What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Romans 6:1-7

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Romans 10:9-11

To say that the topic of the moment of salvation is often discussed is to commit to an understatement on the level of “the surface of the sun is a little warm”. But from a scriptural standpoint the salvation of the sinner is paramount. Not so much the method; the Old Testament is as full of mercy prayed for and granted as the New. What is clear is that God wants to see two things from the New Testament believer: baptism and confession.

The Apostle says whoever needs new life (that is, every sinner) needs to join Jesus in burial, his in the earth, ours in water. This is where the Greek word can help us. Baptism is a transliteration–a transposition into English letters–of the same word. It means immersion. To complete the form of rising from the grave, the immersed person breaks the surface of the water and is alive to a new, Spiritual existence.

Confession is linked to this. The confession is not merely that Jesus is Lord, a divine person of the Godhead, but that person also believes he was raised from the dead. This matters, not only because it affirms the truth of the Scripture, but because it links our Salvation to imitation.

We are buried like Jesus, raised like Jesus and therefore want to act like Jesus. That’s what belief is. If we trust him, we trust everything about him. That’s why we can’t be “put to shame”; imitating Jesus will leave you no room for shame about your actions.

Ethan Kirl