“Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” (Rom 6:3-4)
Paul’s comments on jBaptism give us another insight into this sacrament of initiation. He introduces the symbolism of water. In the first passage of the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, creation is described as emerging from water. (Gen 1:1-2) Death is sinking back into water. Thus water can represent both life and death.
For Paul, Jesus’ death is descent into water; the water becomes Jesus’ tomb. His Resurrection is the reemergence from the watery tomb. The word baptism is derived from pthe Greek word to dip or to immerse. John’s baptism was a dipping or immersion in the Jordan River. In the early Church, Christians were immersed in water at Baptism. Even today, the Church emphasizes the important symbolism of baptism by immersion.
Thus, the natural water to be used in the Sacrament of Baptism carries the double symbolism of death and life. Paul explains that the waters of baptism symbolize our dying with Christ, dying to our former life and emerging from the waters as a new creation, sharing in Jesus’ Resurrection.
Let’s consider the cleansing role of water which also enters into its role in baptism. Water symbolizes our being purified and cleansed of the sins of our past life; they are washed away in baptism. In the case of infant baptism, the Church sees the Sacrament of Baptism as purifying the child from original sin, caused by the fall of Adam and Eve, resulting in the loss of their intimate relation with God and being in an involuntary state of separation from God at birth.
Baptism is based on our faith and commitment to discipleship. Of course an infant cannot make an act of faith or commitment, so they are baptized on the basis of the faith of their parents. In the ways of nature, infants are totally dependent upon their parents for survival. Physically, they cannot exist independently. Parents are responsible for their children on a spiritual or supernatural level as well as a physical level. God and the parents surround the child with love before the child can respond with faith. It is God’s love that will one day enable the child to respond.
So, with the Sacrament of Baptism, we are incorporated into the Body of Christ, we participate in the death and Resurrection of Jesus and we are cleansed and purified to “live in newness of life.”
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