Author: newmanforchrist

“For he who has died has been freed from sin.”  Romans 6:7

   In the world’s history, there are a few celebrated legal “covenants,” which are commemorated for the great political and social freedom they granted to mankind.  Among these are the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the Emancipation Proclamation.  However, none of these earthly “covenants” can compare with the freedom from sin that God has given us through His Son’s blood in the New Covenant.  This is true freedom!  “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36).”

  Before I was saved, I thought I could overcome sinful behavior through my willpower and self-effort.  However, the harder I tried, the more I failed and became acutely aware of not only my outward sins but my inner sinful nature.  In despair, I finally came to the conclusion that I would never be freed from my sinful nature until I died.  Little did I know that death is exactly what God had in mind for my sinful nature.  For since the time of Adam, all mankind has been born into sin and in bondage to sin.  Since we came into sin’s captivity through birth, the only way we could ever be freed from sin was through death.  This is why God in his divine wisdom included us in His Son’s death and performed what might be called a divine heart transplant.  The Bible says that when we were born again, we were immersed into Christ’s death (Romans 6:3).  Therefore, when Christ died, we died with Him (Romans 6:8).  Our sinful nature was crucified with Christ and was removed from us (Romans 6:6).  Since our sinful nature is dead and gone, we are no longer slaves to sin and Christ now lives in us (2 Corinthians 13:5; Colossians 1:27).  This is the divine exchange that was made possible by Christ’s death on the cross.  By our immersion into Christ’s death, we have been freed from sin!  “For he who has died has been freed from sin (Romans 6:7).”  This is the freedom that Christ purchased for us in the New Covenant by His blood.

   Christ’s death on the cross has forever freed us from sin.  Since we are no longer captives to sin, we never again have to fear the destructive power of sin.  “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ (Romans 8:15).”  What a freedom – at Christ’s expense!  This is the purpose of the New Covenant, which was made effective through the blood of Jesus Christ.  What the Old Covenant could not do because of man’s sinful nature, God accomplished in the New Covenant through Christ’s death on the cross.  “For what the Law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering (Romans 8:3).”   The apostle Paul said, “Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses (Acts 13:39).”

     Since our sinful nature (which compelled us to sin) has been removed from us, we have been freed from the power of sin.  After we are saved, we need to know this great truth and stand firm by faith in it so that our minds will be renewed and transformed by this great truth.  There is a great difference between the old sinful nature and the unrenewed mind.  It is very important to always remember that the unrenewed mind does not the same power as the sinful nature.  Our old sinful nature was like a continuously operating “sin factory” that had to be destroyed by Christ’s death on the cross before we could be set free from slavery to sin.  The unrenewed mind, on the other hand, is simply our soulish mindset, which the Holy Spirit within us can transform now that we no longer have a sinful nature.

   After I was saved, I once again mistakenly thought I had to be holy through my own willpower and self-effort.  Although I knew I was not saved by my own works, I thought my sanctification now depended on my best efforts.  Therefore, I zealously devoted myself to reading the Bible, prayer and fasting, going to church, giving tithes and offerings, and serving in ministry.  Since I was a very strong willed and determined individual, it took a long and painful process for God to bring me to the end of my natural moral strength.  But through many afflictions, which one brother in Christ aptly called the “gift of misery,” God finally convinced me that I had absolutely no virtuous capability within myself to do His spiritual work and bear His spiritual fruit.  Thus it was a glorious day when I realized that not only had Christ died for my sins (Romans 5:8) but that my sinful nature had also died with Christ (Romans 6:8).  Words cannot fully express how grateful I am to God for the spiritual freedom I now have in Christ to serve Him with an undivided, holy heart.  “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17).”

   You may be born again, but are you experiencing freedom from sin or are you beset with entangling sins?  If you are not experiencing freedom from the power of sin, it is because you do not know (believe and act on) the truth that you have died with Christ.  When did you die?  Since Christ’s death took place in the eternal realm, when Christ died you died with Him.  Therefore, when you received Christ, your sinful nature was crucified with Him and was removed from you (buried with Him).  This is the word of truth that sets you free.  Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32).”  By this declaration of freedom, Jesus made it clear that He meant freedom from slavery to sin (see John 8:34).  By His death on the cross, Jesus Christ has freed us from the power of sin by removing our sinful nature.  Let us now stand firm in the freedom He has purchased for us by His blood.  This is true sanctification and spiritual freedom in Jesus Christ.   “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves by entangled again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).”

