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Freedom through Death
RO71-02© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1977)
Please open your Bibles to Romans 6:6.
Unregenerate man by nature senses that he is under the wrath of a holy God. It is innate in the being of man to be aware of the fact that he has
a problem with someone out there who is going to judge him, who is superior to him. So, man by nature, has a sense that he is under the wrath of
a God who is superior to him, and whose standards he has failed to meet.
The desperate need of mankind today, therefore, is to be taught the principles that are revealed in the book of Romans which we have been studying.
These principles have been revealed by God Himself to explain how God has provided forgiveness for man's inherited moral guilt from Adam, and how
he has provided forgiveness for our personal transgressions.
The human heart desperately seeks the answers to these questions of reconciliation with a holy God. Consequently, people are willing to pay any
price, and they're willing to do anything which promises the securing of salvation from eternity in the lake of fire. People are ready to do
anything. They're ready to pay any price to secure that hope.
However, man, in his spiritual blindness, applies his human viewpoint mentality to this problem of getting to heaven in the face of a God who is
standing by to judge. And the result of man's thinking is a pitiful satanic deception of religious superstition and magic.
Ash Wednesday
Last Wednesday of this week, we began a new cycle of that kind of pitiful satanic human deception. In the vast proportion of the religious world,
last Wednesday was the ecclesiastical holiday (the ecclesiastical holy day) known as Ash Wednesday. It marked the beginning of a period of
self-denial, a period which, among some religious groups, gives a special opportunity to secure merit for salvation by denying oneself of something
that one particularly enjoys doing or having, or to secure a special spiritual development via denying oneself of something that either one
considers evil to begin with, or simply the fact that you enjoy doing it. So, you do a little bit of self-punishing.
Lent
So, the superstition of Lent is upon us, and for 40 days, we will be seeing people struggling to answer this problem of how to meet the
condemnation which is within them in the face of a holy God. This nonsense of man achieving something with God by punishing himself is man's
natural conclusion (that kind of natural direction) that the human mind goes to as the answer to meeting this problem.
Now, there is something very important about Ash Wednesday here in Berean Memorial church, because it does mark that we have 40 days to prepare
the Easter cantata which falls on Easter Sunday evening. So, I want to mention that at this time, and we appreciate the work that our choir has
been doing. Some of you are good singers, and we need your help in the choir, and Ash Wednesday is the jumping off point. And we're off and
running with a spectacular new cantata that we've never done before, and we need every one of those days from Ash Wednesday on. So, please be
advised accordingly.
Religious Relics
However, if you've been following the newspaper, I can give you a very splendid example of this kind of nonsense of man attempting to meet the
problem of his separation from God. This was from "The Dallas Times Herald," Saturday, March 3rd, 1979 on the religion page. I'll just read part
of the article to you. The title of the article is "The Artifacts Business is Big Business in Religion."
It says, "Religious artifacts are big business. Religion offers faith, hope and the promise of eternal life for millions. But for a few, it means
money. It was big business in Jesus' Day when He kicked the money changers out of the temple, charging that they turned it into a den of thieves.
It remained big business in subsequent centuries when hawkers of relics sold vials of Mary's milk; St. Joseph's breath; hairs from Noah's beard;
and, enough splinters from the true cross to build a fleet of ships. All that's needed are right artifacts: from splinters of the true cross to
Jesus' T-shirts.
"Today, the business is bigger and better than ever. Crowds all over America are lining up to see the treasures of King Tut's tomb, including the
religious artifacts found there. The Shroud of Turin, believed for centuries by some to be the cloth that wrapped the body of Christ, has spurred
a spat of commercial ventures, on the strength of scientific testing that might authenticate that claim. Archeological digs, particularly the dig
at Elba in Syria, where 15,000 clay tablets bearing such ancient biblical names as Abraham, Sodom, and Gomorrah have touched off a political furor,
are suffering eclipse of what scholars call the real historical meaning. A claim by Egyptian months that they have found the bones of John the
Baptist and the prophet Elisha brings headlines all over the world, and a steady stream of curiosity seekers to the grave site at a remote
monastery in Egypt's western desert.
