Chapters 5 Through 8 of Romans—
The Kernel of the Bible
Message Three
The Likeness of the Death and Resurrection of Christ
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Rom 6:3-5 Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.
Word of Appetizer
What is grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death and resurrection?
After a person repents and believes in the Lord Jesus, he grows with Christ first in baptism, in the likeness of His death, and then in the likeness of His resurrection, in the newness of life. As a believer experiences a proper baptism, the divine Spirit within him puts to death the old man with his worldly, sinful elements. After he comes out of the water of baptism a new person, he begins to live and walk in the newness of life, in the newness of His resurrection. Therefore, he grows daily in the likeness of His resurrection and walks in newness of life.
Spiritual Burden
If we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection. After experiencing a proper baptism, we continue to grow in and with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection, that is, to walk in newness of life.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
“All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death”.
“We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life”.
“If we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection”.
“Many…were baptized into Christ”; to be baptized into the Triune God is to be baptized into Christ.
The Experience of Life
We were born in the sphere of Adam, the first man, but through baptism we have been transferred into the sphere of Christ, the second man.
When we were baptized, we grew together with Christ in the likeness of His death; now, through His death we are growing into His resurrection. After experiencing a proper baptism, we continue to grow in and with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection, that is, to walk in newness of life.
Practice and Application
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. To walk in newness of life means to live today in the realm of resurrection and to reign in life. This kind of living deals with all that is of Adam in us until we are fully transformed and conformed to the image of Christ.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 Christ is a realm, a sphere, into which we have been baptized (Rom. 6:3)
(Please illustrate that baptism is not a form or a ritual; it signifies our identification with Christ.)
T2 Christ and His death are one (Rom. 6:3)
(Please illustrate that there is a tremendous difference between death in Adam and the death of Christ.)
Day 2
T1 The Christian life is a life of baptism (Rom. 6:4)
(Please illustrate that on the one hand, baptism has been accomplished; on the other hand, baptism continues.)
T2 After baptism we become a new person in resurrection (Rom. 6:4, 5:17)
(Please illustrate that the way to walk in newness of life is the Spirit.)
Day 3
T1 Grown together with Him in the likeness of His death (Rom. 6:5-6)
(Please illustrate that what it means to grow together with Him in the likeness of His death.)
T2 To be baptized is to grow together with Christ (Rom. 6:5)
(Please illustrate that baptism is a process of growth similar to the process of human growth in the mother’s womb.)
Day 4
T1 The growth revealed in Romans 6:5 is related to the notion of grafting (Rom. 6:5)
(Please illustrate that through the organic union of two trees, accomplished by grafting, the one tree partakes of the life and characteristics of the other tree.)
T2 In the grafting, whatever Christ passed through has become our history (Rom. 11:24)
(Please illustrate that outwardly, grafting appears to be a cutting; actually, this cutting is a kind of growing.)
Day 5
T1 We have not been baptized in Christ but into Christ (Gal. 3:27, Matt. 28:19)
(Please illustrate that the difference between being baptized “in Christ” and being baptized “into Christ.”)
T2 In theone new man Christ is all and in all(Col. 3:10-11)
(Please illustrate that we are one in Christ by His resurrection life and His divine nature to be the one new man.)
Day 6
T1 To have a proper understanding of baptism (1 Cor. 12:13)
(Please illustrate that such a baptism, a baptism into the divine name, a living person, an effective death, and a living organism.)
T2 As we baptize them, we should exercise our faith (Acts 2:38)
(Please illustrate that the realization that we are not only baptizing them into the water but baptizing them into a spiritual reality.)
