For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.

“Every soul, then, by reason of its birth, has its nature in Adam until it is born again in Christ; moreover, it is unclean all the while that it remains without this regeneration; and because unclean, it is actively sinful, and suffuses even the flesh (by reason of their conjunction) with its own shame. Now although the flesh is sinful, and we are forbidden to walk in accordance with it, and its works are condemned as lusting against the spirit, and men on its account are censured as carnal, yet the flesh has not such ignominy on its own account. For it is not of itself that it thinks anything or feels anything for the purpose of advising or commanding sin. How should it, indeed? It is only a ministering thing, and its ministration is not like that of a servant or familiar friend-animated and human beings; but rather that of a vessel, or something of that kind: it is body, not soul. Now a cup may minister to a thirsty man; and yet, if the thirsty man will not apply the cup to his mouth, the cup will yield no ministering service. Therefore the differentia, or distinguishing property, of man by no means lies in his earthy element; nor is the flesh the human person, as being some faculty of his soul, and a personal quality; but it is a thing of quite a different substance and different condition, although annexed to the soul as a chattel or as an instrument for the offices of life. Accordingly the flesh is blamed in the Scriptures, because nothing is done by the soul without the flesh in operations of concupiscence, appetite, drunkenness, cruelty, idolatry, and other works of the flesh,-operations, I mean, which are not confined to sensations, but result in effects. The emotions of sin, indeed, when not resulting in effects, are usually imputed to the soul: "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after, hath already in his heart committed adultery with her." But what has the flesh alone, without the soul, ever done in operations of virtue, righteousness, endurance, or chastity? What absurdity, however, it is to attribute sin and crime to that substance to which you do not assign any good actions or character of its own! Now the party which aids in the commission of a crime is brought to trial, only in such a way that the principal offender who actually committed the crime may bear the weight of the penalty, although the abettor too does not escape indictment. Greater is the odium which falls on the principal, when his officials are punished through his fault. He is beaten with more stripes who instigates and orders the crime, whilst at the same time he who obeys such an evil command is not acquitted.”

“For the soul is not corruptible or mortal; but this which is mortal and corrupting is of flesh, in order that, "as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly? " For the image of the earthy which we have borne is this, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." But the image of the heavenly is the resurrection from the dead, and incorruption, in order that "as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life."”

“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.”

“For the dead sinner who hath gone down to baptism cometh up alive, even as Christ rose from the grave on the third day; but instead of becoming alive on the third day like our Lord, the sinner is renewed by three baptisms in three names. And as our Lord after His resurrection departed to a spiritual life from the corporeal life which He led before His crucifixion, so also the man, who hath been quickened into life by baptism as from the grave, walketh in a new life according to the doctrine of Paul.”

