Romans 6:1-11 Living the new life is not about life without sin but about adopting a divine identity and heavenly direction
Romans 6:1-11 Living the new life is not about life without sin but about adopting a divine identity and heavenly direction
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Background
In view of the grace of God, Paul urged believers to be intentional to die to sin and live to God. In other words, to die as Christ died, and to live as Christ lived. When Jesus denied His rights and gave Himself to serve humanity, the Father resurrected Him in His glory. Hence, those who walk in the path of Christ will likewise walk in Christ’s resurrection life. How then should we walk in this new life? By not being fixated on law or on grace. But to emulate Christ’s manner of life. Today’s devotion teaches us: Living the new life is not about life without sin but about adopting a new identity and heavenly direction.
Observation
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Paul continues from the preceding verses by anticipating a response from the reader: “What shall we say then?” If sin increased, grace abounded all the more (v 5:20), then should we continue to live in sin while expecting grace to remove divine retribution and regenerate our hearts? Sin comes from man’s selfish ego. Indeed, many adopt a passive attitude in dealing with their ego supposing God’s removal of sin’s retribution and sinful nature need no participation on man’s part.
Paul replies: May it never be! Here, Paul strikes at the conscience of the hearer: How shall we who have made a conscious decision to die to sin continue to live in it? How is it when we have made a covenant with God to divorce ourselves from the corrupt human ego continue to co-exist with it?
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus have been baptised into His death?
To be baptized into Christ Jesus is to be a beneficiary of Jesus’s covenant with the Father. This covenant; a blood covenant was established when Jesus shed His blood on the cross. Through the cross, Jesus made a blood covenant with the Father that covered four elements:
First, the blood of Jesus removes God’s wrath that our transgressions deserve. As Paul writes in Romans 5:9, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” Christ’s blood not only regenerates our nature, but also shields us from the divine judgment once rightfully upon us.
Second, the blood of Jesus regenerates our hearts for New Covenant living, where righteous behavior flows from an inward transformation rather than external enforcement. By His blood, Jesus inaugurated a covenant in which God forms righteousness within us. Jesus said in Luke 22:20, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.” Under this New Covenant, God fulfills His promise from Jeremiah 31:33: “I will put My law within them, and write it on their hearts.”
Third, the blood covenant makes Jesus and His followers kings and priests to reign over all things. Revelation 1:5-6 says, “You were slain, and by Your blood You ransomed people for God… and made them a kingdom and priests, and they shall reign on the earth.”
Fourth, the blood covenant gives believers the power to overcome Satan. Revelation 12:11 says, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”
Being baptized into Christ makes us beneficiaries of His blood covenant. Through His blood, God’s wrath is removed and we are justified. Our hearts are regenerated so righteousness flows from within, fulfilling the New Covenant promise. We are made kings and priests who will reign with Christ, and we receive power to overcome Satan through the blood of the Lamb. This blood covenant provides forgiveness, transformation, authority, and victory.
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.
To be “baptized into death” and “united with Him in the likeness of His death” is to lose our corrupt human ego and fully embrace Christ’s way of life. This is the prerequisite for becoming beneficiaries of Jesus’s blood covenant with the Father. The covenant required that Jesus suffer God’s wrath in hell, where He also proclaimed His message to the imprisoned spirits. In the deepest regions of hell, Jesus endured immeasurable agony and the torment of sinful passions. As 1 Peter 3:18–20 states, Christ was “put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,” and in that state He went and proclaimed to the spirits who were disobedient in the days of Noah.
Jesus’s suffering in hell was the true price of our exoneration. His physical death merely removed Israel’s subjection to Moses’s Law, but His torment in hell lifted God’s wrath from humanity. This aspect of His death distinguishes His resurrection from that of Lazarus, for Lazarus was never raised from the depths of hell. When the Father saw that Jesus had fulfilled every requirement of the covenant, He raised Him from the lowest depths to the highest glory. Likewise, those who are baptized into Jesus and live as He lived will share in His resurrection and be appointed to rule creation with Him.
Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.
