I will be the first to admit that I am a creature of habit. I typically do the same things, eat the same kinds of foods, and wear the same kinds of clothes on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. One could easily identify a consistent pattern in my lifestyle. Although I have made a few adjustments over the years depending on certain factors, like getting married, job changes, moving, or health reasons, I continue to have a distinguishable routine that I follow. I also know that I am not the only one who has such a life practice. There are many people in the world who have routines. In fact, many studies show that as much as 40 to 95% of human behavior falls into the category of habit. We humans are, indeed, creatures of habit. Our life patterns are an integral part of our nature.
Our Great and Almighty Creator, Yahweh God, is a God of patterns. His Holy Word is replete with consistent motifs, beautiful harmony, and easily identifiable patterns from Genesis to Revelation. It plainly teaches that God has not and does not change over the ages (Hebrews 13:8). And, what a blessing that is to us! God’s unchanging nature serves as a foundational standard for all Christian behavior. This implies that we should also not anticipate anything “new,” as if God changed His mind or revised His requirements of us (Galatians 1:6-7).
One such consistent pattern is found in Romans 6. The key to the passage is verse 17, “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.” Some Bible versions translate the latter part of that verse this way, “you have obeyed from the heart the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.” The word “form” or “pattern” is translated from the Greek word, “tupos” (which is where we get our English word “topography”). It means, “the mark of an impression, an example to be imitated, a pattern, or model.” So, what is the form/pattern/model of teaching that they obeyed? The answer is found at the beginning of the chapter … “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” (vss. 45). The pattern, or model Paul is referring to is baptism!
Baptism was the doctrine (or teaching) that the brethren in Rome had received. This teaching is exemplified in Acts 8 with Phillip and Ethiopian eunuch. The eunuch was reading an Old Testament scripture. Phillip, “beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.” Notice what happened next … “Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?’ ” (Acts 8:35-36) What can we deduce from this verse? We can conclude that Phillip’s teaching about Jesus (also called the Gospel) must have included instructions about baptism. The eunuch received the teaching, obeyed the teaching (cf, Acts 8:38) and then “went on his way rejoicing.” Why was he now rejoicing? Because he was no longer a “slave to sin,” and “having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” (Rom 6:17-18)
Can you see a pattern or the model that Paul was talking about? The eunuch “obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching” from Scripture. Now, do we see this model, or pattern elsewhere in the Bible? The answer is “Yes!” Over and over, we see the same pattern for how people were saved: they heard (Rom 10:17), believed, (Acts 8:12), repented (Luke 13:3) confessed (Rom 10:9) and were baptized (Acts 2:41, 22:16). God is a God of patterns!