Newness Of Life
Romans 6:1-6 NKJ
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 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.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 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.
Paul had a revelation from the Lord. Paul’s God-given insight regarding what happened in the new birth was way ahead of many of his contemporaries in the gospel. The apostle Peter even referenced the wisdom given to Paul and openly stated that some of the things Paul wrote about were hard to understand. And that was Peter who walked with Jesus. Paul’s understanding of what took place in the substitutionary work of Jesus was extensive. Here in our verses for today, we have Paul’s writings concerning being dead to sin through Christ.
“How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” That in itself is an amazing revelation. This is where Paul lays out how we died with Christ. We were buried with Him through baptism into death. Not the physical act of being baptized in water. This is the spiritual act of being united with Christ in His death. We, by the Holy Spirit, were baptized into Jesus’ death. Please don’t ask me to explain that. This is a spiritual reality that we accept by faith. So when Jesus was buried, we were buried with Him in the eyes of God. And as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we also were raised from the dead, spiritually speaking, and have the amazing capacity to walk in newness of life. Our minds go tilt, trying to figure out just how this happens. How are we buried with Jesus and raised with Jesus? Again, this is not something I can explain, but I will show you what you and I can do.
We can believe it and act upon it. We believe we were buried with Jesus and have been raised with Jesus. Always keep in mind that spiritual realities exist on a higher plane than this natural world we live in. In the eyes of God, when Jesus died, we died. And when Jesus was raised from the dead, we were raised with Him. I may not understand all of that, but I accept it. Acceptance brings empowerment. We accept our death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus and begin to live accordingly. We begin to confess the inability for sin to dominate us. We accept that our old man was crucified with Christ, and we are no longer slaves of sin.
I suggest you do not consult with your feelings regarding the truth of this passage. Spiritually, you and I are in a different place than we were before coming to the Lord.But now that we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death and His resurrection, we can live differently. Certainly, our feelings contradict this truth. But we walk by faith, not by feelings. We believe that we are equipped and well able to live dead to sin and walk in newness of life. This is why Paul could boldly write in verse eleven that we should consider or reckon ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Application
According to our verses for today, we would be far better off with a winning attitude regarding sin. We are victorious over sin in Christ Jesus. We are dead to sin in Christ. Our feelings will not always contribute to truth, but they can be made to submit to it.
Let’s focus on the good news: we are alive to God and enabled to walk in the newness of life.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, that You gave Your life for me that I might walk before You without a sense of guilt or inferiority.