remission but of new principles and acts; i.e. from Justification simply to Justification as resulting in Sanctification. The “life” is not merely the extension of existence to a pardoned man, but the condition and use of that existence where the pardoned are also, as such, accepted among the “brethren” of Christ.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore we are buried … – It is altogether probable that the apostle in this place had allusion to the custom of baptizing by immersion. This cannot, indeed, be proved, so as to be liable to no objection; but I presume that this is the idea which would strike the great mass of unprejudiced readers. But while this is admitted, it is also certain that his main scope and intention was not to describe the mode of baptism; nor to affirm that that mode was to be universal. The design was very different. It was to show that by the solemn profession made at our baptism, we had become dead to sin, as Christ was dead to the living world around him when he was buried; and that as he was raised up to life, so we should also rise to a new life. A similar expression occurs in Col 2:12, Buried with him in baptism, etc. See the Editors Notes at Mat 3:6, Mat 3:16.
Into death – eis. Unto death; that is, with a solemn purpose to be dead to sin and to the world. Grotius and Doddridge, however, understand this as referring to the death of Christ – in order to represent the death of Christ – or to bring us into a kind of fellowship with his death.
That like as – In a similar manner. Christ rose from death in the sepulchre; and so we are bound by our vows at baptism to rise to a holy life.
By the glory of the Father – Perhaps this means, amidst the glory, the majesty and wonders evinced by the Father when he raised him up; Mat 28:2-3. Or possibly the word glory is used here to denote simply his power, as the resurrection was a signal and glorious display of his omnipotence.
Even so – As he rose to new life, so should we. As he rose from death, so we, being made dead to sin and the world by that religion whose profession is expressed by baptism, should rise to a new life, a life of holiness.
Should walk – Should live, or conduct. The word walk is often used to express the course of a mans life, or the tenor of his conduct; Rom 4:12; Rom 8:1 notes; 1Co 5:7; 1Co 10:3 notes; Eph 2:10; Eph 4:1 notes, etc.
In newness of life – This is a Hebraism to denote new life. We should rise with Christ to a new life; and having been made dead to sin, as he was dead in the grave, so should we rise to a holy life, as he rose from the grave. The argument in this verse is, therefore, drawn from the nature of the Christian profession. By our very baptism, by our very profession, we have become dead to sin, as Christ became dead; and being devoted to him by that baptism, we are bound to rise, as he did, to a new life.
While it is admitted that the allusion here was probably to the custom of immersion in baptism, yet the passage cannot be adduced as an argument that that is the only mode, or that it is binding on all Christians in all places and ages, for the following reasons:
(1) The scope or design of the apostle is not to discuss the mode of baptism, Or to state any doctrine on the subject. It is an incidental allusion in the course of an argument, without stating or implying that this was the universal mode even then, still less that it was the only possible mode. His main design was to state the obligation of Christians to be holy, from the nature of their profession at baptism – an obligation just as impressive, and as forcible, from the application of water in any other mode as by immersion. It arises from the fact of baptism, not from the mode. It is just as true that they who are baptized by affusion, or by sprinkling, are baptised into his death; become professedly dead to sin and the world, and under obligations to live to God, as those who are immersed. It results from the nature of the ordinance, not from the mode.
(2) If this was the mode commonly, it does not follow that it was the only mode, nor that it was to be universally observed; There is no command that this should be the only mode. And the simple fact that it was usually practiced in a warm climate, where ablutions were common, does not prove that it is to be observed amidst polar snows and ice, and in infancy, and age, and feebleness, and sickness; see the note at Act 8:38-39.
(3) If this is to be pressed literally as a matter of obligation, why should not also the following expression, If we have been planted together, etc., be pressed literally, and it be demanded that Christians should somehow be planted as well as buried? Such an interpretation only shows the absurdity of insisting on a literal interpretation of the Scriptures in cases of simple allusion, or where the main scope is illustration by figurative language.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. We are buried with him by baptism into death] It is probable that the apostle here alludes to the mode of administering baptism by immersion, the whole body being put under the water, which seemed to say, the man is drowned, is dead; and, when he came up out of the water, he seemed to have a resurrection to life; the man is risen again; he is alive! He was, therefore, supposed to throw off his old Gentile state as he threw off his clothes, and to assume a new character, as the baptized generally put on new or fresh garments. I say it is probable that the apostle alludes to this mode of immersion; but it is not absolutely certain that he does so, as some do imagine; for, in the next verse, our being incorporated into Christ by baptism is also denoted by our being planted, or rather, grafted together in the likeness of his death; and Noah’s ark floating upon the water, and sprinkled by the rain from heaven, is a figure corresponding to baptism, 1Pe 3:20-21; but neither of these gives us the same idea of the outward form as burying. We must be careful, therefore, not to lay too much stress on such circumstances. Drowning among the ancients was considered the most noble kind of death; some think that the apostle may allude to this. The grand point is, that this baptism represents our death to sin, and our obligation to walk in newness of life: without which, of what use can it or any other rite be?
Raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father] From this we learn, that as it required the glory of the Father, that is, his glorious energy, to raise up from the grave tho dead body of Christ, so it requires the same glorious energy to quicken the dead soul of a sinner, and enable him to walk in newness of life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Therefore: q.d. Because we are thus dead with Christ, therefore, & c.
We are buried with him; i.e. we have communion with him in his burial also, which represents a farther degree of the destruction of sin, by putting it, as it were, out of our sight, Gen 23:4, and having no more to do with it.
By baptism into death: he seems here to allude to the manner of baptizing in those warm Eastern countries, which was to dip or plunge the party baptized, and as it were to bury him for a while under water. See the like phrase, Col 2:12. Baptism doth not only represent our mortification and death to sin, but our progress and perseverance therein. Burial implies a continuing under death; so is mortification a continual dying unto sin.
That like as Christ was raised up from the dead; look as, after the death and burial of Christ, there followed his resurrection, so it must be with us; we must have communion with, and conformity to, the Lord Jesus Christ in his resurrection as well as in his death; both these are represented and sealed to us by the sacrament of baptism.
By the glory of the Father; i.e. by the power of the Father, which is called, Col 1:11, his glorious power. God is said elsewhere to have raised him by his power, 1Co 6:14; and in 2Co 13:4, he is said to live by the power of God. Some read it thus, he was raised from the dead, to the glory of the Father.
The preposition is sometimes rendered to: see 1Pe 1:3.
Walk in newness of life; i.e. live a new life, being actuated by new principles, aiming at new ends, and bringing forth new fruits of holiness: see Rom 7:6.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. Therefore we arerather,”were” (it being a past act, completed at once).
buried with him, by baptisminto death(The comma we have placed after “him”will show what the sense is. It is not, “By baptism we areburied with Him into death,” which makes no sense at all; but,”By baptism with Him into death we are buried with Him”;in other words, “By the same baptism which publicly enters usinto His death, we are made partakers of His burialalso”). To leave a dead body unburied is represented, alike inheathen authors as in Scripture, as the greatest indignity (Rev 11:8;Rev 11:9). It was fitting,therefore, that Christ, after “dying for our sins according tothe Scriptures,” should “descend into the lower parts ofthe earth” (Eph 4:9). Asthis was the last and lowest step of His humiliation, so it was thehonorable dissolution of His last link of connection with that lifewhich He laid down for us; and we, in being “buried with Him byour baptism into His death,” have by this public act severed ourlast link of connection with that whole sinful condition and lifewhich Christ brought to an end in His death.
that like as Christ wasraised from the dead by the glory of the Fatherthat is, bysuch a forth-putting of the Father’s power as was theeffulgence of His whole glory.
even so we alsoasrisen to a new life with Him.
should walk in newness oflifeBut what is that “newness?” Surely if our oldlife, now dead and buried with Christ, was wholly sinful, the new,to which we rise with the risen Saviour, must be altogether a holylife; so that every time we go back to “those things whereof weare now ashamed” (Ro 6:21),we belie our resurrection with Christ to newness of life, and “forgetthat we have been purged from our old sins” (2Pe1:9). (Whether the mode of baptism by immersion be alluded to inthis verse, as a kind of symbolical burial and resurrection, does notseem to us of much consequence. Many interpreters think it is, and itmay be so. But as it is not clear that baptism in apostolic times wasexclusively by immersion [see on Ac2:41], so sprinkling and washing are indifferentlyused in the New Testament to express the cleansing efficacy of theblood of Jesus. And just as the woman with the issue of blood gotvirtue out of Christ by simply touching Him, so the essence ofbaptism seems to lie in the simple contact of the element withthe body, symbolizing living contact with Christ crucified; the modeand extent of suffusion being indifferent and variable with climateand circumstances).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death,…. The nature and end of baptism are here expressed; the nature of it, it is a “burial”; and when the apostle so calls it, he manifestly refers to the ancient and only way of administering this ordinance, by immersion; when a person is covered, and as it were buried in water, as a corpse is when laid the earth, and covered with it: and it is a burial with Christ; it is a representation of the burial of Christ, and of our burial with him as our head and representative, and that “into death”; meaning either the death of Christ as before, that is, so as to partake of the benefits of his death; or the death of sin, of which baptism is also a token; for believers, whilst under water, are as persons buried, and so dead; which signifies not only their being dead with Christ, and their communion with him in his death, but also their being dead to sin by the grace of Christ, and therefore ought not to live in it: for the apostle is still pursuing his argument, and is showing, from the nature, use, and end of baptism, that believers are dead to sin, and therefore cannot, and ought not, to live in it; as more fully appears from the end of baptism next mentioned;
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life; for the end of baptism is not only to represent the death and burial, but also the resurrection of Christ from the dead, which is here said to be “by the glory of the Father”, some read the words, “unto the glory of the Father”; meaning either, that the Father might be glorified hereby; or that Christ, being raised from the dead, might enjoy glory with the Father, as he does in human nature; but rather the phrase expresses the means by which, and not the end to which, Christ was raised from the dead: and by the “glory of the Father” is meant, the glorious power of the Father, which was eminently displayed in raising Christ from the dead; and as baptism is designed to represent the resurrection of Christ, which is done by raising the person out of the water, so likewise to represent our resurrection from the death of sin, to a life of grace: whence it must be greatly incumbent on baptized believers, who are raised from the graves of sin by the power of Christ, to “walk in newness of life”; for since they are become new creatures, and have new hearts and new spirits given them, new principles of light, life, grace, and holiness implanted in them, and have entered into a new profession of religion, of which baptism is the badge and symbol, they ought to live a new life and conversation.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We were buried therefore with him by means of baptism unto death ( ). Second aorist passive indicative of , old verb to bury together with, in N.T. only here and Col 2:12. With associative instrumental case () and “by means of baptism unto death” as in verse 3.
In newness of life ( ). The picture in baptism points two ways, backwards to Christ’s death and burial and to our death to sin (verse 1), forwards to Christ’s resurrection from the dead and to our new life pledged by the coming out of the watery grave to walk on the other side of the baptismal grave (F. B. Meyer). There is the further picture of our own resurrection from the grave. It is a tragedy that Paul’s majestic picture here has been so blurred by controversy that some refuse to see it. It should be said also that a symbol is not the reality, but the picture of the reality.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
We are buried with [] . Rev., more accurately, were buried. Therefore, as a natural consequence of death. There is probably an allusion to the immersion of baptism. Compare Col 3:3.
Into death. Through the baptism into death referred to in ver. 3. Both A. V. and Rev. omit the article, which is important for the avoidance of the error buried into death.
Glory [] . The glorious collective perfection of God See on 3 23. Here the element of power is emphasized, which is closely related to the idea of divine glory. See Col 1:11. All the perfections of God contribute to the resurrection of Christ – righteousness, mercy, wisdom, holiness.
We might walk [] . Lit., walk about, implying habitual conduct. See on Joh 11:9; 1Jo 1:6; 3Jo 1:4; Luk 11:44.
In newness of life [ ] . A stronger expression than new life. It gives more prominence to the main idea, newness, than would be given by the adjective. Thus 1Ti 6:17, uncertainty of riches; not uncertain riches, as A. V.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Therefore we are buried with him,” (sunetaphemen oun auto) “We therefore were buried (in close affinity) with him;” Baptism is the immersion or burial of a child of God into the waters of baptism “with him” (with Christ), not “without him,” as baptismal regenerationists teach. The “we” refers to those described as already saved as was Abraham before forms of the Law came, Rom 4:3-5; Romans 16.
2) “By baptism into death,” (dia tou Baptismatos eis ton thanaton) “Through baptism with reference to death;- As Jesus was the Son of God by natural begettal of the Holy Spirit, in the flesh before his baptism, so must a lost person be begotten of the Holy Spirit before he can be Scripturally baptized; As Jesus could not begin his public service ministry before proper baptism, neither can his children before their baptism, Mat 3:14; Mat 3:16; Mar 8:34-37; Luk 9:23; Gal 3:26-27.
3) “That like as Christ was raised up from the dead,” (hina hosper egerthe Christos ek nekron) “In order that just as Jesus Christ was raised out from among dead corpses,” dead bodies, to live anew, to witness anew, to ascend and intercede for, serve us still, Heb 7:25.
4) “By the glory of the Father,” (dia tes dokses tou patros) “Through the glory of the Father”; By the Holy Spirit he was raised to the glory of the Father, to serve the Father and the redeemed, Rom 4:25; Rom 8:11.
5) “Even so we also should walk in newness of life,” (houtos kai hemeis en kainoteti zoes peripatesomen) “Even so we should walk in newness of life”; As Jesus was the Son of God before either of his two burials 1) In baptism and 2) In the tomb, so must one be a Son or Child of God before 1) his baptism, and 2) his burial, to rise to walk or to serve in newness of life. One is baptized not to get or acquire new life but to say –I shall walk hereafter in the Christ way.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. We have then been buried with him, etc. He now begins to indicate the object of our having been baptized into the death of Christ, though he does not yet completely unfold it; and the object is — that we, being dead to ourselves, may become new creatures. He rightly makes a transition from a fellowship in death to a fellowship in life; for these two things are connected together by an indissoluble knot — that the old man is destroyed by the death of Christ, and that his resurrection brings righteousness, and renders us new creatures. And surely, since Christ has been given to us for life, to what purpose is it that we die with him except that we may rise to a better life? And hence for no other reason does he slay what is mortal in us, but that he may give us life again.