"The Word, Irving Wallace's novel about the intrigue over the reported finding of a new gospel hits the bestseller lists, and several years
later draws an audience of some 60 million people as a television mini-series. Thousands of people each year flock to the shrines like Lourdes in
France and Guadalupe in Mexico. There is even a steady traffic to Lake Arthur, New Mexico, to see the sacred tortilla – the mournful image
of Jesus Christ burned into the dinner a woman was cooking for her husband. Amateur archaeologists, spade in one hand, and Bible in the other, still
search for ancient artifacts such as Noah's ark, an item supposedly dating from biblical times, do a brisk business in shops throughout the near
east. While all the fuss?
"'I think people have a very strong gut interest in their own history and sources,' said Madeleine Novick, associate curator in charge of Middle
Eastern art and archeology for the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. 'The thing that I'm seeing happen in the world is a renewing of the Holy
Spirit in the charismatic movement, particularly in the historic churches,' said evangelist Oral Roberts. 'It's a question of need,' said Jerome
Goldblatt, a New York holography and communications expert, converted from agnosticism to Christianity through his study of the shroud. 'We all
need God, whether we know it or not, and whether we know it or not, we're all searching for him.'
"Historically, that need has taken some bizarre side trips, and aside from the emotional impact of what is handed down as living proof of Scripture,
the remnants of the religious past have exerted a tremendous gravitational pull on the politics of the day. Christianity early on abandoned the
Hebrews' loathing of contact with corpses, and fear of idolatry, and became heavily immersed in relics – the material remains of a saint, or
objects that came in contact with his body. By the fifth century, it was standard practice to break into the tombs of Christian saints and martyrs,
to cut off parts of their bodies for distribution to the faithful. The search for relics was so intense that at least one potential saint was known
to have fled for his life in the fear his devoted followers would not be able to wait until his death before dismembering him for veneration.
"Wars were fought in cities, and cities ransacked for relics. Troops rallied with them; diseases treated with them. The early popes gave whole
bodies of martyrs to important visitors as diplomatic gestures, and relics were used to cement the faith of new followers. One group of monks,
fleeing the Norman invasion in the 9th century, carried with them the body of St. Filbert of Billou, and simply hacked off a piece to place in
each monastery they found it along the way.
"Relics were hot items in the market, so hot, in fact, that in the 9th century, a corporation was formed in Rome to discover, sell, and ship
them to all parts of Europe, and authenticity had little meaning, despite church attempts to regulate abuses. Peddlers did a brisk trade, foisting
everything from Jesus's tears to Job's dung heap on a gullible public. And item didn't even have to be mentioned specifically in the Bible to be
considered biblical and put on the trading block.
In the 1840S, for example, a dig at the 27 centuries-old palace of the Assyrian kings in the Near East turned rooms full of giant stone reliefs
depicting bird-headed and winged-human figures with horned crowns. The pieces, weighing several tons each, were shipped off to missionary and
religious schools around the world as proof of ancient heathenism and an incentive to Christian youth to aspire to greater religious zeal.
Some might be inclined to write off such cases to the superstition and ignorance of an earlier time, but the 20th century has shown itself to be
no less susceptible to the influence of scriptural hardware."
Then the remainder of the article goes on to describe the Shroud of Turin being turned into a big seller, and the fanaticism which is being
attached to that for the same purpose as all these other artifacts and relics, as being somehow a point of contact with God. The images of
Christ on the Shroud of Turin have developed into a great commercial feature. One little paragraph I will read says, "'We've taken some people to
court for some terrible things that have been run in the papers.' He said, 'I was shocked at ads offering pictures of the image on the shroud,
offering a money-back guarantee of a miracle if you pray in front of these pictures.'" Now, wait till Oral Roberts thinks of that. He'll know how
to run with an idea like that.
