J. I. Packer wrote, "thus knowledge of Christ's death for us as our sin-bearing substitute requires us to see ourselves as dead, risen, and alive forevermore in him. We who have died, painlessly and invisibly, we might say, in solidarity with him because he died, painfully and publicly in substitution for us."
The apostle Paul testified, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
Paul understood that Christ is our substitute in his death and resurrection. Believers trust Christ as our substitute. He was crucified in our place. He is risen from the dead as our justification. So it is with all true believers. We died in Christ as our substitute. We are risen in Christ as our living Lord.
Baptism symbolizes every believer's union in Christ, through his death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4). He died for our sins. He took our judgment at the cross. We are risen with him to new life through the Holy Spirit.
As we were born unto sin in Adam, so we are born again to new life in Christ. Therefore, we have become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). As true believers, we died to our old life in Christ our substitute.
