The Old Man is Dead - Rom. 6:1-7
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I read an article this week of:
John Wesley who once dreamed that he was at the gates of hell. He knocked and asked, “Are there any Roman Catholics here?” “Yes, many,” was the reply. “Any Church of England men?” “Yes, many.” “Any Presbyterians?” Yes, many.” “Any Wesleyans here?” “Yes, many.”
Disappointed and dismayed, especially at the last reply, he turned his steps upward and found himself at the gates of paradise. Here he repeated the same questions: “Any Wesleyans here?” “No.” “Whom have you, then, here?” he asked in astonishment. “We do not know of any here which you have named. The only name of which we know anything here is “Christian.”
Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1083.
Christian is an interesting term - it simply defines those who profess to be followers of Christ. Many through the years, including today, have made the profession with their lips, yet fewer with their hearts.
It is the label placed on those who were acting out their faith as “little Christs.”
Now, this year we are studying the Book of Romans, learning Christian truth. This is not baptistic doctrine, although many baptists hold to what we are talking about. It is not excluding other denominational labels, although some do not hold to biblical truth.
However, what we are learning in Romans, which has been a historical foundational doctrine of Christ followers from the beginning is that righteous is extended to the unrighteous through faith in the Gospel. This is the overarching theme that is interwoven throughout the Book.
The only way unrighteous sinners are declared right with a righteous God, is through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Last week, as we celebrated the Resurrection of Christ, we looked at 5:12-21, and we saw:
1. The Curse of Original Sin (vv. 12-14)
The personal, deliberate act of Adam plunged all the human race into physical and spiritual death.
The curse of this original sin is the sting of death that has extended to every generation. Therefore, You and I are not exempt from the curse - because of sin, we deserve physical and spiritual death.
In Adam, we all deserve death. We all deserve eternal separation from God. We have broken the law of God that is written on our hearts, and we are without excuse.
Before our holy Creator, we are guilty.
But the story doesn’t end there.
In our guilt, someone stepped in for us, as a substitute, to take the penalty of our sin and to extend to us righteousness. And in vv. 15-21 we saw the:
2. The Blessings of Christ’s Victory (vv. 15-21)
In these verses we saw the stark contrast between the two representatives mentioned
The first Adam (Adam) and the last Adam (Christ).
The first Adam failed and the Last Adam was victorious.
But we also saw the stark contrast of the two outcomes:
The outcome of Adam as our representative was the reign of death, judgement, condemnation, disobedience and the label of sinner - of which we are all guilty.
Instead of the reign of death, judgement, condemnation, and sin in Adam - of which we are all guilty, Christ extended grace resulting in justification leading to the reign of righteousness.
In Adam we are in dead, but in Christ we have life!
On our own we are hopeless, with Christ we possess all hope.
The accomplishment of Christ - his sinless life, his substitutionary death, and his victorious resurrection has provided life to all who will rely on Him by faith.
Dear friend, God has extended grace to you through Christ!
Where your sin was bold - grace was much more bold.
Where your failure was extensive - grace reached further.
Where your guilt was pitch black - grace shown in and lit up the darkness.
And Paul follows that up, in 6:1-7 with:
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Paul says in chapter 5 - your position is in Christ, therefore as one who is reliant on Christ, you are perfect.
However, he brings up a valid contrast in chapter 6, that although our position is sure, the outflow of that position, or our practice, will still require attention.
And to highlight this truth, Paul answers the question of the Jewish objector we dealt with back in chapter 4.
The question is posed in response to this superabounding grace of chapter 5: If grace is given in spite of sin, should we just continue in sin so that grace can multiply?
If as sin abounded, grace super-abounded, why not commit more sin to receive more grace?
Of which Paul answers: Certainly not! In fact, he responds in v. 2 with positional truth.
When Christ died to sin, as our representative as the last Adam, we died to sin too. Positionally, those who are in Christ have died to sin.
Christ broke the power of sin over us.
And since we are dead to sin positionally, we are no longer required to submit to it practically.
We are no longer controlled by sin - we submit to a greater master now.
This does not mean that our sin nature was eliminated at the cross or at the moment of our conversion or baptism. Instead, as he says elsewhere,
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
Having experienced such a transfer, how dare we go on living in sin?
And in defense of such a claim, Paul illustrates this death to sin in vv. 3-7
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
In 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul writes:
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
Here we find the reality of believers at the moment of conversion, at the moment of faith in Christ, that an un-physical immersion takes place. At the moment of faith in Christ - apart from a church service (although it may happened during a church service), apart from walking an isle (although that may be included) apart from a repeated prayer (although calling on the Lord does take place) apart from a baptismal like the one behind me (although it may be included) at the moment of faith, believers are immersed into Christ. They go from being immersed in Adam, controlled by sin and the flesh, to being immersed into Christ.