Let us know, that the Apostle does not simply exhort us to imitate Christ, as though he had said that the death of Christ is a pattern which all Christians are to follow; for no doubt he ascends higher, as he announces a doctrine, with which he connects, as it is evident, an exhortation; and his doctrine is this — that the death of Christ is efficacious to destroy and demolish the depravity of our flesh, and his resurrection, to effect the renovation of a better nature, and that by baptism we are admitted into a participation of this grace. This foundation being laid, Christians may very suitably be exhorted to strive to respond to their calling. Farther, it is not to the point to say, that this power is not apparent in all the baptized; for Paul, according to his usual manner, where he speaks of the faithful, connects the reality and the effect with the outward sign; for we know that whatever the Lord offers by the visible symbol is confirmed and ratified by their faith. In short, he teaches what is the real character of baptism when rightly received. So he testifies to the Galatians, that all who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. (Gal 3:27.) Thus indeed must we speak, as long as the institution of the Lord and the faith of the godly unite together; for we never have naked and empty symbols, except when our ingratitude and wickedness hinder the working of divine beneficence. (185)
By the glory of the Father, that is, by that illustrious power by which he exhibited himself as really glorious, and as it were manifested the greatness of his glory. Thus often is the power of God, which was exercised in the resurrection of Christ, set forth in Scripture in sublime terms, and not without reason; for it is of great importance, that by so explicit a record of the ineffable power of God, not only faith in the last resurrection, which far exceeds the perception of the flesh, but also as to other benefits which we receive from the resurrection of Christ, should be highly commended to us. (186)
(185) That the mode of baptism, immersion, is intimated by “buried,” has been thought by most, by [ Chrysostom ], [ Augustine ], [ Hammond ], [ Pareus ], [ Mede ], [ Grotius ], [ Doddridge ], [ Chalmers ], and others; while some, such as [ Scott ], [ Stuart ], and [ Hodge ], do not consider this as necessarily intended, the word “buried” having been adopted to express more fully what is meant by being “dead,” and there being another word, “planted,” used to convey the same idea, which cannot be applied to the rite of baptism.
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Buried with him,” means buried like him, or in like manner; and so “crucified with him,” in Rom 6:6, is the same : συν prefixed to verbs, has clearly this meaning. See Rom 8:17; Col 3:1; 2Ti 2:11. “Into death” is not to be connected with “planted,” but with “baptism,” it was “a baptism into death,’ that is, which represented death, even death unto sin. — Ed.
(186) [ Beza ] takes διὰ, by, before “glory,” in the sense of εἰς, to, “to the glory of the Father;” but this is unusual. It seems to be a metonymy, the effect for the cause: it was done by power which manifested and redounded to the glory of God. The word “glory, δόξα, is used for power in Joh 11:40. The Hebrew word, עוז strength, power, is sometimes rendered δόξα by the Septuagint; see Psa 68:34; Isa 12:2. God’s power is often expressly mentioned in connection with the resurrection; See 1Co 6:14, 2Co 13:4; Col 1:11. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) We are buried with him.Burial, is the consequence of death. It is the seal set upon it, as it were, which shows that no revival is possible. Besides, it is the one step which separates it from resurrection. The idea of buried with Christ is therefore introduced, on the one hand, to show that the ethical death with Him was final and decisive, and on the other, to prepare the way for an ethical (as well as physical) resurrection with Him.
Into death.The ideas of physical and moral death and resurrection and life are inextricably blended in the thought of the Apostle.
By the glory of the Father.The resurrection of Christ is more usually and more naturally ascribed to the power or Omnipotence of God. The word Glory is here to be taken as standing for the sum of the divine perfections, power being included among them, the Majesty on High.
Even so.It is to be observed that the mysticism is here resolved into a relation of resemblance. The resurrection of Christ, and the new life of the Christian, are compared instead of being identified. The Apostle does not say being dead with Christ, let us rise with Him; but, as Christ rose again, so we also should walk in newness of life. The mystical expression for this is given in the next verse.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Therefore Since we die, a cognate burial must follow. The faith which precedes baptism produces a death; the holiness which should follow is a newness of life, a resurrection.
Buried by baptism Where our regenerating faith is a death, and our sanctified new life is a resurrection, what should be the fitting burial between the two? Obviously, as said in Rom 6:2, our baptism consecrating us into Christ, embodying us into his mystical body the Church, is the burial. Faith insures our mystical death, baptism our mystical burial, sanctification our mystical resurrection.
This mystical burial would be accomplished with equal completeness whether the rite of baptism were performed by affusion or immersion. For, 1. Christ was not buried at all, but temporarily deposited in a new tomb preparatory to burial. 2. A burial is as well symbolized by affusion, picturing the covering over of the body, as by immersion. The amount of water poured upon the body can make no difference; for in Rome, whither this epistle was sent, a handful of dust thrice flung upon a corpse was held to be a legal ritual burial. So in the parallel passage, Col 2:11-12, so minute a rite as circumcision is the figure of an entire “putting off the body of the sins of the flesh.” 3. Immersion, even if it represented burial, does not symbolize the outpoured baptism of the Spirit. Affusion represents both.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.’
Thus Spiritually as those who are ‘in Christ’ they were ‘buried with Him through baptism unto death’, dying and being buried with Him in Spiritual union with Him that they might also rise with Him. They have been united with Him in His burial so that they might experience His true death. That Christ ‘died and was buried’ was fundamental to the early church (1Co 15:3) so that His burial is the final seal on His death. Being buried with Him was proof that they had died with Him. Burial is death intensified. Thus they have ‘put on Christ’ (Gal 3:27) in His death.
In the same way our recognition of our burial ‘with Him’ is the final seal on the fact that we recognise that we have died with Him. And this so that ‘like as Christ was raised from the dead for the glory of the Father, we also might walk in newness of life’. This newness of life can only signify life in the Spirit ‘in Christ’ (compare Rom 8:3-4; 2Co 5:17; Gal 5:16; Gal 5:24-25). It is the new life by which we were ‘made alive’ when all our trespasses were forgiven (Col 2:13), when we were ‘raised with Him through faith in the working of God Who raised Him from the dead ’ (Col 2:12). It is indicative of the new man who has been created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4:24; contrast the ‘old man’ in Rom 6:6 below), of the fact that in Christ we are a new creation (2Co 5:17).
