Romans 6 and Baptism

1.    Review Romans 6:1–13 and answer the following questions in writing:

o       What must be done with sin before baptism can occur?
     Sin must be put away before baptism. "The body of sin dies."

o       What events from Christ’s life are symbolized in baptism?
     How he died and then arose once again. His crucifiction. They relate this event to baptism because "For he that is dead is freed from sin." And when Christ died he was free from the sins of the world and freed us from our own sins.

o       Considering this symbolism, why couldn’t someone be baptized by sprinkling?
    I feel that a sprinkling, maybe, does not symbolize because being freed from our sins is a BIG thing. Symbolically I feel it is appropriate to be immersed in water rather than sprinkled because when we come out of the water we are a clean, new person from our sins.

o       What do these verses teach us about how we can maintain the “newness of life”?
     The verses teach us that we can " 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" These verses explain that we put away the natural man and accept our bodies as instruments to do the work of Christ.

o       According to Mosiah 3:19, what part of us would ideally die at baptism?
     Ideally, the natural man in us would die and we would become as children, "submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him". In reality though we may put off the natural man and have to continually repent throughout our lifetimes. This I feel is natural and nothing to be ashamed of.

2.    Study Romans 6:14–23. Write a paragraph that describes how we know whose servant we are. Then write a statement identifying the true source of freedom.

     We can know whose servant we are by where our heart resides. When we are servants to sin our heart lay in uncleanliness and we go from iniquity to iniquity. I feel this can be related to people in the world being lost or feeling empty. They go from doing one wrong thing to another, even if they do not think it is wrong, they can feel something in their heart isn't right. They view the world is against them and are not sure what they can do about it. People who are servants of sin pay the price of misery and sadness throughout life and then they die. In contrast those who are servants to Christ put away their life of sin (yes, everyone is a sinner even if they sin differently) They then become servants to righteousness and holiness. Being a servant of these bring purpose to life and can only bring happiness, if someone's heart is truly converted. Last, those who give their life as a gift to God receive eternal life.

The true source of freedom comes from the atonement of Christ and by living the guidelines set forth in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some may view these guidelines as restrictive, but in reality, they free oneself from the pain of sins.