And although it’s a bit mysterious, the bible is clear - those who express faith in Jesus, regardless of their background, are spiritually baptized.
Now, as we come to Romans 6, with the broader understanding of all of scripture, we know of Spiritual baptism and we read this passage and we ask the question, of which baptism is he speaking. Is it spirit baptism or water baptism? And the answer I have come to is yes. He is speaking of both.
There is no doubt that believers are immersed by the Spirit at conversion, but it is also clear that NT never contemplates the abnormal situation of an unbaptized believer in water. What I mean by that is there is often an assumption that those who are converted submit to water baptism right away. Not to be given righteousness or as an act to merit eternal life, but as a reaction to the eternal life that Christ has given.
Remember, righteousness is given to the unrighteous through faith in the gospel. Not faith in religious activity like prayer or baptism or church attendance. Having faith in faith won’t merit righteousness. Faith in Jesus Christ is what God accepts.
Now, we come to Romans 6, and Paul says where your sin was abounding, grace abounded more. And to illustrate this, he links together the transformation that takes place at conversion through the picture of death - represented in baptism. The immersion of the old raising to new.
Robert Mounce said it well,
“Christ’s death for sin became our death to sin.” - Robert Mounce
Notice with me again in vv. 3-4
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
A perpeutual theme in these two verses is what? DEATH.
v. 3 You were immersed at conversion into His death.
Death had to take place. Christ had to die, and the old you must die too.
v. 4 - Believers are symbolically buried with Christ through baptism and raised with him from the dead in order that we may walk in newness of life.
This is in contrast to the idea (v.1) that we would just go living on in sin so that grace may multiply. There is no life in sin, new life is only found in Christ.
v. 5 - Although we have been united in the likeness (a picture of - and the experiencing of) the death of Christ, we will (future tense) experience the resurrection because of Christ.
v. 6
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
We know this, Paul says
The old man - speaking of who we were in Adam - was put to death with Christ.
So that, the body of sin (rule of sin) would be done away with.
Everything we were before we became a Christ follower is to be different.
“The new self is not perfect. We still sin because we have indwelling sin in our mortal bodies (Rm 7:13–25), but we are in the process of renewal (Eph 4; Col 3).
Thus we have the answer to the question about whether a Christian can still live in sin. We cannot live as we once did because the “old self” was crucified with him (Christ). In Christ the believer is a “new creation” (2Co 5:17).”
Paige Patterson, “Salvation in the Old Testament,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1790.
“Therefore, the tyranny, domination, and rule of sin have been defeated for us.
So this means that the normal pattern of life for Christians should be progressive growth in sanctification, resulting in ever greater maturity and conformity to God’s moral law in thought and action.”
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2167.
This death of the old boils down to v. 7 -
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Here it is, you ready?
Sin has no claim over a dead person and can claim no loyalty from him.
Weekly Focus:
Believer, sin does not rule you any longer!
You don’t have to live in sin - in fact, there is no point at which you could claim that you didn’t have the grace to overcome sin.
Sin does not rule you any longer - that’s the truth of Romans 6:1-7.
And with this truth in mind (that you are no longer under sin’s rule), in dependence on God’s grace, you can experience progressive growth in sanctification as you faithfully submit to gospel truth.
What does this look like practically?
You and I are confronted with temptation.
In that moment, we have a decision to make.
Do I submit to the temptation, or do I submit to gospel truth?
When I am confronted with the temptation to lie, do I lie, or remember the Gospel?
4 truths of the gospel:
God is Creator
Sin is breaking God’s law
Jesus died for me
I must respond
So, do I choose to lie, or do I respond the Gospel and in turn tell the truth.
When I am tempted to be greedy, do I choose self or respond in faith to the gospel.
When I am tempted to gossip, do I continue in sin or respond to the Gospel.
When I am tempted with lust, do I pursue it, or respond in faith.
Before Jesus, I didn’t have a way out. I sinned because it was ok - the Gospel has changed that.
So, this week, live out Romans 6:1-7.
Believer, sin does not rule you any longer! In dependence on God’s grace, you can experience progressive growth in sanctification as you faithfully submit to gospel truth.
You won’t be perfect till you’re in glory, but you will grow as you faithfully submit.
Face each moment in grace - dependent on God’s truth. Sin does not rule you any longer - and by God’s grace you can faithfully submit to Gospel truth.