How does Romans 6:6 describe our old self and its crucifixion with Christ? “We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” Who the “old self” was • The person we were “in Adam”—shaped by sin, spiritually dead, and hostile to God (Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1–3). • Characterized by “deceitful desires” (Ephesians 4:22) and “practices” that oppose God (Colossians 3:9). • Bound to sin’s mastery, unable to live righteously (Romans 6:17). What the cross accomplished • “Crucified with Him” means God truly united us with Jesus in His death—our old self was executed when Christ was (Galatians 2:20). • This is not metaphorical only; it is a historical, spiritual fact established at Calvary and applied to every believer at conversion (Romans 6:3–4). • Result: “the body of sin”—the sinful operating system that once drove us—“is rendered powerless,” literally put out of commission. • We are therefore “no longer slaves to sin.” Authority changed hands (Colossians 1:13). Why God did it • To free us for wholehearted obedience (Romans 6:17–18). • To make room for “newness of life” by the Spirit (Romans 6:4; 8:11). • To display His glory through transformed people (Ephesians 2:7). Living out the reality 1. Count it true • “So you too must count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11). 2. Refuse sin’s demands • “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6:12). • Our old master has no legal claim; we can say no. 3. Present yourself to God • “Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life” (Romans 6:13). 4. Walk in the Spirit • “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). • Daily dependence on the Spirit makes the finished work practical (Galatians 5:16). The new identity we now enjoy • “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). • We have “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3:10). • Our lives become living proof that Christ’s cross breaks sin’s chains and births true freedom. |
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