By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.1. In our last study, we looked at verses 16-21 of chapter 5.
1.1.1.1. In a
previous study, the concentration was primarily upon the similarity of what was
accomplished by Adam in his fall into sin and Jesus Christ in His going to the
cross. The point was that both acts
produced results that affected all mankind.
However, in the last study we concentrated upon the contrasts, the
qualitative differences in what was accomplished by Adam in his fall and what
was accomplished by Jesus Christ in going to the cross.
1.1.1.2. We saw that
the apostle Paul intended in these verses to instill in all of us an
appreciation of the goodness of God in providing blessing beyond measure or
calculation through Jesus Christ and the cross of
1.1.2. In this
study, we will look at verses 1-5 of chapter 6.
1.1.2.1. In this book
of Romans, Paul has established that all men are under sin and therefore in and
of themselves unable to be acceptable or accepted by God. He has also shown how that God sent His only
begotten Son so that He could pay our debt of sins that none of us are able to
pay, and that this sacrifice of Himself has provided the means for us to
receive salvation from past sins, present sin, and the future presence of
sin. We have seen how that the death of
Jesus Christ for us has also provided justification for us, in other words we
have been made righteous through Jesus Christ.
We have seen many of the blessings and results of our justification
through Jesus Christ. We have seen how
that Paul referred to the believer being saved in the present tense from
indwelling sin through the saving life of Christ which dwells within believers
as they live the exchanged or crucified life (see Gal. 2:20). Now, Paul begins to explain more about the
unique relationship that a believer has with Christ which enables him to be
able to experience this saving life of Christ as Paul begins to discuss the
believer’s identification with Christ.
1.1.2.2. Paul first answers the wrong notions that some
had might have made to the Christian religion by saying if we believe that we
are justified through Christ and have eternal life that we can now go and live
our life however we want in our sin.
1.1.2.3. Next, Paul
begins to discuss the mysterious identification with Christ that a believer has
both in Christ’s death to sin upon the cross as well as in Christ’s having
risen up from the dead. When Christ died upon the cross, every true
believer in Christ likewise died to his sinful nature, and when Christ was
raised up from the dead to walk a resurrected life likewise each true believer
in Christ was likewise raised up to walk in the newness of life as a new
creature with a new motivating force and new principles of life in operation.
1.1.2.4. Quotes:
1.1.2.4.1.
In The
1.1.2.4.2.
In Spiritual Secret J. Hudson
2. VS 6:1-2 - “6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to
continue in sin that grace might increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who
died to sin still live in it?” - Paul asks the rhetorical question of whether
or not we who are view by God now as under His grace ought to continue to live
in sin, and he emphatically declares the answer to be, ‘No!’
2.1.
Having taught about justification and the results of
justification in chapter 5, Paul will discuss the believer’s identification
with Christ in chapter 6, and also sanctification.
2.2.
In this verse, Paul addresses an incorrect perception
that some may have after having read his letter thus far. Paul introduced the doctrine of justification
by faith in chapter 5, demonstrating the results of justification, and now we
see that he wanted to deal with some possible misconceptions concerning his
teachings thus far in the letter:
2.2.1. Paul knew
that some might have the notion that since grace abounded far above and beyond
sin, that Paul was saying that sinning is Ok for the Christian since it causes
God’s grace to abound and overflow even more.
2.2.2. Some who
would whole-heartedly embrace Paul’s teaching might think that it was OK for
them to live however they liked since God would just forgive them and cause His
grace to abound to them more anyway.
2.2.3. Some may
have even thought that the more they sinned the better since this gave them the
greater opportunity to receive and experience the blessings of His grace and
mercy.
2.3.
Paul uses the present tense for the word ‘sin’
in this verse, which indicates the continual state of living and remaining in
sinful conduct. Though we Christians
occasionally sin it is living habitually in sin that Paul confronts here.
2.4.
The belief that a person may live however he wants if
he is saved is called “Antinomianism.”
There have been many supposed Christian groups throughout history that
have believed and taught this philosophy.
A cult in recent years called the Children of God used to teach this,
and in fact they took the scripture from Titus 1:15 to be proof that this
teaching was Biblical, “15 To the pure, all things are pure.”
