Rom 6:3

“Concurring with these statements, Paul, speaking to the Romans, declares: "Much more they who receive abundance of grace and righteousness for [eternal] life, shall reign by one, Christ Jesus." It follows from this, that he knew nothing of that Christ who flew away from Jesus; nor did he of the Saviour above, whom they hold to be impassible. For if, in truth, the one suffered, and the other remained incapable of suffering, and the one was born, but the other descended upon him who was born, and left him again, it is not one, but two, that are shown forth. But that the apostle did know Him as one, both who was born and who suffered, namely Christ Jesus, he again says in the same Epistle: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized in His death? that like as Christ rose from the dead, so should we also walk in newness of life."”

“Now it would not at all have been consistent that any rule of holiness and righteousness should be especially enjoined for the flesh, if the reward of such a discipline were not also within its reach; nor could even baptism be properly ordered for the flesh, if by its regeneration a course were not inaugurated tending to its restitution; the apostle himself suggesting this idea: "Know ye not, that so many of us as are baptized into Jesus Christ, are baptized into His death? We are therefore buried with Him by baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised up from the dead, even so we also should walk in newness of life." And that you may not suppose that this is said merely of that life which we have to walk in the newness of, through baptism, by faith, the apostle with superlative forethought adds: "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of Christ's death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.”

“But some think as if God were under a necessity of bestowing even on the unworthy, what He has engaged (to give); and they turn His liberality into slavery. But if it is of necessity that God grants us the symbol of death, then He does so unwilling.”

“If you were "in him," you have your norm; if you have passed over "into Christ," you will be bound to be (yet) better.”

“Paul is saying by this that if we have died to sin then we must necessarily be buried with Christ in baptism, but … if we have not died to sin, then we cannot be buried with Christ. For nobody is buried while still alive. Then too, anyone who is not buried together with Christ has not been validly baptized.”

“What does being "baptized into His Death" mean? That it is with a view to our dying as He did. For Baptism is the Cross. What the Cross then, and Burial, is to Christ, that Baptism hath been to us, even if not in the same respects. For He died Himself and was buried in the Flesh, but we have done both to sin. Wherefore he does not say, planted together in His Death, but in the likeness of His Death. For both the one and the other is a death, but not of the same subject; since the one is of the Flesh, that of Christ; the other of sin, which is our own. As then that is real, so is this. But if it be real, then what is of our part again must be contributed. Here he hints, along with the duty of a careful walk, at the subject of the resurrection. In what way? Do you believe, he means, that Christ died, and that He was raised again? Believe then the same of thyself. For this is like to the other, since both Cross and Burial is thine. For if thou hast shared in Death and Burial, much more wilt thou in Resurrection and Life. For now the greater is done away with, the sin I mean, it is not right to doubt any longer about the lesser, the doing away of death. But this he leaves for the present to the conscience of his hearers to reason out, but himself, after the resurrection to come had been set before us, demands of us another, even the new conversation, which is brought about in the present life by a change of habits. When then the fornicator becomes chaste, the covetous man merciful, the harsh subdued, even here a resurrection has taken place, the prelude to the other. And how is it a resurrection? Why, because sin is mortified, and righteousness hath risen again, and the old life hath been made to vanish, and this new and angelic one is being lived in.”

“Do you not know about this sacrament of baptism? In the Scriptures baptism is received in three ways: with water, with the Holy Spirit (who is also called "fire") and with blood in martyrdom. We who are believers have died with Christ in our baptism.”

“To be baptized into the death of Christ is nothing else but to die to sin, just as he died in the flesh.”

“Since we are baptized we confess that we have died to the world and have been buried to sin and the devil. .”

“Christ died to sin once, but in that he lives, he lives to God. We have undergone a death like his and have practically been buried together with him. For in that we carry his mortification about in our bodies, we have been buried together with him.”

“He explains how we died to sin, and says: through baptism. We were baptized into the death of Christ; therefore, we too must die, as He died. For what the cross and the tomb are for Christ, baptism is for us, though in a different respect.”

“Then when he says, know you not, he proves the antecedent, namely, that the faithful are dead to sin: first, he presents the fact he uses to prove his point; second, he proves it, at for we are buried together. First, therefore, he says: know you not, as if to say: what I am about to propose to you is so obvious that you cannot fail to see it—if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized (1 Cor 14:38)—namely, that all we who are baptized in Christ Jesus: which can be interpreted in three ways. First, as indicating that baptism was instituted by Jesus Christ: make disciples of all nations, baptizing them (Matt 28:19); second, as indicating that it is conferred in the name of Christ: in the name of Jesus Christ they were baptized (Acts 8:12); third, in Christ Jesus, i.e., as indicating baptism into some likeness of Christ Jesus: for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal 3:27). Are baptized in his death, i.e., into a likeness of his death as re-presenting in ourselves the very death of Christ: always carrying in the body the death of Jesus (2 Cor 4:10); I bear on my body the marks of Jesus (Gal 6:17). Or in his death, i.e., by virtue of his death: he freed us from our sins by his blood (Rev 1:5). Hence, from the side of Christ hanging on the cross flowed blood and water after his death (John 19:34). Therefore, just as we are configured to his death, inasmuch as we have died to sin, so he has died to his mortal life, in which there was the likeness of sin, although no sin was there. Therefore, all we who are baptized are dead to sin.”

“Paul says this so that we might know that once we have been baptized we should no longer sin, since when we are baptized we die with Christ. This is what it means to be baptized into his death. For there all our sins die, so that, renewed by the death we have cast off, we might be seen to rise as those who have been born again to new life, so that just as Christ died to sin and rose again, so through baptism we might also have the hope of resurrection. Therefore, baptism is the death of sin so that a new birth might follow, which, although the body remains, nevertheless renews us in our mind and buries all our old evil deeds.”

“For you are translated from your former vain and tedious mode of life and have contemned the lifeless idols, and despised the demons, which are in darkness, and have run to the "true light," [John 1:9] and by it have "known the one and only true God and Father," [John 17:3] and so are owned to be heirs of His kingdom. For since you have "been baptized into the Lord's death," [Romans 6:3] and into His resurrection, as "new-born babes," [1 Peter 2:2] you ought to be wholly free from all sinful actions; "for you are not your own, but His that bought you" [1 Corinthians 6:19-20] with His own blood.”