Romans 6:5-11

Crucifixion and Resurrection

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. [Now that we are united to Christ in faith, we participate in his death and die to our old life, and we receive a new life, which is nothing less than participating in Christ’s resurrection life.] ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him [this is a past event as we are reckoned as having been crucified with Jesus when he was crucified] in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. [In a sense the person a believer is now in Christ has been fenced off from who he formerly was in Adam, such that the unregenerate nature that readily enjoyed sinning might be rendered inoperative. The old solidarity of death in Adam has been broken by the death of Jesus. We now experience a new solidarity of life as being found in, made part of the life of Christ.] ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. [Death pays all debts. Jesus’ death pays all our debts. The slate is wiped clean, and we are ready to begin a new life with Christ freed from our past.]  ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him [both in this age and in the age to come]. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all [there is no second fight, no second foe to be fought, no additional sacrifice to be made], but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. [Believers should consider themselves to be what God has made them. The Spirit has come into our lives to make effective what Christ has already done for us, to enable us to become daily in experience what we are in Christ now and what we will fully be in the resurrection life. This is the subject Paul will turn to in Romans 8:1-27.]