‘Through the glory of the Father’ indicates the glory of the Father as revealed in what He accomplished. We might paraphrase as ‘through the Father’s glorious act whereby He revealed His glory’. It indicates the Father’s glorious power as revealed in resurrection (see Eph 1:17 onwards where it is the Father of glory Who raises Christ from the dead and exalts Him above all), something which brings glory to Him in His omnipotence. It indicates the demonstration of His life-giving power and righteousness (righteousness because Christ’s resurrection demonstrated both the Father’s righteousness and His own righteousness. It was because He was wholly righteous that He could be righteously raised). Compare Joh 17:5 where Jesus was to be raised again in order to be restored to His former glory, the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. And even to see Lazarus raised from the dead would to some extent be to see the glory of the Father (Joh 11:40; Joh 11:23). The raising of Lazarus was possible because Jesus is the resurrection and the life (Joh 11:25). It thus revealed the glory of the Father. Note here also the implied connection of sinlessness with the glory of the Father. Compare Rom 3:23. To sin is to come short of the glory of the Father. So to be involved in the glory of the Father is to be sinless, and to repudiate sin.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 6:4. Buried with him by baptism As the ordinance of baptism seems plainly to be sometimes represented, by sprinkling or pouring water; as particularly when God is said to save us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour (Tit 3:5-6): so some have thought that it is here mentioned with an allusion to the laying of a body under water; and yet, according to this mode of reasoning, it more naturally alludes to the throwing of earth upon the dead corpse, in which the body is entirely passive, and not at all active in going down into the grave, than to plunging it into the earth or water. But, after all, I am very much of opinion with Mr. Henry, or his continuator,Dr.Evans,who, in the exposition of this passage, says, “Why this burying in baptism shouldso much as allude to any custom of dipping under water in baptism any more than our baptismal crucifixion and death should have any such reference, I confess I cannot see. It is plain, that it is not the sign, but the thing signified in baptism, that the Apostle here calls being buried with Christ; and the expression of burying alludes to Christ’s burial. As Christ was buried, that he might rise to a new and more heavenly life; so we are in baptism buried, that is to say, cut off from the life of sin, that we may rise again to a new life in faith and love.” Others have thought, that the reference is onlyto the benefits of spiritual baptism, and that nothing can be concluded about the external mode of baptism from this verse, more than from the next, which speaks of our being therein symbolically planted together in the likeness of Christ’s death; or than from the figure of baptism saving us, as represented by the floating of Noah’s ark, when the few that were in it were saved by water; 1Pe 3:20-21. But no mode of baptism can be signified by either of these. As the church at Rome seems to have been planted about the year 43, and this Epistle was written in the year 58, that is, fifteen years after; and yet the Apostle speaks of the converted Romans in general as baptized; it must be supposed that baptism was administered to those whose parents had been Christians at the time of their birth. See Gale’s Serm. vol. 2: p. 202.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 6:4 . An inference from Rom 6:3 , by which the impossibility indicated in Rom 6:2 is now made completely evident.
Buried with Him therefore (not merely dead with Him, but, as the dead Christ was buried in order to rise again, buried with Him also) were we, in that we were baptized into His death . The recipient of baptism, who by his baptism enters into the fellowship of death with Christ, is necessarily also in the act of baptism ethically buried with Him (1Co 15:4 ), because after baptism he is spiritually risen with Him. In reality this burial with Him is not a moral fact distinct from the having died with Him, as actual burial is distinct from actual dying; but it sets forth the fulness and completeness of the relation, of which the recipient, in accordance with the form of baptism, so far as the latter takes place through and (see Suicer, Thes. ), becomes conscious successively . The recipient thus has Paul figuratively represented the process is conscious, ( a ) in the baptism generally: now am I entering into fellowship with the death of Christ, ; ( b ) in the immersion in particular: now am I becoming buried with Christ; ( c ) and then, in the emergence: now I rise to the new life with Christ. Comp on Col 2:12 .
] is necessarily, after Rom 6:3 , to be joined with ., in which case, since one can say , the connecting article was not required (comp on Gal 3:26 ; Eph 3:13 ); consequently: through baptism unto death . It is not however specially the death of Christ that is again meant, as if were again annexed; but the description is generalised , agreeably to the context, in a way that could not be misunderstood. Whosoever, namely, as Paul has just set forth in Rom 6:3 , has been baptized unto the death of Christ , has in fact thereby received baptism unto death; i.e. such a baptism that, taken away by it from his previous vital activity, he has become one belonging to death, one who has fallen under its sway. This however is just that relation of moral death, which, in the concrete, is the fellowship of the death of Christ . The connection with ., in which . is sometimes referred to the death of Christ (Grotius, Baumgarten-Crusius), and sometimes to the death of sin (Calovius, Wolf, Winzer, Progr. 1831), is erroneous, for this reason, that whosoever is buried does not come into death, but is in it already; and hence “the becoming buried into death” would yield quite an incongruous conception. This also applies against the expedient tried by Hofmann of making here the death-state of Christ, unto which we were given up. Even in this view that incongruity continues: [1394] but after Rom 6:3 can only be again death simply, not state of death (as if Paul could not have conveyed that sense by , or , or in some other suitable way). Observe, moreover, how Paul here also, since he has the bodily resurrection of Christ in view, [1395] mentions specially the correlative of the burial that preceded it. Comp on 1Co 15:4 .
] purpose of the . , and this statement of purpose has the chief importance, corresponding to the in Rom 6:2 .
. . ] through the majesty of the Father was the resurrection of Christ brought about. The , , the glorious collective perfection of God, certainly effected the raising of Jesus chiefly as omnipotence (1Co 6:14 ; 2Co 13:4 ; Eph 1:19 f.); but the comprehensive significance of the word selected with conscious solemnity, and in highest accordance with the glorious victory of the Son is not to be curtailed on that account (in opposition to Koppe, Baumgarten-Crusius, and earlier expositors). According to the invariable representation of the N. T. God is the raiser of Jesus (Rom 4:24 , Rom 8:11 ; Act 2:24 ; Act 2:31 ff. et al [1397] ; see on Joh 1:19 ); but yet the of God does not in this case any more than elsewhere in the N. T. denote God Himself (Langer, Judenth. in Palst . p. 210 ff.). Erroneously however Theodoret, Theophylact, and several Fathers explain: . . . ., . Linguistic usage admits as in itself allowable the view of Castalio and Carpzov: “ in paterna gloria resurrexit,” so that would be used of the state; to which also van Hengel inclines. But, had Paul desired to express a relation corresponding to the . . in the apodosis, he must have inserted also; since the conception of the raising of Jesus through the Father was one of so solemn importance, and all the more appropriate here, since believers also owe their moral resurrection-life to the Father of Christ (Eph 2:10 al [1398] ); it is in fact the life of regeneration. Besides, the paterna gloria was attained by Christ only through His ascension . See on Luk 24:26 .
] in a new (moral) constitution of life; [1399] a stronger way of bringing out the idea of , than would be, for which it does not stand (in opposition to Grotius, Koppe, Reiche, and others). See Winer, p. 221 [E. T. 309]. Comp Rom 7:6 . According to van Hengel is the genitive of apposition: “in novo rerum statu, qui vita est .” But this qui vita est is self-evident; and therefore the emphasis must remain upon . This newness is the ethical analogue of the new estate in which Christ was alive from the dead, conceived in contrast to the which prevailed prior to baptism. Comp Rom 6:8 .
