Paul introduces verse 3 with a negative question (Revised Standard Version “do you not know that?”) that is much more naturally expressed in English by a positive statement. The Good News Translation renders this as for surely you know this (so also Moffatt); the New English Bible and Phillips have “have you forgotten that”; in the Jerusalem Bible it is rendered “you have been taught that.”

The idea of one person being baptized “into” another person is almost impossible for the English reader to comprehend. There is much disagreement among the scholars regarding the origin of Paul’s doctrine of baptism, but there is general agreement that the phrase “into Christ Jesus” means into union with Christ Jesus (so also New English Bible). A similar thought is expressed in Galatians 3.27. The same judgment must be made with regard to the parallel expression “into his death.” It is best rendered into union with his death. The picture of being baptized into union with his death is a difficult one, but it is necessary in light of the way Paul develops his argument beginning with verse 5. For Paul, death not only brings the end to life, but it makes possible the entrance into a new kind of life, and this is the basis on which his argument is founded.

The introductory statement for surely you know this has as its content the rest of verse 3. A common equivalent is simply “for certainly you know that when we were baptized….”

The expression baptized into union with Christ Jesus is very difficult to express in some languages, and in most languages it is quite meaningless to say merely “baptized into Christ Jesus.” In some instances one can translate as “baptized so that we might be one with Christ Jesus,” “baptized so that we would be tied together with Christ Jesus,” or “… linked with Christ Jesus.” For this type of expression one should attempt to find a means of indicating the closest possible relation to another individual.

The last clause of verse 3 causes even greater difficulties. In some languages this can only be expressed as “when we were baptized we died together with him” or “when we were baptized we died in a way like he died.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .