Memory Verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17
Objectives:
- To know that the believer’s identification with Christ in His death and resurrection is the way of freedom from the power of sin
God’s work begins in us when we first come to Christ for salvation. We rejoiced that all our sins were forgiven. We determined that now we belonged to Jesus, we would learn how to be good as He is. So we began to read our Bibles and pray in order to grow in our Christian character.
Then as we grew older in our Christian experience we began to discover that while we had victory over certain sins, there were still others which defeated us. Though we loved the Lord and tried to please Him, something within us did not want to do right. When we tried to be kind to others, inside we did not feel kind. The more we wanted to do good, the more we saw that in our own strength we could not do good. Slowly we began to realize that the problem was not just our sins but ourselves.
Then is this God’s plan for us—that we be forgiven our sins but never be freed from the power of sin over us? Are we condemned by our evil nature to continue sinning all our lives and then keep coming to God for forgiveness?
This is the theme of the next major section of Romans, chapters 6-8.
As we study Romans 6, 7 & 8, we shall see that there are four conditions which must be met by one who wants to live the abundant Christian life. There are:
1. Knowing
2. Counting
3. Presenting ourselves to God
4. Walking in the spirit
All four steps are important. All must be taken to live like Jesus. As we study, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us understanding concerning these truths which can bring us freedom. Today we will begin by studying the first condition—what we need to KNOW in order to become a victorious Christian.
I. OUR DEATH WITH CHRIST (Romans 6:1-11)
A. The Fact (6:1-11)
The question which Paul asks in verse one could be stated like this: “Since we are saved and kept by God’s grace, and since good works have no part in the matter, what difference does it make whether we live righteous lives or not?” This is the thinking of those who want to get to heaven but still hold on to their evil habits.
Question: What is Paul’s answer to the question? (6:2)
It is just impossible for a Christian who belongs to Christ to live a life of habitual sinning as it is for a dead man to commit a wrong act. So far as sin is concerned, one who is in Christ is dead to sin.
Paul states this as a fact. But what does he mean? How can we be dead to sin when we have found that sin is still very much alive in us? Was Paul a different kind of a person than we are? Or did he know something which we have not yet learned?
Question: According to Paul, what is the way in which we die to sin so that we no longer desire it? (6:3-7)
1. The two-fold purpose of Christ’s death (6:3-11)
For the answer to the problem of our sinful nature, we must go back to the cross. We know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins so we might be forgiven. Only He could give His life to atone for our sins. Only He could pay the penalty for sin in order to redeem us.
This was one purpose for Christ’s death. But there was a second purpose of His death in which we have a part. Christ died in order that we might die WITH Him. When Christ was crucified, God’s purpose also was that we might be crucified with Him (Galatians 2:20).
Notice that Paul states this fact five times in these few verses (Romans 6:2, 4, 5, 6, 8). He wants us to understand this very important fact of OUR DEATH WITH CHRIST TO SIN just as we understand HIS DEATH FOR OUR SINS.
Verses 10 and 11 tell us something else about our death with Christ.
Question: What did Christ die to according to verse 10?
When Christ gave His life on the cross, He not only died FOR our sins to take away the penalty. He also died TO sin. Sin had no power to keep the Lord from obeying the Father, even when obedience meant death.
Question: Then if we are in Christ, what is our relationship to sin? (6:11)
By accepting Jesus Christ into our lives, we have died TO sin with Him. As we follow and obey the Son Who never will rebel against the Father, we too will be freed from sin in order to live for God.
2. The death of the old nature (6:6)
Question: According to verse 6, what part of us has been put to death with Christ?
It is our old self or old sinful nature, that part of us that looks out for its own selfish interests.
God knows that our old sinful nature cannot be made better. We need a new nature. So He put our old nature to death on the cross with Christ in order to free our bodies from serving it. If we know the fact that we died with Christ, we will become free from the slavery of doing our own will which causes us to sin against God.
Our problem is that we don’t understand how bad we really are. This is what God must show us. We think we only need to get rid of a few sins and we will be all right. God shows us here that our nature is completely evil and so must be put to death. We think we are like a good tree that has some rotten fruit. God says our root is wrong and must be changed.
We think our problem is weakness so we pray for God to make us stronger. God shows us that our evil nature is too strong and must be put to death. This is something which we cannot do. Therefore, He has already done it by including us in the death of His Son.
Notice also that it is not our individual personalities which God has put to death. Each of us has been created a little different from others in order that every one will bring glory to God. We are not to try to put to death our personalities which God has made for good. We are to use our personalities to serve Him. But we are to learn to stop sinning through our union with Christ.