[1394] This cannot be got rid of by any artificial turns (like that of Hofmann: “His burial removed Him from the sphere of sin expiated through His death. whereby His existence in the world of sin came to a complete close ”). Certainly the of the Lord, even regarded as a state, occurred at that great moment when He cries His and departs; and in nowise has He been translated into the through His burial .
[1395] i.e. His resurrection as respects the buried body; so that the latter no longer remained in the grave, but came forth thence living and immortal. That the body of Christ “ vanished ” and “ made room ” for a new pneumatic body (Holsten, z. Ev. d. Paul u. Petr. p. 133), is an unsuitable conception, seeing that the pneumatic body must necessarily have been assumed even in death, and independently of the burial of the old body. Thus the resurrection of Jesus would be nothing else than the change of body that took place in death.
[1397] t al. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
[1398] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
[1399] , . , , Chrysostom.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Ver. 4. We are buried ] Burial is a continuing under death, so is mortification a continuation of dying to sin, Mors quaedam perpetuata; sin is by degrees abated, and at length abolished, when once our earthly tabernacles are dissolved.
Walk in newness of life ] Resurrectione Domini configuratur vita, quae hic geritur. Walk as Christ walked after his resurrection.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4. ] A further explanation of the assertion in the last verse proceeding ( ) on its concession by the reader. We were then (not the temporal but inferential ‘then:’ q. d. “You grant my last position: Well then,” ) buried with Him ( , , Chrys. on Joh 3 . Hom. xxv. 2, vol. viii. p. 151) by means of our baptism into (His) death ( . belong together, not . . ., which would hardly bear any sense. The absence of the art. before is no objection to this; it is unnecessary, because no distinction from any other baptism is brought out, and .- – – . is connected as one idea); in order that, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory ( and are cognate ideas; compare the import of the Heb. and the LXX in Psa 68:35 (Psa 67:34 LXX), Isa 12:2 ; and in Col 1:11 . The divine includes all that manifests the Creator to the creature: and hence also his Almightiness. Tholuck.
The renderings ‘ in Dei gloriam ’ (Beza, Bretschneider), and ‘ because He is the image of the Father ’ (Dr. Burton, altern.), are inadmissible for with a gen.) of the Father (Theodoret makes = of the Son, which is manifestly wrong), thus we also should walk in newness of life (not = ‘ a new life ;’ nor are such expressions ever to be diluted away thus: the abstract is used to bring the quality of newness , which is the point insisted on, more into prominence, compare 2Th 2:11 ; 1Ti 6:17 [and notes]; Winer, edn. 6, 34. 3.
The comparison is not only (as Stuart) between our Lord’s physical death and resurrection, and our spiritual ; but reaches far deeper: see notes on Rom 6:10-11 ).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 6:4 . This symbolism interpreted. . . .: Therefore we were buried with Him (in the act of immersion) through that baptism into His death burial being regarded as the natural sequence of death, and a kind of seal set to its reality. Cf. 1Co 15:3 f. It introduces a false abstraction to say (with Meyer) that means “unto death,” not “unto His death”: death in the whole context is perfectly definite. : in nothing was the splendour of God’s power revealed so much as in the resurrection of Jesus, Eph 1:19 f. : in life of a new quality; cf. Rom 7:6 , 1Ti 6:17 : the construction makes the new quality of the life prominent. Winer, p. 296.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
are = were.
buried with. Greek. sunthapto. Only here and Col 2:12.
by. App-104.
baptism. App-115.
Christ. App-98.
raised up. App-178.
from. App-104.
dead. App-139.
glory. i.e. glorious power.
Father. App-98.
newness. Greek. kainotes. Only here and Rom 7:6.
life. App-170.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4.] A further explanation of the assertion in the last verse proceeding () on its concession by the reader. We were then (not the temporal but inferential then: q. d. You grant my last position: Well then, ) buried with Him ( , , Chrys. on John 3. Hom. xxv. 2, vol. viii. p. 151) by means of our baptism into (His) death ( . belong together, not . . ., which would hardly bear any sense. The absence of the art. before is no objection to this;-it is unnecessary, because no distinction from any other baptism is brought out, and .—. is connected as one idea); in order that, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory ( and are cognate ideas; compare the import of the Heb. and the LXX in Psa 68:35 (Psa 67:34 LXX), Isa 12:2; and in Col 1:11. The divine includes all that manifests the Creator to the creature: and hence also his Almightiness. Tholuck.
The renderings in Dei gloriam (Beza, Bretschneider), and because He is the image of the Father (Dr. Burton, altern.), are inadmissible for with a gen.) of the Father (Theodoret makes = of the Son, which is manifestly wrong), thus we also should walk in newness of life (not = a new life;-nor are such expressions ever to be diluted away thus: the abstract is used to bring the quality of newness, which is the point insisted on, more into prominence, compare 2Th 2:11; 1Ti 6:17 [and notes]; Winer, edn. 6, 34. 3.
The comparison is not only (as Stuart) between our Lords physical death and resurrection, and our spiritual; but reaches far deeper: see notes on Rom 6:10-11).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 6:4. , we were buried with Him) The fruits of the burial of Christ. Immersion in baptism, or at least the sprinkling of water upon the person, represents burial, burial is a confirmation of [facit ratam] death.-, into) Construed with baptism, with which comp. Rom 6:3.–, as-so) An abbreviated expression for,[56] As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we should also rise, and as Christ reigns for ever in the glory of the Father, and in that life to which He has risen, so we also should walk in newness of life.-, by) By concerning the Father is also found at 1Co 1:9.- , the glory) is the glory of the divine life, of incorruptibility, ch. Rom 1:23, of the power and virtue, by which both Christ was raised, and we are restored to a new life, and are conformed to God, Eph 1:19, etc.- , in newness) Ch. Rom 7:6; 2Co 5:15, etc. This newness consists in life.
[56] See App., under the title Concisa Locutio.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 6:4
Rom 6:4
We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death:-[No doubt the expression, were buried, was suggested by the momentary burial in water of the person baptized. It declares our union with Christ in death and our entire separation from our former life in which sin reigned.] All the facts and circumstances connected with baptism and all the figures used to illustrate it point unmistakably to the idea of the immersion, the overwhelming, and the burial of the person baptized.
On this verse Dr. Philip Schaff says: All commentators of note (except Stuart and Hodge) expressly admit or take it for granted that in this verse the ancient prevailing mode of baptism by immersion and emersion is implied, as giving additional force to the idea of the going down of the old and the rising of the new man.
Albert Barnes: “It is altogether probable that the apostle in this place had allusion to the custom of baptizing by immersion.
John Wesley: We were buried with him-alluding to the manner of baptizing by immersion.
Adam Clarke: It is probable that the apostle here alludes to the mode of administering baptism by immersion, the whole body being put under the water, which seemed to say: the man is drowned, is dead; and when he came up out of the water, he seemed to have a resurrection to life; the man is risen again; he is alive.
Conybeare and Howson: This passage cannot be understood unless it be borne in mind that the primitive baptism was by immersion.
