A Sanctifying Spiritual Union to Christ (Part 2) – Romans 6:6–10

PRAY & INTRO: Have you ever been around a small child consistently for a few of days and thought to yourself, “You know, I’m convinced that this toddler has no corrupted sin nature. I don’t think this kid sins… because he has begun life naturally good.” Even if we give space for kids to be kids and don’t label every childish thing a sin, this has still never happened… except to a young woman named Mary from a town called Nazareth.

On the other hand, have you been around someone older (in almost any other season of life) for a few days, or even a few hours, and thought to yourself, “Something is pleasantly different. I know this older lady or this young man is certainly not sinlessly perfect, but God has dramatically changed something in their lives.”

Today we see in Paul’s letter to the Romans that what God has done is to unite them to Christ, giving them new power to live for Him. 

Romans 6:6–14 ESV

⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ¹³ Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

What have we already seen and described so far about this section of Scripture?

Believers have been united to Christ and therefore participate in his victory over sin and in the new life his resurrection has inaugurated, so they must learn to live accordingly. (Rom 6:2-14)

Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be. How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Before shifting to application in vv. 11-14, Paul explains that…

Those who are justified by faith have also experienced a sanctifying spiritual union to Christ, which is applied at conversion but was achieved at the cross. (verses 3-10)

The sanctifying union Paul describes takes place in conjunction with our justification (an acquittal from the guilty verdict based on Christ’s righteousness, in order to be restored to right relationship with a perfectly righteous God). Paul has been clear before now that this is by faith alone, and not by works of our own achievement.

So, to contradict the notion that this reign of grace encourages a license to continue in sin, Paul explains that the believer’s positional sanctification in union to Christ (applied at conversion and achieved that the cross) necessarily leads to progressive sanctification.

We focused our attention last week on the way in which this…

- Sanctifying Union Applied at Conversion [Portrayed in Baptism] (verses 3-5)

We explained that Paul uses baptism as synecdoche to represent the whole of conversion by faith specifically because the water baptism promptly displayed at conversion uniquely illustrates the believers spiritual union with Christ in the effects of his death and resurrection.

Again, why does Paul use baptism at conversion to illustrate the impact of our spiritual union with Christ? Because baptism, which is an outward confession-in-action of an inward spiritual commitment to Christ, visually illustrates (it dramatizes) a burial of the old man that has died with Christ, followed by a resurrection to new life in Christ.

This results in a transfer of position under a new power, which leads to ongoing transformation. Paul’s point in all of this is that… Christ’s triumph over sin’s stronghold results in the believer being transferred in position to be under a new power—a new kingdom with new lordship. (cf. Col 1:13-14) 

Paul continues backward in time to show that this positional sanctification that is applied to believers at conversion was achieved at the cross. More than that, Paul will explain what has resulted from this achievement.

- Sanctifying Results Achieved at the Cross [Christ’s Crucifixion & Resurrection] (verses 6-10)

What is pictured in baptism at conversion is now explained in terms of how it was accomplished. By our union with Christ, how have we positionally died to the controlling power of sin and received new spiritual life? Paul explains that both of these were achieved in the substitutionary death and victorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verses 6&7 will substantiate and explain the results of vv. 4a & 5a—how those united to Christ have died with Him, and with what result. And vv. 8-10 substantiate and explain the results of vv. 4b & 5b—how that death relates also, by his resurrection, to a new life unto God.

First…

For those who are united to Christ by faith, His substitutionary death has killed the old self enslaved to sin, thus breaking its controlling power. (verses 6-7)

“We know that our old man was crucified with Him…” - It’s like Paul is saying, ‘Christian, you should know, you need to realize… that your experience of this world has changed because God has changed you… through the accomplishment of Christ.’

Now the first emphasis is that our union with Christ means that his substitutionary atonement—Christ’s death in our place—does indeed mean more than that he took our penalty on himself (which he did, and for which we are indeed grateful!). But his substitutionary death also means he has killed our old man with him and taken away the controlling power of sin that held us captive to it.

When the verse says “our old man [old self] was crucified with him,” Paul is drawing our attention back to Ro 5:12-21, where he made clear that all men descended from Adam are subject to the controlling power of sin and death. There is no one to whom this does not apply who is born of natural generation.

We therefore all need this substitutionary death of Jesus, received by faith, or else we remain under the power of sin’s control and subject to sin’s penalty—not only physical death but spiritual death leading to eternal death.

But Paul says that our union with Christ means that our old man is crucified… for this purpose: “in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing.” Body (Gk. soma) most likely means the whole self conceived of as a body, and to which the whole of ourselves is subject to sin. Paul will keep this image going with his application in vv. 12-13, where he contrasts that we are meant to present ourselves and all our members to God as tools/weapons for righteousness. (The whole self and every aspect of the self.)

Here then, the whole self of sin was put to death with Christ, again with another purpose: “so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” - Tom Schreiner explains something helpful to our understanding, “This does not mean that sin is forced on them against their will. It means that they invariably choose to sin because sin is the circumference of their desires as those who belong to the first Adam. Believers have been liberated from such slavery to sin and are now free from its clutches.” (Tom Schreiner)

Why, or How? (v. 7) For the one who has died (with Christ) has been justified from sin (acquitted from sin’s consequences and controlling power). For the one who has died—in the flow of Paul’s thought this means the one who has died with Christ—has been justified from sin (acquitted from sin’s consequences and controlling power).

Again, Jesus’ substitutionary atonement does certainly pay for the penalty of our sin, which is a just judgment against sin from a righteous God. So also, we have a sanctifying union to him in his death (v. 5a), Paul says, which means that we are now dead to sin’s enslaving power over us as well. Christ’s death, to which we are united, has killed sin’s controlling authority over us.

Now, we naturally ask: If this is true, that we have died to the old life in which sin held sway, why do, yes, even true believers still struggle with sinning at times?

Douglas Moo reflects on a helpful distinction noted by John Wesley in this text: “It is not sin, but the believer, who has “died,” and sin, as Wesley puts it, “remains” even though it does not “reign.” Therefore, while “living in sin” is incompatible with Christian existence and impossible for the Christian as a constant condition, it remains a real threat.”

In other words, we might say that the pattern of our lives must begin to change because we have been changed. Jesus has transferred us from the domain of sin and death to the domain of life to God. A helpful note from the ESV Study Bible says, “Paul does not argue that Christians do not sin at all (a view called sinless perfection); instead, the tyranny, domination, and rule of sin have been defeated for them. 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.”

So why do we still struggle with sin even though it’s no longer has complete dominion over us? Because old habits die hard. Paul will say, don’t let sin reign in your mortal body. Living in Adam for so long, we have developed terrible habits of living in sin, such that those habits are hard to break. We slide back into old patterns of thinking, speaking, and acting whenever we don’t apply what Paul will say in vv. 11-13. We must actively meditate on being dead to sin and alive to God, and therefore present our whole selves to him as weapons for him to work righteously.

I also like what Christopher Ash says on this subject: “We are not free from sin’s ability to tempt us, but we are free from its right to kill us.” And that’s because, as Paul explains… For those who are united to Christ by faith, His substitutionary death has killed the old self enslaved to sin, thus breaking its controlling power.

Now, there is an incredibly crucial counterpart to our death with Christ killing sin’s controlling authority and power over us, which is to replace that with a new life that has a new controlling authority and power. And this, Paul says, was achieved for us by Christ’s resurrection life.

Because Jesus has defeated both sin and death, his resurrection has achieved for those united to Him a new life to God. (verses 8-10)

Verse 8 repeats the two parts of this in order to keep us tethered to the twofold aspect of Christ’s achievement, leaning now into the second part: “if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”

As we said last week, the fact that “we will also live with him” has both present and future components. What Christ has accomplished will result in our final resurrection to eternal life with God (5b), but which has also inaugurated even now a spiritually alive new man (4b).

For illustration of this, think also of the comparative NT teaching that we already have an inheritance assured for us because God has made us his children, fellow heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ. And there are also magnificent and life-changing ramifications for us even now that we are already his children.

So too, our resurrection to eternal glory is already assured, for those united to Christ, and that has a corresponding present reality that we have been made alive together with Christ.

In vv. 9&10 Paul explains “how this works.” Verse 9 is pretty straightforward, in which Paul shows that Christ cannot die again because he was raised to a life that has conquered death. Death no longer has dominion over him. Again, He was raised to a life that conquered death. Death no longer has dominion over him.

This matters for Paul’s point to the reader because, as Tom Schreiner explains, “The presupposition for the whole argument is that believers are incorporated into Christ. Thus what is true of Christ as their representative is also true of them.” In this sanctifying spiritual union to Christ, what is true of his resurrection life is true of us, and will be true of us. - The Good Shepherd has come that we may have life, and have it abundantly. (Jn 10:10) Although this life has an ‘already but not yet’ quality to it, it has indeed been fully secured by the vicarious death and resurrection of our Lord.

What we’re talking describing is what Paul continues to show in verse 10.

