August 22

“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.” —ROMANS 6:5

Six times in the opening verses of Romans, Chapter 6 Paul describes us as having died with Christ or having died to sin. What does he mean? How have we died with Christ? And how can we die to sin, when we know very well that even if the devil were to die tonight, we would still sin tomorrow? 

In verses 4 & 5, Paul talks about being united with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. To be united to Christ is to be made one with Him, and to be made one with Him means that what is true of Christ is declared to be true of us. In other words, what happened to Christ is legally regarded as having happened to us. In the reckoning of God, it was not just Jesus who was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem, but as our representative, in the legal councils of heaven, we also were crucified with Him outside the city walls of Jerusalem. 

Death in Scripture is almost always associated with sin, and is the consequence of sin. In the beginning, God said to Adam, “…but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:17). Sin and death are intricately connected. Turning to the end of the Bible, we read in Revelation 21:8 about the final destruction of all sinners; the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, and the murderers, the sexually immoral, the idolaters and all liars. This is the second death, the first being physical death. 

Paul tells us in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death,” but when Christ died, He satisfied the just wrath of a just God. He received in full the wages of sin and having died, sin no longer owes Him anything. As He took upon Himself all our sin, and became our substitute, we too have met the demand that sin incurs. It has paid its wages. It has produced its death, is now fully spent, and no longer holds power over us. 

When Paul says we died to sin, he does not mean we are unresponsive to it, but it no longer has the ability to destroy us as it once had. We will, of course, still battle with sin and its earthly consequences, but it will not defeat us, because our identity is in Christ, and our union with Him means we are already conquerors of both sin and death.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I acknowledge my sin and the fact that along with it, I was crucified with You. Thank You for taking my place and living in me now. 

TO REFLECT UPON: As a Christian, do I understand how I died with Christ?