William Sanday: Baptism has a double function. (1) It brings the Christian into personal contact with Christ, so close that it may be fitly described as union with him. (2) It expresses symbolically a series of acts corresponding to the redeeming acts of Christ. Immersion=Death. Submersion=Burial (the ratification of Death). Emergence=Resurrection. All these the Christian has to undergo in a moral and spiritual sense, and by means of his union with Christ. As Christ by his death on the cross ceased from all contact with sin, so the Christian, united with Christ in his baptism, has done once for all with sin and lives henceforth a reformed life dedicated to God.
[Similar testimonies and admissions might easily be greatly multiplied, but there is no need; these among the more recent will suffice.]
that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,-As Christ was raised from the dead through the glorious strength of God to a new life, we were raised to walk no more in the sins that have been put off in baptism, but were raised [from the watery burial with death between us and the old life of sin] to walk in the new life in Christ. He is still showing why we cannot sin that grace may abound.
so we also might walk in newness of life.-[Newness of the element of life, of the living, animating principle; not the life that is lived day by day, but the life that liveth in us. (Gal 3:20; Col 3:3-4). We ought to exhibit the conduct proper to that life into which we were born through faith at our baptism. The conduct of life is here expressed by the figure of walking, as in the similar passage in Gal 5:25. Compare also walk in love (Eph 5:2) and walk in wisdom (Col 4:5). The life in Christ is new. and this quality is made permanent by the substantial form, newness of life.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
we are: Rom 6:3, Col 2:12, Col 2:13, Col 3:1-3, 1Pe 3:21
that: Rom 6:9, Rom 8:11, 1Co 6:14, 2Co 13:4, Eph 1:19, Eph 1:20, Eph 2:5, Eph 2:6
by the: Mat 28:2, Mat 28:3, Joh 2:11, Joh 2:19, Joh 2:20, Joh 11:40, Col 1:11
even: Rom 6:19, Rom 7:6, Rom 12:1, Rom 12:2, Rom 13:13, Rom 13:14, 2Co 5:17, Gal 6:15, Gal 6:16, Eph 4:17, Eph 4:22-24, Eph 5:8, Phi 3:17, Phi 3:18, Col 1:9-12, Col 2:11, Col 2:12, Col 3:10, Col 4:1, 1Pe 4:1, 1Pe 4:2, 2Pe 1:4-9, 1Jo 2:6
Reciprocal: Joh 5:19 – for Joh 5:25 – when Act 2:24 – God Act 10:40 – General Act 19:5 – they Act 22:16 – arise 1Co 15:4 – that 1Co 15:29 – what Gal 2:20 – crucified Gal 3:27 – as many Eph 4:5 – one baptism Eph 4:24 – new Eph 5:14 – arise Phi 3:10 – and the power Col 1:10 – ye Tit 2:12 – denying Heb 6:2 – the doctrine 1Pe 1:14 – not 1Pe 2:2 – newborn
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE BAPTIZED CHRISTIAN
We are buried with Him by baptism into death.
Rom 6:4
Baptism marks the formal acceptance and public profession of Christ.
I. The believer is formally united to Christ in baptism.He is then called by Christs name, and the vows of the Lord are upon him. He accepts Christ as his representative before God, and Christ accepts him as His representative among men. He is to be henceforth a living epistle of Christ, to be known and read of men.
II. The believer dies with Christ in baptism.As Christ died on the cross for sin, a man who surrenders himself to Christ (baptism being the seal of this surrender) dies to sin. He thereby declares that holiness, not sin, is the great end of his life.
III. The believer rises with Christ in baptism.Even so we also should walk in newness of life. As he who disappeared for a moment in the flowing stream seemed to rise with his impurities carried away from him by the unresting current, so the child of God in the baptism of the Spirit, of which baptism by water is the type, rises in the pure air with his sins washed away, not only from his conscience but from his hearts desires.
IV. The believer becomes with Christ a sharer in Divine strength in baptism.As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so the believer walks by Divine strength in newness of life; as the Spirit descended and abode in Christ at His baptism, so does the Spirit strengthen and uphold and guide those who sincerely take upon them the name of Christ.
Illustrations
(1) As Arthurs knights rose from their inauguration with the image of Arthur himself lighting up their features, and his purpose filling their hearts, so the man who gives himself unreservedly to Christ has henceforth His image stamped on his heart and life, and looks abroad on life with new eyes, and walks abroad with other and higher and purer aims. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
(2) A child, seeing how helplessly and inertly his fathers ship lies, or is pulled from berth to berth, in the dock, might well wonder how she is to carry father thousands of miles away and bring him back again; but when he sees her out on the free sea with her sails spread, and the wind swelling them and speeding her on, he begins to understand how different a ship is when moored to the quay from what she is on the ocean with its billows under her and its fresh breeze bearing her on its wings.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
6:4
Rom 6:4. This verse incidentally shows how baptism is performed–by a burial and rising–but it was not written for that purpose. In truth, no passage was written to show the form or “mode” of baptism,. for the word itself shows that. Whenever a person goes to quibbling about the “mode” of baptism, he is not ready for the ordinance anyway. What he needs but lacks is a sincere belief in Jesus Christ. It is not an arbitrary declaration that baptism is necessary for the new life with Christ. The principle has already been shown in the preceding verse that it is in baptism that we get into the death of Christ. Well, all people should know that Jesus was dead when he shed his blood (Joh 19:33-34), and it is his blood’ that saves, therefore a man has to be baptized in order to come in contact with the blood. The comparison of death and burial is continued. When Christ came from the grave alive, he was never to die again (verse 9); likewise, when a man has died to sin and has been buried with Christ in baptism, he is thereby made alive spiritually, and when he comes out of that watery grave, he too is expected to live a new life in Cjirist, and not again become dead in sins.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 6:4. Therefore we were buried with him through baptism. A stronger expression than that of the last verse. That the custom of baptism by immersion is alluded to is generally admitted, but the emersion is as significant as the immersion. The death of the old man is at the same time the birth of the new. One form may be more striking than another, may have the earliest usage in its favor; but it seems improper to make the efficacy of the rite depend upon the quantity of water, or upon the mode of its application.
Into his death; for the appropriation of its full benefit, namely, the remission of sins and reconciliation with God.
In order that, as Christ was raised up, etc. The death and resurrection of Christ stand together; so the Christian who is in fellowship with Christ, shares in his life.
Through the glory of the Father. The glorious collective perfection of God certainly affected the raising of Jesus chiefly as omnipotence (1Co 6:14; 2Co 13:4; Eph 1:19, etc.); but the comprehensive significance of the wordselected with conscious solemnity, and in highest accordance with the glorious victory of the Sonis not to be curtailed on that account (Meyer).
In newness of life; this is more emphatic than a new life; a life which never grows old, whose characteristic newness is imperishable.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
To urge Christians to farther measures and degrees of mortification of sin, and living unto holiness, the apostle uses here a double argument, one from our baptism, the other from the resurrection of Christ.
Observe, 1. The argument to move us to die unto sin, drawn from our baptism; We are buried with him by baptism into death. The apostle alludes, no doubt, to the ancient manner and way of baptizing a person in those hot countries, which was by immersion, or putting them under water for a time, and then raising them up again out of the water; which rite had also a mystical signification, representing the burial of our old man sin in us, and our resurrection to newness of life.
