To understand what Jesus is saying here, let’s look at the two parts of the verse. In the first part, Jesus says, “For whoever would save his life will lose it.”
In this verse, “lose” is translated from the Greek word “appolumi” which is defined in the standard BDAG Greek-English lexicon as “perish, be ruined”.
Even if we didn’t have this lexical information, it is clear enough from Jesus’ statement that to lose your life means to die. If you try to save your life, all your efforts will be in vain because you will lose it. You are caught between two things. Every way you turn, you face the reality of death. If you try to save your life, you will die. If you make no effort to save your life, you will also die. Death is a stark reality for everyone in this world.
Jesus teaches this truth as a matter of fact, for there is no escape from the onward march to the grave, the common destiny of humankind.
The next verse, Mark 8:36, even speaks of forfeiting your life: “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (RSV). The word “forfeit” means to lose something. Jesus is saying, “What is the point of gaining the whole world if your final destination is a hole in the ground?”
On the spiritual plane, what can you do to save yourself? Give money to the poor? Attend church regularly? Jesus says, “Nothing will save your life, not even your efforts to save it. In the end, you will lose your life despite all your efforts to save it. There is only one way to save yourself, and that is to lose your life.”
There is no way of saving your life apart from losing it. You will either gain life through death or death through death. The choice is yours.
All of mankind has been given the privilege of having such a choice thanks to God’s work in His anointed one. You can choose life through death, or death through death.
Jesus says, “If any man loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s, he will save it.”
It doesn’t mean that we won’t die physically. We will all die physically, for death is the common destiny of humankind. The Bible doesn’t say that we will be spared physical death on account of Jesus’ death for us. On the contrary, the Bible teaches the importance of dying [to self] on our part: we die with the Messiah, and live with him to God.
Many Christians don’t see the importance of dying [to self]. Paul speaking to Christians says, “For you have died” (Colossians 3:2-3: Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.).
In fact, he says many similar things in his letters such as: “If we have died with him, we shall also live with him.” (2Timothy 2:11) Here Paul sees death as an accomplished reality: If you “have died” with the Messiah, you will live with him. Paul even depicts his own death as crucifixion: “I have been crucified with the Messiah” (Galatians 2:20). He consistently teaches that every true Christian has died with the Messiah, and now lives the new life as new creations in the Messiah Jesus.
First die [to self, to the world], and then be buried with the Messiah in baptism
The Bible never says that we die by - or die in - the very act of baptism. At baptism, what happens is that you die with the Messiah and are buried with him. This is brought out in Romans 6:4 which says that “we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death”. Elsewhere Paul says: ... having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12, ESV)
Death comes before burial. If you have not died, you will be buried alive! The Bible is precise in its sequence: To be buried with the Messiah in baptism, you must first die [to self].
For those who have been baptized without having died to self first, their baptism has no validity because you cannot bury someone who has not died. It would not be a real burial.
You cannot raise someone from the dead unless he is dead. Romans 6:5 says: For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (RSV)
If you have died with the Messiah, you will be raised with him. But if you haven’t died with the Messiah, neither will you have the resurrection life.
Whatever you do, don’t get baptized until you know what it means to die – die to self, to be dead to the world, and the world dead to you. Paul says that our “old self” was crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6). In Greek, the term is literally “old man”. The old man who was enslaved to sin has died. It doesn’t mean that our old nature has been eradicated, for the old nature is embedded in the flesh which is still in my body: “Nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18). Insofar as we still have flesh in this age, we need to continually put the self, the old man to death.
Baptism is the outward expression of an inward transaction that takes place before baptism. Without that transaction, your baptism will have no validity whatsoever.
Paul says that our “old self - man” was crucified with the Messiah (Romans 6:6). In Greek, the term is literally “old man”. The old man who was enslaved to sin has died. It doesn’t mean that our old nature has been eradicated, for the old nature is embedded in the flesh which is still in my body: “Nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18). Insofar as we still have flesh in this age, we need to continually put to death the deeds of the flesh - body by the enabling power of the Spirit of God, and not live according to the flesh (Romans 8:12-14: So then brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you continue to live according to the flesh, you are about to die, but if by the spirit you continue to put to death the practices of the body - flesh you will live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are sons of God.).
If you have died with the Messiah, the evidence of this death will be seen in your thinking, your conduct, your speech, and your whole life direction.
There is nothing imaginary about dying. Paul says, “I have been crucified to the world” (Galatians 6:14). You are dead to the world and through the sin-offering sacrifice of the Messiah, we have been reconciled to God. You regard the world as a dead man would. You are in the world, “yet not of the world” (John 17:14), for you are born from above.
It takes faith to turn your back on the world. Saving faith is, not just believing in this or that doctrine, but something that is seen in a new life in which you die to self and the world, and experience Jesus’ resurrection by God’s power.
Have you truly died to self, and this world? Only then will you know what it means to live as new creations in the lord Messiah Jesus.
What is written has been taken from Eric Chang’s book “Baptism”, which can be purchased at Amazon.com. I have edited and added to what Eric has written, hopefully remaining true to what he wanted people to understand before being baptized.
I highly recommend you read Eric Chang’s book “Baptism” as it is the best book I have ever read on the subject of baptism!
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