Romans 6:1-11 (b)

Initially, for the believer to walk in newness of life he needs to know something.  This is made clear in this passage three times:

v v3: don’t you know of our death, burial and resurrection with Christ?

v v6: knowing that our old man was crucified with Christ.

v v9: knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.

What the believer must know is that life in the kingdom of grace is tied to the life of Christ.

·        As He died for our sins, taking them on Himself, so we have been crucified with Him, freeing us from sin (v5-7).

·        As He was raised from the dead never to die again, so we have been raised so that sin will no longer rule us (v8-10).

If one will consider these two statements it will be clear how the believer lives a righteous life.  On one hand they are freed from sin.  This does not mean they never sin.  Rather it says they have freedom from the sin that has controlled mankind since Adam (5:12).  The old man (v6) is the person born with a sinful nature, controlled by that nature.  It is the person born into the kingdom where death reigns by sin (5:14).

On the other hand believers, no longer in death’s dominion (v9), can now live to God (v10).  In the kingdom of death it is clear that men cannot live the life that pleases God (1:18-3:20).  But believers now live in the kingdom of grace which reigns through righteousness (5:21).  They have the ability, by grace, to live a righteous life.

Notice the emphasis on grace.  By grace we are referring to the work of the Lord Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection.  The believer realizes that this righteous life he can now live in only made possible by Christ.  Grace often refers, not only to what Christ did, but to Christ Himself (Titus 2:11).  The kingdom of grace is the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13).  The believer, by his faith, has been united with Christ in His death (v5) and resurrection life (v8).

This life is characterized by righteousness but also by its longevity; it is eternal life.  As Christ rose from the dead never to again be subject to death, so the believer in Christ is no longer subject to death (John 11:25-26 would be good to read here).

These things then we know.  This is not mere symbolism.  This is fact.  This is reality.  Water baptism (v1-4) symbolizes a real spiritual event: the believer joined in Christ in death, burial and resurrection.

There is one more thing to be said, however, with respect to the believer’s ability to live a righteous life.  In v11 there is a command to believers to reckon himself dead to sin and alive to God.  The word means to count or consider.  It is the same word as Rom. 4:3: Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.  God counts the believer righteous by his faith in Christ.  Here the accounting is carried out by the believer.  The objective truth of dying with Christ and being raised with Christ must become subjective truth.  He must say, “By grace I am dead to sin.  By grace- I am alive to God.  I am not the person I was.”  This is critical.  What we are doing is taking what is in the brain and transferring it to the heart.  “I am no longer that old man.  In Christ, praise His Name, I am a new man, alive in the kingdom of grace.”

Meditate on this: as a believer in Christ you are not the person you used to be!