Those who belong to Christ, who have been united with him, share in his triumph over death… and therefore also share in the life he lives to God. “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, and the life he lives he lives to God.”

Two quick things to address in the first half of this verse:

1. Jesus’ death to sin was absolutely not for any sin on his own part, but rather, “As the sinless one he suffered the consequences of sin and death for the sake of believers.” (Schreiner) He did indeed die because of sin, but not his own. He died for our sin. “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21)
2. ‘Once for all’ is a single Gk word, ephapax, for which we don’t have an equivalent, so we translate with an English idiom—once for all. But lest we should deviate into an argument that is based on the English idiom and not what the Gk word means, let’s clarify. The word has reference to time or how many times. The word can mean “at once” or “at the same time,” but most places, like here, it means once and for all in the sense of once and not again. It means it only needed to happen one time, never to be repeated.

Of course, that’s exactly right in this usage in v. 10, another emphasis that he will never die again from v. 9. Christ died to sin one time and it is not needed that he should do so again.

The perfect Lamb of God accomplished in a single death and resurrection all that is required. And the point is that Christ’s experience is our experience in this sanctifying spiritual union to him. So Paul particularly now is highlighting this latter part of the result of his resurrection, which is the result for us as well: “the life he lives he lives to God.”

Our physical death would have one day sealed our fate of eternal death, because of the spiritual death in which we walk with sin dominating our lives. But if we are united to Christ, his resurrection has granted us a spiritual life to God which now means our physical death is only preliminary to a final resurrection to glory. (rather than a resurrection to eternal damnation)

But what Paul really seeks to show his audience is that, even now this has present impact on the life we live right now if we are united to Christ. The life we live we live to God.

Which leads us where? To progressive sanctification.

Paul will tell the saints in Rome that this new sanctifying reality must lead to…

Live Consistently With This Death & New Life (verses 11-14)

Those who have been thus positionally sanctified must progressively grow in living consistently with the new life Christ achieved.

[Next week] New Patterns For A New Kingdom

So even now we must lean into that as application for today.

Conclusion: The Sanctifying Change We Must Learn to Live By

We must first be sure that we are in Christ Jesus. You cannot walk in a spiritual life that you do not have. Fall upon the mercy of God and call upon him to save you, committing yourself in submission to the Lord Jesus. This is saving faith.

If we are in Christ, we have already been freed from sin’s complete domination of us, and we already have new spiritual life in which we can now live in a manner pleasing to God, but we understand that the perfection of it has not yet been made complete.

In the meantime, Leander Keck says, “Against sin’s dominion, then, Paul calls for active struggle” (Keck 2005: 167) [quoted in Schreiner].

Christ has defeated the rule of sin’s tyrannical authority over you, but even now you must fight against its lies… and the habits in which you used to live. We must recognize the lies of sin for what they are and fight back. How? Jim Gaar: “The truth of God’s word is our weapon against sin; our confidence is not in our feelings.”

I may feel defeated by my sin, but here I learn that Christ has defeated my sin. I may feel defeated and overcome by the stresses and sufferings of this life, but here I learn that Christ’s suffering and resurrection already purchased for me an indestructible life to God.

Or we might use the excuse that we feel like we are being pulled in the direction of sin, whether that is in passions like anger and rudeness and selfishness, or passions like lust. We must recognize that sin entices us from within our own mental and physical habits that were engrained in us when sin ruled.

Going back to our opening illustration, this would be an argument for parenting our children into better habits even though they may not yet been united to Christ by faith. We do well as Christian parents to bless our children with habits that are in line with following Christ and worshipping the one true God, even if they do not yet do so in “Spirit and in truth.”

Dustan asked a really good question for discussion in small groups: What practical steps can we take to fight the lingering effects of sin in our life?

We must carefully plan for new habits and walk in them. Joseph was ready to run from evil, ready to apply a wisdom that listened to God when opportunity came. Daniel didn’t just pray in the lion’s den; Daniel was praying every day!

You must allow the Holy Spirit to train you in new patterns, to break the cycle of old habits. Study and apply the following verses from their surrounding passages: Eph 4:22; Col 3:9. Put off your old man, put on the new. Ask yourself specifically and very practically: how must I do this specifically in my daily living in my particular situation? How am I listening to God (in his word), and depending on God (in prayer), so that today I am ready to run from sin and

Finally, Dustan also asked:  How should the promised certainty of resurrection […] encourage us in our struggles against sin and the flesh? - In running a race, are we not motivated by the finish line? God has promised it, because of what Christ already accomplished. Will he not surely do it?

PRAY

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