1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? 3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
5For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; 6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. 7For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him! 10For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. 11Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin will not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. 18Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
19I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification. 20For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. 21What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
At the time of Jesus, baptism referred to a variety of ritual washings with water (Heb 6:2), all of which were important cleansing rituals within Judaism. For example, a high priest was installed in office by ritual bathing before being anointed and clothed with symbolic garments (Exod 29:4; Lev 8:6). Gentile proselytes to Judaism underwent a ceremonial bath (Heb 9:10). The Essenes immersed their bodies in daily rites of ceremonial cleansing. Those coming into the temple to worship underwent a ritual bath, as evidenced by the large number of mikveh (ritual bathing pools) found near the southern steps of the temple. When John came baptizing people once for their repentance of sins (Mark 1:4-5), he was thought to be usurping the prerogative of the Christ or Elijah or the prophet (John 1:25). Those who were baptized by John were identified with a remnant of Israel who had given credible testimony of their willingness to receive Messiah on His terms of repentance (Matt 3:1-10). The Pharisees promoted the elders' tradition of washing cups, pitchers and pots; and not eating without first washing their hands in a special way, both activities being referred to by the Greek word “baptizo” (Mark 7:3-8; Luke 11:38). Jesus' baptism was "to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt 3:15) in the sense of meeting the legal requirement of a priest as He entered upon His public ministry. It also identified Jesus with John's followers and message. In Matthew 4:17, the message he began to preach was the same as that of John, in Matthew 3:2. Jesus' disciples were baptizing those who were willing to follow Jesus (John 4:1-2). Later, Christian baptism identified a believer with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection (Rom 6:3-4), and is the first step of discipleship (Matt 28:19; see also Acts 2:37-42; 8:34-39; 9:18-19; 10:47-48; 16:15, 33).