Learn hence, That the ordinance of baptism lays every baptized person under the strongest engagements and highest obligations to die unto sin, and walk in newness of life. The metaphors of burying and rising again, do imply and intimate thus much: Burial implies a continuing under death; thus is mortification a continued act, a daily dying unto sin; and raising again, supposes a person never more to be under the power of death.
Observe, 2. Another forcible argument to encourage us to die to sin, and walk in newness of life, is drawn from the resurrection of Christ; As he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so should we also walk in newness of life.
Here note, 1. The proposal of a pattern and examplar to us; Christ was raised from the dead.
2. The author and efficient cause of Christ’s resurrection; He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father; that is, by the glorious power of the Father; yet not without his own power as God: So Christ told the Jews, Destroy this temple of my body, and in three days I will raise it up again.
Note, 3. The conformity or similitude on our part: as Christ arose, so should we arise out of the grave of sin, and walk in newness of live.
Learn hence, That Christ’s resurrection is a powerful motive, and lays a Christian under strong obligations and engagements to arise from sin, and walk in newness of life. Christ’s resurrection is both a pattern and a pledge of our resurrection; a pattern after which we are to conform in our rising from the grave of sin.
Did Christ rise early and speedily? so should we: He arose early in the morning of the day, so should we in the morning of our youth; he rose voluntarily and cheerfully, so should we, rejoicing at our spiritual liberty and resolution never to die more; so should we arise, with desires and endeaveours, that spiritaul death may never more have dominion over us.
And if Christ’s resurrection be thus a pattern of our resurrection now, it will be a pledge of a blessed resurrection at the last day.
Observe, lastly, The duty which every baptized person lies under an obligation to perform, in conformity ot Christ, into whose death they are baptized; and that is, to walk in the newness of life.
Where note, For our encouragement, the account which the scripture gives of the properties of the new life, which such are buried and risen with Christ, do assuredly live: And here we find it is the most noble life, the most delectable life, the most profitable life, the most holy and heavenly life: holy in its principle and motive, holy in its aim and end, holy in its rule and actings.
In a word, newness of life is a preparation for and an introduction into eternal life, and must needs be the most excellent life; for it is a life from God it is a life laid out for God, ye, it is the life which God himself lives ; and none must expect to live with him in heaven hereafter, that do no walk in newness of life but if we have our fruit unto holiness our end will be everlasting life.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 4. Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: in order that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
If baptism were, or represented, the death of which Paul had spoken, the therefore would be very hard indeed to explain (see the commentaries). But if baptism is in his view the external proof of death, as burial is the proof of decease, he can take up again the course of his argument and say: In consequence of this death to sin undergone in Christ, we have therefore been buried with Him…in order also to rise with him, which signifies: buried with Him, not with the aim of remaining in the tomb or of issuing from it to return to the past life, but to penetrate into a new life, whence a return to the old is definitely precluded. The clause into death cannot depend on the verb we are buried, as Grot., Hofm., and Ostervald’s version would have it. How could it be said of one interred that he thereby descends into death? The converse would be the truth. This clause, therefore, must be made directly dependent on the word baptism: by baptism into death. The substantive , baptism, like those generally derived from verbs in , has a forcible meaning which allows it easily to have this position and the relation between the notions expressed by the two substantives is so close, that no article was needed to connect them. What also guides us quite naturally to make the words into death dependent on the word baptism, is Rom 6:3 : We were baptized into his death. Undoubtedly we must explain the phrase: baptism into death, like the similar ones preceding: baptism (with water) in relation to death. Our versions translate: into His death (Osterv., Oltram.). But if this had been the apostle’s view, he would have expressed it by adding the pronoun , of Him. He evidently wished to leave the notion of death in all its generality, that the word might be applied at once to His death, and ours included in His. It is in relation to these two deaths which have taken place that the believer is baptized.
Modern commentators are not at one on the question whether the apostle means to allude to the external form of the baptismal rite in the primitive church. It seems to us very probable that it is so, whether primitive baptism be regarded as a complete immersion, during which the baptized disappeared for a moment under water (which best corresponds to the figure of burial), or whether the baptized went down into the water up to his loins, and the baptizer poured the water with which he had filled the hollow of his hands over his head, so as to represent an immersion. The passage, Mar 7:4, where the term , a washing, bath, lustration, baptism (Heb 6:2), is applied not only to the cleansing of cups and utensils, objects which may be plunged into water, but also to that of couches or divans, proves plainly that we cannot insist on the sense of plunging, and consequently on the idea of total immersion, being attached to the term baptism. It is nevertheless true, that in one or other of these forms the going down into the water probably represents, in Paul’s view, the moral burying of the baptized, and his issuing from the water, his resurrection.
The relation between the two facts of burial and baptism indicated by the apostle is this: Burial is the act which consummates the breaking of the last tie between man and his earthly life. This was likewise the meaning of our Lord’s entombment. Similarly by baptism there is publicly consummated the believer’s breaking with the life of the present world, and with his own natural life.
It is a mistake to represent the idea of the first proposition of the verse as entirely isolated from all that follows. Paul means, not only that we have been buried with Christ, but that we have been so, like Him, in order to rise again.
The , in order that, is the essential word of the verse. In the case of an ordinary death, the man is inclosed in the tomb, to remain there; but he who is buried with Christ is buried with one who died and rose, consequently with the intention of rising also. This idea is essential to the apostle’s argument. Indeed, the believer’s death, even with the baptism which seals it, would not suffice for a sure guarantee that he will not return to his old life of sin. Did not Lazarus come forth from the tomb to resume life? What, for one dead, renders his return to an earthly existence definitively impossible, is his passing to a new and higher life by the way of a resurrection. Now, such is precisely the believer’s case. By being buried with Christ by baptism, he does not intend to remain thereafter inactive and lifeless, any more than Christ Himself, when giving Himself up to the grave, thought of remaining in it. As Christ gave His life to take it again (Joh 10:17-18), the believer renounces his life of sin for Him only to receive from Him another and wholly different life (Luk 17:33). His baptism, which supposes his death, tends to life. To die to sin, is it not to die to death, and consequently to spring to life? As, then, by His burial Christ broke the last tie with His earthly life and entered on a higher life, so the believer, by his baptism, finds himself placed between a life which has taken end, and a wholly different one which opens before him. Paul knew by experience the situation indicated by his , in order that. In Acts 9 we behold him placed between death on the one hand (Rom 6:8-9), and the burial of baptism, followed by resurrection through the Holy Spirit, on the other (Rom 6:17-18). Comp. also the position of the penitents of Pentecost, to whom Peter says: Be baptized for the pardon of your sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Spirit. It is therefore true, as the end of the verse says, that what the resurrection was to Christ, renewing by the Holy Spirit is to believers. And in this last fact there is found the answer to the question of Rom 6:2 : How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Perhaps, if we were no more than dead, it would not be possible to answer this question so positively. But if, being dead, we have penetrated to a higher life, the relation to the old life is most certainly terminated. The conjunction , even as, indicates only an analogy, a resemblance. The sequel will bring out the internal necessity on which this resemblance rests.