In any case, that kind of nonsense is what the human, natural, unregenerate, sin-darkened mind of man comes up with when he tries to meet this
problem that he faces with God. How refreshingly different to come to the Word of God, and see the answers that God really has provided.
How Satan and his demons must sit there and laugh at the pathetic stupidity of the human mind, devoid of all divine viewpoint, coming up with
this kind of nonsense of cutting off pieces of a body of supposedly some saintly person as the way in which he may approach and please God. You
think that's paganistic heathenism, but I would suggest you search your own soul, and see how much paganistic heathenism there may be left in you
if you have not grasped the principle of grace in your approach to God. How much rinky-tink good are you trying to produce in order to prove
yourself to God; in order to keep yourself saved; or, in order to establish some approach to God? How many times have you said, "God is punishing
me because I haven't given enough offerings to His work? That's why He let my car get dented." If you say something like that, you've told us worlds
about yourself. You're as ignorant of grace as the darkest heathen in Africa. And you don't know how God works, and that is pathetic, and that is
blasphemous. Thank God that the judge of the universe has revealed exactly what he has done, and exactly what we must do to relate ourselves to
come under of the benefits of what He has done.
So, let's see what the book of Romans has to say against all that human viewpoint guff. First of all, we want to point out to you that Romans 6:6-7
are an explanation of the first part of verse 5. Verse 5 said this: "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death." Verses 6-7
are an explanation of our being related to the death of Christ.
Then verse 8-10 are an explanation of the last part of verse 5. The last part of verse 5 says, "We shall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection." And verses 8-10 explain how we are related to the resurrection life of Jesus Christ.
The whole section has to do with what God as judge of the universe has already done in our behalf in order to deal with our inherited tendency to
sin. This section that we are studying in Romans has nothing to do with how you and I should act as Christians. This is not sanctification in terms
of our daily experience. This is sanctification in terms of our position before God. It's very important that you remember that, or you'll be
inclined to draw some wrong conclusions from these verses.
Knowing
So, let's look again at the first part of verse 5: "For we have been planted together in the likeness of His death." The explanation of that is in
Romans 6:6-7. Romans 6:6-7, thus far, have presented this explanation to us. First of all, the apostle Paul begins verse 6 by pointing out that we
should know something: "Knowing this." That is a very favorite word with the apostle Paul. If there's one thing the apostle Paul loathed, it was
ignorant Christians. It was people who did not know Bible doctrine because they were such pathetic creatures, then, in the manipulation of Satan.
Unless you know doctrine, you are a sitting duck for . . . the devil. So, the apostle Paul stresses again and again that we should know certain
things.
Here he says, "You should know this." And that means that you should know without question; without doubt; and, without any mental reservations about
these particular facts. First, we should know something about what he called "the old man:" "Knowing this: that our old man is crucified with him."
The term "old man" refers to the position in Adam into which the human race is born. When you take your first breath as a baby, you're born into a
position before God. The Bible describes that as "in Adam." This is a position in which you are immediately under divine wrath, and it is a position
in which you are condemned to eternal death. You have had imputed to you the guilt of Adam for the sin which he committed. He was your
representative. What he did is credited to your account.
This does not refer to the inherited tendency to evil in man that we refer to as the sin nature. The old man is not your sin nature (that inherited
tendency to sin). The old man is your position in the old man Adam. The word "our," which is attached to "old man," indicates a personal possession,
because all believers were personally part of the in-Adam humanity.
So, first of all, let's understand that the term "old man" is a specialized technical term that the apostle Paul puts together to describe the
position of condemnation in Adam into which everyone is born. You have to do something about that position. If you die in the position in Adam,
you will go to hell for all eternity. So, that's the first thing you have to understand.
