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Romans 6.5B
April 18th 2021
Last week we talked all about our former lives, which were lives of sin (meaning fleshly, selfish, carnal perspectives) and that we, believers, die to such and are raised with Christ like caterpillars that go to the grave (chrysalis), decompose and rising to new life as an entirely different species – a butterfly.
While the caterpillar/butterfly example is physical, we note that the new creation of believers is spiritual, from the heart and mind and soul.
We left off talking about our new identity in Christ. And how this is typified in His actual death, burial, and resurrection – which as Justin pointed out, is a summary of the Gospel or Good News.
I want to mention at this point that there are several philosophies, approaches and systems in the world that have the capacity and power to give human beings a new identity or the rebirth experience.
I do this for your protection because you will meet people who will bear witness of this in their lives.
So, it does not seem to be anything truly unique to Christianity that a human being can be born again due to some external cause, force or system.
William James, in his epic work, Varieties of Religious Experience, describes (from decades) of studying all types of religion traditions and faiths, the fact, yes folks, the FACT, that people of all religious beliefs report rebirths – many of them articulated in the very same language Christians use to explain their spiritual rebirths.
Some point to the Buddha, Islam, Alcoholics Anonymous, LDS and even the Military – and prove that the capacity for a human being to be born again or experience a life altering change to a new identity is not a novelty. The real question is to ask what force (that has the capacity to grant a new identity) also claims to have had the victory over sin and death and to bring a person into eternal life with the living God?
We discover some support for what I just described about other rebirths in John 1:11-14 where, speaking of Jesus and the Jews He came to save, John the beloved says:
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
(Now listen carefully to this next verse, which endorses the idea that men and women can be born-again by different sources here on earth)
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, (which refers to our natural first birth, our DNA, our fleshly make-up) nor of the will of the flesh, (which speaks of changing ourselves through determination and tools of self-control) nor of the will of man, (which speaks of finding new life in the philosophies of man, self-help gurus, EST, , Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, the Forum, Eckart Tolle, Anthony Robbins) but of God (which again is the only rebirth that bears the power to save).
And when we are truly born from above by the Spirit and He gives us a new identity, one where the former life, the sinful life, has both died and been buried, we are all then equipped to live by and through who we have become . . . and no longer by what we were.
Carrying on with last weeks discussion, many well-meaning religious leaders will say things like
“We must fight war against the flesh!”
I say sure – but we do this by dying to it not keeping it alive.
“Well, we hear, a Christian must stand against sin. That is our call and duty.”
No, our call and duty is to stand for Christ which indirectly stand against darkness without giving it power or a name.
“Well, well, well Christians must avoid even the appearance of sin!”
When I hear “we MUST avoid even the appearance,” I think of a yoke – if we take that statement literally. But maybe we ought to ask, in the face of this claim:
“What is sin, and what appearances are we avoiding, since sin has been forgiven and the world has been reconciled to God?”
And the sin scripture says we ought to avoid as believers is
Fear, faithlessness, failing to love God and neighbor.
We are beginning to see what it means to be dead to sin – dead to responding to it but also dead to even acknowledging the existence of it in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
Our focus is Him not Sin.
Now, before moving on to verse four, one more thing we might consider when Paul said:
“Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?”
The act of baptism not only denotes dying with Christ (as a result of sin – as we pointed out last week) but being dedicated to the service of him in whose name we are baptized.
Remember, baptism is an industrial term related to the dying fabric of changing its color.
If we are baptized into the name of Paul we are identified, like dyed fabric, with Paul. We are dyed the color of Paul.
In 1st Corinthians 10:1-4, we read an interesting set of passages relative to the Children of Israel and a baptism they underwent. It says:
1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
In other words, they became consecrated, or dedicated, or bound to Moses as their leader and lawgiver, dyed the color of Moses.
When we accept the water baptism of a denomination we are being dyed the color of what IT represents.
What Paul is saying that when we are baptized into Christ, we are being identified with HIM and Him alone – that means in every way. Which is why I suggest that to be baptized by Christ is spiritual not physical.
But if this baptism was physically applied and purposed then we would literally come up out of the water a new hue or color, dyed in the physical color of Christ – whatever that would be.
But His identification is firstly of the heart, the mind, and the internal parts identified as of Him and expressed then through us by the life He lived.
Therefore, the life of a person baptized by Christ is one of a consecrated mind and heart to His life, His suffering, His taking up a cross and dying (as He did) “daily now” to self (because of sin) and rising to new life in Him.
