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Today’s Devotionalβ¦
Who was baptized into Christ and into His death? Certainly not you! No, I am not talking about water baptism (that was just a shadow).
To be baptized into Christ is to first of all be out of Christ with a foreign identity, then get into Him, and take up His identity – this description only fits “Adam”.
The baptism into Christ happened in John 12:32 when Jesus said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”
Jesus drew all men into Himself, carried them all to the cross, and died together with them. That was the baptism into His life and death.
You cannot be baptized into where you already live, or into an identity you already bear.
But Acts 17:28 says “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; β¦ For we are also his offspring.”
The man born after the cross cannot be baptized into Christ, but the man born before the cross, who also witnessed the death of Christ, was certainly baptized into Christ.
Water baptism today is not baptism into Christ and His death. At best, only a depiction of the gathering of all men into Christ, to share His same identity. Ponderβ¦
May the Holy Spirit grant you understanding, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen