RESURRECTION: Daily Reading Plan #6
Romans 6:1-11
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have 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.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will 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.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:1–14 explores how Christians should think about and respond to sin now that we are in Christ and our sins are forgiven. In explaining this, Paul reveals new information about what happened when we put our faith in Christ. In a spiritual sense, we died with Him, and to our sin. We were then resurrected to a new spiritual life. Now Paul instructs us to continue remembering that we are no longer slaves to sin. We must not offer our bodies to be used for sin, but we must offer ourselves as instruments of righteousness, instead.
The word "if" near the start of verse 8 can be read as "since," as a reference to those who are in Christ. As Paul showed in the previous verse, our faith in Christ began with a spirit-baptism into Christ. This caused us to be so closely identified with Him that God gives us credit for His righteousness and takes His death as payment for our sin.
In that sense, we died with Christ on a spiritual level and were resurrected to a new spiritual life. We are spiritually alive for the first time ever (Ephesians 2:5). Paul now writes that because we died with Christ in that way, we will also live with Him. It's unclear if Paul is referring to living in Christ now as spiritually resurrected people or living with Christ for eternity as physically-resurrected people. However, both are true, and both might be indicated by this verse. God intends for us to live this new spiritual life He has given to us with Christ. And we definitely look forward to the day we will be physically brought back to life to spend eternity with Christ.
Reflection Questions
- What do these verses say about new life in Christ?
- How do these verses call me to live as a result of taking them to heart?
