We’re Growing Together with Christ in the Likeness of His Death and Resurrection

If we believers in Christ have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection; through baptism, a great change took place in us, for the Spirit caused the growth of Christ in us, and now we grow together with Him in the likeness of His resurrection. Hallelujah!

All this is seen in Romans 6:5-6. In the previous verses in this chapter, we have seen that we who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death.

Wow, we were not just baptised in the water or into the Triune God to be immersed into God, but we were also baptised into the death of Christ!

We were immersed into the death of Christ so that everything negative in our being, all our past, and anything of the old man and the flesh would be terminated and put to death.

On the negative side, we were baptised into the death of Christ, and today we live a life of baptism. On the positive side, we were raised together with Christ, for just as He was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.

Hallelujah, we are now a new creation in resurrection, and we are learning to walk in newness of life! We serve God in newness of spirit and walk in newness of life.

We need to realise this in our Christian life. We need to see that we have been crucified with Christ, for our old man has been crucified with Him, and now we no longer serve sin as slaves. Rather, the body of sin was annulled, and we live in spirit and walk by the Spirit so that we may walk in newness of life.

This is the real Christian life. The Christian life is not a life of trying to please God or fulfil the commandments in God’s word. The Christian life is about enjoying Christ, turning to our spirit, living in the spirit, and doing everything in the mingled spirit.

We have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death, and now we are growing in the likeness of His resurrection.

We were identified with Christ in His death, and now we are in the likeness of His resurrection.

May we learn to daily turn from our flesh, our self, and our old man, to our spirit, and may we learn to live in the mingled spirit.

All that we do and say, all our decisions and desires, everything needs to be brought to the Lord in prayer so that we may be one with Him in everything.

May the Lord gain us to such an extent. May we go on with Him in our experience of Christ day by day.

Through Baptism we have Grown together with Christ in the Likeness of His death

The first part of Romans 6:5 says, If we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death. This refers to our baptism. The likeness of His death in this verse refers to baptism.

Our baptism is our growing together with Christ in the likeness of His death.

Baptism is not merely an outward sign or a ritual that Christians need to go through. Baptism is a matter of growth. Wow! We grow together with Christ.

This blows our mind, our unrenewed mind, for here we have an outward act of being baptised into the water, but there’s a spiritual reality of us having grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death.

Many translators of the Bible had difficulty translating this portion of the word. However, the Greek word translated as “grown together” is also used in Luke 8:7, where it says that the thorns grew up together with the wheat.

Through baptism, we have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death. Through baptism, we were baptised into Christ and into His death; we were joined to Christ in an organic way in the spiritual realm, and we have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death.

On the one hand, we were put into Christ and into His death, therefore being put to death through baptism. On the other hand, when we were baptised, we started to grow; we have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death.

We can see this in the picture of sowing a seed. When you sow a seed, it apparently dies, but actually it grows. The seed is buried in the earth and dies, but there’s a life germ that grows and eventually bears fruit.

When we believers in Christ repented and were put in the waters of baptism, we were like a seed planted in soil. We can say that baptism is the best soil for our spiritual growth.

May the Lord open our eyes for us to see that, through baptism, we have all grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death.

When we exercise our spirit as we are buried in the waters of baptism, we are not only buried into the death of Christ but we also begin to grow.

Our limited human mind cannot understand it, but this is the spiritual reality of our baptism. The Bible reveals that through baptism we have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death.

The things related to life, such as the growth in life, are very mysterious and hard to apprehend with our human mind.

For example, the human fetus grows in the mother’s womb into the likeness of his parents; similarly, we believers grow with Christ through baptism in the likeness of His death.

The Lord doesn’t merely want us to do outward things for Him, such as a declaration of faith and then being baptised; He wants us to enter into the spiritual reality of growing together with Christ.

He has sown Himself as the seed of life into the soil of our heart, and He is growing in us. Now we also grow together with Christ, and even our baptism is part of this growth (Col. 2:19).

May we not despise the moment when the believers are put into and pass through the waters of baptism, for at that moment they are growing with Christ in the likeness of His death!

May we realise what happened in the spiritual realm at the time of our baptism, and may we help others to enter into the realisation of our growing with Christ in the likeness of His death.

Baptism is not an insignificant matter; regardless of how formal it may be, baptising people into Jesus Christ results in a great change.

Something happens in the depths of our being when we are being baptised – the Spirit causes the growth of Christ in us and we have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death! Praise the Lord!

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into us as the seed of life to grow in the soil of our heart. Thank You for our baptism into Christ and into His death. Hallelujah, through baptism we have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death! Amen, Lord, may we realise that Your desire is to grow in us, even to cause us to grow together with You. Thank You for making us one with You and for making Yourself one with us in the organic union with You. We want to remain in the reality of our baptism today so that we may be in the likeness of Your resurrection, even as we have grown in the likeness of Your death. Oh, what a mystery it is that we believers grow with Christ in the likeness of His death through baptism! Hallelujah, baptism is the best soil for spiritual growth, for by being baptised into Christ, we have all grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death! Amen, Lord, keep growing in us! Keep us growing in You and with You!

After Baptism we Continue to Grow in and with Christ in the Likeness of His Resurrection, that is, to Walk in Newness of Life

Romans 6:5 reveals a crucial point of truth with two sides: we believers have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death through baptism, and now we’re growing with Him also in the likeness of His resurrection.

There are two steps of our growth in Christ presented in this verse: our baptism and our current process of growth.

