c. of the Christian sacrament of initiation after
Jesus’ death (freq. pass.; s. above 2a; Iren. 3, 12, 9 [Harv. II 63, 3]) Mk
16:16; Ac 2:41; 8:12f, 36, 38; 9:18; 10:47;
16:15, 33; 18:8; 22:16; 1 Cor 1:14-17; D 7
(where baptism by pouring is allowed in cases of necessity); ISm 8:2.—β. τινὰ εἰς (τὸ) ὄνομά
τινος (s. ὄνομα
1dγ(ב baptize in or w. respect to the
name of someone: (τοῦ) κυρίου
Ac 8:16; 19:5; D 9:5;
Hv 3, 7, 3. Cp. 1 Cor 1:13, 15. εἰς τ. ὄν. τ. πατρὸς καὶ τ. υἱοῦ καὶ τ. ἁγίου πνεύματος Mt 28:19 (on the original form
of the baptismal formula see FConybeare, ZNW 2, 1901, 275-88; ERiggenbach, BFCT
VII/1, 1903; VIII/4, 1904; HHoltzmann, Ntl. Theologie2 I 1911, 449f;
OMoe: RSeeberg Festschr. 1929, I 179-96; GOngaro, Biblica 19, ’38, 267-79;
GBraumann, Vorpaulinische christl. Taufverkündigung bei Paulus ’62); D 7:1, 4.
Likew. ἐν τῷ ὀν. ᾽Ι Χριστοῦ Ac 2:38 v.l.; 10:48; ἐπὶ τῷ ὀν. ᾽Ι Χρ. Ac 2:38 text; more briefly εἰς Χριστόν
Gal 3:27; Ro 6:3a. To be
baptized εἰς Χρ. is for Paul an
involvement in Christ’s death and its implications for the believer εἰς τὸν
θάνατον αὐτοῦ
ἐβαπτίσθημεν vs. 3b
BDAG, s.v. Βαπτιζω
In the Christian community baptism was undoubtedly practised from the
very first (Ac. 2:38, 41; 8:12 etc.; R. 6:3; 1 C. 12:13: ἐβαπτίσθημεν, understood
biographically, leads us back to something like 33 a.d.) . . . εἰς denotes the constitutive
element of a form of baptism: εἰς Χριστόν, Gl. 3:27; R. 6:3 with εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ ; εἰς τὸν Μωυσῆν, 1 C. 10:2; εἰς τὶ ἐβαπτίσθητε; … εἰς τὸ Ἰωάννου βάπτισμα, Ac. 19:3. The idea of a
mystically understood medium of baptism (“to be immersed in Christ etc.”) is
always and in every respect wide of the mark. βαπτίζειν means technically “to
baptise in water.”
Albrecht Oepke, “Βάπτω, Βαπτίζω,
Βαπτισμός, Βάπτισμα, Βαπτιστής,” Theological Dictionary of the New Testament,
ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, 10 vols.
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964–), 1:539
69. Q. How does holy baptism signify and seal to you that the one
sacrifice of Christ on the cross benefits you?
A. In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing[1] and with it
gave the promise that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body,
so certainly His blood and Spirit wash away the impurity of my soul, that is,
all my sins.[2]
[1] Matt. 28:19. [2] Matt. 3:11; Mark 16:16; John 1:33; Acts 2:38; Rom.
6:3, 4; 1 Pet. 3:21.
Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
That baptism is a declaration and confirmation of the will of God concerning our salvation which he promises to effect and grant is evident: . . . From other passages of Scripture in which baptism is spoken of as a saving ordinance . . . "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him in baptism," &c. . . . Another end of baptism is the declaration of our duty to God, and the binding of ourselves and the Church to gratitude, or to faith and repentance. . . . To repentance, that being continually admonished by this rite, that we are washed by the blood of Christ, and renewed by his Spirit, we may walk in newness of life, and thus shew our thankfulness to God for his benefits, according to what is said: . . . "How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein. Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death." Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like us Christ was raised up from the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Mark 1:4. 1. Cor. 6:11. Rom. 6:2, 3, 4.)
The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus, on the Heidelberg Catechism (4th ed.; trans. G. W. Williard; Cincinnati: Elm Street Printing Company, 1888) 358-59, 359, 360
1. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ,
to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death
and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him; of remission of sins; and of
giving up into God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life.
( Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2;12; Galatians 3:27; Mark 1:4; Acts 22:16; Romans
6:4 )
London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689), "Chapter 29: Of Baptism"
By the date of Romans
"baptize" had become almost a technical expression of the rite of
Christian initiation by water, and this is surely the meaning the Roman Christians
would have given the word.
Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle
to the Romans (The New International Commentary on the New Testament; Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1996), 359
3. Know ye not, etc. What he intimated in the last verse—that Christ
destroys sin in his people, he proves here by mentioning the effect of baptism,
by which we are initiated into his faith; for it is beyond any question, that
we put on Christ in baptism, and that we are baptized for this end—that we may
be one with him. But Paul takes up another principle—that we are then really
united to the body of Christ, when his death brings forth in us its fruit; yea,
he teaches us, that this fellowship as to death is what is to be mainly
regarded in baptism; for not washing alone is set forth in it, but also the
putting to death and the dying of the old man. It is hence evident, that when
we become partakers of the grace of Christ, immediately the efficacy of his
death appears. But the benefit of this fellowship as to the death of Christ is
described in what follows.
John Calvin, Commentary on Romans
Ver. 3 Or do you not know that we all, when baptized into Jesus
Christ, when the sacred water sealed to us our faith-received contact with
Him and interest in Him, were baptized into His Death, baptized as
coming into union with Him as, above all, the Crucified, the Atoning? Do you
forget that your covenant-Head, of whose covenant of peace your baptism was the
divine physical token, is nothing to you if not your Saviour who died,
and who died because of this very sin with which your thought now parleys; died
because only so could He break its legal bond upon you, in order to
break its moral bond?
Handley Moule, The Epistle to
the Romans (Fort Washington, Pa.: Christian Literature Crusade, 1975),
162-63
6:4 The believer has been “buried with [Christ] through baptism into
death.” Burial certifies the reality of death. Baptism is the ritual act that
portrays this burial. That Paul did not speak of faith at this point is immaterial.
He was using the ritual act of baptism as a symbol of the complete redemptive
event that finds its effectual cause in the death of Christ and its completion
in the faith of those who believe.
Robert H. Mounce, Romans (The
New American Commentary 27; Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1995),
149
The apostle assumes that those (including himself) who had listened to
the public preaching of the gospel or who by any other means had been
converted, had publicly confessed their faith and had been baptized. See Matt.
28:19; Acts 2:37, 38; 9:18. He now asks, “Don’t you know that all of us who
were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
William Hendriksen, Exposition
of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, 2 vols. (New Testament Commentary; Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1980), 1:195
[Paul in Rom 6:3-4] used Christian baptism
as the basis for his exhortations to believers in Jesus to live a new life in
Christ and as the primary illustration of what it means for one to live such a
new life
Richard N. Longenecker, The
Epistle to the Romans: A Commentary on the Greek Text (New International
Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2016), 612