Now, this position of doom in Adam in the old man was terminated by the fact that it was crucified with Christ. I think you should understand that
crucifixion terminates the subject. Crucifixion does not simply incapacitate a person. That would be the same thing as saying that electrocution
simply incapacitates a person. Well, it certainly does incapacitate a person, but it does a whole lot more than that. Once they put you in the
electric chair, and turn out the voltage, you are terminated. You are wiped out. The same thing is true with any other method of lethal, legal
execution. Crucifixion was a legal form of execution in the Roman Empire. When people were crucified, it terminated them. It didn't just
incapacitate them.
Furthermore, in the Greek language, we have that aorist tense used in this word "crucifixion." The aorist tense talks about something that
happened in the past. And it connotes something that was done once-and-for-all. The tense never relates to something that's going to be repeated.
So, it's very important for us to see that this position of doom in Adam was crucified once-and-for-all. The Greek language tells us that. It's not
a current process which is going on. It refers to a position in Adam of moral guilt before God which has forever been terminated for the believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is in the passive voice which indicates that it was done by God the judge to the in-Adam humanity. Thus, the believer is now completely and
forever removed from the position of doom as part of the in-Adam humanity, and he is removed as the result of something that God has done. So,
all you cute folks who are running around trying to please God by behaving yourself and showing how nice and good you can be, you just better
think about this passive voice here in the Greek language. God the Holy Spirit put it in there because you're supposed to be intelligent enough
to be aware when someone tells you that it's there, that it has a meaning. He did not use the active voice. That would mean for you to run around
and put yourself out of the in-Adam humanity. It is very clear that God says, "I had to do this, so you're just going to receive it. You're going
to sit passively there, and I'm going to hand it to you." And if you don't take it as a handout gift from God, you're not going to receive it on
any other basis.
That's why millions of church members are going to end up in hell. It's because they will not take a handout salvation on the basis of grace.
They all think that they're going to get in there with their degenerate nature to do something that God is going to be impressed with.
This is God's judicial solution for the problem of our inherited sin guilt from Adam. To be in Adam means a destiny of the lake of fire. Now,
that was once-and-for-all terminated for the believer in the death of Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, in-Adam humanity was nailed there
with Him. So, done with, and that's removed for the believer. It has been terminated.
The Body of Sin
Another thing Paul says you should know is what he refers to as "the body of sin." "The body of sin" refers to the in-Adam humanity again, but
from the point of view of the moral guilt which is imputed from Adam. It's still looking at the in-Adam humanity, but this time it looks at him
from the point of view of the filth of the moral guilt that is upon that humanity. It does not refer to the human physical body, which is not
morally evil in itself. It does not refer to the inherited tendency to sin, which we call the sin nature.
Done Away With
"The body of sin" (the body of moral guilt) is done away with. The Greek word means "to bring to naught," or "to do away with." The idea is "to put
utterly out of action" – not temporarily, but "to put utterly out of action." And that's what he means when he says that the body of sin (the
body of moral guilt) might be destroyed: utterly put out of action. Now, neither the human physical body nor the sin nature are done away with in
terms of utterly being put out of action in the believer. So, that's why we say we know it's not that inherited sin tendency that he's talking
about when he says "body of sin," and it is not your human body, because neither one of those are utterly put out of action for the believer.
The Greek has "the body of sin." Before we had "our old man" because we were part of that. But the Greek has "the" body of
sin," and that is significant, because that's the Bible's way of indicating that we did not personally have a part of this moral guilt. We just
had it put on us because our representative fouled things up. And when Adam blew it, we suffered the consequences.
So, the Bible was very careful to make this distinction – that we have upon us something that is placed by God, by His reckoning, which we
ourselves were not personally involved in. Adam's guilt was imputed to us all.