The crucifixion of the old self with Christ applies especially to Israel, for they were bound to God through Moses’s covenant and therefore subject to its blessings and curses. Because of this, the old covenant had to be brought to an end before the new covenant could be established. Jesus’s bodily death accomplished precisely that—it annulled the authority of Moses’s Law. For the Israelites, then, participation in Christ’s death through the crucifixion of the old self is the means by which the Law’s claims over them are cancelled. The Law was never able to free them from the power of sin, but the new covenant, sealed in Christ’s blood, accomplishes what the old covenant could not: true liberation and the transformation of the heart.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
For the Israelites to participate in the new covenant—the blood covenant—they must first annul Moses’s covenant by dying with Christ. When Jesus is raised, not only from bodily death but also from the depths of hell, Moses’s covenant is permanently nullified. Moreover, the power of sin and hell is decisively broken over Him and all who are united with Him, ensuring that His followers share in His victory and freedom.
For the rest of humanity, who were never bound by Moses’s covenant, participation in His victory and freedom comes through dying to the corrupt human ego rather than annulling a covenant with Moses. In this act, we choose to put to death our corrupt human ego and be freed from bondage to live the resurrection life. The bondages of darkness—hatred, anger, envy, greed, lust, violence, poverty, sickness, failures, hopelessness, foolishness, and self-condemnation—can no longer hold mastery over us. Because the power of sin has been destroyed once for all, we can continually turn to God to receive grace to live the new life. Therefore, we must persevere, putting on the righteous human ego (the Christ-Self)—considering ourselves dead to sin—and live by His righteousness and directives.
Truth
Living the new life is not about life without sin but about adopting a divine identity and heavenly direction
Sin is a matter of the heart, not the mind.
If believers adopt a new direction by seeking Christ’s righteousness (His love, wisdom and power) to do His work, we will eventually be perfected. By seeking to transform our hearts by adopting a new identity and direction, our actions will follow. Murder, adultery and stealing do not occur out of a vacuum. Sin is first conceived in the heart. The heart is the master, and the body is merely its slave. Jesus said,
For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. – Matthew 12:34b-35
In the case of Adam, he did not murder or steal, but he ate the forbidden fruit. Eating the fruit per se is not sin, but it is what goes on in the heart that is considered sinful. It is in his desire to be free from God’s laws and commands that condemned him.
Do not harbour the mindset of the law.
Some in the church today fixate on the law in hopes of living a sin-free life. They measure themselves by how frequently they commit sin or by how disciplined they are in prayer and in reading the bible. Such may stagnate because righteousness or sinfulness is the matter of the heart, it cannot be overcome by moral will but by the Spirit. Such will soon take on the legalistic mindset of the Pharisees.
Harbour the mindset of grace and love.
Believers must harbour not the mindset of the law, but the mindset of grace. To harbour the mindset of grace is to keep steady in one’s heart Christ’s righteousness and His kingdom’s work. Christ’s righteousness pertains to His virtues, wisdom and power. Christ’s kingdom’s work relates to serving others, to emulate Him; to die as Christ died, and to live as Christ lived. The apostle Paul said,
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. – Colossians 3:1-3
The things above refers to Christ’s righteousness and His works. Therefore, do all to keep our hearts pure and wise through communion with God. Be zealous in establishing justice and in goodwill serve others.
Application
To seek the things above is to be vigilant and wise. Guard our hearts against sin and avoid evil men. The last days will bring difficult times where the righteous will be persecuted for the truth they stand for. The apostle Paul said,
But realise this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these… Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. – 2 Timothy 3:1-5,10-12.
Having read the above text, write down on paper some of your sinful inclinations. Make a decision to persevere amid oppositions and persecutions.
What is your life ambition? Or more importantly, what is God calling you to do? Are your ambitions holy or self-serving?
Make time for self-reflection to understand what God is doing in this last days and join Him in His work. Avail your resources to help the needy as God directs.
Dear Lord, I desire to live abundantly, joyfully, creatively and actively blessing others. Fill me with Your Spirit and cause me to live as Jesus lived. I declare that I no longer need fleshly things. I crucify them on the cross and declare them as dead. In Jesus’s name. Amen.