Romans 6:5-7 - United to Christ

Romans 6:5-7 - 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.

Message: United with Him in His death, United with Him in His resurrection means I no longer should be a slave to sin.

Time: Paul wrote Romans from Corinth as he prepared to leave for Palestine. Phoebe (16:1,2) was given the great responsibility of delivering the letter to the Romans believers. At this time, Rome had a population of 1 million, many of whom were slaves. The Romans church was doctrinally sound, but it still needed rich doctrine and practical application. Rome had massive buildings but also slums.

What the Lord is Saying:

Background
In the Open Bible, Chapter 6, verses 1-14 is called, "Believer's Death to Sin in Principle." And then verses 15-23 is "Believer's Death to Sin in Practice." Thus, a corner has been turned, and building off of the verse 20 of chapter 5, Paul now approaches what it means to the individual Christian's life for sin to be crucified.

First we saw the natural question of whether sin increases because when the Law came it increased lawlessness or rather it increased the knowledge of lawlessness. Before the Law, sin was known, but with the Law the standard is more clearly realized and sin has now a name to it.

But, sin is still sin and it reminds us that with it we are helpless (5:6) before God. Christ has died for us because of the sin in our life. And now that we are in Christ, we must become removed from being in Adam.

Paul then shows me the picture of baptism in verses 3 and 4. Baptism is the perfect picture of putting to death sin in my life and then rising up to walk in a new life.

United with Christ
And now in verse 5 is the statement which clarifies the beginning of verse 4 which stated, "we have been buried with Him through baptism into death." In verse 5 it says, "We have become united with Him in the likeness of His death." This may be the first use of the word united but its meaning was known in the previous chapters. We are united with Adam in his sin. We are united with Christ in being justified. So, we are united with Him in his death. And just as unity with Adam resulted in death to all people so also in being united in Christ's death, we are also united in Christ's resurrection.

Sin was crucified on the cross
By being united with Christ in his death, our sin life, the sin that Jesus was with Him on the cross, was put to death. This represents our old self or our "In Adam" self. Genesis is a great picture of the contrast between the promises God laid out to Adam in the garden versus the consequential promises God laid out to Adam after the fall. Everything changed for Adam when he sinned. And in the same manner, everything changes for us when we believe in Christ. Nothing can or should be the same again. The life of the believer in Christ should see a big change.

Free from sin
I am no longer to be a slave to sin. This also is new terminology here in chapter 6. My unity with Christ means that sin should no longer be a slave in my life: "For he who has died is freed from sin (verse 7)." This reminds me of the great Daniel Band song, "Free from sin."

And I don't care what you might say
I'm going to live for Him every day
I heard the message, I took it in
That's why I'm living free from sin

(1) Our old self was crucified; (2) our body of sin might be done away with; (3) we should/would no longer be slaves to sin. 

This is the reality of the picture of the person in Adam. That person is a slave to sin, but in Christ, I no longer need to be or rather, should be a slave to sin for I am free from sin.

This is not the practice of my life. This is the principle. This is the reality. It isn't the feeling that I am free from sin, but rather the reality that I am free from sin.

Note: My bible is a NASB circa 1975 and in that version verse 6 is "should no longer be slaves to sin." In the 1995 version it is now "would no longer be slaves to sin." But, in verse 7 the past tense is clear, "freed." It is done. It is over. We are free from sin. Our future state should no longer be about serving sin.

The believing Christian's sin has been crucified. There is a clear contrast from Paul in Romans. To be justified means that the way God sees me has changed. I have been declared righteous. But, this doesn't mean that I live in a righteous way all the time.

Galatians 2:20 puts a further emphasis on this. "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 gave Himself up for me." I still live life in the flesh. I am still susceptible to living a life of sin. But, now I live by faith. Sin is all around me, but I life by faith.

The problem with this statement I think in life is that it is contrary to the way we think about other situations in life, to a point. When a baby is born in a family, will anything that that person does in their life ever change their being a part of that family. No. Could this be why God used "born again" to communicate our new life in Christ? Many people however think that when we start a job or start a life in Christ, if we decide to quit that job then we are no longer in Christ. I must hold onto scripture and what it says and it says my life has been crucified.

It is a done deal.

Promise: Sin is no longer my master.