Now, the divine purpose then of crucifying the in-Adam humanity with Christ was to do away with the body of moral guilt imputed to that humanity
from Adam. So, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ today, you are removed by God from the in-Adam position. For you, that position has
been crucified on the cross, and it's dead. Also, the moral guilt that was imputed to you is removed. And what Paul is trying to get across to us
is that this is your status. Once you understand that, you will then be on your road to being able to think through how to be a godly person
according to biblical procedures. But if you forever are thinking that there is something that God can hold against you, then you are forever going
to be running off chasing rabbits, and trying to appease God in this way and in that way. What we are saying is that God holds nothing against you.
And it is insulting to Him for you to suggest that He does.
Now, all these ignorant people cutting off pieces of bodies of saints and venerating something that touched the body of Saint Paul, or Saint Peter,
or Saint John, or Saint Bernard, or Saint whoever, is just satanic ignorance. It is man's attempt to come up with something that God has already
beautifully solved, and that man never will solve.
So, this is a very important passage. If only the people of the world understood what was here in the book of Romans, they would sit back and be
able to take a great sigh of relief. If only people who are in churches (church members) understood this, millions of them would be able to lean
back and breathe a sigh of relief, and start enjoying their Christian lives, and start becoming men and women of God, and start living like the
royal family of God.
We Should not Serve Sin
Now, the last part of verse 6 tells us why God is taking this judicial action. The last part of verse 6 says, "That henceforth we should not
serve sin." God has a reason for doing this. It's introduced with this word "that" in English: "That something should not be done." The word "not"
is this word in Greek. It looks like this. It's "meketi." "Meketi" is an adverb. It means "no more" or "no longer." So, we could translate this as
"to the end that." Something should no longer be done – "to the end that we should no longer serve."
Bondage
The Greek word is "douleuo." "Douleuo" means "to be in bondage." It means "to serve as a slave." In the Greek language, this is in the present
tense. So, what this tells us is that this has constantly been terminated. This negative modifies this verb "douleuo." The negative means that we
will no longer be in the position of serving as slaves to sin. It is active. We choose to serve sin as unbelievers, but we no longer will do this
as believers. And it's in a construction grammatically with what is called the infinitive mood, which here indicates purpose. This is the divine
purpose. Why did God crucify the in-Adam humanity?
Why did He place under judgment that body of moral guilt? For the simple reason that it is God's purpose that we, from the time forward of our faith
in Christ as Savior, should no longer be slaves to what he calls "sin." That looks like this in the Greek. It's "hamartia." And that is the word for
"sin," which, in this context, refers to the judicial guilt of mankind on Adam – that we should no longer be slaves to the fact that we are
in-Adam position.
If you're in-Adam humanity, then you can go no place with your life. No matter how you try, you come to a dead-end. No matter what you attempt to
do, it all works out poorly. Everything that you may pursue as an in-Adam humanity is doomed to disaster. And about the time that you think you
have become successful in life, you look back upon it, and realize that it was nothing.
This is demonstrated by the fact that, every now and then, some very prominent person suddenly takes his life in suicide. Here's some person in
the entertainment world. He supposedly has everything in the world to live for: fame; success; money; and, everything. And suddenly, they blow
their brains out. Why? Because as long as they thought that this is what was going to make it, they had something to pursue. But finally, when
they got there, to the top of the pile, they realized that they had nothing. They were still pathetic slaves in bondage to something they didn't
even understand. Well, what they were in bondage to was to the in-Adam position.
Justified
God says, "For you who are my children, the royal family of God, that is not to be. I have terminated all control of the in-Adam humanity position
over you. I have terminated all the guilt against you that was imputed from Adam. That is all in the past. And the result is that you are free
from that kind of legal bondage before God because of your moral guilt. That's what we mean by the word "justified."
Remember that this section of the book of Romans is exploring how God as judge has dealt judicially with man's inherent sin guilt. And only God,
in His grace, could do away with the barrier of moral guilt in Adam which separates the sinner from Him. So, no human doing could achieve this.
