BAPTISM

Why does the Orthodox Church consider the sacrament of baptism to be the entrance to the Christian life and the membership of the body of Christ, i.e., the church?

Apostle Paul answered that question in his Epistle to the Romans, chapter six, verses three to eleven, saying, ”Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Baptism is the unity with Christ, His death, and His resurrection to abolish sin and renew human nature. So, we are united in His victory over the devil and His grip on sin. Thus, we can now live the life of the new nature and be free from the bondage of sin.