2.5.
To this wrong perception that it was ok if a person
sinned since grace would abound, Paul makes the most emphatic statement he
could possibly make in the Greek language when he says, ‘May it never be!’ The King James translation renders this
utterance, “God forbid!’ Rather
than directly attack and denounce these wrong ideas, Paul asks a question as if
in amazement, ‘How shall we who died to sin still live in it?’ Paul’s asking of this question then leads him
naturally into the topic of the believer’s identification with Christ both in
His death and burial as well as in His resurrection.
2.6.
Salvation in Christ is the saving of a person from
his/her sins. That salvation is involves
their past, present, and future life.
The way a person is saved from their sins in the present tense of their
day to day life is based upon an understanding of their having at the moment of
coming to salvation had their old sinful nature crucified upon the cross of Calvary. To be crucified in this sense means to be
have the old sinful nature which still lingers within the believer put to
death: the old self has died.
2.7.
The Greek uses the aorist tense when it says that the
believer ‘died.’ This means that
the death occurred at a point in time past.
In other words, Paul is saying that at the very moment that a person
receives Christ as his Lord and Savior, that his old self has died.
2.8.
Paul does not say here that a Christian should die to
self, rather he speaks of an act that has already been accomplished in every
believer’s life. I myself as a new
Christian had a very hard time understanding this truth from God’s Word that my
old sinful self had in time past been crucified. My lack of understanding this was caused by
the present experience of temptations and sin in my life. How could God say that I had died to sin when
I was under heavy temptation to sin, and often succumbed to sin? The fact is that the old sinful self has
indeed died, however we as believers are still left with some sort of remnant
of it as well as the memories of sin in our flesh. However, it is important that we Christians
understand that we do not have to obey the sinful temptations and desires which
we experience in our flesh because God has rendered that old sinful nature
within us powerless through Christ.
2.9.
Before coming to Christ, a person is really a “slave
to sin,” and therefore he or she cannot choose not to sin. Non-Christians are helpless to the power of
sin over their life. The fact that
Christ frees us from our slavery to sin is taught here in this chapter a few
times, as we see in verse 22 of this chapter, “22 But now having been freed
from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in
sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”
2.10.
The split second after a person receives Christ as his
or her Lord and Savior, he/she no longer has to sin. God can and will now give a Christian victory
over sin, and the way to that victory is underscored in this chapter 6 of
Romans.
2.11.
Paul is saying in verse 2 that it is an impossibility,
a contradiction in terms, to say that a person who comes to Christ for
salvation will be able to then continue on in his life of sin. A person who comes to Christ has been
inwardly transformed and therefore is a new creature in Christ as Paul wrote in
2 Cor. 5:17, “17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature;
the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” If there is not evidence in a person’s life
that a radical transformation has occurred, then it is very unlikely that the
person has ever come to salvation.
2.12.
Paul writes about this truth of our having died and
been raised up with Christ in many places, and in each case Paul writes of the
death of the believer as something that has happened at a point of time in the
past, namely at the moment of salvation:
2.12.1.
Gal. 2:19-20, “19 “For through the Law I died to
the Law, that I might live to God. 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and
it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and
delivered Himself up for me.”
2.12.2.
Col. 3:3-4, “3 For you have died and your life is
hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then
you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
2.13.
If you who profess to be Christians think that you can
continue to live a life of sin, then you should really evaluate whether or not
you truly are in the faith or not. Since
we who have truly come to know Christ have in fact died to sin, it is
impossible for us to continue to live in sin.
It is a contradiction in terms.
2.14.
We must realize that there will be no living in the
resurrection life of Jesus Christ without first dying to self and sin with
Him. Likewise, there will be no death to
self and sin without our being raised up with Him to walk in that newness of
life in Christ.
2.15.
If you are looking to the Lord for victory in a
certain area of your life, looking to the Lord for the solution of any problems
in your life, looking to the Lord to help you with any of the relationships in
your life, you must realize that the only solution that the Lord has for you
involves dying to self and sin and then
beginning to walk in the resurrection life in Christ. There are no band-aids or temporary solutions
to fix your situation apart from dying to self and sin and coming to walk in
the resurrection life that Christ wants to work into your life.
