“Baptized into His Death” – Romans 6:1-14

“So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin” (Romans 7:25).

That’s how we ended last week’s sermon. In that verse, Paul came to terms with the reason he continued to sin even after his salvation through Christ. It is a dilemma many of us go through each day. Paul concluded rightly that we can overcome in Christ. He is the assurance of our final victory over sin and its consequences, and allows us the assurance of hope and faith.

In today’s passage, which Paul wrote before Romans 7, the apostle shows us a way we can overcome sin in our lives today. It relies on what God has done for us through Christ and also calls upon us to practice self-control.

Background

In the letter to the Romans, Paul wrote in a way that suggested an imaginary discussion with those who disagree with his theology. Repeatedly through the first five chapters, Paul asked an imaginary question and then gave an answer (cf. Romans 3:3, 9). Paul had written that no one was righteous: those who denied God, those who had sought to live an ethical life, even those who had followed the law. All had sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (cf. Romans 3:23).

Paul’s response to all this is that we are saved by faith, not works or obedience to a law (cf. Romans 3:28). He used the example of Abraham, a man who obeyed God out of faith because there was no law at the time.

Last week, we looked at the struggle between the desire to do God’s will and the tendency to sin. We read how God inspired Paul to write that the sinful nature still resides in our bodies even though God has saved us and given us the Holy Spirit. The daily struggle is real, and it can become frustrating and, if we let it, become self-defeating.

In today’s passage, though, God shows us that He has given us the ability to overcome sin and to walk more in fellowship with Him. As we immerse ourselves in Christ, we need to realize where we really are in regard to our relationship with Him. The reality is that we are living in Christ. Living in Christ means we have access to the power and glory of the Father.

Central Truth: Baptism reminds us that we no longer live for self, but live in Christ.

Being baptized into Jesus’ death means:

1. We live a new life (1-4)

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning to that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

There are a number of American families who have gone to foreign countries to adopt a child. I know of one couple that flew to China to adopt their daughter. When they brought her to her new home, their daughter ceased being Chinese and became an American. She recently graduated from high school in Waco, and looking at the pictures of her growing up, it is obvious she has decidedly adopted the ways of her new life. We can say she has immersed herself in her new home and society.

In these verses, Paul wrote that you and I have been adopted into a new family the moment we were baptized into Christ. Remembering last week’s passage, there may have been a tendency for someone to say, “Since I am still a slave to the law of sin, I may as well indulge that sinful nature.” The Bible’s response is an emphatic, “No!” That was the question that Paul answered in these first few verses.

Salvation by grace means that we need to acknowledge that we are no longer alive to sin, since we died to sin in Christ and are now raised to walk in the life of Christ. This passage evokes baptism by immersion and the graphic depiction it gives of a burial and resurrection. When you and I came to know Christ as our Savior, we recognized that we were dead in our sins and in need of burial. When we were buried with Christ, we then arose into a new life in Him. That’s Paul’s point: through the glory of the Father, we too may life a new life.

The point is this: You and I no longer are alive to sin—we died to sin. Our baptism represents this truth. We therefore need to immerse ourselves in the reality that God has given us a new life in Christ Jesus, and that new life gives us the power to say no to sin and yes to Christ.

Just as the adopted child becomes like her new family and society, so, too, we are becoming like Christ.

2. We live a life for God (5-10)

If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.

At first glance, these verses seem to contradict what Paul wrote in Romans 7. He wrote in 7:25 that we are slaves to sin, but in v. 6, he wrote that we are no longer slaves to sin. How do we reconcile the difference?

Realize first of all that our salvation did not erase our old self and implant a new self into us. We still have a tendency to use the habits of a lifetime to relate to our world even if we are a new creation in Christ. The sinful nature is still alive and well in our bodies, even if our spirit is joined in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Sin still has a strong influence in our lives.

The difference is that prior to knowing Christ, we had no other way to relate to the world but through our sinful nature. Now that we are dead to sin in Christ and alive in Him, we now have an alternative way, a better way, a narrow way, to relate to our world and to our Savior.

What Paul was arguing is that we must have a new way of seeing things. This new way of seeing and being is based upon the truth that we are dead to sin and our old self and are now alive in Christ. We have a responsibility to embrace the promise of our new life. We no longer have to sin; we have overcome in Christ and we have a new way of seeing and relating. The better way is to live for Christ through God’s glory and the Spirit’s strength and direction. The key to this realization is found in v. 10: “The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.” That must be our reality, too.

3. We can offer ourselves to Christ (11-14)

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Throughout Peter’s first letter, he told us we have a responsibility to make a conscious decision to offer ourselves to Christ. Peter wrote that we were to “prepare our minds” (1 Peter 1:13), to “purify ourselves by obeying the truth” (1:22). We are to “rid ourselves of all malice and deceit” (2:1) and to “abstain from sinful desires” (2:11). We are to “submit ourselves for the Lord’s sake” (2:13) and to “arm ourselves with the same attitude of Christ” (4:1). In this letter, we realize that, while salvation is a free gift of grace from the Father, we also must be aware that we must choose to follow Christ daily.

Paul also makes that point here. The concrete steps we take to live for Christ is to first count ourselves dead to sin. Then we are to offer ourselves and our bodies to Christ. Finally, we have to recognize that we live by grace and are no longer any obligation to obey the sinful nature that still lives within us.

In other words, the Christian life is a conscious decision to allow our relationship with the Father through the Son and the Holy Spirit to take a stand for Him on a daily basis. This means we need to be alert to not only God’s direction, but also the temptations that come our way. Once we recognize the temptation, our first act must be to turn to the Father. You and I are not powerful enough on our own to defeat Satan. We must rely on the God of Creation who loves us enough to have sent His Son to die for us.

Look at the last verse: “For sin shall not be your master.” This is a declarative statement. It is an acknowledgement that our life in Christ is very different from the way it was before we were saved. We have options and we know the better choice, the better way. We know that the answer is in Christ and Him only.

Conclusion

I wonder if that girl who was born in China but was raised in America ever thinks about her old life. She was a baby when she was brought to Waco, so it’s doubtful that she even remembers anything about her old nation. Still, there may be times in her life when she may wonder what her life might have been had she not been blessed to be taken to her new home.

You and I can still look back at our old way of being slaves to sin. There may be times when we may think we might want to revisit that place. But that way leads to destruction. To immerse ourselves in Christ, we must recognize that we are dead to sin and alive in Christ. Because we are alive in Him, we have choices we never had before.

Let us today commit to choosing to say no to sin and yes to living in Christ. Let us give ourselves to Him completely and absolutely. This is our new world, our new life. We are with Christ. Let us live out this truth today.