ROMANS LESSON 143, Baptism Gr. Baptizo Essentially Means to Identify w/ Someone or Something 12-2-21

Romans 6:3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

“that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus”
The Greek says literally, “that all baptized into Christ Jesus”

The Gr. word “baptize” was not translated; it was transliterated, (spelling the Greek word with English letters). If they had translated it with the word “identified” or “identification”, it would make many verses much easier to understand.

Does the word “water” appear in verse 3 or verse 4? No. Yet most people who read these verses believe that they are about water baptism. But they are definitely not!

Water baptism is a ritual which teaches or represents something that is real and we must remember that ritual is not reality. The baptisms found in vs. 3 and vs. 4 are realities where real identifications occur. They are not “wet (water) baptisms” which are rituals but “dry baptisms (identifications)” which are real.

Baptism by water is a visible picture of the spiritual reality of “Retroactive Positional Truth” (dying to sin) and “Current Positional Truth” (walk in newness of life).

Water baptism cannot save anyone, it never has and never will. But some will argue differently by quoting 1 Peter 3:21

1 Peter 3:20-21 …eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21) And corresponding to that, baptism (identification) now saves you-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-- through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Noah and his family were saved because they were identified with the Ark and the Ark represented J.C. Being in the Ark was like being in Christ, safe. The people who perished died because they were identified with the water which represented sin and death. The eight survivors were not saved by water baptism, they were safe and dry in the ark. The unbelievers were in the water, they were not saved.