What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Where is this written? St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 6, "We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
Ephesians 4:22--...put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires...
Devotion--Luther's imagery of baptism in this particular explanation is a great one. Daily the old sinful nature should be drowned and die, along with all sins and evil desires. Then, in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he tells them that they are to put off the old self, which we would equate with the Old Adam in the baptismal explanation.
Putting off sin and sinful desires. Sounds good, and yet the reality that we face is that it is very challenging. Some of you may have tried to quit a bad habit before. How easy was that to do? How much more challenging would it be to put off a sinful desire that is so deeply rooted within you that you have to die for it to go away?
And yet, we find that God's grace does indeed give us a strength that we could not have imagined through our baptism. While we may never be able to put off the sinful desire, to some degree, we do have control over how that sinful desire springs up in our life. A sinful desire of lust does not have to lead to the sin of adultery, or of viewing pornography, or the like. While it may not be easy, to some degree we can "put off" the fruit of the sinful nature.
Is it easy? No. It may even require that we humble ourselves and ask for help from God and from other people. We may have to build in some form of accountability to give us assistance in putting off the sin. We may need to go to our pastor or a trusted fellow Christian who can hear our confession and announce God's grace and forgiveness to us. These may be some of the ways that we can work to "put off" the outward expression of the Old Adam.
The thing that we are thankful for, however, is that God has already washed us through the baptismal waters. We struggle to put off the Old Adam for our sake, and for the sake of our neighbor, not because it calls for more of God's grace. In fact, our starting point in this struggle is that we are already forgiven and washed by God. The Old Adam has been drowned. We have the victory through Jesus, and that gives us strength and hope as we battle to "put off" the old self.
Ephesians 4:22--...put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires...
Devotion--Luther's imagery of baptism in this particular explanation is a great one. Daily the old sinful nature should be drowned and die, along with all sins and evil desires. Then, in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he tells them that they are to put off the old self, which we would equate with the Old Adam in the baptismal explanation.
Putting off sin and sinful desires. Sounds good, and yet the reality that we face is that it is very challenging. Some of you may have tried to quit a bad habit before. How easy was that to do? How much more challenging would it be to put off a sinful desire that is so deeply rooted within you that you have to die for it to go away?
And yet, we find that God's grace does indeed give us a strength that we could not have imagined through our baptism. While we may never be able to put off the sinful desire, to some degree, we do have control over how that sinful desire springs up in our life. A sinful desire of lust does not have to lead to the sin of adultery, or of viewing pornography, or the like. While it may not be easy, to some degree we can "put off" the fruit of the sinful nature.
Is it easy? No. It may even require that we humble ourselves and ask for help from God and from other people. We may have to build in some form of accountability to give us assistance in putting off the sin. We may need to go to our pastor or a trusted fellow Christian who can hear our confession and announce God's grace and forgiveness to us. These may be some of the ways that we can work to "put off" the outward expression of the Old Adam.
The thing that we are thankful for, however, is that God has already washed us through the baptismal waters. We struggle to put off the Old Adam for our sake, and for the sake of our neighbor, not because it calls for more of God's grace. In fact, our starting point in this struggle is that we are already forgiven and washed by God. The Old Adam has been drowned. We have the victory through Jesus, and that gives us strength and hope as we battle to "put off" the old self.
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