So, as we are literally baptized into His very death (and this is key) Paul says “we were also raised up from the water unto His life, not to our own lives, but to His, which was given to Him by the Father – for only He, though suffering and dying for sin – rose from the grave.
This imagery is vital to the new identity of the Christian – we are baptized unto His death (meaning we are dead to sin and the former man and woman we once were in our flesh) AND we are raised to NEW life and therefore go about bearing the new identity of His actual resurrected person.
Paul starts off verse 4 with a “Therefore,” or “as a result” or “Since” and says
4 Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Notice the forgone conclusion – “We WERE buried with him . . . and just as Christ was raised up from the dead . . .”
“Even so we also SHOULD walk in newnesss of life.”
Christ was buried. We were buried with Him. Christ was raised up from the dead – Even so we also SHOULD walk in newnesss of life.”
And here Paul places the onus of it on us, the believer. There is the choice. The daily decision of the Christian. Paul tells us what it should be. Plain and simple.
Even so we also SHOULD walk in newness of life.
(beat)
Since we WERE buried with him in His death (the Greek means we were buried in similitude of His death) so then in a “similar similitude” (that has a great ring to it, doesn’t it ? ? ? Similar Similitude – sounds like a Christian band) . . .
. . . in a similar similitude, just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we should also walk in NEWNESS OF LIFE!
What life? The newness of Christ’s resurrected life!
And in this the fullness of the Gospel – the Good news is fully played out in the lives of everyone who is His! This is why Paul said
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
It is why Paul abstracts water baptism away from the Gospel, saying in 1st Corinthians 1:17
“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”
Now knowing the Gospel ourselves, Paul warns about other Gospels, clearly pointing out that in the world that would be “other Gospels,” and to be reject them.
It is why Paul concludes in 1st Thessalonians 1:5
“For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.”
What is the Gospel? That Jesus was lived, was put to death (buried for our sin) and raised to new life and I would suggest that this Gospel saves us when a believer too, dies with Christ (daily), their former man or woman is buried (as He was buried) and we rise to new life (just as He was raised from the dead).
Now we can see the connection between the life, death and resurrection of Jesus (the Gospel) and it being the POWER of God to salvation as (ready)
the gospel came not unto us in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance;
Notice, back here in Romans that Paul compares our Christian walk on earth to the newness of life Jesus had rising up from the grave as a resurrected being.
That is an amazing picture of our identity in Christ, isn’t it?
Think about this? As a resurrected being, did Jesus think about or focus on sin or the temptation of sin?
As a resurrected being, do you think Jesus feared ANYTHING?
As a resurrected being did He worry? Did he wonder about His place with God? Did he walk in doubt? No. No. No.
Even so we walk in newness of His life.
We are learning here, from Paul, the key to the Good News in our lives and what it looks like.
We are learning first-hand how to actually BE Christians.
In the first four verses Paul has said that we first die to our former sinful lives and are buried and then we are also raised up to new life (just as Jesus was when He was resurrected). And as a result CHRISTIANS will walk in NEWNESS of LIFE – just as Jesus has since being raised from the grave.
So, let’s re-read Romans 6:5
Romans 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, (this hearkens back to all we talked about last week) we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
What else can we say? Its right here. Believers – walk in newness of life as a person resurrected already, walking in the power of His resurrection! “Even so we also should walk in the LIKENESS of His Resurrection.”
I get all the reasons why we push this principle aside and give it little attention. I get it. But its right here.
It is so emphatic and on point that all anyone needs to say when asked what being a Christian looks like is,
“Christians . . . should walk in newness and likeness of Christ when He was raised from the dead.”
No fear.
No worry.
No fighting.
No wondering.
In power. In light. In love.
Not of this world but present here.
Wrapping this up Paul sort of gives us an “If” proposition to consider relative to all this.
Listen again –
5 For if (he says) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
“If we have truly died with Him to our former wormish lives, and been buried with Him (relative to the sins of that former wormish life) IF WE HAVE, THEN WE SHALL ALSO BE (walk, live, see life) in the likeness of His resurrection!
My, my, my. What a glorious explanation!
What a liberating doctrine and teaching.
What a beautiful description of who we ARE – ARE – ARE in Christ.
He has forgiven the world – you and I – of each and every failure – past, present, and future. God is not angry.
He has regenerated us, those who look to Him in faith, and by the grace of God through His Holy Spirit He has made you His.
