Romans 6:5-11
Before leaving Romans 6:3,4, there is one more point to mention about our baptism into Christ. As I Cor 12:13 says, we are “baptized (immersed) into one body”. What is this body? This one body is the church of Ephesians 1:22,23, the body of Christ, which will fill the heavenly places. (Eph 1:20,21,23) The word “church” means a called out group of people. The body of Christ is a new church, different from previous churches like those in Mat 16:18 or Acts 7:38 whose future is earthly. This body is composed of believing Jews and Gentiles on equal basis. It is a
“new man” which did not exist in “time past” when Gentiles were separated from Israel. See Ephesians 2:11-16. The body of Christ is only found in Paul’s writings, and will be caught off the earth (I Thes 1:10 & 4:13-18) before God resumes dealing with Israel. (Rom11:15,25-29)
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
5.) What does “planted” mean here? The analogy of being planted in death is also used in I Cor 15:35-38 where Paul speaks of our physical bodies being sown (planted) in the ground like a seed, and coming up in a different form like a plant. I Cor 15:42-50 shows our natural, earthy bodies die in weakness and dishonor, and then decay (corruption). Our resurrected bodies will be spiritual, glorious, immortal, incorruptible and made to live in heaven. (Phil 3:21)
Here in verse 5, it is our human sin nature that is planted in Christ’s death. All believers of this age are planted together in His death, and we will be resurrected from the dead like Christ, all together at the I Thes 4:13-18 / I Cor 15:51-54 event.
6.) We’re to know that “our old man”, our old identity of sin, is dead (separated from us) forever, so that the “body of sin”, which is the source of our sin, the old self centered way of thinking, is “destroyed”. Destroy means to reduce to a powerless form. We have a new way to think now, so the old sinful way has lost it’s power over us. We should think God’s way now. (II Cor 10:4,5) When we sin, it is because we choose to think the old way. Our attitudes and actions are results of our thinking. (Gal 5:22-26; Phil 2:2-5)
7.) Sin resides in our body, not our soul or spirit. (Rom 7:17,18,22-25) When we die physically, we loose our physical body with all it’s selfish desires. Therefore we will be “freed from sin” at death. However, the “body of sin” (vs 6 & Col 2:11) has been put off from us already, so we can live that way now, by choosing to put off the old thinking pattern and to put on God’s values. (Eph 4:22-24; Col 3:8-10) This is called walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16,17), or walking by faith (II Cor 5:7).
8.) Verses 3-6 have made it very clear that we are dead with Christ. Therefore there is no doubt that we will “live with Him”. In other words, we will be raised from the dead and live in resurrection life with Christ. (Col 3:3,4; II Tim 2:11) Once we are “in Christ”, this is a sure thing. (Rom 8:38,39)
9-11) We know that Christ will never die again, and that now He lives for God forever. We are in Him. So we are to “reckon” ourselves to be in the same position as Christ. To reckon something means to depend on it. We died for sin once when we were put into Christ’s death, and never can again. We should depend on that. Now living for God is what counts! (II Cor 5:14,15; Gal 2:20)
Life is not a continual struggle to reform and stop sinning. The issue of sin has been settled forever at the cross. Sin can never beat us in the end and doesn’t have to do so now. We have been separated from sin (dead unto sin), and put into Christ where there is life with God. We just need to learn to think like the saints we are, and our attitudes and actions will follow. God works with His word on our inside to change our thinking, and it will show on the outside. (I Thes 2:13; Phil 2:13)
Remember how Paul emphasizes knowing in verses 3, 6 and 9? Take this knowledge that we have now, reckon it to be true, and live by it. Truth makes us free! (John 8:32; Rom 12:2)
At this point a little explanation of man’s components might be helpful. Man has 3 parts, like God. (Gen 1:26,27) God is Father, Son and Spirit. (Mat 18:19) Man is soul, body and spirit. (I Thes 5:23)
SOUL: Every person’s soul is unique, and has a heart (which makes decisions based on beliefs and values of the conscience), a will (ability to choose), and emotions.
BODY: The physical body is not bad itself, but it contains the selfish lusts and desires of the flesh, the sin nature. The body is the temporary vehicle for the soul and spirit.
SPIRIT: The spirit is the mind, the ability to think and understand. God is a spirit, so to know Him, it must be through our spirit (John 4:24), not our emotions. The spirit of an unsaved person can learn mathematics, literature etc., but is dead to God and cannot know Him. (I Cor 2:11-14; Eph 2:1-3) So an unsaved person is driven by “the desires of the flesh and of the mind” which are programmed by “the course of this world”. When a person is justified, his spirit is made alive (quickened) and God the Spirit moves in. (Eph 1:13; Rom 8:9) That person can now understand God’s word and get to know Him by it. God’s values and viewpoint move into that person through His word (Rom 10:17) Now he can choose, moment by moment, to either live for his flesh or for God. (Rom 6:13,16; Gal 6:8)
Click here to download a diagram that shows a person before and after salvation, and how the soul is driven by either the flesh, or by God through the spirit. The diagram is in Microsoft Word format.
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