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Romans 6.6-11
April 25th 2021
Alright, we left off at verse five of Romans chapter 6.
In some ways we’ve already covered much of what Paul continues to teach and reaffirm here in the remainder of the chapter. But repetition is the master of memory so let’s read through beginning at verse 6.
Try and focus on the themes we’ve talked about over the past two weeks. They’re here. And then we’ll come back and talk about what Paul says more specifically
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So remember, two weeks ago Paul talked about our dying to our former selves just as Christ died on the cross for our former sinful selves.
And last week Paul (and we) talked about our being buried with Christ (as He was buried) and then raised to new life with Christ (as He was raised). And we read verse 6
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Here Paul says, “Believers know that Christ died and was raised, and knowing this, we should henceforth (or no longer) “serve sin.” Every Christian know this is fact because by the Spirit “we know that Christ died for us and we therefore ought to not serve sin any longer.”
Why not serve sin? We might ask. If its been paid for and if we are saved by grace through faith why not sin? We will get to this in a minute. But first . . .
Paul introduces us to a concept or picture: one of the “Old Man or woman” and that of “The New Man” (or woman).
In Colossians 3:9, Paul writes “Lie not to one another, seeing that ye have put off (set aside, died to) the old man with his deeds.”
In Ephesians 4:22, Paul, speaking to believers, says:
Ephesians 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
As made clear over the past few weeks, every moment of every day believers stand facing what to put off and what to put on. We come across temptations, we come across opportunities, we come across irritants – and in each and every situation we figuratively decide which man or woman we are going to put on (or operate by) in response to each situation – the Old Man or the New.
We are all familiar with what our old Man looks like. We know exactly how he or she responds, thinks, behaves, and approaches life.
But Paul has made it clear that the old woman is in fact DEAD and BURIED!
So, we really want to get to the point where there is not really even a choice by the FACT that Christ is alive in us.
Last week we summarized (in a picture) that I believe, all things considered, provides the best summary of what this New Man looks like . . . he is a man or woman who embodies “truth in love.”
Putting on the new man does not imply – (listen carefully) – putting on the New Man does not teach that human perfection is possible or that the Christian can and/or must overcome every sinful inclination that resides in the heart of their former selves.
To embrace this is to embrace a doctrine of human holiness in this life and that is nothing but a doctrine of deceit and frustration.
But rather the passages we have read are expressions that speak of Christians not continuing to “love sin,” or to “willfully choose to feed their sin” and/or to willfully indulge in the sinful lifestyles that abide in the flesh of our former lives.
So, what we really talking about are elements of disposition, intension, and wholesale inclination . . . not human perfection. This is why GRACE abides.
And when the New Man is exposed to the sin his or her former dispositions she cannot tolerate them or indulge in them for very long, at least not comfortably.
To live by our Old woman would be going to a graveyard, digging up a corpse and strapping it to our back as we walk about in day to day life.
In time everything gets too corrupt, too vile and rotten to continue on being that we are new creatures.
However, Christians are free to try to live duplicitous lives. In fact, we all attempt it in some form or another in our walk.
We know this because we are told to love and forgive but someone may do something that for us is just far too much to forgive. So, we say, “Nope, not this time. No Jesus operating here in me because Jesus won’t do any good here. I need to take charge. My New Woman is only being taken advantage of, my new man isn’t capable of surviving without my hands in the mix – so “OLD MAN! Come on down! You’re on the Vice is Right!”
Now . . . most of us experience this back and forth exchange between the Old Man and New on a daily, weekly basis.
But as pointed out last week this is a problem of perspective. Remember, the Old Man is dead so how (exactly) are we going back and forth to it?
But, let me give you a promise – from scripture – Philippians 1:6:
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
With the day of Christ being that day when Jesus came back for them and that day being when we enter his presence.
In 1st Thessalonians 1:3-5, Paul reminds us – LISTEN:
“Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.”
But Again, why? Why even talk about Old Men and New Men and sin and flesh and spirit and life? How could any of it matter if we have been saved by God’s grace and not our works?
Here we arrive at a crossroads that must be addressed seriously and reasonably, within the context of scripture so that you and I are fully aware and equipped.
I have to preface this address with some emphasized facts that must be clearly understood through reiteration.
So, let’s begin with a quick summary of our identity in Christ.
We know that the finished work of Jesus Christ paid for the sins of the world once and for all, reconciling NOT just believers but all of the world to God.
We know from Paul’s writings that those who believe on this finished work have been crucified with Christ, buried with Him, and therefore it is no longer us who live, but that Christ lives in and through our new man or woman.
With this understanding, we see that Christ has done the work and we, having received the knowledge of this work BY FAITH, choose to live in and through HIM.
It is a choice we make.
Paul proceeds, throughout many of his epistles including this one, to challenge the believing reader to let their former old man die and to live by the new creation. He gives these teachings and challenges for three main reasons in my estimation.
First, they are a reality – and as such ought to be promoted. Why? Because the purpose of the finished work in the lives of believers is to BRING FORTH FRUIT (of LOVE) unto God.
Second, God is holy, and He has done everything necessary for His children to be Holy through faith on His Son. His Son lived a Holy life therefore those who become sons and daughters will seek, by the Spirit and not the flesh, to live as His Only begotten lived.
But third – and this is REALLY important for us to clearly understand – Paul and the other writers of scripture know that as believers continue to reside in bodies of fallen flesh we run the risk to run from Him.
Therefore there is the constant appeal to renew our minds and hearts through the washing of the Word – which is what you and I are doing right now.
Let’s talk about the defenses we have given us in scripture to remain tapped into the vine.
The first, which we have articulated over the past few weeks, is a change in perspective – to really see and embrace the idea that we have been blessed with a New Identity, that our former person has been buried with Christ even though it will constantly seek to rise up out of the grave and take control.
Much of the battle is won through this new perspective, but even then, that perspective can get lost, at times, and we forget who we are and we then have the tendency to make visits back to the flesh, or allow it to rise up to its former self.
Because of this fact Paul frequently reminds believers of an action to take – “to put OFF the old” and “to put ON the new.”
I have to reiterate something here and that is when Paul speaks of putting on the New and taking off the Old, he is not in any way suggesting that we can, while in the flesh and alive here, become sinless.
Why? The old woman or man cannot ever change. You can beat it back, reform it, dress it up in white clothes, the it will not change – that is a lie of religious systems.
So please understand we are not talking about perfecting the flesh. We are talking only about remaining identified by the Spirit through faith and walking in it.
I want to repeat this – we are talking about remaining identified as Christ’s through faith.
Got that?
This is so important a principle that I am bold enough to say, “come what may in your life, but NEVER EVER let go of Yeshua and your faith and trust in Him.”
But in the sense of our losing our salvation over not being perfect in our flesh forget this. Your flesh and mine will always fail us and we were not saved to the Kingdom by our fleshly perfection, so neither we do not remain in the Kingdom by fleshly perfection either – we remain by and through faith.
But here is the fact of the matter – the point I want to emphasize – the former man or woman, the flesh, is an huge enemy to faith.
The FLESH HATES FAITH.
And the actions that our flesh will chooses to take can produce a number of deleterious things in people – especially believers.
See we have a choice here too. Our fleshly failures can lend to a believer becoming broken and humble and contrite before their God. It may causes us to cry out, “oh wretched man that I am!”
Richard shared with us last week a personal experience with this. And in this way, the corrupted flesh is good as it remains a thorn in our side producing contrition and humility and a heart that cries out to God.
As a believer, if your flesh rises up, let the acts of your flesh “break you,” all the while remembering that God glories in our weaknesses and not our strengths.
So in God’s economy fleshly failure can often work to bring us closer to Him. Praise God.
But there is another extremely dangerous response believers can have when their former man or woman rises up in their lives. And this is what I want to talk about as I have witnessed this on numerous occasions in the lives of people.
In fact I am watching a man (not here) teeter on this very thing right now.
I do not share this with you to put you in bondage to fear, religious legalisms or fret – remember, perspective, finished work, His Grace and love! But I share this to help make you “wise unto salvation.”
Remember, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ, WHICH IS THE POWER OF GOD TO SALVATION, is defined as Jesus living, dying, and being raised to new life and these things having application to us as His followers.
And it’s application to us, as His faith-filled disciples, is one of humble reliance, hope (which is expectation) and choosing to let Him reign over us.
Contrary to the man-made notion of once saved always saved, which is a lie that ultimately puts people into legalistic lives of having to prove it, scripture does describe a state of mind in which a one-time believer who once had her identity with Christ, can walk from the salvation, truth and identity they one enjoyed forevermore.
This is the third reason Paul speaks to living to the New man and not the old – the old has the capacity to drag us back to what scripture calls, “the sin of unbelief.”
Remember, the flesh is an enemy to faith, so if the flesh reigns, faith will diminish – guaranteed.
We mentioned this teaching of Jesus last week, but speaking of believers as branches (for unbelievers could never be a branch of Christ our vine) Jesus says in John chapter 15 beginning at verse 1
John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch “in me” that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, (that’s the personal suffering) that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
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.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered;(a great word) and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
All branches in Jesus the Vine are there by their faith. Adopted or grafted in by their belief in Him, which is the first Christian command.
We abide (or remain) in the vine by faith, producing fruits of love coming out of Him, which is the other side of the Christian walk.
The teaching of the vine makes it plain that there are those who are branches (by their faith) who chose to NOT to abide in Him.
And the Lord clearly describes their end in that day – they are gathered and cast into the fire. The principle remains true today.
But His apostles make the principle much more emphatic in other parts of the New Testament. The writer of Hebrews said,
Hebrews 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Hebrews chapter 10:26 adds:
“For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
How does a Christian willfully sin? By breaking the Christian commands. What are the two Christian commands?
“To believe on Christ and to love as He gave us commandment.”
To willfully sin, as a believer, means to adopt, retain and feed an attitude that says “I do NOT believe in Him (refusal of faith) and I therefore will not love as He commanded. (refusal to love)”
It says, “I no longer believe Jesus is Lord, I will therefore not forgive, have patience, longsuffering, gentleness, kindness.”
The first step is re-embracing the ways of the dead man or woman, which are antithetical to FAITH, then disbelief and doubt, then faithlessness, and the result is a rejection of selfless love from Him and a return to love of self over all others.
This is not THE BACK AND FORTH OF DOUBT WE ALL HAVE. It’s not falling into the grip of our flesh regretfully. It is not wondering about the tenets of the Bible and all of that.
It is a willful renouncement of faith, a separation from the vine, and a rejection of Jesus as Lord and Savior. Its final and when its final its over – in this life.
And again, the former man or woman, and its ways (meaning the sin it commits) is the driver to this destination as its purpose in the life of a believer is to bring about “the sin of unbelief.”
I know a woman who fell in love with a man and moved in with him years before a ceremony and lived in humble contrition before God for what she felt was sin.
It’s not that.
The man I presently know has decided to proudly embrace and promote his flesh as normal and healthy and is rejecting Christ as Savior – its that.
Like everything else, it’s the perspective in the heart.
Listen intently to Hebrews 3:12-13 as it holds as much water today as it did when it was written, saying:
Hebrews 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.”
Cling to faith in Him. Stay in the vine and when the flesh is in full operation, respond with humility and contrition, doing everything possible to becoming “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
The writer of Hebrews adds at Hebrews 6:4-10?
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
1st Timothy 4:1 says something interesting:
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”
And this is the reason we live to the New woman, and remain dead to the former, because we are all susceptible to what is called “an evil heart of unbelief,” which can result to people “departing from the living God,” and it is why Paul and the writer of Hebrews exhorts believers to “be aware lest any be hardened through (WHAT) the deceitfulness of sin.”
The Apostle Peter speaks of these plainly, saying:
2nd Peter 2:20 “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.”
Once saved always saved?
As long as a believer chooses to believe. And there is an enemy to faith that God wants His children to avoid – the flesh. The former man. The former woman. Sin.
Paul takes us back (in Romans 6) to the point of “walking in the newness of our life” at verse 7 by saying:
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
And by this time we all ought to have some idea of what He means: “Dead to the former life, buried with Christ.”
But Paul will give more insight on this premise which opens us up to some great views on our Christian identity and the Christian walk. In the very next chapter Paul makes an amazing statement, saying in Romans 7:4:
“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.”
So, we know and agree to let the Old Man die but in the next chapter Paul also says we are to become “dead to the Law by the body of Christ?”
Go back with me to the resurrected Lord. Ask yourself, “Do you think (as a perfect resurrected being) that Jesus thought of rules He has to obey?”
I don’t think so. I think He automatically loved and obey all things good by the Spirit.
Do you think that He was “striving” as a resurrected being? Working to make His Father happy? Trying to be sure he doesn’t make any mistakes so that He is not guilty of breaking a rule?
Nevah.
He loves. And being totally engrossed, consumed, and filled with absolute love, He is freed from the Law – every single aspect of it.
He is dead to it. All the “thou shalts” and “thou shalt not’s” are not only unnecessary, they result/produce sin!
This is why Christians, who walk in the Resurrected Lord, fight so ardently against any form of legalism or law-making as a means to retain individual allegiance to God alone by the Spirit.
To implement or resort to laws only serves to keep Christians weak in the faith and strong in things that do not promote faith and genuine love.
So Paul continues in verse 8, really repeating what he taught in Romans 6:5-7:
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Notice the article of faith Paul includes for all Christians: “Now if we be dead with Christ WE BELIEVE that we shall ALSO live with Him.”
The Greek infers that this statement is not necessarily speaking of our future resurrection but of our being presently raised from “the death of sin.”
“As he lives, so we shall live in His holiness. We are in fact raised up here, and, as it were, made alive to him by and through His resurrection.
Of course, this thought is not confined only to the present life; but just as Christ lives forever, so the apostle goes on to show that we will too.
Now verses 9 – 10 sort-of serve as a general recanting for us and verse 11 gives us a tremendous but repeated summary.
So let’s read them together:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
As another article of faith for every believer, verse 9 says “we know,” that since Christ was raised from the dead He dies no more, that death cannot have any dominion over him.
This is a quizzical statement in some ways because certainly in the case of Christ, He can die no more.
But Paul has been using Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as a model for us and to compare apples to apples it seems like he would be saying that as Christians we cannot die any more to our sin (or former man) if we already have. Is this true? Yes. It is true. And I have been approaching this teaching wrong.
This takes us to another level of perspective. You see, we can see ourselves as “sinners saved by grace.”
Then we can see and perceive ourselves as “babes in Christ,” forgiven but still captive to our flesh.
We can see ourselves as “mature believers who have learned to effectively war against the flesh.”
And/or we can see ourselves as dying daily to our former man by and through the choice of letting the new man live.
But taking it even further, we could, God willing, actually see ourselves as BEING absolutely DEAD to the former and BEING alive with the Resurrected Lord.
In this latter case it is utterly impossible for the former man or woman to act!
John the Beloved speaks to this perspective when he says in 1st John 3:9
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
The thinking is that “if or since we have died to our former self, if we have been buried with Christ, and if we are called to now walk as He walks – as a resurrected being – and the popular Christian notion that we die daily to our former self is not applicable.
Listen carefully to the CONTEXT of Galatians 2:20:
“ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
This perspective speaks to our walking completely by and in our new identity in Christ. So, to say that we must die daily (to our flesh) is NOT living by the Spirit and New Man, but is a form of believing the Old Man still lives.
If Christ dies NO MORE, and we realize this as believers, then there is no need for us to DIE ANYMORE!
But again, this perspective comes with time, patience, and learning to rely on Him. May it have a place in us some day, God willing.
So, Paul said in verse 11, speaking to the dead Christ:
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Lord says of Himself in Revelation 1:18,
“I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.” So, we do, in fact, look to the resurrected Lord in our lives – grateful for the life, grateful for the death, but alive in His eternal life.
This is certainly a call to lives of holiness THROUGH CHRIST as he started off the chapter by asking:
Romans 6:1-2 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
But the point he makes here is we HAVE a new identity in Christ that prohibits us from continuing in sin JUST as Christ (by and through His resurrection) pictures this new man or new woman.
Do you believe it? If you are having trouble, listen AGAIN to how Paul summarizes the whole thing in verse 11:
11 Likewise . . . (in other words exactly how Christ die once unto sin and it now has no more dominion over Him) reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin (old Man/old woman GONE), but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (New man or woman in charge).
Where Paul writes “reckon ye yourselves” the Greek means “see yourselves, judge yourselves, esteem yourselves as.” Look in the mirror and see a New Woman or Man created by God. Period.
And when your former woman wants to act, don’t refer to her, but to your new woman in Him and say, “That is NOT who I am. I am in Christ. He lives in me. Without Him I can do nothing. He is at the reigns. He is on the throne of my life. He is guiding my heart. He is making my decisions.
“Christ lives in me!”
“Christ lives in me!”
Then step away from idea that you are anyone or anything else, and be Jesus to all you meet and in all you do.
Comments/Questions/Prayer
Michael Lake
Glenn Peterson
Mary and her knee
