Welcome to yet another time with God in the pages of this paper, we pray that God will grant us the grace to understand His word even as we study together.
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 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. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. KJV
In our last publication, we dwelled so much on the issue of grace and what it means to our life in this scripture; today, we want to go deeper into application of what this grace has done. The scripture of discussion today comes with great mysteries of what Christ has done for us on the cross, we are trusting God to help us unveil these mysteries to your understanding as we consider these verses.
In V. 3. Paul asked Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
What does it mean to be baptized into Jesus Christ? In our Catechism, we do ask, ‘who gave you this name?’ in response we will say, “My God Fathers and God Mothers in MY BAPTISM; wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and inheritor of the Kingdom of heaven.
Baptism as we see here is intended to be that which brings us into union with Christ. i.e. in baptism we are being enrolled into Christ family. To be a member of Christ family is to say that one has being listed to be a member of the body of Christ so that he or she will now be called or recognized as a member.
1 Corinthians 12:13 writes “for we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” NIV what this means is this, as many that were baptized no matter where they are in the world, all share the same spirit of Christ which is the sign of our membership in Christ. (cf. Eph 4:30). This implies that whether you are a Hausa man or an Indian, an Igbo or a Yoruba, white skin or black skin; where you come from does not really matter.
The country, town or village you are born into does not matter, neither do the Church you attend matter, what matters is that you have become a member of one body in Christ hence even though you are from Arab; you are my brother because you share one spirit of Christ with everyone born of Christ.
The same way ones biological brother remains his brother even though he travels to another country; so are we all related in Christ. Just as the same blood runs in the veins of one’s biological brother who is living in a strange land far away from home, so do the same spirit of Christ running in all that are truly made His.
This is because; all who were baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ. Gal. 3:27 so that when you see Mr. Churchill of USA and Mr. Ezenduka of Nigeria they will have same resemblance because they have clothed themselves with the life of Jesus who they now bear his image.
However the next verse 4 comes with an expectation which now has become an issue to be looked into, it states “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.
Since we are now recognized by our new identity which is Christ, since we now belong to a new group and family, is there anyway way of life that is unique to this family of us that we now belong to which we must exhibit? Is there any characteristic that we must manifest as one who has being made part of a new body?
Paul’s answer to this question is like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should we walk in newness of life.
There is a way of life that we were formally known with; a lifestyle, which was not in conformity to the new life that Christ, gives to those that are baptized into Him. This lifestyle is the life of flesh, which is made manifest in different ways in the body. Life that is characterized with the fulfillment of the orgies of sin and drunkenness, in sexual immorality and debauchery, dissension and jealousy Rom 13:13, life of deceit and lies, life of envy, life that denies Gods righteousness; this kind of life is the type the Bible called living as the gentiles lived in Eph. 4:17.
In the Church today, we have Christians who has being assumed to be heavenly bound; they can preach and pray, they can perform miracles but they are not free from discrimination and tribal segregation. You cannot marry their daughter if you are from a particular part of the world no matter how devoted you are to Christianity. There are some who will never forgive you for a wrong you have done them even if you apologized, Christians who can go as far as telling lies about you just to dent your image, there are some whose character is as bad as devil himself, they are aggressive and hard to associate with, they lack love yet they are assume to have being baptized into Christ, sharing one spirit with all that is in Christ.
Paul stated here that since we have being baptized into Christ death and resurrected in him, we should live the new life which Christ has given us, a life of Grace which teaches us according Eph. 4:22 – 24 with regard to our former way of life, to put off our old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of our minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. This is because; when God’s grace is released, it opens our eyes to the sinfulness of our soul and the awesomeness of the cross so that we may turn away from our sins to embrace the cross. Grace is therefore abused when we who has being made to know the truth chose to remain in our lives of lie while we still pray for more grace.
Paul argued in verse 5 that if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: that is to say, if you are indeed a Christian why then do you still lie, fight, cheat, fornicate, drink, do things that should not be mentioned among Christians? If indeed you are a Christian why do you place your business above Church activities that you can miss a church appointment but not a business appointment, why do you place your social media life above the church that you can chat while in the church and it matters not to you?
Paul argued here that if indeed we are planted together in Christ likeness during his death then there should be a manifestation of His new life in us because our old man who causes us to sin and live our lives as we would and not as Christ would is crucified with Christ, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Brethren I want to remind us that we have been crucified with Christ and we should no longer live our own lives, for Christ now lives in us. The life we live in the body, we should live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us.
May God grant us the grace to understand this and live by it. Amen
Support our Vision By Donating
I invite you to join our Whatsapp group where we deliver to you fresh and undiluted teachings from the word of God in audios and written form.
Be part of What God is doing in this end time and be prepared for the coming of His dear Son Jesus Christ.
