Commenting on the theology of baptism in the New Testament, Joshua Jipp wrote that:
. . . baptism initiates a
participation into the Messiah’s death and resurrection and is a prerequisite
for sharing in the Messiah’s kingdom (e.g., Mark 10:35-45; Rom 6:3-11; Eph
5:26). This participation in Christ’s death is the means whereby the church is
transferred from the powers of sin and is the means whereby the church is
transferred from the powers of sin and darkness and made to share in Christ’s
saving kingdom. Thus, Paul’s baptismal formulae assert that for those who are “in
Messiah Jesus” (Gal 3:28) who have been baptized into “one body” and have “drunk
from one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13), and who are now “clothed with the new humanity”
of Christ (Col 3:10-11; cf. 2:11-13) ethnic, economic, and gender identities
are no longer the basis for ascriptions of human value and worth. The ritual of
baptism symbolizes and expresses the believer’s union with the Messiah and the
receipt of his Spirit expresses the believer’s union with the Messiah and the
receipt of the Spirit (Rom 6:3-11; 1 Cor 12:11-13). This is stated well by
Isaac Augustine Morales: “Union with Christ and union with other believers are
of a piece precisely because the former is ordered, at least in part, to the
latter (Gal 3:27-28; 1 Cor 12:13). Baptism thus initiates a life patterned on
Christ’s own death and resurrection (cf. Rom 8:17) that empowers and obligates
the baptized to live out the holiness that builds up the body of Christ (1 Cor
12:25), and will one day fully bloom to eternal life (Rom 6:22-23) (“Baptism
and Union with Christ,” in “In Christ” in Paul: Explorations in Pauls
Theological Vision of Participation, ed. Michael J. Tate et al. [Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 2014], 176). (Joshua W. Jipp, The Messianic Theology of the
New Testament [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2020], 383-84)