2.16.
The apostle John wrote in John 12:24-25, “24 “Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 “He who loves
his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to
life eternal.” To bear fruit for God
we must die to the old sinful nature and begin to walk in Christ’s resurrection
life.
2.17.
If you are a “true Christian,” then you must
realize that your life has been bought by God, and that you are His slave and
servant, and therefore should be doing what He wants you to do, “19 Or do
you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom
you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought
with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
2.18.
Jon Courson tells a story
about a man who had been looking for a house to buy. Finally, one day the man found this house
that he thought was a great deal. He met
the owner and tried to get him to sell him the house however the owner
refused. Finally, after pressuring the
owner several times to sell the house the owner finally gave in and agreed to
sell the man the house. As he was getting
ready to sign the sales agreement, the man selling the house said that he had
just one stipulation about the deal, that is that he wanted to have this one
nail in a back room to do with whatever he wanted. As the man considered the stipulation, he
decided that nothing really too terrible could happen if he let the guy have the
one nail, so because he wanted the house so badly he agreed to the terms and
signed the contract. After the new owner
had moved into his house for about two weeks, the man who had sold him the
house came knocking on his door, and he had a leash in his hand which had a
dead dog that he was dragging on the other end.
The new owner asked the man what he wanted, and the man said that he
wanted to hang this dead dog on the nail that was in the back room. The new owner objected, however after the man
reminded him of the stipulation about the nail on the contract that he had
agreed to and then threatened a lawsuit, the new owner let him come in and hang
the dead dog on the nail. Days went by
and the stench of the dead dog grew greater and greater in the house. The dead dog began to stink more and more and
soon began to swell up. Then, maggots
began to grow in the dead dog and they eventually fell on the floor and began
to cover the house. Finally, after a
couple of months of this the new owner could take it no more so he abandoned
the house and sent a note to the man saying that he could have the house back
free and clear. Then, the man who had
sold the house returned to his house with a big smile on his face and moved
back in. You see, if we Christians hold
back just one area of our life to the Lord, instead of dying to every area of
that old nature and self life, then that one area that we hold back from the
Lord, that one nail, will begin to stink and fester up in our life to such and
extent that eventually we will have to go back to our old worldly life and turn
completely away from the Lord!
2.18.1.
Is there a nail in your life that you have refused to
turn over to the Lord even though He has repeatedly convicted you about this
area? You should turn it back over to
the Lord today before it eventually drives you completely away from the Lord!
3. VS 6:3 - “3 Or do you not know that all of us who
have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?”
- Paul tells us that everyone who has
been baptized into Christ Jesus has been baptized into His death
3.1.
The word for baptism in the New Testament is a word
which literally means to “submerge.”
3.2.
Here in this chapter Paul talks about a believer’s
baptism, however we must see as we look at the instances here that he uses this
word in that the baptism of water that believers partake of is actually just
symbolic of what the Lord has already done in the believer’s life. It is an outward symbol of an inward act.
3.3.
“H2o” is a symbol for water. However, we must all agree that “H2o” itself isn’t water, it just
simply represents what water stands for and consists of. However, we can talk about water and use in
the place of water, “H2o,” and everyone will know what we are
talking about. In the same way we see
that all throughout this chapter Paul speaks of a believer’s baptism, however
as you read you will see that in reality he is speaking about the reality that
has occurred in the believer’s life of dying with Christ and being raised up
from the dead with Him (of which water baptism is symbolic). Paul does not teach as some mistakenly
believe, that water baptism effects these changes in a believer’s life. To believe this would be to repudiate
everything that Paul had written to this point, and make a work necessary for
salvation.
3.4.
The thief on the cross to whom Jesus told that he
would be with Him in
3.5.
The phrasing ‘baptized into Christ Jesus’ is
interesting, and we can look at some of the other ways in which Paul used this
idea of being ‘baptized into’ something in order to better understand
what he meant by it. In 1 Cor. 10:1-2,
Paul wrote, “10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our
fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and all
were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” You see in the New Testament the usage of the
word for “baptism” (baptidzo in the Greek) sometimes
has nothing to do with water but just conveys the idea of “submersion.”