God bless you abundantly.
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 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. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. KJV
In our last publication, we dwelled so much on the issue of grace and what it means to our life in this scripture; today, we want to go deeper into application of what this grace has done. The scripture of discussion today comes with great mysteries of what Christ has done for us on the cross, we are trusting God to help us unveil these mysteries to your understanding as we consider these verses.
In V. 3. Paul asked Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
What does it mean to be baptized into Jesus Christ? In our Catechism, we do ask, ‘who gave you this name?’ in response we will say, “My God Fathers and God Mothers in MY BAPTISM; wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and inheritor of the Kingdom of heaven.
Baptism as we see here is intended to be that which brings us into union with Christ. i.e. in baptism we are being enrolled into Christ family. To be a member of Christ family is to say that one has being listed to be a member of the body of Christ so that he or she will now be called or recognized as a member.
1 Corinthians 12:13 writes “for we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” NIV what this means is this, as many that were baptized no matter where they are in the world, all share the same spirit of Christ which is the sign of our membership in Christ. (cf. Eph 4:30). This implies that whether you are a Hausa man or an Indian, an Igbo or a Yoruba, white skin or black skin; where you come from does not really matter.
The country, town or village you are born into does not matter, neither do the Church you attend matter, what matters is that you have become a member of one body in Christ hence even though you are from Arab; you are my brother because you share one spirit of Christ with everyone born of Christ.
The same way ones biological brother remains his brother even though he travels to another country; so are we all related in Christ. Just as the same blood runs in the veins of one’s biological brother who is living in a strange land far away from home, so do the same spirit of Christ running in all that are truly made His.
This is because; all who were baptized into Christ have clothed themselves with Christ. Gal. 3:27 so that when you see Mr. Churchill of USA and Mr. Ezenduka of Nigeria they will have same resemblance because they have clothed themselves with the life of Jesus who they now bear his image.
However the next verse 4 comes with an expectation which now has become an issue to be looked into, it states “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.
Since we are now recognized by our new identity which is Christ, since we now belong to a new group and family, is there anyway way of life that is unique to this family of us that we now belong to which we must exhibit? Is there any characteristic that we must manifest as one who has being made part of a new body?
Paul’s answer to this question is like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should we walk in newness of life.
There is a way of life that we were formally known with; a lifestyle, which was not in conformity to the new life that Christ, gives to those that are baptized into Him. This lifestyle is the life of flesh, which is made manifest in different ways in the body. Life that is characterized with the fulfillment of the orgies of sin and drunkenness, in sexual immorality and debauchery, dissension and jealousy Rom 13:13, life of deceit and lies, life of envy, life that denies Gods righteousness; this kind of life is the type the Bible called living as the gentiles lived in Eph. 4:17.
In the Church today, we have Christians who has being assumed to be heavenly bound; they can preach and pray, they can perform miracles but they are not free from discrimination and tribal segregation. You cannot marry their daughter if you are from a particular part of the world no matter how devoted you are to Christianity. There are some who will never forgive you for a wrong you have done them even if you apologized, Christians who can go as far as telling lies about you just to dent your image, there are some whose character is as bad as devil himself, they are aggressive and hard to associate with, they lack love yet they are assume to have being baptized into Christ, sharing one spirit with all that is in Christ.
Paul stated here that since we have being baptized into Christ death and resurrected in him, we should live the new life which Christ has given us, a life of Grace which teaches us according Eph. 4:22 – 24 with regard to our former way of life, to put off our old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of our minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. This is because; when God’s grace is released, it opens our eyes to the sinfulness of our soul and the awesomeness of the cross so that we may turn away from our sins to embrace the cross. Grace is therefore abused when we who has being made to know the truth chose to remain in our lives of lie while we still pray for more grace.
Paul argued in verse 5 that if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: that is to say, if you are indeed a Christian why then do you still lie, fight, cheat, fornicate, drink, do things that should not be mentioned among Christians? If indeed you are a Christian why do you place your business above Church activities that you can miss a church appointment but not a business appointment, why do you place your social media life above the church that you can chat while in the church and it matters not to you?
Paul argued here that if indeed we are planted together in Christ likeness during his death then there should be a manifestation of His new life in us because our old man who causes us to sin and live our lives as we would and not as Christ would is crucified with Christ, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Brethren I want to remind us that we have been crucified with Christ and we should no longer live our own lives, for Christ now lives in us. The life we live in the body, we should live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us.
May God grant us the grace to understand this and live by it. Amen
Support our Vision By Donating
I invite you to join our Whatsapp group where we deliver to you fresh and undiluted teachings from the word of God in audios and written form.
Be part of What God is doing in this end time and be prepared for the coming of His dear Son Jesus Christ.
God bless you abundantly.
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