In this chapter, Paul explains how baptism represents not only the cleansing of sin, but the death of our sinful self. Going down into and up out of the water mirrors the death and resurrection of Christ. This isn’t just about rinsing and repeating, but living a new way. Because sin leads to death, it’s best to leave it in the water and take on a new life in Christ.

Christ sets free from the slavery of sin. The things we did to please the old self lead to suffering and death, instead we are transformed by Christ. This not another slavery to the law, but freedom in the grace of God. You don’t have to live the old way because Jesus’s gift is freedom and life.