Section 10
baptized into Christ, we were transferred from being a part of Adam into being a part of Christ. Now we are no longer in Adam. We are abso lutely in Christ. This is the fact of identification. Now we must see and understand clearly two further points related to this.
Baptized into His Death— Grown Together with Him in the Likeness of His Death
Romans 6:5 says that "we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death." What does this mean? The phrase "likeness of His death" in Romans 6:5 refers to baptism. Baptism is the likeness of the death of Christ. In bap tism, we have grown up together with Christ. This phrase "grown together" affords the trans lators a difficult problem. However, if we stay very close to the meaning of the Greek word, there will be no difficulty. The same Greek word is used in Luke 8:7 to speak of the thorns which grew up together with the wheat. Likewise, we have grown together with Christ. When we were baptized into Christ, in one sense we were put to death; in another sense we began to grow. This very much resembles the sowing of seed into the earth. Apparently the seed is sown; actually it