In water baptism, going down into the water symbolises death, going under symbolises burial and coming up symbolises resurrection. Being baptised reminds us right at the beginning of our Christian life that death to self and death to sin are pre-requisites for victorious living.
Paul uses a compound verb here that means ‘put in a grave together with Christ’. Elsewhere he employs similar compound verbs that literally mean ‘nailed to a cross together with Christ’ and ‘raised from the dead together with Christ’ (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 2:12).
It is as if we ourselves were right there on the cross with Jesus, crushed by the dread weight of sin and the pettiness of self.
As if we were abandoned with him in the cold darkness of the tomb, our lifeless bodies laid alongside of his, all possibility of escape prevented and all hope lost.
But it is also as if we were raised with him, freed from the embalming cloths, liberated from the dark despair of death and striding out of that lonely grave in glorious resurrection life.
Grasping the reality of this transforms everything we do. Everything is viewed in the light of the cross.
To read more on this topic see Living in the Image of God, Barry Chant (Miranda: Tabor, 2012 available in eBook and Paperback) from which this edited extract is taken.