Dead To Sin, Alive To God

October 27th, 2024
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Oct 22, 2024

Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 6:8-11 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Essentially repeating in v. 8 what he has previously stated in vv. 2-6, Paul strongly desires that his audience comprehend the basic truths of what it means to be united with Christ while living the new life under the Holy Spirit. Though all believers will indeed be united with Christ physically when they die and enter into eternity, it is vital to note that what Paul is actually stressing here is that Christ also gives believers a new life with Him in the here and now. To the Galatians, Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ…but…I live by faith” (Gal. 2:20). The actual gateway to this new life, both in the here and now and in the future, is death—death to sin through faith in Christ and ultimately physical death as the gateway into eternity.

Whether a new revelation or one that people already know, it is comforting to read in v. 9 that Christ, “having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer has mastery over Him.” Unlike others in the Bible who were resuscitated after death (cf. 1 Kings 17:17-22; 2 Kings 4:32-37; Luke 8:49-55; John 11:39-44), and thus later died again, Jesus was the first to be resurrected to eternal life (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20) and can thus never again die. His resurrection broke death’s domination; hence, death is no longer able to dominate Christians. Mounce says, “The cross was sin’s final move; the resurrection was God’s checkmate. The game is over. Sin is forever in defeat.” This is why it is absurd to display a dead or dying Christ on the cross, either upon a wall in a church or around one’s neck. Christ crucified is not the gospel in and of itself. It is His resurrection following His death that completes the story. Why display Christ as dead when He is alive, having risen from the dead triumphing over death—sitting at the right hand of God the Father, forever crowned in glory and honor as King of kings and Lord of lords? Now the life that Christ lives, He lives to God.” And what is true for Christ is also true for His people.

How then is Christ our example? Though Jesus never sinned, by His death, He died in reference to sin—paying the penalty for the sins of every believer by meeting the legal demands of their sin—death. But Christ also died in reference to sin in order to kill sin’s power, breaking its lordship over believers. Those who trust Christ can now say no to sin, for it is no longer their lord. Like Christ, the Christian now “lives to God” (cf. 1 Pet. 2:24). Mounce says, “For the Christian to choose to sin is the spiritual equivalent of digging up a corpse for fellowship. A genuine death to sin means that the entire perspective of the believer has been radically altered.”

As Christians mature in their faith, being taught all that Jesus commanded (Matt. 28:20), they will become increasingly aware of their true union with Christ. Notwithstanding, sin still desires them! As God’s own, they are now Satan’s enemy and adversary, and he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour (1 Pet. 5:8). He wants them, but they don’t want him!

Food for Thought

Of course if Christ did not truly die, as some skeptics have proposed, and if He was not resurrected three days later, as all skeptics believe, then all of Christianity is futile—a waste of time. And if Christianity is futile, then faith in Christ is useless (cf. 1 Cor. 15:12-19). But the Apostle Paul actually saw the resurrected Lord Jesus (Acts 9), and he connected all of his theology to Jesus being the Christ—the promised Messiah. Jesus Christ transformed Paul’s life. Has He transformed yours through faith? If so, is it evident to those who know you?