Although many would admit that the church doesn’t save, the impression left with some is that membership in the church organization is where salvation is held. Under this misconception, baptism is viewed as a final initiation into the church where salvation is received. Some speak of becoming “members of the church” (another phrase not found in the Bible as relates to joining an organization), as something that takes place when one is baptized. Since man can’t see the heart and can only see the baptism, we are often more concerned about the joy it gives us to witness the baptism and our right to receive such into our fellowship than we are the soul of the individual that’s being baptized. I’m convinced, that while it may look good for the church record books, too many are baptized before understanding the commitment of discipleship. They are told they are now “members of the church,” a baby brother or sister in the family. What should be a joyful occasion is met with sadness when some of those same individuals had never begun to live because they had never “crucified the old man.” This is the result of a misplaced emphasis on church membership. The emphasis should be upon the “newness” of a resurrected life, not the giving of a tract entitled “Now that I’m a Christian” that gives an outline of the work of the church organization and the role of each individual in it.
Consider the teaching on baptism in the context of Romans 6-8 that demonstrates the process of being freed from sin and having the mind of the Spirit and the spirit of God/Christ/Holy Spirit dwelling in us (a new life). It is life-altering because there is a death that takes place. A burial must then naturally follow. Romans 6 describes baptism as a burial into Christ’s death (v.4) in order to walk in newness of life. The progression is as follows: One must die to be buried and buried to be raised. It’s a process because it does not just take into account only the burial, but it includes death to sin that precedes it and a resurrection to life that follows it (v. 5).
It has been debated among some in my tradition that since verse seven reads, “For he that is dead is freed from sin,” this cannot refer to the change of heart (repentance) because you would have people freed from sin before they’re baptized. The reasoning is that, since we can’t have people being saved before their baptism, this can’t be an accurate interpretation of the passage. A suggestion that clarifies this difficulty is that one must take into account the fact that one is freed from sin in the sense that they no longer live in it. One must understand that they no longer live in it because they are dead. That is a good start but, it is only the start of a process that has not been completed. The end result for which we long is not death, but life. Being freed from sin because we have died to sin is not where it ends. It is only where it begins. The burial of the body of sin is equivalent to burying anything that is put behind us (Phil. 3:13) but it anticipates a resurrection to life. In this passage, life begins at the resurrection of the new man, not at the death of the old man. Notice that the death and freedom from sin are followed by verse 8 that reads, “Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” I have yet to see anyone be buried in water without also raising them up out of the water, a figure of life. The end result is not only the putting off of the old man of sin, but the putting on of the new man (Eph. 4:24). Therefore, I must be raised with him just as I was buried with him. So, he that is dead is freed from sin, but he’s alive until the resurrection. And the resurrection cannot be a reality until the burial (baptism).
However, I fear that many have been buried and raised, but have never died. The whole argument that begins chapter six is that one cannot live in something to which they have died (verse 2) and that we must crucify the old man that the body of sin might be destroyed (Rom. 6:6). The body of sin is destroyed when it is crucified, after which we are freed from it? Baptism is not the miracle cure for sin nor would it be so construed if we did not believe that “church membership” through baptism is what saves us. It’s not church membership that saves us nor is that taught in Romans 6 or any other text of which I am aware. The emphasis in Romans 6 is on a new life (Romans 12:1-2). For that new life to begin, the old man must die. Thus, being free from sin and its bondage to unrighteousness, I can be resurrected to a life of righteousness.
As a result, being freed from sin in this context does not mean that we automatically have life. Paul is discussing the process that begins with putting the old way to death. Once this is accomplished, we are then buried with him by baptism into his death? Why? Notice carefully the answer: “in order that we may be raised unto life” (6:4, 8-11). Being freed from sin takes place at the crucifixion of the body of sin (cf. Gal. 6:20) where it may no longer have dominion and reign in our mortal bodies. We are freed from sin at that point because the old man is dead! The body of sin is crucified. If it is dead and buried, then we may live the resurrected life. What reigns in life is Christ in us. For this reason, Peter can write that baptism is the answer of a good conscience by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:21). Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there can be no life and without being raised with him, we cannot live with him (6:8, cf. 2 Cor. 13:4). This is why baptism is so important.
Therefore, the crucifixion of the old man, which is begun before baptism, results in being dead. Obviously, one cannot live any longer in it (Romans 6:2) if they are dead. Freedom from sin, here, does not mean alive in Christ. The individual has neither been buried with Christ nor have they“put on” Christ because they have not been baptized into Christ (cf. Gal. 3:27). Such a soul may be “pricked in the heart” (Acts 2:37) being convicted of sin and desirous to no longer live in it. Denying self, they have yielded to Jesus Christ as their Lord. This change of mind is repentance and fits the biblical paradigm requiring it (cf. Acts 17:30) Included in the Lord’s will, however, is obedience to baptism (that “form of teaching”, Romans 6:17). It not only washes away those sins of the past (Acts 22:16) like the proverbial “burying of the hatchet,” as the past is put behind the penitent soul, but it also gives the occasion to begin this new walk in which one is clothed with Christ. As soon as one rises from that grave, they are said to “walk in newness of life.”
Therefore, baptism is not an initiation rite into the membership of some church organization. It is the beginning of a new life that is lived every day – a life that bears the fruit of the Spirit as a sign of God’s seal of ownership. The called-out body (ekklesia), then, is the by-product of each of these souls who have been born from above. It is composed of saints, i.e. a new creation wherein is a new and living way. To illustrate the powerless emphasis on the mere adherence to the form of baptism, imagine children that play with dolls by dressing them up and include certain elements of real life (house, furniture, appliances, car, etc.). They can only create the image of life. The image is still lifeless. Having all the right elements of the ritual in place does not create the organic church any more than a child can give breath to lifeless dolls. The institutional concept of the church supports the performance of certain elements that are just as lifeless as they are in child’s play.