What does Paul mean in...
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Object:
What does Paul mean in our passage from the book of Romans when he says, "All of us
who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death"?
All of us have at least a certain amount of fear of death -- or we should have, so we don't jump off high buildings or go skateboarding down the interstate. The good news is: At our baptism we were buried with Christ, drowned in the waters, then raised up out of them, raised from the dead, as he was. So we have already died.
And now, as Paul says in verse 9, we walk in newness of life, and our Lord calls us to move along on our faith journey. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, "When Christ calls [us], he bids [us] come and die." Our Lord calls us to die to our own will and follow him. He calls us to abandon our attachments to this world -- and follow him.
All of us have at least a certain amount of fear of death -- or we should have, so we don't jump off high buildings or go skateboarding down the interstate. The good news is: At our baptism we were buried with Christ, drowned in the waters, then raised up out of them, raised from the dead, as he was. So we have already died.
And now, as Paul says in verse 9, we walk in newness of life, and our Lord calls us to move along on our faith journey. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, "When Christ calls [us], he bids [us] come and die." Our Lord calls us to die to our own will and follow him. He calls us to abandon our attachments to this world -- and follow him.