Our baptism has already taken place, and we have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death; now we are daily growing with Christ in His resurrection.

This second step is progressive, taking place throughout our Christian life, for we grow together with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection as we walk in newness of life.

The likeness of Christ’s death is the baptism mentioned in verse 4, and the likeness of Christ’s resurrection is the newness of life mentioned in verse 4.

When we speak of the likeness of His resurrection, this doesn’t refer to a future, objective resurrection; rather, it refers to the present process of growth. We are currently growing in life as we live and walk in newness of life.

This process of growth includes the renewing of our mind; every day we are being conformed to the image of Christ more and more as we let the Lord renew our mind (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18).

We are being transformed into His image, and Christ is being more and more manifested in us until we are fully conformed to the image of Christ and become a full-grown man.

We need to grow in life day by day. We have begun to grow in Christ and with Christ at the time of our regeneration, when Christ was sown into us as the seed of life.

We continue to grow together with Christ in our baptism, for through baptism we have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death.

And day by day, we are growing in Christ as we cooperate with the Lord to be renewed, transformed, and conformed to the image of Christ.

May we all aspire to grow in life day by day; may we continue in the process of growing in life.

May we allow the Lord to eliminate and discharge all the old elements in us as we live a life of baptism, and may we open to the Lord for us to be renewed in our mind, transformed in our soul, and conformed to the image of Christ.

We are growing with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection day by day as we are transformed, renewed, and eventually conformed to His image.

This likeness of His resurrection refers not to a future, objective resurrection but to the present process of growth.

We know that, when the Lord returns, we will be like Him in full, for even our body will be swallowed up by His divine life in resurrection. But until then, we can experience growth in life with Christ and in Christ day by day; we can experience His resurrection life day by day (1 Cor. 15:31).

We die daily, and we resurrect daily. As we die to the self and the flesh, we grow in the Lord’s resurrection life and are constituted with Him to become His corporate expression.

When we were baptised, we grew together with Christ in the likeness of His death and now, through His death, we are growing into His resurrection.

He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25); the element of Christ’s resurrection can be found only in Christ Himself, for He Himself is resurrection.

We believe into Him, we are joined to Him organically, and we grow in Him and together with Him. Hallelujah!

After we have experienced a proper baptism, we continue to grow in and with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection, that is, we continue to walk in newness of life.

Our daily life should be in newness of life by exercising our spirit to be in the Lord, with the Lord, and by the Lord in all things.

We need to remain in our mingled spirit day by day, living and walking in newness of life so that we may grow together with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection. Amen!

Hallelujah, we who have grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death through baptism are now growing with Him in the likeness of His resurrection! Amen, Lord, grow in us. Cause us to grow in You. May we grow in life day by day, having the growth of God in us. May we never stop growing, and may You never stop growing in us. Praise the Lord, the likeness of Christ’s resurrection is not just a future, objective resurrection but something for us to experience day by day! Amen, Lord, we want to grow together with You in the likeness of Your resurrection today! Hallelujah, when we were baptised, we grew together with Christ in the likeness of His death, and now, through His death we are growing into His resurrection! Amen, Lord, may we continue to grow in and with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection by walking in newness of life today! We want to walk in newness of life in all things, turning to our spirit and living in the mingled spirit, one spirit with You!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (pp. 3053-3055) by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Chapters 5 through 8 of Romans – the Kernel of the Bible (2025 ICSC), week 3, The Likeness of the Death and Resurrection of Christ.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Walking in newness of life and being in the likeness of His resurrection, a portion from, The Experience and Growth in Life, Chapter 16, by Witness Lee.
  – Exodus (Program #29) – Israel’s Crossing of the Red Sea, via, Bible study radio.
  – The significance of baptism, a portion from, New Believers Series: Baptism #1, Chapter 1, by Watchman Nee.
  – Connor’s Baptism | Christian Students, via, CSOC UT Austin: Christian Students on Campus youtube channel.
  – In the Likeness of His Death to be in the Likeness of His Resurrection, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Christ, the Cross, and the Church, via, Shepherding Words.
  – Baptised into Christ, putting on Christ, and all one in Christ, a portion from, Life-Study of Galatians, Chapter 21.
  – The Glory of God Becoming Our Experience, via, Living to Him.
  – A One-minute Scripture Reading with Commentary – Rom. 5:2, via, Scripture and Commentary.
  – What Does it Mean to be a Born Again Christian? More via, holding to truth in love.
  – Do I Need to Get Baptized? More via, Bibles for America blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – By baptism in Thy death we’re one / And buried too with Thee; / Thus to the world we bid farewell, / From Satan’s slavery free. / We’re resurrected with Thee too, / From death’s great pow’r set free; / Now fruit of holiness we bear / In our new life with Thee. (Hymns #937 stanzas 3-4)
  – In death’s waters I am buried, / For with Christ my Savior, I have died; / Now the world cannot pursue me, / For its power here is nullified. / I with Christ have risen too, / Out of death with Him I walk and live; / Now the Spirit life supplies / And His strength exhaustless unto me doth give. (Hymns #936)
  – Buried with Christ, and raised with Him too; / What is there left for me to do? / Simply to cease from struggling and strife, / Simply to walk in newness of life. / Glory be to God! … / Growing in Christ; no more shall be named / Things of which now I’m truly ashamed, / Fruit unto holiness will I bear, / Life evermore, the end I shall share. / Glory be to God! (Hymns #483 stanzas 1 and 5)