So verse 6 closes with telling us why God did is: "That henceforth we should not be in slave bondage to that in-Adam sin position."
Freedom through Death
Verse 7 then speaks about freedom through death: "For he that is dead is freed from sin." The word "for" is this word in Greek: "gar." This is
a conjunction, and it introduces the reason why Paul makes that statement at the end of verse 6 about our no longer being enslaved to the
tendency to sin. He introduces the reason for this freedom from the bondage to guilt in Adam. And he introduces a general statement of truth.
He's going to build upon some logical thinking now.
Died
He says, "This is true for this reason: he that is dead." This is the word "apothnesko." "Apothnesko" is, in the context, referring to the death
resulting from crucifixion of the old man Adam humanity with Christ: "For he that has experienced this death of the humanity in Adam with Christ."
"Apothnesko" is aorist tense. It is at the point at which you are placed into union with Christ to share His death. That's when you enter the point
where you have died to the old Adam humanity. It is a once-for-all evil, and that's why we should not translate as "is dead." If you have a King
James Version Bible, "is dead" is very, very wrong. It's another one of those aorist past. It is: "died." That's important because God is trying to
tell you about something that happened in the past. He is not talking about the present. This is why people get fouled up in this part of the book
of Romans, about thinking that it says something about how to live a good life. It has nothing to do with that. That's coming a little later on.
This has to do with the past.
Justification
So, Paul says, "He that experienced this death in the past." It's active voice. It's the position of the believer relative to Adam's imputed
guilt. It's in the participle mood – a principle is being stated. So, we say: "He who died (referring to the believer in Christ),
something results. Our King James says, "He is freed. But we look in the Greek, and we notice that the word is "dikaioo." And "dikaioo," you
may remember is our good old word for "justification" – our word for being declared righteous.
So, it's not really "freed," though in some sense that may be acceptable. The idea here is more legal. It's the usual word to express the
acquittal from guilt that a judge pronounces. "Dikaioo" means "to be declared acquitted" or "to be vindicated." And that is a better way to think
about it.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Now, it's in the perfect tense here, which means that sometime in the past this thing took place, and the results have continued to the present,
and will continue forever. You have been acquitted from the guilt of being in Adam. It took place in the past. It was applied to you at the point
of your salvation when you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And please remember that everybody who is a believer has received the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. If you ever sit in a church service, or if you ever sit in a religious group, where somebody gets up and suggests to you that,
in the process of that service, they are going to bring down the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the believers who are there, get up and walk out,
unless you just want to sit there for the entertainment. But let that be the mark to you immediately that you have come into the presence of
somebody who is completely spiritually disoriented.
When You Trust in Christ as Savior
The baptism of the Holy Spirit (perfect tense) takes place in the past. It takes place at the point that you trust in Christ as Savior. That is
what brings you into union with Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us. And the result is that that union continues to the present.
Now, again, it is passive. This being declared vindicated (this being acquitted from Adam's guilt) is done for us by God. It's indicative –
it's a statement of fact.
So, we should translate this passage (this portion in verse 7) in this way: "For he that died is acquitted from." and the word "from" means
separation. It's that preposition "apo." Acquitted from what? Acquitted from sin. Again, it is "hamartia." In the Greek, it is "the
'hamartia,'" meaning "the sin" It's referring specifically to the condition of verse 6 in this context of enslavement to moral guilt
– the position of being in Adam.
So, what he is saying is that: "He that died is vindicated (is acquitted) from the position of moral guilt in Adam. Death with Christ secures a
declaration of acquittal by God the judge from the moral guilt of humanity in Adam. The penalty has been paid. The position of guilt of the
believer in Adam is forever terminated. Union with Christ in His death on the cross made that possible.
Now, this freedom from moral guilt in Adam is the basis on which we are going to grow in our Christian practice. This positional sanctification
(this positional being set apart), because our in-Adam position has been terminated, and our moral guilt has been removed – that position
is the basis upon which we build our sanctification in experience.