In this we have absolutely no affiliation with our former selves as he or she died and was buried with Christ and His death.
And then we, like Christ, having been raised up from the grave to a new resurrected life, have a brand-new identity.
And by the power of the Gospel we put our hand to the plow, and by faith and trust we walk in all He has done on our behalf . . . completely . . . in your new identity which is in NEWNESS of LIFE.
So Paul reminds us through a mighty “IF/THEN” so to speak (verse 5).
5 For if (he says) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death THEN we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Let me tell you how radical this is.
There is a Greek word Paul uses here that is not found anywhere else in the New Testament.
Where it reads (in the English) For IF we have been “planted together” that word is “sumfutoi.” SOOM-FOO-TOY
“Sumfutoi” is a Greek word that means a “simultaneous planting AND a simultaneous sprouting.” The growth of the one parallels the growth of the other.
Therefore it means two things that are “intimately connected or joined together.”
In the healthy human body the growth of the heart and lungs are commensurate with the growth of the rest of the body.
And this is the picture Paul gives of those who are Christian. We individually die to our former sinful selves with Christ, this former self is simultaneously buried with Christ, and we rise to a new life with Christ who was resurrected to new life.
In an unhealthy body, a heart might not grow commensurately with the rest of the body, but is small or atrophied compared to the rest.
But in a spiritual sense, the identity of a true Christian and his or her growth is “sumfatoi’d” to Christ – directly and simultaneously buried and risen with him.
Jesus Himself gives the most wonderful picture of this in John chapter 15, saying, beginning at verse five:
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Think about this relational growth Jesus describes here and how it relates to Paul likening the Christian Identity to the Greek term “Sumfatoi” –
He is the vine. As the vine draws nourishment, the branch is nourished.
As the vine grows outwardly, the branches grow outwardly. The mechanism is simultaneous.
The branch could and would never have a life independent of the vine. In fact, it cannot.
The branch is not responsible for the fruit because it IS tapped into the vine which supplies the branch all of its needs to produce the fruit.
He is the vine.
We are the branches.
Without Him we can do nothing.
And so, it is with true Christian identity. We grow up and with the Resurrected Christ. Therefore, it is NOT us producing the light and love but it is Christ in us.
Paul ties it all up and brings us to an important second point, saying:
(5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
If you plant yourself in the death or Christ and rise up to new life with Christ, you will resemble Christ in your life.
If we take two seeds of the same species, planted together, they will, when they sprout, resemble each other in type, and size, and fruit. SOOM-FA-TOI
On the drive between orange county and San Diego there is a stretch of Highway where Hunt’s has a farm.
Since I was a kid I have observed that crop in different stages as we would drive by.
They churn up the soil all at the same time, fertilize at the same time and plant at the same time. That is the Greek word, “sumfatoi.”
The result? The plants are all just about the same . . . which makes harvesting by machine very easy. This is the point Paul is making.
Christian’s resemble Christ.
Remember, Paul says that Jesus Christ AND HIS people are:
united together (in His death)
start up to new life together IN HIS RESURRECTION, (and are)
preparing for the same harvest of glory HE HAS HAD in the heavens.
(beat)
So again, Christian’s resemble the risen Christ.
There are a lot – I mean nearly two thousand years of definitions and interpretations – of exactly what this means, of how this looks, of what a person needs to do or be to “resemble Christ.”
But remember, the resemblance is spiritual, from the heart, mind, soul and spirit – this is the meaning.
To resemble the epistemological Christ, not so much the ontological. Who and what He is from the beginning, what lead Him to turn the other cheek, the principles of love, selflessness and speaking the truth at all costs.
In knowing Him “epistemologically is life eternal” – this is why we study the scripture by the Spirit, seeking to reflect who He is as the risen Lord in our lives.
What are the true characteristics of the Risen Lord? I would personally summarize Him, in His life, and His death and in His resurrection with the following three words: Jesus is
“Truth in love.”
First truth. In John 14:6 He Himself said:
“I am the way, the Truth, and the Life.”
How about a modern day parallelism:
“In resembling Christ, we would resemble truth, and in resembling truth, we would always resemble Christ.”
In this “post-postmodern age” where relativism has taken a hold of many hearts and minds, I would remind all present that Truth is not relative – only untruth or man-made truths “are relative.” God’s truths are anything but relative – which is what, in part, makes him God.