“After the Apostle has shown that through the grace of Christ we are freed from past sin — both the sin introduced through the first man, and that which abounded through the law — here he shows that through the grace of Christ the power to resist future sins is given to us. And concerning this he does two things. First, he raises a question arising from what has gone before; second, he resolves it, at the place, "God forbid. For if," and so on. Now he had said above that where sin abounded, grace abounded still more; which someone could indeed wrongly understand, as though the abundance of sin were the cause of the superabundance of graces. And therefore he introduces the question, saying: "What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" Which indeed it would be necessary to say, if the abundance of sin were the cause of abounding grace, and not merely the occasion, as was said above. Whence also above, in Romans 3:8, the Apostle says: "as we are slandered, and as some affirm that we say, Let us do evil, that good may come." Jeremiah 12:1: "It is well with all that transgress and do wickedly." Then, when he says, "God forbid," etc., he resolves the question raised. And first he assigns the reason why we ought not to remain under sin; second, he draws the intended exhortation, at the place, "Let not sin therefore reign," and so on. Concerning the first he does two things. First he assigns the reason why one should not remain in sin; second he shows that we possess the capacity for this, that we should not remain under sin, at the place, "Knowing this," and so on. Concerning the first he sets forth this reasoning: if we are dead to sin, we ought not to live in it; but we are dead to sin; therefore we ought not to live in sin. Concerning this, then, he does four things. First he sets forth the conditional; second he proves the antecedent, at the place, "Know you not," etc.; third he draws the consequent, at the place, "that as Christ," etc.; fourth he proves the necessity of the inference, at the place, "For if we have been planted together," and so on. He says therefore first, "God forbid" — namely, that with this intention one should remain in sin, that grace may abound — because, as is said in Ecclesiasticus 15:21, "God hath commanded no man to do wickedly." And the reason for this is: for if we are dead to sin — namely, by this, that sin has been put to death in us — how shall we still live in it? For the natural order of things does not allow that one should return from death to life. Isaiah 24:14: "they that die shall not live," and so on. Canticle 5:3: "I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?" Then, when he says, "Know you not," etc., he proves the antecedent, namely, that the faithful are dead to sin. And first he proposes the middle term to show his proposition; second he makes clear the middle term he has introduced, at the place, "For we are buried together with him," and so on. He says therefore first, "Know you not," as if to say: what is to be proposed to you is so manifest that it is not permitted for you to be ignorant of it — 1 Corinthians 14:38: "if any man know not, he shall not be known" — "that all we who are baptized in Christ Jesus": which is understood in three ways. In one way, according to the institution of Jesus Christ, Matthew, last chapter: "teach ye all nations, baptizing them," and so on. Second, through the invocation of Jesus Christ, Acts 8:12: "men and women were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." Third, in Christ Jesus, that is, in a certain conformity to Christ Jesus — Galatians 3:27: "as many of you as have been baptized in Christ Jesus have put on Christ." Thus, then, we are configured to his death, into the likeness of his death, as it were representing the very death of Christ in ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4:10: "always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus." Galatians, last chapter: "I bear the marks of Jesus in my body." Or, "in his death," that is, through the power of his death. Apocalypse 1:5: "he hath washed us from our sins." Whence from the side of Christ hanging on the cross, after death, there flowed blood and water, as is said in John 19:34. Just as, therefore, we are configured to his death, insofar as we die to sin, so he himself died to mortal life, in which there was a likeness of sin, although sin itself was not there. Therefore all of us who have been baptized are dead to sin. Then, when he says, "For we are buried together," etc., he proves the middle term he had proposed, namely, that we are all baptized in conformity to the death of Christ, saying: "For we are buried together with him by baptism into death." As if to say: burial is owed only to the dead. Matthew 8:22: "let the dead bury their dead." Now through baptism men are buried with Christ, that is, they are conformed to his burial. For just as one who is buried is placed beneath the earth, so one who is baptized is immersed beneath the water. Whence also in baptism a threefold immersion is made, not only on account of faith in the Trinity, but also to represent the three days of Christ's burial. And just as the three days of burial make only one burial, so the threefold immersion makes only one baptism. And from this it is also the case that on Holy Saturday solemn baptism is celebrated in the Church, when the burial of Christ is commemorated, just as also on the vigil of Pentecost, when solemnity is kept for the Holy Spirit, from whose power the water of baptism receives its cleansing force, as is said in John 3:5: "unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit," and so on. It must be considered, however, that bodily someone first dies and afterward is buried; but spiritually the burial of baptism causes the death of sin, because a sacrament of the new law effects what it signifies. Whence, since the burial that is effected through baptism is a sign of the death of sin, it effects death in the one baptized. And this is what he says, that we are "buried into death," so that by this very fact, that we receive in ourselves the sign of the burial of Christ, we obtain the death of sin. Then, when he says, "that as Christ," he infers the consequent, namely, that we ought not to live in sin. For this indeed he introduces a likeness drawn from the resurrection of Christ, saying, "that as Christ rose from the dead by the glory of the Father" — that is, by the power of the Father, from which the Father himself is glorified, according to that word of Psalm 56:8: "arise, my glory" — "so we also may walk in newness of life," that is, that we may proceed by the good works of life. For the life of sin has oldness, because it leads us into corruption. Hebrews 8:13: "that which decayeth and groweth old is near its end." Whence also it is said in Baruch 3:10: "How happeneth it, that thou art in thy enemies' land, thou art grown old in a strange country?" and so on. Whence also it is called newness of life, by which someone returns to integrity, namely, so as to be without sin. Psalm 102:5: "thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's." Ephesians 4:23: "be renewed in the spirit of your mind." Then, when he says, "For if," he proves the necessity of the inference. For Christ, after he was dead, rose again; whence it is fitting that those who are conformed to Christ as to his death in baptism should also be conformed to his resurrection through innocence of life. And this is what he says: "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death" — that is, if we take up in ourselves the likeness of his death, so that we are incorporated into him as a branch that is grafted onto a plant, so that we are, as it were, grafted into the very passion of Christ — "we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection," namely, planted together with the likeness of it, so that, that is, in the present we may live innocently, and in the future we may arrive at a like glory. Philippians 3:21: "he will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory." 2 Timothy 2:11: "if we be dead with him, we shall live also with him." Thus, therefore, just as the Apostle, through the likeness of the death of Christ, proved that we are dead to sin — which he had set forth beforehand as it were the antecedent — so, through the likeness of his resurrection, he proved that we ought not to live in sin; which he had introduced above as it were the consequent.”

