Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary
Buried with him in baptism - Alluding to the immersions practised in the case of adults, wherein the person appeared to be buried under the Water, as Christ was buried in the heart of the earth. His rising again the third any, and their emerging from the water, was an emblem of the resurrection of the body; and, in them, of a total change of life.
The faith of the operation of God - They were quickened, changed, and saved, by means of faith in Christ Jesus; which faith was produced by the operation or energy of God. Believing is the act of the soul; but the grace or power to believe comes from God himself.
Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible
Buried with him in baptism - See the notes at Romans 6:4.
Wherein also - In which ordinance, or by virtue of that which is signified by the ordinance.
Ye are risen with him - From the death of sin to the life of religion; Notes, Romans 6:4-5; compare the notes at Ephesians 2:5-6.
Through the faith of the operation of God - By a firm belief on the agency of God in raising him up; that is, a belief of the fact that God has raised him from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is often represented as the foundation of all our hopes; and, as he was raised from the grave to die no more, so, in virtue of that we are raised from the death of sin to eternal spiritual life. The belief of this is shown by our baptism, whatever be the mode in which that ordinance is performed, and as well shown in one mode as another.
Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary
There is a philosophy which rightly exercises our reasonable faculties; a study of the works of God, which leads us to the knowledge of God, and confirms our faith in him. But there is a philosophy which is vain and deceitful; and while it pleases men's fancies, hinders their faith: such are curious speculations about things above us, or no concern to us. Those who walk in the way of the world, are turned from following Christ. We have in Him the substance of all the shadows of the ceremonial law. All the defects of it are made up in the gospel of Christ, by his complete sacrifice for sin, and by the revelation of the will of God. To be complete, is to be furnished with all things necessary for salvation. By this one word "complete," is shown that we have in Christ whatever is required. "In him," not when we look to Christ, as though he were distant from us, but we are in him, when, by the power of the Spirit, we have faith wrought in our hearts by the Spirit, and we are united to our Head. The circumcision of the heart, the crucifixion of the flesh, the death and burial to sin and to the world, and the resurrection to newness of life, set forth in baptism, and by faith wrought in our hearts, prove that our sins are forgiven, and that we are fully delivered from the curse of the law. Through Christ, we, who were dead in sins, are quickened. Christ's death was the death of our sins; Christ's resurrection is the quickening of our souls. The law of ordinances, which was a yoke to the Jews, and a partition-wall to the Gentiles, the Lord Jesus took out of the way. When the substance was come, the shadows fled. Since every mortal man is, through the hand-writing of the law, guilty of death, how very dreadful is the condition of the ungodly and unholy, who trample under foot that blood of the Son of God, whereby alone this deadly hand-writing can be blotted out! Let not any be troubled about bigoted judgments which related to meats, or the Jewish solemnities. The setting apart a portion of our time for the worship and service of God, is a moral and unchangeable duty, but had no necessary dependence upon the seventh day of the week, the sabbath of the Jews. The first day of the week, or the Lord's day, is the time kept holy by Christians, in remembrance of Christ's resurrection. All the Jewish rites were shadows of gospel blessings.
SDA Bible Commentary (limited)
Volume 1-7
12. Buried with him. Death precedes burial. Christ laid down His life before He was buried in Joseph’s new tomb. Before the Christian can be buried with Christ, he must have surrendered his life. All the ambitions of his heart and the stirrings and longings of his fleshly passions must be yielded up to his Master. As far as he is concerned, his old nature must die. Baptism is the sign of this self-renunciation, of the death of the old man and of his burial in the watery grave. Compare on Rom. 6:3, 4.
Ye are risen. Baptism not only signifies the separation through death of the sinful nature and the burial of that nature, it also signifies the birth of a new creature in Christ Jesus (see on Rom. 6:4).
Faith of the operation of God. That is, faith in the operation of God.
Raised him from the dead. Compare Eph. 1:19, 20. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead works a transformation in the believer.
Ellen G. White
Selected Messages Book 3, 201.3
Move every day under God's mighty working power. The fruit of righteousness is quietness and assurance forever. If we had exercised more faith in God and had trusted less to our own ideas and wisdom, God would have manifested His power in a marked manner on human hearts. By a union with Him, by living faith, we are privileged to enjoy the virtue and efficacy of His mediation. Hence we are crucified with Christ, dead with Christ, risen with Christ, to walk in newness of life with Him.—Letter 105, 1898.
3SM 201.3
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