The past experience of dying with him and being raised with him is the basis for our present status as people whose heavenly identity is real and secure, yet hidden, an identity that will be gloriously manifested in the future.

“the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart” (Matt. 15:18),

This language strongly suggests that the “new self” is not a part of an individual or even an individual as a whole, but some kind of corporate entity. This suspicion finds strong confirmation in Ephesians 2:15, where Paul speaks of God’s intention to incorporate both Jews and Gentiles in the church: “His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity (kainon anthrōpon) out of the two, thus making peace” (see also Eph. 4:13). Similarly, we should recall that Romans 6:6 follows closely Paul’s discussion of the corporate significance of Adam and Christ in Romans 5:12–21.