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Water baptism symbolizes the believer’s total trust in and total reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as a commitment to live obediently to Him. It also expresses unity with all the saints (Ephesians 2:19), that is, with every person in every nation on earth who is a member of the Body of Christ (Galatians 3:27–28). Water baptism conveys this and more, but it is not what saves us. Instead, we are saved by grace through faith, apart from works (Ephesians 2:8–9). We are baptized because our Lord commanded it: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
Paul uses relationship as the measurement of true spiritual maturity. During this time, many of the believers in Rome had not fully grasped the complete message of the gospel of grace; so they measured a person’s spiritual depth by their morals, their external behavior, and their ability to follow a list of religious rules.
Paul was fully aware that there were many rule followers who had successfully changed many of their external behaviors…but had never been transformed in their hearts. Religion is dominated by rules and focuses on the external changes…“behavior modification”…but Jesus is focused on changing you from the inside out. The exterior will take care of itself when the soul of a person is supernaturally transformed.
