Romans 6. Baptism
1. Review Romans 6:1–13
and answer the following questions in writing:
o
What must be done with sin before baptism can occur?
We must “burry” the sin from our lives. We
need to place it behind us and move forward with a new life in Christ, leaving
behind all those things that are impure in the sight of Christ. It says to let
no mortal sin reign in our bodies.
o
What events from Christ’s life are symbolized in baptism?
During baptism we see that the symbols of being placed down
into the water are being taken down unto death like Christ did and was
crucified for our sins so that we might be able to be resurrected clean just as
he was resurrected. So we use the death and resurrection of Christ to bury our
old sinful self in the water and be raised in the new life and hope of Christ
as we come out of the water like Christ came out of the tomb.
o
Considering this symbolism, why couldn’t someone be baptized by sprinkling?
I was actually talking to my wife about this and how
sometimes other churches think that they can be baptized by sprinkling when
there is no symbolic way of representing the giving of our old sinful selves
and rising again like Paul is suggesting here in these scriptures. We need to
be able to go down under something and then be raised up again.
o
What do these verses teach us about how we can maintain the “newness of life”?
We do not let sin enter into our bodies. We are to follow
Christ and not let the sin enter into our bodies. If we do then we start to
work for the devil and are not able to have the spirit to be with us as strong.
The thing that really caught my attention was that was that we should also
encourage the members around us to not fall into Satan’s trap but rather that
we look out for one another and help God’s work move forward and not be halted
by our temptations.
o
According to Mosiah 3:19, what part of us would ideally die at baptism?
In Mosiah we learn that we need to put off the natural man
so that we can become a saint in the sight of God. So this is the part of us
that would die when we are baptized so that we can take the attributes of
Christ which are not the same as the natural man. The natural man tendencies
would be things similar to what selfish reason might say or what would be for
our benefit no matter what the cost. Since this is not the way of Christ this
is not the way that the Lord would have us act and therefore we need to put of
these selfish ways as well as any other natural desire that are opposite the
will of God.
2. Study Romans 6:14–23.
Write a paragraph that describes how we know whose servant we are. Then write a
statement identifying the true source of freedom.
One of the things that we are taught in theses
scriptures is that we will follow that influence that we are under. This can be
seen as we either turn to the Lord and what he did as either a saving grace or
as a law that will cover our sins. This can be seen as we are the product of
what we do. Therefore if we follow in sin then we are following to death of the
spirit. The opposite is also true we can see that when we follow obedience
plays unto righteousness and we become the product of Christ. This means that
when we are following the commandments and being obedient then we are following
Christ but when not obeying or in other words when we are sinning then we are
following the Satan. By what we decided to choose to do we also decide on who
we are following in during that time.
This means that really the only true
source of freedom that we can have is in Christ, because he is the only source
that will lead to freedom. Satan leads to the captivity. We know this from the scriptures
of especially the Book of Mormon. The works that will lead us to true freedom
are the things that will also bring us unto Christ.
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