of the devil, 1 John 3:8; to save his people from their sins, and to pu- rify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, Tit. 2 : 14.
(4) Therefore we are buried by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up, &;c. ' Such being the nature and design of the gospel, if we accept of Christ at all, it is that we should die with him ; i. e. that we should attain the object for which he died, viz. deliverance from sin ;' or, to use the apostle's figurative expression, that as Christ was raised from the dead, we also might walk in newness of life.
The words into death are evidently to be connected with the word baptism ; it is bi/ a baptism unto death that we are united to Christ, as stated in the preceding verse. We are said to be buried with Christ ; i. e. we are effectually united to him in his death. The same idea is ex- pressed in V. 8, by saying " we are dead with him ;" and in v. 5, by saying we are " planted together in the likeness of his death." It does not seem necessary to suppose that there is any allusion to the mode of baptism, as though that rite was compared to a burial. No such allu- sion can be supposed in the next verse, where w.e are said to be planted with him. Baptism is, throughout this passage, as in Gal. 3 : 27, taken for the reception of Christ, of which it is the appointed acknowledg- ment. The point of the comparison is not between our baptism and the burial and resurrection of Christ ; but between our death to sin and rising to holiness ; and the death and resurrection of the Redeemer. As Paul had expressed, in v. 2, the idea of the freedom of believers from sin, by the figurative phrase " dead to sin," he carries the figure consistently through ; and says, that by our reception of Christ we became united to him in such a way as to die as he died, and to rise as he rose. As he died unto sin (for its destruction), so do we ; and as he rose unto new- ness of life, so do we.
Christ is said to have been raised up by the glory of the Father. Some would render these words on account of the glory, &c. But this is in- consistent with usage. They either are equivalent to glorious Father, see ch. 1 : 23, 25 ; or the word rendered glory may be used for power or might, as in the Septuagint, Isa. 12 : 2. 45 : 24. Compare Col. 1 : 11. Even so lue also should walk in newiiess of Vfe. These words express the design for which we receive Christ or were baptized unto him ; it is that we should exhibit that new life which we receive from him, and which is analogous to his own, inasmuch as it is unending and devoted unto God ; see vs. 9, 10, where this idea is more fully expressed.
(5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, &c. As the preceding verse had declared the object of our union with Christ to be newness of life; this verse exhibits the necessary connex- ion between the means and the end, by showing that we cannot be united to Christ in his death, without being united to him also in his resurrec- tion.
For if we have been planted together. The original word here used means properly connate, bom together ,• but it is applied variously to