What humanity has construed as relative is merely something that is not Him.
He is not relative. He is true always and every time – no matter what the situation.
So “truth is undeviatingly true, is eternally true, and will always be true.” Everything else fits into a separate category called “man’s thinking.”
It is for this reason we can stand on Him, trust in Him, and believe He will ALWAYS come through without fail. For these reasons, Jesus said, “I am the Truth.”
And as truth, He presents (and presented) nothing but truth. Every single word, teaching, story, parallel, insight, promise – TRUE.
Resembling Him, we, as His disciples, “branches streaming off the vine,” will do the very same thing in our relations with this world. Peace if possible BUT truth ALWAYS.
To do otherwise would be to resemble something else, something inferior, something created by Man, something not eternal, something relative.
I used to read a lot of books – many of them filled with very logical arguments. I use to hold them up as true. And fully embraced postmodern mechanations of relativism.
But after years of being in the Word, I’ve no room for these “transitory truths,” these “relative truths,” often proffered by the minds of Godless Man.
How can a person feast on garbage when they have tasted the finest fair to ever grace the human palate?
But remember, because He was Truth, the world hated Him – and killed Him for speaking it, representing it, being it. It will, too, do this to you.
Here’s the point:
In total resemblance of Him, those who are His, who have died to their former lives, and who have risen with Him to new life, do the same . . .
Putting His will . . . over their own.
Teaching His truths . . . no matter the cost.
And turning from the wiles and trappings of this fallen world . . . for His cause . . .
While giving Him all the glory and honor – whether in times of bounty, suffering, or even death.
However, and this is just as important as our sharing the truth – our King always represented truth . . . in love. It was impossible for Him to do otherwise. Why?
Because just as He is Truth, He is also Love.
John the Beloved, who walked with the Lord and knew Him personally, wrote extensively on God being love in his first epistle.
These writings reflect the teachings of our Lord when He taught about being tapped into Him as the vine.
And they dovetail nicely with Paul’s description here in Romans of Christians being raised up into “simultaneous life” with Christ.
In the following passages, and relative to our being raised with Him, of abiding in the vine, notice the terms “in Him,” “knowing” and “dwelling” in the following verses
1st John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
1st John 4:7 ¶ Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1st John 4:8 He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.
1st John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
1st John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
To be Christ? “Truth . . . in love.” This is what it looks like to be raised up in a simultaneous life with Him; To abide in Him and Him in us. This is what it means to be a new Creature in Him.
This is the end result of having died to our former sinful lives, leaving them in the grave, but rising up to New Life in Him, who was and is Truth and Love. And in Jesus, these two always go hand in hand.
One without the other destroys the former.
Love without truth is irresponsibility and of the flesh not the spirit. Truth without love is barbarity, merciless and unkind.
In Christ the two work together – and in our world these things are not a readily accepted pair.
So, the paradox (if not the problem) with these two Christian characteristics is both of them come with a very high price in this world. Therefore, the by-product of being raised with Christ in the power of His resurrection, bearing truth and love to all we meet, is suffering.
In other words, Jesus didn’t suffer for the sake of suffering. He suffered as a direct result of representing the ultimate human expressions of truth and love – which were the sacrifice of Himself to the will of God.
And herein lies the connection between our living as new creations, butterflies on the winds of the Spirit so to speak, and dying to who we once were – we choose daily to do the Will of God through Christ over the living by the will and ways of our former selves.
And the will of God in the lives of His children is seen in what Jesus, His only begotten Son was in His mortal life – truth and love.
The price for speaking truth in this world is suffering at the hands of those who do not want it, will not accept it, nor will believe or receive it.
The price for agape love in this world is suffering of the self, of sacrificially offering oneself up for the betterment of others around us.
They go hand in hand, truth and love – which is why I think we read in scripture that Jesus called himself the truth and God is called Love.
To love one must represent the truth. To speak truth is an act of agape love. The former man or woman was about lies and self. The new creature is raised with Christ who was Truth and love with the overall price being – suffering.
And so we have all of these simultaneous events occurring in the life of a believer and we find ourselves both dying and living, being buried and rising to new life, speaking truth and having to love those who hate us for it, abiding in the vine and bearing fruit – all captured in that unique Greek term used in verse 5 sumfatoid, where Paul writes:
Romans 6:5 For if we have been planted together (sumfatiod) in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection”
COMMENTS/QUESTIONS/PRAYER
Michael Lake
Mary
Enge