3.6.
William Newell writes about these verses, “Those
Israelites were not baptized into Moses, but were indeed judicially associated
by God with the Mosaic economy, -”into a spiritual union with Moses, and
constituted his disciples”. So believers
are baptized unto Christ Jesus, which we believe, must be the meaning here. They were indeed so “baptized unto the name
of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:5), that they thereafter bore His Name (James
2:7). You see to be ‘baptized into
Christ Jesus’ means to be joined unto Him, to be placed into Him, and
placed into living dynamic fellowship with Him.
That is what Paul is speaking about in this chapter of baptism, for it
is what happens when a person becomes a Christian.
3.7.
Therefore, in saying that we believers have been ‘baptized
into’ (placed into or joined to) Christ and in doing so we ‘have been
baptized into His death,’ Paul is defining one of the aspects of the
believer’s relationship with Christ. We
do not understand what all this means or how that God could do it, however when
Christ died on the cross 2,000 years ago, our old self died there on that cross
with him. It was put to death and
therefore rendered powerless to subject and enslave us to sin. When a believer begins to “reckon this to
be true” for himself, then he will begin to see powerful results of a
transformed life.
4. VS 6:4 - “4 Therefore we have been buried with Him
through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
– Paul tells us that we as Christians have been buried with Christ through
baptism into His death and raised up from the dead to walk in newness of life
4.1.
Paul uses this word ‘therefore’ referring to
the argument which he has been building since the beginning of chapter 6. As a result of the understanding that all
believers died (at the moment of salvation) to sin, the world, and all of the
old nature, Paul says that they have also ‘been buried with Him.’ Burial is what makes a “closure” to
the hard to grasp fact to the grieving person that someone has in fact
died. They see the lifeless body of
their loved one and realize that the news that had been reported to them that
this one has passed on is in fact true.
Therefore, they are now able to go on with their life with this new
knowledge. That is identical to what it
should do for Christians if they see themselves as both dead and buried with
Christ. The fact that Christians have in
the past been in addition to being dead with Christ, been buried with Him,
should be absolute proof to them that their life is no longer enslaved to sin,
their old life, the world, or the Devil.
4.2.
Paul says in this verse that the purpose that he had
in mind by uniting the believer with Christ in His death and burial is ‘so
we too might walk in newness of life.’
When a believer realizes that he has actually died and been buried in
history past with Christ, then he can appropriate and consequently experience
that new life in Christ that God has for him.
Every believer has been created anew in Christ and thus can walk in that
resurrection life of Christ which is resident within Him through the Holy
Spirit.
4.3.
So, the going down into the water in baptism is
symbolic of that death and burial that he has already experienced with Christ,
and the being raised up out of the water is symbolic of the fact that he now
can walk as that new creation in the resurrection life and power of Christ.
4.4.
In Paul’s writings he consistently used this aorist
tense in writing of the fact that a believer has in time past already been
crucified with Christ.
4.5.
Paul wrote of this identification with Christ in His
death, burial, and resurrection in many places, for example:
4.5.1. Col. 2:12-13
Paul wrote, ‘12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were
also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him
from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together
with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,”
4.6.
Paul also wrote often of the fact that believers have
been made a new creature in Christ, for example:
4.6.1. Gal.
6:14-15, “14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I
to the world. 15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creation.”
4.7.
I heard a story that occurred in the Gulf War of
1990. There were a number of men come to
faith in Christ in this one
4.8.
If you are a believer and yet have not been baptized
in water, it is time that you took that public stand and told the world of that
inward reality that has already occurred in your life, and of your decision to
follow Jesus with your life! Jesus said
that if you are unwilling to confess Him
before men, then He will be unwilling to confess you before His Father in
heaven...
4.9.
In Eph. 4:22-24, Paul wrote that since it is a fact
about us that we have been crucified, buried, and resurrected with Christ, and
that subsequently sin cannot have control over us, that we ought to live in and
develop that new life in Christ, “22 that, in reference to your former
manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in
accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been
created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” The spirit of our minds is renewed as we
spend quiet times alone with God daily in His word and He uses that word to
transform our thoughts and understanding.