Tomorrow: Romans 6:8

“For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin (our sinful nature) might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.” Romans 6:6

   This verse is one of the most important verses in the New Testament.  If John 3:16 best conveys God’s plan of salvation for mankind and Galatians 2:20 best conveys God’s purpose for His elect, then Romans 6:6 may best convey how God accomplished His divine plan for His elect, the body of Christ.

   God created the first man, Adam, so that He would have a divine family.  God desired that man would know Him and fellowship with Him.  However, when Adam rebelled against God, man fell under Satan’s dominion.  Adam’s spiritual communion with God was broken and Adam’s sinful rebellion against God affected all mankind.  “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).”  Yet God’s divine plan was not thwarted.  At the right time, God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to earth to restore man to His original and eternal purpose.  The way Jesus accomplished God’s plan completely confounded Satan and the rulers of this age (1 Corinthians 2:6-8).  When Jesus came two thousand years ago, He came not to reign over mankind but to die for mankind.  Jesus willingly gave up His life so that God might perform a divine heart transplant.  When Christ died on the cross, God exchanged our terminally sin-sick heart with His Son’s divine holy heart to save us from the power of sin and certain doom.  “God made Him who had no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (1 Corinthians 5:21).”  Thus God’s eternal wisdom and divine power are hidden in the mystery of the cross of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:23-24).  The mystery of the cross is this: God included us in Christ’s death so that we might also live in Him.  “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him (1 John 4:9).”  This is our glorious salvation and the restoration of God’s eternal plan to share His life and companionship with His elect – the church, which is His new creation redeemed from fallen mankind.

  With this heavenly perspective, let us now take a look at the three parts to this important verse.

• “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him.”  In our previous devotional studies, we discussed what it means for us to Biblically “know” a divine truth.  In this case, if you are spiritually ignorant of this divine truth of the cross, God’s work in your life is severely hindered.  To know this truth means you believe it to the point where you act on it and base your entire life on it.  The old selfor the old man is the Biblical term for the Adam sinful nature that we all inherited from Adam when we were born.  The old self was that “sin factory” within us (before we were born again), which naturally and continually produced sinful attitudes and actions.  We were sinners by nature and captives to sin; therefore, we could do nothing else but sin.  Since we were spiritually born into sin, the only way we could ever be delivered from our sinful nature was through death.  This is precisely what God did – He included us in the death of His Son.  Our old self, that wretched man of sin – our sinful nature – was crucified with Christ!  That “sin factory” within us was destroyed!  Since Christ’s death took place not just two thousand years ago on Calvary but in God’s eternal heavenly realm, Christ’s holy death on our behalf transcended time and space.  Therefore when we received Christ into our heart, we were immersed into His death.  When Christ died, we died with Him!

• “in order that our body of sin (our sinful nature) might be done away with.”  The phrase “done away with” in the New Testament Greek is katargeo, which means destroyed or removed.  This is the same Greek word used in 2 Corinthians 3:14 to explain that the Old Covenant veil that blinds Jews to seeing Jesus as their Messiah is removed whenever someone turns to Christ.  The Old Covenant prophets foretold of this divine heart transplant: “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26; see also Jeremiah 31:31-33).”  The apostle Paul also confirmed this Biblical truth that our sinful nature was removed in his letter to the Colossians.  Here, Paul used the picture of circumcision to describe what happened to our sinful nature when we were saved.  “In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the sinful nature, by the circumcision of Christ (Colossians 2:11).”  We can say with absolute certainty that when someone is circumcised their foreskin is removed.  As we have already seen, water baptism also demonstrates through “burial” that our old man of sin (our sinful nature) was removed from us when we were born again.  Therefore, both the Old and New Covenants clearly express and confirm that, when we were born again, our old sinful nature was forever removed from us by Christ’s death on the cross.  That old man of sin (our sinful nature) is dead and gone and can never be resurrected to torment us!
• “so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.”  This was the reason for God’s divine heart transplant – to set us free from captivity to Satan and sin so we might become Christ’s overcoming body and wholly devoted bride.  As Paul testified: We no longer live, but Christ now lives in us!  However, if you do not believe and act on the first two parts of this verse; i.e., that your old self (your sinful nature) was crucified with Christ and was completely done away with and removed, you cannot experience the freedom from sin that Jesus Christ purchased for you by His death.