So, the apostle Paul here is telling us that he that died is acquitted from moral guilt for the purpose of having a position upon which we will
be building experiential sanctification. The case against you as a believing sinner has been permanently dismissed. That means delivery from the
penalty and from the control of the moral evils of the old sin nature.
The Negative Aspect (What was Removed)
Now, the apostle Paul says, "That's what I meant, when I said in Roman 5: 'For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death."
Now, that is negative. That is what has been taken away from you. This has been what has been removed, and that is very monumental. We needed that
in-Adam position removed. We needed to have that part of our relationship to humanity crucified. We needed to have that terminated and put to death.
We needed to be removed from the condemnation of that moral guilt.
The Positive Aspect
However, there is a positive aspect to what God has done for us. The positive aspect of God's judicial solution (God's solution as judge for that
sin nature quality within us) was in the last part of verse 5. The positive aspect is, "We shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." So,
now let's start looking at the explanation that he gives of what he means by that.
That explanation begins in Romans 6:8-10, which explain the last part of verse 5. The word "now" is this conjunction "de:" "Now if." The word
"if" here looks like this in Greek: "ei." As you know, there are four kinds of "ifs" in the Greek language. This one is first-class condition.
First-class condition means that this is an "if" which is telling you something which is true. That's a little deceptive in the English language.
When we say "if," we sort of mean uncertainty. We cast doubt when we say "if." But the Greek does not do that necessarily. Sometimes it does. In
this case it does not. And you can't tell that from the English Bible. You just have to make a little note there of some kind in your English Bible,
just like put a number one there by that word "if," and every time you read this again, you'll say, "Oh, this is a first-class condition. I remember
how to translate first-class: "since." If you translate it as "since," it'll immediately connote the fact that there is no doubt. So, what Paul is
saying in verse 8 is: "Since we died with Christ." You can see how much difference that makes it. There's no question about it then.
We Died
The term "we be dead is this Greek word "apothnesko." "Apothnesko" is looking back to the fact which was stated in 5a of union with Christ in
His death. And since that is the case – we actually have been united to Christ in His death. He has just explained what that means in verses
6-7. Romans 5a (the first part of the verse) deals with the negative aspect of the union with Christ – that which has come about through the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. That was the removal from the place of being in the condemned in-Adam humanity. Now he's going to talk to the other side.
This "apothnesko" is in the aorist tense, at the point in the past when we believed in Christ and we received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Because it's aorist, it's a once-for-all event. Therefore, we should not translated it as "be dead," as the King James. That is very wrong. It
should be translated as "died." This, again, is a past event completed that God has taken care of for us. The believer himself shared in the death
of Christ. It's indicative – a statement of fact.
So, we translate this: "Now since we died." This looks to God past judicial act of solving our sin nature guilt: "If we died with:" The word "with"
is "son." This word means "together with." This word is not often used in the New Testament in comparison with many other prepositions. This one
means "together with," and it indicates close fellowship or close association. Here it indicates that the believer is joined to Christ in His death
on the cross in payment for our sin guilt.
Now this is the reason why it is a fact that a believer has died to the condemnation in Adam. We did so together with Christ. Now, he hasn't really
said that to us before. We've known that, but we've been jumping ahead, and knowing that that's been the frame of reference. But now here he comes
right out and says, "I'm going to tell you why this is true of you: because we died with Christ." You actually, in God's reckoning, died with Christ.
Now, you did nothing about that; you weren't involved; you weren't there; and, you can do nothing about it. All you can do is believe God and accept
the consequences of that death. And that's what he's trying to tell you here, so that you won't be running around trying to get the Shroud of Turin
image of Christ on a T-shirt, so that you can run around and feel holy, and feel somehow nearer to God. He's trying to tell you that He has done this
for you.
Trust
Consequently, this being the case (done in the past – we died with Him – it's accomplished): together with Christ, we believe something.
