Paul declares Believers Dead to Sin but Alive now to
God Part 2
Romans
6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into His death? NKJV
Paul now illustrates for us the picture of what
happened to every one of us when our Lord Jesus Christ said, “It is finished” on the Cross and when He said, “Father into thy hands I commend My Spirit.” The true
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has been symbolically buried with Him (as
painted by the dunking into water during baptism) signifying the death of our
old life before our wonderful union with Jesus through regeneration and new
birth. Though the picture of our death is symbolic (Galatians 2:20), our Lord Jesus literally died and in so dying our
sin was killed with Him because He took our sin into His own body on the tree on
our behalf. Therefore, we can say that our old man or old nature or old life
died or was killed at the very moment of Christ Jesus our Lord’s death on the
Cross and killing sin in all of its corruption on man (Romans 8:3). As Paul stated in another letter, we are literally
joined to our Lord Jesus Christ and become one with Him in every way
spiritually and become His purchased property (1 Corinthians 6:17).
1
Corinthians 12:13 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. NKJV
Galatians
3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. NKJV
Romans
6:4 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. NKJV
Now Paul begins to really refute the idea that any
professed follower of Jesus Christ might have of answering his question in
verse 1 of this chapter with yes. Paul now reminds his readers (the believers)
of the undisputable fact of our Lord Jesus Christ being raised from the dead
bodily (as he Paul was one of the many eyewitnesses of our Lord’s Resurrection)
by the mighty glorious power of the Father and since he just stated in verse 3
that we were buried with our Lord in baptism (picturing our death to sin), then
surely that same mighty glorious power exerted upon the lifeless body of our
Lord Jesus Christ that raised Him to New Resurrection Life will most earnestly
give to each one of us new spiritual resurrection life to our dead spirits (Romans 8:10-11 & Ephesians 2:1). Paul
even says it with such emphatic language that this is the only conclusion that
can be drawn. Paul uses the phrase, “like
as” and this English phrase is from the Greek word hosper, which literally means exactly like. So exactly like Christ
received New Resurrection Life by the Power and Glory of the Father, so do we
receive new resurrection life spiritually empowering us to live differently with
new desires and these new desires are to live pleasing to God the Father
because of our Lord Jesus’ death and by the Holy Spirit’s Power (2 Corinthians 5:17 & Ephesians 5:8
& Colossians 3:10 & 1 Peter 4:1-2 & 1 John 2:6). This is not
power to knock you down flat on your back (slain in the Spirit) and then to get
up and live the same sinful, ungodly, and profane life you did before you ended
up on the floor, but instead this new true life that flows from the Father
through the Son in the Spirit’s Power is a life of power over sin every day
until you see Jesus face to face (John
8:31-36 & Romans 8:2). From the Father flows precious love for His beloved
adopted children and along with that love His Almighty, Awesome, and Amazing
Power keeps His children and conforms them into Christ image and which stands
Alone and Above any and all other power (John
10:27-30 & Revelation 4:2-5).
Colossians
2:12 “Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him
through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” NKJV
1
Peter 3:21-22 There is also an antitype which now saves us --- baptism (not the
removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward
God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is
at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made
subject to Him. NKJV
“A baptism of
holiness, a demonstration of godly living is the crying need of our day.”
Duncan Campbell
“A man who knows that he is saved by believing in
Christ does not, when he is baptized, lift his baptism into a saving ordinance. In fact, he is the very best
protester against that mistake, because he holds that he has no right to be
baptized until he is saved.” Charles Spurgeon
“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without
requiring repentance, baptism without
church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal
confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross,
grace without Jesus Christ.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“In Colossians
2:12 and 1 Peter 3:21 baptism is an expression of the
faith of the person being baptized. I [do] not see how an infant could properly
receive this ordinance as an expression of his or her faith.” John Piper
“Baptism is
an outward expression of an inward faith.” Watchman Nee
“A person’s heart/inner man is baptized or immersed
or washed by God the Holy Spirit and then he or she wants the whole world to
know it, so they come forward to be publicly baptized in water.” Clifford D.
Tate, Sr.
If you do not
know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your
heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus,
I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You
shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead
proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my
sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my
life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely
in Christ,
Author
of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and
Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into
Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s
Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod,
Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners,
Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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