B. The Purpose (6:6, 7)
Question: What was God’s purpose in putting our old sinful nature to death with Christ? (6:6, 7)
We know that a dead man cannot commit sin. For example, suppose you would put a case of wine near the dead body of a drunkard. Before, when the man was alive, the wine had power to make him sin. But now there is no response. The wine is the same, but the man is dead.
This is the way God has dealt with the power of sin in us. God does not say that He has killed sin, so it will no longer tempt us. Satan will continue trying to tempt us to sin. The possibility of falling to temptation is present to the end of our lives. Therefore, we continually need the cleansing of the blood of Christ when we sin (1 John 1:7, 9)
BUT THERE IS NO NEED FOR US TO SIN. We can be freed from its power. How? In His dealing with the power of sin, God has dealt with us rather than sin. He has put US to death to free us from our desire to sin. When we recognize that in Christ WE have died to sin, we will no longer use our bodies to sin. We know that Satan has no power over Jesus Christ. When we know that we are in Christ, we can experience freedom from the power of sin through His life in us.
II. OUR RESURRECTION WITH CHRIST (Romans 6:4-11)
A. The Fact (6:4-8)
God’s purpose in Christ’s death and ours with Him is not that we remain in death. We are not to think only about Christ’s death on the cross and His forgiveness of our sins.
Question: What is the second truth we must know concerning our union with Christ in order that we might live a victorious life over sins? (6:4-8)
We know that after Jesus rose from the dead, He went to sit at the right hand of the Father to become our Mediator. Whenever we sin, we can come to God through Jesus who is there to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25). Only He can do this work for us because He is the Son of God.
Question: But there was another purpose in His resurrection. What was this according to verses 5 and 8?
Just as God put us to death with Christ, so He united us with Christ in His resurrection. Those who have been crucified with Christ have also been raised with Him to live a new life unto God.
B. The Purpose (6:4, 8, 10, 11)
Question: What is God’s purpose in uniting us with Christ in His resurrection (6:4, 10, 11)
We know that Christ is now living wholly to please the Father even as He did before He died. Now through His death and resurrection He is able to bring us with Him into this way of life which is new for us.
In other words, Paul is saying that this new nature which God gives us is Jesus Christ who now lives in us (Galatians 2:20). We know that Jesus lived a holy life. He never sinned even once. Now that we are resurrected with Him, He will live His life in us.
Notice, Paul is not saying that Jesus Christ helps us to live the Christian life. He does not live in us as our servant to help us when we fall into trouble. Instead, the truth is that He is living His own life in us. When we realize this truth, we will experience deliverance from the power of sin through trusting Him Who cannot sin.
We must remember that a person can only experience the power of the life of Christ AFTER he has experienced being united with Him in death and resurrection. He cannot live in his own strength and also in Christ’s. Christ must be in complete control of everything in order for a person to have victory over sin.
III. OUR IDENTIFICATION WITH CHRIST THROUGH THE SPIRIT (Romans 6:3, 4)
Question: Jesus died and rose again 2,000 years ago in order to bring us salvation. But when does this death, burial and resurrection with Him become our personal experience? (6:3, 4)
The custom of the early church was to baptize with water those who turned from their sin to Christ as Savior. They belonged to Him through the Holy Spirit Who came to live in them. Their baptism by water was a symbol of their union with Christ in His death to sin and His resurrection by God’s power.
In discussing the problem of overcoming sin in their lives, Paul is saying to these Christians, “Don’t you know that when you received Christ at conversion and were baptized, you were united by the Holy Spirit with Christ in His death to sin? When you received Christ, don’t you know that you also received the power through Him to overcome all sin?”
These Christians were like many of us today. We know that in Christ we have received the forgiveness of all our sins. But do we know that in Christ we have also died to sin so that we can live a life of holiness unto God? Do we know that by our death and resurrection with Christ, we can become free from the power of sin over us? Do we know that we must by faith appropriate this truth of our death and resurrection with Christ to sin just as we know we have received forgiveness by faith?
All that we need for living a holy life has been given to us by our identification with Christ through the Holy Spirit. But we must know the fact of our death and resurrection with Christ before we can experience it in our lives. We need to know this not just as a truth in the Bible, but through the revelation of the Spirit in our inner being (Ephesians 1:17-20).
We need to pray that God will give us this understanding so this truth will be able to bring us the freedom from sin which He has planned for us. Only then will we be able to take the next step.
Foundations of Faith (Romans 1-7)
PCEP Adult Bible Studies 2