“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death,.... The nature and end of baptism are here expressed; the nature of it, it is a "burial"; and when the apostle so calls it, he manifestly refers to the ancient and only way of administering this ordinance, by immersion; when a person is covered, and as it were buried in water, as a corpse is when laid the earth, and covered with it: and it is a burial with Christ; it is a representation of the burial of Christ, and of our burial with him as our head and representative, and that "into death"; meaning either the death of Christ as before, that is, so as to partake of the benefits of his death; or the death of sin, of which baptism is also a token; for believers, whilst under water, are as persons buried, and so dead; which signifies not only their being dead with Christ, and their communion with him in his death, but also their being dead to sin by the grace of Christ, and therefore ought not to live in it: for the apostle is still pursuing his argument, and is showing, from the nature, use, and end of baptism, that believers are dead to sin, and therefore cannot, and ought not, to live in it; as more fully appears from the end of baptism next mentioned; 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 the end of baptism is not only to represent the death and burial, but also the resurrection of Christ from the dead, which is here said to be "by the glory of the Father", some read the words, "unto the glory of the Father"; meaning either, that the Father might be glorified hereby; or that Christ, being raised from the dead, might enjoy glory with the Father, as he does in human nature; but rather the phrase expresses the means by which, and not the end to which, Christ was raised from the dead: and by the "glory of the Father" is meant, the glorious power of the Father, which was eminently displayed in raising Christ from the dead; and as baptism is designed to represent the resurrection of Christ, which is done by raising the person out of the water, so likewise to represent our resurrection from the death of sin, to a life of grace: whence it must be greatly incumbent on baptized believers, who are raised from the graves of sin by the power of Christ, to "walk in newness of life"; for since they are become new creatures, and have new hearts and new spirits given them, new principles of light, life, grace, and holiness implanted in them, and have entered into a new profession of religion, of which baptism is the badge and symbol, they ought to live a new life and conversation.”

“We are buried with him by baptism into death - It is probable that the apostle here alludes to the mode of administering baptism by immersion, the whole body being put under the water, which seemed to say, the man is drowned, is dead; and, when he came up out of the water, he seemed to have a resurrection to life; the man is risen again; he is alive! He was, therefore, supposed to throw off his old Gentile state as he threw off his clothes, and to assume a new character, as the baptized generally put on new or fresh garments. I say it is probable that the apostle alludes to this mode of immersion; but it is not absolutely certain that he does so, as some do imagine; for, in the next verse, our being incorporated into Christ by baptism is also denoted by our being planted, or rather, grafted together in the likeness of his death; and Noah's ark floating upon the water, and sprinkled by the rain from heaven, is a figure corresponding to baptism, Pe1 3:20, Pe1 3:21; but neither of these gives us the same idea of the outward form as burying. We must be careful, therefore, not to lay too much stress on such circumstances. Drowning among the ancients was considered the most noble kind of death; some think that the apostle may allude to this. The grand point is, that this baptism represents our death to sin, and our obligation to walk in newness of life: without which, of what use can it or any other rite be? Raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father - From this we learn, that as it required the glory of the Father, that is, his glorious energy, to raise up from the grave the dead body of Christ, so it requires the same glorious energy to quicken the dead soul of a sinner, and enable him to walk in newness of life.”

“Therefore we are--rather, "were" (it being a past act, completed at once). buried with him, by baptism into death--(The comma we have placed after "him" will show what the sense is. It is not, "By baptism we are buried with Him into death," which makes no sense at all; but, "By baptism with Him into death we are buried with Him"; in other words, "By the same baptism which publicly enters us into His death, we are made partakers of His burial also"). To leave a dead body unburied is represented, alike in heathen authors as in Scripture, as the greatest indignity (Rev 11:8-9). It was fitting, therefore, that Christ, after "dying for our sins according to the Scriptures," should "descend into the lower parts of the earth" (Eph 4:9). As this was the last and lowest step of His humiliation, so it was the honorable dissolution of His last link of connection with that life which He laid down for us; and we, in being "buried with Him by our baptism into His death," have by this public act severed our last link of connection with that whole sinful condition and life which Christ brought to an end in His death. that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father--that is, by such a forth-putting of the Father's power as was the effulgence of His whole glory. even so we also--as risen to a new life with Him. should walk in newness of life--But what is that "newness?" Surely if our old life, now dead and buried with Christ, was wholly sinful, the new, to which we rise with the risen Saviour, must be altogether a holy life; so that every time we go back to "those things whereof we are now ashamed" (Rom 6:21), we belie our resurrection with Christ to newness of life, and "forget that we have been purged from our old sins" (Pe2 1:9). (Whether the mode of baptism by immersion be alluded to in this verse, as a kind of symbolical burial and resurrection, does not seem to us of much consequence. Many interpreters think it is, and it may be so. But as it is not clear that baptism in apostolic times was exclusively by immersion [see on Act 2:41], so sprinkling and washing are indifferently used in the New Testament to express the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus. And just as the woman with the issue of blood got virtue out of Christ by simply touching Him, so the essence of baptism seems to lie in the simple contact of the element with the body, symbolizing living contact with Christ crucified; the mode and extent of suffusion being indifferent and variable with climate and circumstances).”