FAQ: Baptism
Does Anything Happen at Baptism?

Or don’t you know that all
of us who were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized
into His death?

We were therefore buried
with Him through baptism
into death in order that,
just as Christ was raised
from the dead through the
glory of the Father, we too
may live a new life.

If we have been united
with Him like this in
His death, we will certainly
be united with Him in His
resurrection.

For we know that our old
self was crucified with Him
so that the body of sin
might be done away with,
that we should no
longer be slaves to sin –
because anyone who has
died has been freed from sin.
Romans 6:3-7 When one is baptized does anything happen, or should anything happen? The apostle Paul answers this in his writings.

Paul speaks of the moment at which both Jews and Gentiles are clothed with Christ and describes it as the moment of baptism (Galatians 3: 26,27). For New Testament writers, the mere mention of baptism presupposes a belief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Son of God. The possibility of a nonbeliever’s being baptized or of a believer’s refusing baptism does not even occur to Paul. The Romans’ baptism was much more than symbolic or figurative – some things happened, and those things made it totally inappropriate and inconsistent for them to continue to live in sin:

1. they were baptized into Christ Jesus,
2. into His death,
3. united with Him,
4. their old selves were crucified with Him,
5. their bodies of sin were done away with,
6. they died to sin, and
7. they were justified from sin.

When the people heard this,
they were cut to the heart
and said to Peter and the
other apostles, “Brothers,
what shall we do?” Peter
replied, “Repent and be
baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of your
sins. And you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit”.
Acts 2:37, 38 It seems that Paul is making clear that baptism puts us into union with Christ and we participate with Him in His suffering and death, making us recipients of all the blessing implied by that death.

When one submits himself to be baptized, as an expression of his faith and out of love for God, God affects change in the status of that person. That is why Paul wrote, “having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). The change in relationship does not come because we merit or deserve it. It is God’s Power , the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, that works the salvation of man, but He requires that we submit in trusting obedience. “For it is by grace you have been saved, though faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).