This is the word "pisteuo." "Pisteuo" is the word meaning "to trust" or "to have confidence in." It's the word that means "to have reliance on
something." It's not mere credence. The word "pisteuo" in the Greek means: "I'm going to depend on you. I'm going so trust myself to you, that if
you fail me, I'm going to fall, and there's going to be no hope for me." And that's what this word connotes. We believe.
Now, this confidence here is based on the revelation of God and Scripture. This is not a human viewpoint conclusion of man's fallen reasoning.
The word here indicates an assured conviction of divine viewpoint logic. It's not merely expressing a hope. It's not a conjecture. This is a firm
personal conviction. Paul is indicating something which of necessity must follow what we have been taught.
He's exercising a series of logic here, and the logic is this: The Bible tells us, on God's authority, that you were crucified with Christ. You
died with Him. Your in-Adam humanity was crucified with him. The guilt was removed in that act. And the result was that you were buried with Him.
Now, Jesus Christ did not stay in the grave. If you were united to Christ in that part of His work of dying for your humanity guilt, you have to
be united to Him to the rest of what He did, which was that He rose again. He came back to life. He came out of the tomb. And you are not suddenly
separated from His resurrection life. And that's where he's going to. You are in his death. That brings a logical point, a logical conclusion: You
are also in His resurrection. And that's where we're going.
Live with Christ
So, consequently, he says, "We believe this also." But the word indicates something which is not just a personal opinion, but an absolute necessity.
It is present tense – a constant conviction. It is active. It's a personal view which he held. It's indicative – a statement of fact.
We believed something else, and that is: "that we." The word "that" is "hoti." It introduces the inference which is based on our union with Christ
in His death. This is the introduction of the positive part of our union with Christ: "that we shall also . . ." Something else is to be added to
it, and that is "live" ("sunzao"). And this is made up of the word "sun," a preposition which means "with," and "zao" is the verb "to live," And it
means to live together with.
This word refers to union with Christ in His resurrection life. It means association with Him. It means similarity to Him. It's a newness of life
that Paul has been speaking about once we're out of Adam and in Christ. It's future, however. But that doesn't mean in terms of something of our
resurrection experience in the future. This is a future that the Greek calls "of logical necessity." He says, "If this is true, then this shall
also be true." And he's using the future tense to indicate a logical necessity. He's describing what is currently the case with you.
This is summed up in Romans 6:11: "Likewise, reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord. You see, when we get down to verse 11, it will be clear that you're both" you're dead on the one side; but, you're alive in the resurrection
of Christ on the other side. This is active. This is a current possession. You can compare Ephesians 2:1-4 and Galatians 2:19-20. It's indicative
– a statement of fact, and that is to be in Him; that is, Jesus Christ.
Translating verse 8: "Now, in view of the fact that we died once for all together with Christ, we believe that we shall also live together with Him."
So, what we have said that is that since it is now true of a Christian that he shares the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, a life which is ruled
by holiness, he cannot follow the suggestion which was made at the beginning of chapter 6, that we should permit our inherited sin tendency to just
have free reign so that grace can super-abound. There is always the ignorant person who does not understand divine viewpoint, that says that if you
tell people that grace has secured them eternal life that they can never lose, that then they can go out and do just whatever they please. That is
about as ignorant and satanic a statement as a human being can make, and it shows that you know very little Bible.
What Paul is trying to explain to us here is that because you and I are positionally dead to that in-Adam humanity with its guilt, and that
we are actually sharing the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, it is impossible for us to live under that kind of sin indulgence. The old sin
nature can no longer dominate where God the Holy Spirit now reigns supreme. God has done it all, and God has done it for you. And all He needs you
to do is to know it. Once you get this understood, then let's talk about being godly people. Let's talk about holy living. But until you understand
where you start from, you cannot know how to walk with the Lord.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1977
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