by Barbara A Oliver

I have started making the dreaded New Year's resolutions. As usual, diet is near the top of the list, as it is for many Americans. Then, there is the one about working harder, and the one about learning to speak Spanish.

And, of course, as a Christian, reading my Bible, praying more, and developing a closer relationship with God top the list. These are all commitments that I make at the beginning of each new year.

But that is where I go wrong. I make a commitment. Yet, commitments are based on My strength, My drive, My ability, My pledge to persevere. So, like most people, three weeks later, I am back to my old slack habits. And for most of my resolutions, that's ok. I can survive another year being fat, being lazy, being mono-lingual.

But can I survive another year with the distance between what I am and what I want be in Christ? All other goals pale to this one goal. How do I keep it from becoming another failed resolution, another failed commitment?

I will not commit. I will surrender.

To surrender means to yield, "to give up oneself into the power or control of another."/1 I cannot commit to be like Christ. I have to surrender. My will, my desires, my goals must fall ... I almost said "second." But there is no "second." There is only "first," and God is First.

I have one New Year's resolution this year: To surrender. Each day I will surrender. Each day, because My will is strong, My desire to be in charge is strong. Only by surrendering every day can I hope to place my life in his hands.

What will you do this year? Commit or surrender?

/1 Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, 1983.

by Richard Mansel

Previously, we began studying proofs that baptism means "immersion." Greek authorities agree that "bapto" means "to dip or immerse," and we have established that it was used that way contextually in Greek literature. Our remaining proof is its usage in the New Testament.

As determined by our previous study, Greek writers used the word "bapto" in terms of submerging spears, ships, and soldiers. Moreover, the imagery of drowning was used on more than one occasion. This imagery is indispensable when we turn to New Testament usage.

New Testament writers used the imagery of burial to help readers grasp the concept of baptism. In Romans 6:3-4 we read, "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (NKJV). Paul repeats the image in Colossians 2:12, "...buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with [Him] through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead."

The word "buried" here is key. Thayer says that in baptism we are "plunged under the water" (p. 605). We are to be "buried" with Christ in baptism. When we bury someone we immerse them completely under the ground (or in a sepulcher, mausoleum, etc).

J. B. Lightfoot said, "Baptism is the grave of the old man, and the birth of the new. As he sinks beneath the baptismal waters, the believer buries there all his corrupt affections and past sins; as he emerges thence, he rises regenerate, quickened to new hopes and new life" (ISBN 1:415).

In Romans 6:3-4 we see the entire scenario perfectly established. Immersion, submersion, and emergence exemplify the death, burial, and resurrection. We must die to sin so that we can be born again (John 3:3-5). Paul also wrote, "For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him" (2 Timothy 2:11).

Luther said, "I would have those who are to be baptized to be altogether dipped into the water, as the word doth express." /1 Tyndale said, "The plunging into the water signifieth that we die and are buried with Christ."/2

Many in the religious world believe we are saved before baptism. If true then we would have a problem with the imagery of a burial. Under this scenario, we would be born again, made alive in Christ at the point of faith before being baptized.

Yet this passage clearly shows that we die and are buried with Christ in baptism. The inescapable conclusion is that, if we are saved prior to baptism, when we are baptized we are buried alive. Not the image we want potential converts to have in their heads.

We have shown that baptism means immersion in these three articles. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says, "The Greek language has had a continuous history, and baptizo is used today in Greece for baptism. As is well known, not only in Greece, but all over Russia, wherever the Greek church prevails, immersion is the unbroken and universal practice" (1:415).

/1. Cited in T.W. Brents, "The Gospel Plan of Salvation," p. 268. /2. Ibid., p. 269.