God Almighty’s mission is to reconcile mankind to Himself. (2 Co 5:18) So, He adopts as His children (Ro 8:15) all those who believe that He sent His only-begotten Son to redeem them from sin, and to be their Good Shepherd. 1 Jn 5:1, Jn 10:11
Jesus’ death and resurrection is what opened the door for us to be reconciled to our Creator. It is now possible to move out of the world ruled by the devil (2 Co 4:4) with its spirit of death, into the kingdom of God with its spirit of life. We actually go through that door when we follow our Shepherd’s lead (Phil 3:10) by committing to the crucifixion of our ‘old self’, (Gal 2:20) and being resurrected as a ‘new self’, (Eph 4:22-24) a new creation. (2Co 5:17) We let others know about our death to the spirit of the world and our dedication to living out of the spirit of God by being baptized. Ro 6:5
That full immersion in water takes us out of the air we have breathed all our lives. That air cannot sustain us while we’re underwater. We would die if we stayed. That symbolizes the death of our ‘old self’. That death is a good thing, because Paul writes that the devil is the ruler of the air, (Eph 2:2) and speaking of the church, writes that Jesus cleanses her by washing her with the water of His word. (Eph 5:26) Then, when we come up out of the water, we are able to breathe again. But this time we, resurrected as the ‘new self’, are breathing the spirit, or air, of Christ’s kingdom. (In both Hebrew and Greek the words for ‘spirit’ can also be rendered ‘air’.) Christ is the ruler of this air, or spirit.
Our baptism symbolizes the death of the ‘old self’ which has been molded by the spirit of the world, (Ro 12:2) and the resurrection as a ‘new self’ molded, or conformed to the image of God’s Son. (Ro 8:29) This ‘new creation’ is God-centered rather than self-centered. (Mt 22:37-39) From then on, we fill our hearts with Jesus’ words, His values, His priorities, His ways. As we do this, people see that we are abiding in Him, and He, by His words, His spirit, abides in us. Jn 15:4, 7
This ‘new self’ is the one in whom Christ abides, and who abides in Christ, and is adopted by our heavenly Father. (Ro 8:15) All people are His children in the flesh, but only those who have dedicated themselves to living in His spirit are His spiritual children. And to these He offers life everlasting, life in abundance in His love Jn 10:10
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