   What a glorious salvation!  What a wise and mighty Savior!  May God grant us His grace to act on the truth of the cross so that we might walk in full freedom from sin and serve Him with our whole heart!  In our next devotional study, we will take a closer look at our glorious freedom in Christ.

Tomorrow: Romans 6:7

“For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.” Romans 6:5

   In this verse, the apostle Paul proclaims the central truth of Christ’s Atonement.  All those who belong to Christ are united with Him in His death and His resurrection.  This divine fact has profound and eternal provisions.  However, we must remember that all of God’s promises and provisions are conditional upon our faith.  God has given us all His blessings and provisions in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).  However, these only become ours if we abide (stay united by faith) in Christ.  Romans 6:5 contains this big if.  The big if means that this promised provision of Christ’s Atonement will only be ours in personal experience if we believe and act on the divine truth that we have died with Christ.  This is the way faith works.  For example, Christ died for the whole world.  However, you can only be saved ifyou believe and embrace the truth that Christ died for you.  In the same way, God included you in Christ’s death; however, you will only share in Christ’s resurrection life if you believe and embrace the truth that you died with Christ.  In other words, if you do not believe and act on the truth that your old man of sin (your sinful nature) has died and been buried (removed) in Christ, you will not experience the provisions and benefits of Christ’s indwelling life (even if you have been born of the Spirit). 

   Let us take a moment to review the divine facts of the new birth.  Before God could inhabit us with His Holy Spirit, He had to remove our unholy nature.  In other words, before God could make us a new creation, He had to first deal with the old creation.  God had to take care of not only its fruit (our sinful actions); He had to remove its very root (our sinful nature).  This is why Christ not only bore our sins on the cross with Him; He also bore our sin nature on the cross with Him.  Therefore, when Christ died, we also died with Him, so that we might receive Christ’s resurrected life.  The Bible says, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).”  God had to bury (remove) our old man of sin (our sinful nature) before He could raise us up as a new man in Christ.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17).”

   God’s work of sanctification starts in our spirit with this powerful liberating truth of Christ’s crucifixion.  Only when we know (believe and act on) the truth that we no longer live, can Christ’s resurrection power within us transform our soul.  If we do not believe and act on this divine truth of the cross of Christ, we have no other alternative but to try to live the Christian life by the best of our natural ability (the strength of our soul).   Tragically, many Christians do not know (to the point that they believe and act on) the divine truth that they have died with Christ.  As a result, many Christians mistakenly believe they are living by the indwelling power of Christ’s life when they are actually living by the strength of their soul-life (their natural personality).  Since many Christians are spiritually ignorant of the truth that they have died with Christ, they seek to fulfill their soul-life through “Christian” service instead of losing their soul-life for Christ’s sake.  This misunderstanding is often the mistake of new and immature Christians; however, if this ignorance and unbelief in the fullness of Christ’s Atonement persists, it is not harmless.  Jesus said we can only follow Him and inherit eternal life if we carry our cross and lose our soul-life in this world (Matthew 16:24-25; Mark 8:34-35; Luke 14:26-27; John 12:25).   This is why it is crucial for every Christian to know (and believe and act on) the Biblical truth that they have been crucified with Christ and that their sinful nature no longer lives, so that Christ can sovereignly live in them by faith (Galatians 2:20).

  Romans 6:5 states, “If we have become united together with Him in the likeness of His death.”  Another translation of this verse reads, “If we have been planted together with Christ in the likeness of His death.” The Greek word for “united” is sumphtuos, which could be more precisely translated as “grafted.”  Therefore, this verse could be translated, “If we have been grafted together with Christ in the likeness of His death.”  Paul has already declared that we have been baptized or immersed into Christ’s death in order to convey this truth of the cross; now he uses the illustration that we have been grafted intoChrist’s death to help us more clearly see that God has spiritually included us in Christ’s death.  When a branch is successfully grafted into a living root, it receives the life of that root that enables it to produce healthy fruit.  In Romans Chapter Eleven (verses 16-24), Paul once again draws from this illustration that we have been grafted into Christ.  Paul instructs the Gentile believers that they, who were at one time wild branches, have now been grafted into the holy root – Christ, “and if the root is holy, the branches are too (Romans 11:16).”  

