Dead to Sin

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:1-14

We know now, from Romans chapter 5, that (a) we didn’t do anything to be condemned, (b) we cannot do anything earn salvation, (c) we cannot do anything to keep ourselves saved. We were lost through Adam’s sin, we are redeemed through Jesus’ obedience, we are kept saved by His living intercession before the throne of God. Great! Let the “good times” roll!

Were they really good times?

NO!! Because of our identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, we are separated from (dead to) sin. We who have believed and received His atonement have been spiritually crucified with Jesus. We were changed by that event, for all time and eternity. There is no going back to the old slavery to sin. The dead don’t sin anymore. It is a matter of mental attitude in those who have been made spiritually alive (resurrected). The body of corruption is still with us, but we do not have to obey the lusts of the flesh. We now have a new nature, the Holy Spirit, who enables us to learn and practice God’s ways rather than the way of the world. The temptations are still part of our flesh, but our person has been elevated by grace, so that we see ourselves as we are: IN CHRIST. Crucified, buried and resurrected IN HIM. That is how the Father sees believers, so we must learn to see ourselves in that same reality. That is our permanent position.

While we were dead to God, sin had complete reign over us. Now, having believed in Jesus and having received His righteousness, we are alive to God. Sin can no longer control our lives. We are free!

Our physical bodies will eventually die. Good riddance to the Old Sin Nature. Then we can have the same kind of life our Lord is experiencing now. He came to give us that. Our knowledge of Whose we are and what our new nature is gives us the sense of eternal oneness with Christ and sonship of the Father. We are everything Jesus is, spiritually, because of the new birth. Remember, faith is not feeling, faith is knowing. Verse 3: “Don’t you know that we were baptized into Christ’s death?” Verse 6: “knowing that our old self was crucified with Him…” Verse 9: “knowing that death has no more power…”

Sin was our pimp; ruling over us, using us as instruments of wickedness, enslaving our corrupted bodies and condemning us through the law, gaining power at our expense.

Now we are married to the King. Grace is now our home and righteousness is our nature. The old self holds no reality for us, who belong to the Lord of Life. Sin has nothing to offer that can alienate us from our relationship to the One Who made us free.