Here’s an exegetical sketch that traces how Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3 prefigures his death and resurrection, and how Romans 6 picks up that same pattern, with some Greek work you can use in teaching notes.[amazon][youtube]

Matthew 3:13–17 – Text and key Greek terms

Matthew’s narrative:

• 3:133:133:13 Τότε παραγίνεται ὁ Ἰησοῦς… εἰς τὸν Ἰορδάνην πρὸς τὸν Ἰωάννην τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ.[biblegateway]
• 3:143:143:14 ὁ δὲ Ἰωάννης διεκώλυεν αὐτὸν…[biblegateway]
• 3:153:153:15 ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἄφες ἄρτι· οὕτως γὰρ πρέπον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν πληρῶσαι πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην. τότε ἀφίησιν αὐτόν.[biblegateway]
• 3:163:163:16 βαπτισθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εὐθὺς ἀνέβη ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος…[biblegateway]
• 3:173:173:17 …Καὶ ἰδού, φωνὴ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν…[biblegateway]

Key terms:

• τοῦ βαπτισθῆναι – aorist passive infinitive of βαπτίζω, “to be baptized,” highlighting that Jesus receives an action done to him, fitting Reformed emphasis that baptism is something God does/signifies to us rather than our self-performance.[biblegateway]
• πληρῶσαι πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην – aorist active infinitive of πληρόω, “to fulfill,” with πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην, “all righteousness,” which Reformed writers read as comprehensive covenant obedience in a representative capacity (Last Adam, true Israel).[amazon]

Typology already implied in Matthew 3

1. Descent and ascent imagery

   Jesus is “baptized” and then “comes up from the water” (ἀνέβη ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος).[biblegateway]

   This basic down/up movement is the narrative seed of the later “buried with… raised with” pattern; Reformed expositors often connect Jordan imagery with Israel’s water-judgment and Red Sea motifs, which already carry death–deliverance connotations.[refugeutah]

2. Representative obedience language

   “πρέπον ἐστὶν ἡμῖν πληρῶσαι πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην” – “it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness.”[biblegateway]

   Brandon Crowe and other Reformed scholars stress that Jesus here acts as obedient Son and last Adam; his baptism is not private piety but an act of vicarious righteousness, which will culminate in the cross and resurrection.[amazon]

3. Sonship, pleasure, and future vindication

   The voice: “οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα” – “This is my Son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”[biblegateway]

   This anticipates resurrection vindication language: the one now publicly declared pleasing to the Father at baptism will later be vindicated in resurrection as the righteous Son whose obedience (including baptism) secures justification for his people.[amazon]

Homiletically, you can sketch Matthew 3 as “the down-and-up, Spirit-anointed, Sonship-declared prelude” to the down-and-up of Golgotha and the tomb.

Romans 6:3–4 – Text and Greek “death–resurrection” pattern

Paul’s key text:

• 6:36:36:3 ἢ ἀγνοεῖτε ὅτι ὅσοι ἐβαπτίσθημεν εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ ἐβαπτίσθημεν;[learn.ligonier]
• 6:46:46:4 συνετάφημεν οὖν αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος εἰς τὸν θάνατον, ἵνα ὥσπερ ἠγέρθη Χριστὸς… οὕτως καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς περιπατήσωμεν.[learn.ligonier]