(chapter 6)
THE Epistle to the Romans does not go on to the point of our present resurrection in a spiritual sense. We get that unfolded in the Epistles to the Colossians and the Ephesians. There we are viewed as risen with Christ already, and, in Ephesians, even as seated in heavenly places in Christ; but in Romans it merely says that we should “walk in newness of life.”
Romans tells us that we have died with Christ, and just as Christ was raised from the dead so we are to walk in newness of life. It is not merely that we are clear from our old sins, and that our guilt has been put away from before God, but we are to walk through this world as those possessed of an altogether new life, and we are to manifest it with the same characteristics in which it was manifested by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that makes it a wonderful thing to be a Christian.
Of course we are all aware of that truth, that “he that hath the Son hath life,” but the question is, do we enter into what it is to be living that life here on this earth? “We also should walk in newness of life.” Not merely that we should know that we have life, but we should walk in newness of life. We are to do it under all circumstances — in our family life, in our business life, as well as in our religious life. And why? Because we have a new life and Christ is that life. I do not for one moment say that we can only walk in newness of life when we are occupied with spiritual things, we are to do it under all circumstances.
In the fifth verse it goes on to speak of what is still to be. “If we have been planted together in the likeness of His death” — our baptism bears testimony to that — is God going to leave us there? No! he is going to identify us with Him in resurrection.
“Knowing this that our old man has been crucified with Him,” it is not merely that Christ has been crucified for me, but I have been crucified with Christ.
I was told of a Christian, who, hearing that an Englishman was living in a certain town on the Continent, thought he would go and see him. When he arrived he said, “I have come to see you because I hear you are an Englishman, and I would like to ask you if you are a child of God?”
“Well,” said the other, “I hope I am.”
“But,” said his visitor, “I did not come to ask you if you hoped you were but if you were one. Are you a child of God?”
He replied, “It is remarkable for you to come to ask me such a question as that. I hope am.”
“Well,” he said, “but what do you hope? Do you hope that Christ died for you? Do you hope that He was raised from the dead?”
“No,” he said, “I know that Christ died for me, and that He rose from the dead, but I hope I am saved.”
“But,” said the visitor, “if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, what does that mean? Does the cross of Christ stand between you and your sins?”
“Well,” he said, “that is a precious thought. It must be true, though I never thought of it in that way.”
“Yes,” said his friend, “the cross of Christ stands between you and your sins if you are a believer; but does the cross of Christ stand between you and judgment?”
“Well,” he said, “I suppose that must be true too.”
“Does the cross of Christ stand between you and hell?”
“Yes,” he said, “that must be true, though it is a new way of putting it.”
“Now,” he said, “I am going to ask you one more question. Does the cross of Christ stand between you and yourself?”
He said, “I am thankful to you for asking me that question. It settles all the difficulties and misgivings I have had for years. Why, I have been looking for some improvement in myself, but if the cross of Christ stands between me and myself, I am gone altogether.”
That is the very thing that is brought out in this 6th chapter of Romans. “Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him.” This is a truth of immense importance. There is practice, of course, but the truth must come first. The truth, the doctrine, first, and the practice will follow. You cannot work yourself into this state, you must accept the truth of God about it. If you are a Christian at all, you may know this that not only are your sins forgiven, but your old man has been crucified with Him. And what follows? “That the body of sin might be destroyed (or, annulled.)” Is not that the thing that troubles us so — this old body of sin? What is the meaning of that expression? It is sin in its entirety — root, branch, stem — everything connected with this evil thing. “That the body of sin might be annulled;” not “destroyed,” because we have it in us, we have the old evil thing still in us, and that evil thing has the same lusts and desires. It still exists, but it is annulled because its power is broken. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be annulled, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” And what does that mean? It is looking at sin there as a master. Now in the unconverted state man serves sin, it leads him hither and thither. But it is not to be so with a Christian. Sin is not to be his master, and in fact it is not his master. He has an evil nature still in him, but its power is broken, because he has learned the truth that he is crucified with Christ.
Well, now it goes on in the 7th verse, “Now he that is dead (or, has died) is (not, freed but) justified from sin.” And notice it does not say “justified from sins.” It is speaking, not of the acts we have committed, they are dealt with in the 3rd and 5th chapters, but it says “justified from sin,” the evil root or principle that is in me. Does it mean that I have to wait until I am dead, and have left this earth, to be justified? Not at all. You are dead now according to this verse if you are a believer. Those who are dead in this sense are justified from sin; and what does that mean? Supposing a person were lying dead upon the floor, you could not condemn him for having an evil nature. He may have done terrible things during his life, but he is dead now, and that is an end of his evil nature. And so in a spiritual sense. I am justified, not only from the acts that I have committed, but, as one who has had part in the death of Christ, I stand justified from sin.
“Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” It goes back there to the blessed truth that we shall presently be with Him in resurrection glory.
“Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more.” That is a wonderful truth! Can He die again? Impossible! He has died once for all, and, just as in His case, it cannot be repeated, neither can it be repeated in mine. It is not, as I find taught in so many quarters today, that we have to keep dying all day long. No, it is done once and for all. Just as Christ has died unto sin once, so we have died unto sin once. Look what it says, “for in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.” And there is a depth in that which is amazing.
When the Lord Jesus Christ was here upon earth, what did He come for? He came for the glory of God, of course, we know, but He came about the question of sin. He came here for that very purpose, to put away sin. He came to be made an offering and a sacrifice for sin. That has taken place, and He has done with it forever. But He is alive now, and He is living to God. God is the one object before Him there in heaven; and this truth is applied to us here. Far short of His measure we come, but that is the pattern, that the standard, that the example. When we compare ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, we say we cannot speak of ourselves in the same breath with Him, but that is the standard before us.
See how the next verse puts it, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Look at the force of that, look at the power of it! There is no make-believe in that. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to have died indeed unto sin.” But that is only half the truth. Is Christ dead now? No, He is alive, and God is the object before Him. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Look at the place into which it puts the Christian — Christ’s place. You see these truths are wonderfully practical for us, and indeed they are, in one sense, the very truths we need for our walk. All that has taken place in reference to Christ is to be reckoned as having taken place in me. Has He died? So have I. Is He alive now? So am I — alive unto God in Him. We have a new life and a new standing before God; brought out altogether from our old position as in Adam, and our sins and all our responsibilities met by Christ’s death. The link is broken between the Christian and the world, between the Christian and sin, between the Christian and all that the first Adam was, and he is brought into a new association, a new life, and that life is Christ. That is a marvelous thing to be brought into!
(To be continued.)