Water baptism by immersion publicly signifies our decision to die to our own ways and allow Jesus to live out His life in us (being born again).

Unless a person submits to this original creation — the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life — it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch — the Spirit — and becomes a living spirit. So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above' — out of this world, so to speak. (John 3:5-7)

If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace — a new life in a new land! That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country. Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! (Romans 6:2-6)