4.10.
In an exhortation against lying and deception, Paul
wrote the following about believers in Col. 3:9-10, “9 Do not lie to one
another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have
put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image
of the One who created him.”
5. VS 6:5 - “5 For if we have become united with Him
in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection,” - Paul tells
us that if we have become united with Christ in the likeness of His death that
we shall also be united with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection
5.1.
In this verse, Paul begins to talk about the fact that
the believer identifies with Christ in His death and resurrection, and that in
the same “way” in which Christ died the believer also dies, and in the
same way that Christ raised from the dead, the believer is raised up to walk in
newness of life in Him. The King James
translates the first clause of this verse as saying that the believer has
become “planted together with Him,” instead of ‘united with Him.’ In this verse, Strong’s Greek Dictionary has
the following definition for this word translated ‘united with’:
1)
born together with, of joint origin
1a) connate, congenital, innate, implanted by
birth or nature
2)
grown together, united with
3)
kindred
5.2.
Strong’s Greek Dictionary has the following definition
of this word translated as ‘likeness’ in this verse:
1) that
which has been made after the likeness of something
1a) a figure, image, likeness, representation
1b) likeness i.e. resemblance, such as amounts
almost to equality or identity
5.3.
Mike Macintosh in his book, “The Tender Touch of
God,” relates an incident in history past in which Alexander the Great met
the famous philosopher Diogenese. He was so impressed with the wisdom of this
man, that upon meeting him he told him, “I will do whatever you say to gain
your wisdom.” Whereupon Diogenese replied, “Okay, then take two dead fish and
put them in your pockets for two weeks.”
Alexander, being offended at such a ludicrous suggestion responded, “There
is no way I’m going to carry two smelly fish around with me for two weeks.” The wise Diogenese
then responded, “What great devotion lost because of two dead fish.” We Christians must not neglect to apply God’s
truth in our life even when at first it appears offensive, hard for us to
understand, or difficult for us to do.
God’s work and restoration in our life must be accomplished according to
the ways He has related to us in His Word.
There will be no other way to grow in Christ and obtain victory in our
spiritual walk without our going down the
5.4.
In 2 Kings chapter 5, there is the story of God using Elisha
the prophet to heal Naaman, the captain of the army
of the King of
5.5.
We as Christians need to realize that we have been
made as alive unto God in that newness of resurrection life as Jesus Himself
was raised up to resurrection life.
Likewise, we are as dead unto sin as is Jesus. When He died unto sin, He conquered sin and
its power, and when we become saved we now have the power to be a conqueror over
sin. We have died unto sin, the world,
the old self, and the Devil, and we can be an overwhelming conqueror over all
of these if we can learn to reckon ourselves dead to it and alive unto God. We were regenerated at the moment of our
coming to salvation, and now we have been raised up to walk in this life free
from sin and corruption.
o
5.6.
Warren Wiersbe has written,
“Christian living depends on Christian learning; duty is always founded on doctrine. If Satan can keep a Christian ignorant, he
can keep him impotent.”
5.7.
We Christians must learn about our identification with
Christ, and how to reckon these facts to be so in our life. We often tend to think that our simply
knowing some truth means that somehow we must be applying it in our life. However, this is just not true. We have to make conscious choices to believe
the truth (some choices are difficult to make), if we are to apply God’s Word
in our life.
6. CONCLUSIONS:
6.1.
As we consider this study and how to apply it to our
life, we first of all ought to be sure that we understand these fundamental
truths: that the moment we became a
Christian that our old sinful nature died on the cross of Calvary 2000 years
ago, and that having been buried with Christ that we are now raised up to walk
a new type of life as new creatures with new abilities, desires, and faculties.
6.2.
We ought to ask ourselves whether or not we are
reckoning or considering these truths to be true in our lives. Are we acting moment by moment upon the
reality of these truths and thus choosing not to sin as you look to God for
miraculous ability to do His will in your life..
6.3.
We ought to be sure in our own hearts that when we
find ourselves in times of temptation, trial, difficulty, etc., where we are
being tested, that we continue steadfast in reckoning these truths to be true
in our life.