Adela Yarbro Collins on Baptism and Romans 6

In Romans 6:1-14 the ritual of baptism is explicitly interpreted as a reenactment of the death and resurrection of Jesus in which the baptized person appropriates the significance of that death for himself or herself. In this understanding of the ritual, the experience of the Christian is firmly and vividly grounded in the story of the death and resurrection of Christ. These qualities of reenactment of a foundational story and the identification of the participant with the protagonist of the story are strikingly reminiscent of what is known about the initiation rituals of certain mystery religions, notably the Eleusinian mysteries and the Isis mysteries.[71]

 One of the distinctive features of Roans 6 is that Paul avoids saying “we have risen” with Christ; rather he speaks of “newness of life.” The implication of Paul’s restraint is that the transformation is not complete. There is still an apocalyptic expectation of a future, fuller transformation into a heavenly form of life. This expectation fits with Paul’s use throughout the passage of the imperative alongside the indicative. “Newness of life” is a real, present possibility, both spiritually and ethically, but the actualizing of that possibility requires decision and commitment as well as grace.[72]

Notes for the Above:

[71] For the story or ιερος λογος of the Eleusinian mysteries, see the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. An English translation of this hymn, along with an introduction and bibliography has been published by Arvin W. Meyer, The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook (New York: Harper & Row, 1987), 17-30. For an account of the initiation into the mysteries of Isis, see Apuleius, The Golden Ass, Book 11. See also Plutarch’s On Isis and Osiris. Meyer has include book 11 of the Golden Ass and selections from Plutarch’s work (ibid., 176-93 and 160-72).

 [72] Note that the author of Colossians does not hesitate to say that Christians have risen with Christ (2:12, 3:1). Baptism is also linked to the resurrection of Christ in 1 Pet 3:21. See also the related interpretation of baptism as rebirth in John 3:3-8 and Titus 3:5.

Source: Adela Yarbro Collins, Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2000), 237.