June 3

“For he that is dead is freed from sin” Romans 6:7

In beautiful language of parallels, Paul teaches believers at Rome, that the death of the flesh, the ‘old man’, is a necessary part of Christian life! in days when the relationship between slave and master was still a commonplace thing, it was not difficult to understand, that upon dying, the slave was no longer under the control or dictates of his earthly master. He escaped those constraints, and was freed from them. Paul alludes to that fact by pointing out that when we are in Christ, we are ‘dead to sin’, which was our master and enslaved us, and this ‘death’ is actually a freedom from sin, and the liberty to live the resurrected life in Jesus Christ. This is one of the great paradoxes of the Christian faith - that true life is found in death! When we come to salvation, we accept through faith that being baptised is a necessary part of entering into our new life in Christ. It is by this act of faith that we identify with the burial of Jesus Christ. Clearly only ‘dead’ people are buried! When we repent of our sins, we die to self and our own ways, recognising that God’s ways are right and choose them for ourselves. Now ‘dead’, we are then ‘buried’ in water, by baptism, in the name given for salvation (Acts 4:12), which is the name of Jesus, identifying with His death and burial. The scriptures say that “we are buried with Him by baptism into death” (Rom 6:4). Finally we rise to a new life in Christ, when we are filled with His Holy Spirit, spiritually participating in His resurrection! Now cleansed and free from the sin of our past life, we stand spiritually alive in Christ, but dead to sin! As long as this status and balance exists, we remain alive in the Spirit, aligned with God and progressing towards eternal life in heaven with Christ! The entire effort of Christian life is to maintain this now holy, new and consecrated life we have in Jesus, free from sin. According to our text, our best defence against the destructive, enslaving ravages of sin is to be ‘dead’! We must then determine to remain ‘dead’ to the flesh, - this means saying no and being inert to the world and to self; ‘dead’ to sin, - this means saying no to and resisting temptation and sin; ‘dead’ in Christ, - this means yielding to Him, without our own agenda, but desiring only to fulfil His ways and will, so we can continue to be alive in Him! God’s Word makes it clear that Christian living is not for the faint hearted, cowardly or timorous, but for the obedient, determined and faithful!

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