The expression: from the dead, is an allusion to the state of death to sin in which the believer receives baptism, and which paves the way for his spiritual resurrection.
The glory of the Father by which Christ was raised, is not the display of His power apart from His other perfections; but, as usual, that of all the divine attributes combined. For they have all contributed to this masterpiece of the revelation of God on the earth, righteousness as well as mercy, wisdom as well as holiness. Speaking of the resurrection of Lazarus, Jesus said to Martha: Thou shalt see the glory of God. But here we have to do with the resurrection of the Son; and therefore Paul says: by the glory of the Father.
The word so expresses the analogy of the second fact with the first, irrespectively of the individuals in whom it is realized; the we also sets forth the living personalities in whom the prototype is reproduced.
In speaking of believers, the apostle does not rest, as in the case of Christ Himself, on the bare fact of their resurrection, but solely on its permanent consequence, the new life which flows from it: that we should walk in newness of life. He does so because, in regard to believers, he wishes solely to shut out their return to their former life; now this result springs from life in a state of complete realization, rather than from the act by which it is entered on.
The term , to walk, is a frequent figure with Paul for moral conduct.
Paul says: newness of life, instead of new life. By this turn of expression he gives less prominence to the idea of life (in contrast to that of death) than to the new nature of the second life in contrast to the nature of that which it excludes. The slightest detail of style is always strictly determined in his writing by the principal thought.
Infant baptism does not seem to me to be either assumed or excluded by this passage. The baptism assumed here is certainly that of adults, and adults only. The act of baptism is put between faith (with death to sin through faith) on the one hand, and renewing by the Holy Spirit on the other. Baptism, thus understood, therefore involves the actual fact of faith and of death to sin, as much as burial implies the death of the buried. But, at the same time, it is clear that Paul adduces the rite of baptism such as it exists at the time of his writing. The baptism of adults was that which, from the nature of things, suited the first generation of believers, as the parents required to belong to the church before there could be any question of introducing their children into it. The apostle does not therefore think of excluding a form which may arise when, circumstances having changed, family life shall have become an integral element in that of the church. The only question is, whether this modification is in keeping with the spirit of the gospel. And this is a question which it seems to me impossible to examine here without breaking the plan of our exegesis.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. [The apostle’s argument rests on the nature of Christ’s death, etc. Jesus died to take away our sins, to bear them for us, and rid us of them (Joh 1:29; 1Pe 2:24); but in order that he may do this for us, so that we may partake of the benefits of his death, it is necessary that he be our representative; i. e., that we be in him, and in him at the very time when he thus gave himself unto death, so that his death becomes, representatively, our death. To aid us in conceiving the accomplishment of this unity with him in the act of death, the ordinance of baptism was instituted, so that, by it, we are not only baptized into him, but also into his death. One purpose, therefore, of baptism is to so unite us with him that, in him, we may die to sin and a life in a sinful kingdom of darkness, and rise to live again in righteousness in a sinless kingdom of light (Rom 7:4; Rom 8:13; Gal 2:19-20; Gal 5:24; Gal 6:14; Col 2:11-20). Such being the nature of the ordinance, it precludes the idea that a baptized person could continue to commit sin. You must therefore recognize, says the apostle, that in baptism you died with Christ unto sin, or are ye so ignorant of the meaning of that ordinance that you do not understand that it symbolizes your death to sin and your resurrection to righteousness? If you are thus ignorant, then know that all we who were immersed into Christ were immersed into his death. We were buried with him, through immersion, into death as to our sin: that like as Christ was raised from the dead, because the glory of the just and holy Father required it, so we also might walk or act in a new manner of life; i. e., a sinless life. Thus baptism, which is a burial and resurrection performed in water, attests, in the strongest manner, the Christian’s obligation to be sinless. Only the dead are buried. Brief as is the momentary burial of the immersed, it is, nevertheless, a seal of their death to sin, and hence of their cleansing from it (Act 2:38; Act 22:16). Only the resurrected rise from the grave. Therefore, one who has not fully resolved to live as having died unto sin has no right to be lifted from the waters of baptism. If he is still dead in trespasses and sin, he should remain buried.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
4. Therefore we have been buried along with him through baptism into death. We find here that the baptism is the agent who executes the work of the burial into the death, which means the atonement of Christ, which is the receptacle of all sin which escapes damnation; i. e., every old man of sin must either be buried into the atonement of Christ and be left there forever, or be burned in hell fire world without end. It is astounding that Bible readers identify this baptism with the burial which is positively contradictory of Pauls plain statement which makes the baptism the undertaker instead of the interment. In order that, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so may we also walk in newness of life. Here we see that the resurrection must be homogeneous to the interment, being performed by the omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit, who raised the body of Christ from the dead. Therefore it follows as a logical sequence that the Holy Ghost Himself is the agent in both operations, i. e., the internment and the resurrection, thus clearly and demonstratively proving that this is none other than the baptism of the Holy Ghost slaying the man of sin and burying him forever into the death of Christ, the only receptacle of sin as an alternative of hell. When this old body of sin is thus forever removed, eternally buried in the death of Christ, the new man, having been resurrected in regeneration, now utterly disencumbered and free, walks on forever with God in newness of life. We must bear in mind that water is not mentioned in this chapter, while all the language is homogeneous with the baptism of the Spirit and out of harmony with a material transaction. If your conscience demands baptism by immersion in water, do not hesitate to satisfy your convictions in the beautiful symbolism of the material ordinance. Yet it is exceedingly pertinent that we do not mar this beautiful, clear and demonstrative statement of the supernatural baptism of the Spirit by confounding it with an outward ceremony. The thing buried in this transaction is not your physical body, which is buried in water and baptized by immersion, and the same identical body immediately raised up by the muscular power of the administrator; but that old body of sin, which is invisible and spiritual, having been crucified by the Holy Ghost in sanctification and now buried into the death, i. e., the atonement of Christ, and left there forever; because if unfortunately Satan raises him up, the last state is worse than the first. Hence we see the utter heterogeneity of two transactions, the internment involving the old man of sin after he has been crucified by the Holy Ghost, putting him down deep into the death of Christ, the exterminator of all sin, there to abide forever; while the new man, the son of God, created in the heart by the Holy Ghost in regeneration, is raised up to walk in newness of life forever. Hence we see that one thing is buried, so to remain forever. An infinitely different thing is the subject of the resurrection; i. e., the old man, the son of the devil, is the subject of the interment; and the new man, the son of God, the subject of the resurrection. Hence we see the impertinency in the interpretation of this Scripture as simply applying to water baptism by immersion, in which the same physical body is the subject both of the interment and the resurrection.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 4
Buried. Those who consider immersion the only proper mode of baptism, attach great importance to this expression, as an incidental indication that that mode was the one present to the apostle’s mind.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead {d} by the glory of the Father, even so {e} we also should walk in newness of life.
(d) So that Christ himself, being released of his infirmity and weakness, might live in glory with God forever.
(e) And we who are his members rise for this purpose, that being made partakers of the very same power, we should begin to lead a new life, as though we were already in heaven.