“We die with Him, so we can live with Him”

Baptism 

(Romans 6)

“All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins…shall be received by baptism into his church” (D&C 20:37).

In order to be baptized we must be willing to break away from sin by repenting and sin no more. In Romans 6:1-13, Paul reminded church members of the covenants they had made at baptism and explained to them that in choosing to sin they were not keeping with that baptismal covenant.

Paul explained the importance of baptism, and how it resembles the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Elder L. Tom Perry stated, “The ordinance of baptism symbolizes Christ’s death and Resurrection—we die with Him so we can live with Him” (“The Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, May 2008, 46). Paul said that as we are “buried” with Christ by baptism we become dead to sin, and are “raised up from the dead” with “newness of life” in Christ (Romans 6:4).

For these reasons, we couldn’t be baptized by simply the sprinkling of water. By being completely immersed in water, we are leaving all our sins “buried,” or behind, and resurrecting as new people in Christ. Paul clearly described how baptisms were to be by his comparison to death, burial, and resurrection. By this manner, Jesus was also baptized.

These verses teach us that by choosing to be baptized we chose to put the “natural man” to rest in order to become righteous people in Christ. To maintain this “newness of life” in Christ, we are further told by Paul to repent, and not sin anymore. He reminds us that we became “free from sin,” when Jesus Christ paid for our sins through His Atonement (Romans 6:18).  Because we are His children, and His people, if we choose to continue to live without sin, and seek the righteous things in life we will receive “the gift of God [which] is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).