Chapter 6:1. This, then, is the question, if grace has abounded over sins and sin—over all our iniquities which we have committed, and over the sin we have inherited, and where sin has abounded, grace has much more abounded—is it true, then, that abounding grace leads to continuance in the practice of sin? From that day to this, the rejecters of the gospel have always said it is so. If you are completely justified, not by your own works, but in and by the subsisting, unchanging righteousness of God in Jesus Christ our Lord raised from the dead—then that implies you hold that you may be careless, and indeed may practice sin!
Now what says the Holy Ghost by the apostle as to this? “What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Far be the thought; “How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” Here, then, is that principle of deliverance from sin so greatly ridiculed—deliverance from sin by death. Neither shall we find any other deliverance from sin in the word of God. For centuries, many sincere souls sought deliverance by fastings, and seclusion in monasteries. Many sincere souls now seek it by efforts after a false perfection of the flesh. But here is the full truth of God—deliverance from sin by death.
Only mark, it is not the future death of our bodies, should we die, but this—”How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” What does this mean, “we that are dead to sin?” Do you say, “It may mean those who have attained to perfection?” Is there such a thought? Nay, in order to show how assuredly this applies to all Christians, the apostle says, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Ver. 3.) So that he is careful to show that this principle of deliverance from sin by death applies to all who have been truly baptized unto the death of Christ. Nothing could be more plain, and yet nothing is less known. It ought surely to be well understood, for the apostle says, “Know ye not?”
Do you understand, reader, this great practical truth of deliverance from sin? Do you say, as an authorized teacher said to us a few days ago? “We are all sinners, and unfit for heaven; we must seek in every way to improve our sinful nature; but I fear it will never, in this world, be quite fit for heaven.” Fit for heaven! Is a corpse fit for heaven? It is dead, it is too loathsome for heaven or earth. It must be buried. Do you bury it, to make it suddenly, or gradually, perfect? It is a mass of corruption; there is no life in it, not a particle, nor can there be, until the putting forth of the power of God in resurrection.
Is it not so as to our whole moral being? Our neighbor, sincere as he is, is spending his life in seeking to improve himself—the flesh, by sacraments and ritual, he fears he will never be able to do it so as to be fit for heaven. How blind to that which even his baptism should teach him. The fact is, we do not believe God, that we are as bad as He says we are; so bad, so vile, so loathsome, so offensive, so dead to all that is good, in the flesh as children of Adam. Have you ever said, “I am only fit to be buried out of sight. Yes, bury me, bury me out of sight. I am not fit for heaven, I am not fit for earth. Oh, bury me out of the sight of God, and out of my own sight?” Here is water, said the eunuch, what doth hinder?
Mark well, then, the deliverance from sin is not the improvement of self, or an evil nature—the flesh, but “we are buried with him by baptism into death.” We are not baptized unto the work of the Spirit in us, but unto His death, who died for us, and rose again. The death then, that delivers from sin is not a death unto sin we attain to, but the death of Christ on the cross, and our identification with it—”buried with him.” And you will notice, there is no thought of baptism communicating life. Baptism is unto death, and life in the risen Christ is beyond it. For Christ not only died, was actually dead, but He is “raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.” How glorious the new creation! Christ, the beginning of that new creation, raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. “Even so we should walk in newness of life.” Not only old things are passed away, and all become new, but we are in that new creation by the glory of the Father. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” The resurrection side of this subject is brought out more fully in Col. 2, only here let us note, that baptism unto His death is the chief point to show what all Christians should know—the truth of deliverance by death.
Verse 6. “Knowing this, that our old man is [or, has been] crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed [annulled], that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed [or, justified] from sin.” Now the question is this: Is the old man crucified when the believer attains to perfection, as it is called—that then the old nature ceases to exist, or is all turned good? There is no thought in this text of its being a state peculiar to some Christians, and not the state of others. It is the very truth of our christian position. Knowing this that our old man has been crucified. When? In our experience? That is not the thought here, but, “has been crucified with him.” Surely that was on the cross. Not only He, in infinite love, bare our sins on the cross, but our old man was fully judged there too. It is indeed made good to our souls’ experience when we become identified with this crucified Jesus, of which baptism is a figure. Are we thus identified with the death of Jesus? Not the improvement or restoration of our old nature, but can we look back to the cross, and say, There I was crucified with Christ? All that of which I might boast had to be crucified. Most assuredly this was so, that the body of sin might be annulled, made powerless; for a dead man is powerless, or he would not be dead.
We have seen how God justifies His people from their sins by the blood of Jesus. Now we see how He justifies them from sin, the root, or nature. “For he that is dead is justified from sin” (margin). Sins are forgiven, and now sin cannot be imputed to him that is dead, he is justified from sin.
But there would be no power for a holy life in merely being dead to sin. What true power is we shall find when we reach Rom. 8:22For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2); only we must carefully notice, that we are as truly identified with Christ risen, or more so, than we were identified with Him in death.
Verses 8-10. “Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” The one follows the other. And this forever. “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” He has nothing more to say to sin, or sin to Him; He was here once, and bore its utmost curse; He was made sin, or a sin-offering. What sin? His own? He had none. Sin, our sin, has nothing more to say to Him, or He to it. It is all gone from the sight of God. He who was once under it, even unto death, now liveth to God. Oh, precious, soul-sustaining truth! And sin can have no more to say to Him, and no more to say to us. Once identified with Him in death—yea, more than identified, alive in Him for evermore. Oh, my soul, dost not thou believe God?
Verse 11. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Is it, then, that the old nature, or sin, is eradicated, dead? Does it no longer exist in the believer? There is no such thought here. If it were really so, really dead, we should have no need to reckon it so. Did you ever hear that a corpse was reckoned dead? We are so identified with Christ, that God wishes us to reckon ourselves dead with Him, and alive in Him. He wishes us to treat the old nature as if it were dead unto sin, and alive in Christ risen from the dead; only, as we said, the latter ever goes beyond the former. For if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (the word “through,” in this verse 11, should be u in”). We have peace with God, as to our sins, through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. But God, who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ, has also raised us up in Him; so that we are alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, nothing suits Satan’s purpose more than to set all this aside; both the finished work of Christ, by which we are justified from our sins—our identification with His death unto sin, and also the work of God, in raising us up in Christ, and thus delivering us from sin, alive unto God. Yes, instead of the plain truth of this scripture, deliverance from sin has been held out as a future attainment of the believer, attained only by some. This is the root of self-righteous perfection in the flesh.
Just what God says to us in these verses gives the only principle of deliverance from sin. All other methods are mere deception. But you say, “I find my old nature is not dead as to fact.” Just so; but you are to reckon yourself dead unto sin, and alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Much that follows we shall find to be the unfolding of this all-important principle. It will affect every step of our walk in this world. How ought we to walk to show our identification with a crucified Christ? Yes, we are crucified with Him. You may know many who walk as if they were dead to the things of God and His Christ, and fully alive to the world that crucified Jesus. May God use these solemn truths in sanctifying power to our souls!