   To sum up, by the power of Christ’s crucifixion, God spiritually cut us off from the old creation (Galatians 6:14) and, by the power of Christ’s resurrection, God spiritually grafted us into His new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) so that we might become partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).  Therefore, if we believe and act on the divine truth that we have been united with Christ in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also experience Christ’s resurrection life.  Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine and you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5).”  May God open up our understanding to see that we have been united with Christ in the likeness of His death, so that we might also be united with Him in the power of His resurrection life and bear much fruit. 

   In our next devotional study, we will look at one of the most important verses in the New Testament.

Tomorrow: Romans 6:6

 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  Romans 6:4

   This is a key Scripture that unlocks the mystery of the gospel.  In this verse, the apostle Paul explains in simple terms the miracle of our new birth in Christ.  In doing so, he also reveals the spiritual meaning of water baptism, which is the outward expression and confirmation of our salvation.  This link between salvation and water baptism is declared by the apostle Peter: “Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).”  This does not mean you need to be water baptized to be saved; it means that water baptism confirms your salvation (see also Mark 16:16).

   The apostle Paul begins Romans 6:4 with “Therefore.”  In other words, what Paul now states in this verse is the consequence of what he just said in the previous verse: “we have been baptized into Christ’s death.”  The New Testament Greek word for baptize is baptizo,which means to immerse.  In the previous verse (Romans 6:3), Paul taught that when you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you were spiritually immersed into Christ’s death.  Now in this verse, Paul elaborates on the spiritual meaning and impact of this divine truth.

   There are two parts to Romans 6:4.  In the first part of this verse, Paul states that when we were born again, we were buried with Christ through spiritual immersion (baptism) into His death.  The reason this is possible is because Christ’s redemption (His death, burial and resurrection) was an eternal event in the spiritual realm.  Therefore, when we were saved, we were immersed into union with Christ (1 Corinthians 6:17) and spiritually incorporated into every aspect of Christ’s redemption.  Our union with Christ began at the cross when we were immersed into His death (Romans 6:3).  In the second part of this verse, Paul states that just as God raised Christ from the dead, He has also included us in Christ’s resurrection life.  Thus we might conclude that the miracle of our new birth involved two simultaneous, spiritual transactions.  First, our old man of sin (our sin nature) was crucified and buried with Christ by our spiritual immersion into His death.  Next, our new man was birthed and raised with Christ by our spiritual immersion into His resurrection life. 

   God ordained that all new believers be water baptized in order to continually demonstrate and remind the church of this great truth.  This is why new disciples in the first century church were normally baptized the same day they were saved.  Through water baptism, new believers declare their spiritual union with Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection.  Thus water baptism is the outward demonstration of the divine transformation which inwardly occurred in each believer when they were born again of the Spirit.  In the act of water baptism, there are two stages that express this outcome of the gospel of Christ in someone who believes.  First there is a burial and then there is a resurrection.  This is what the truth in Romans 6:4 presents:

• Stage One: “We have been buried with Him through baptism into death.” In the first phase of water baptism, we are “buried in a watery grave.”  Whenever anyone was baptized in the early church after they were saved, they were immersed under water, which represented the death and burial of their old man of sin (sin nature).  Since only a dead man can be buried, this burial in water baptism confirmed that when we were born again, our old man of sin (our sin nature) died.  Burial also signifies that God has removed our sinful nature from us since the dead are always removed from the house of the living.  In other words, the immersion (baptism) of our old man of sin into Christ’s death resulted in its death and burial (removal from us).  In this way, water baptism reveals the heart of the New Covenant.  God knew we needed forgiveness for our sins; He also knew we needed deliverance from our sin nature.  Otherwise, we would remain captives to sin.  Therefore, when Jesus Christ died, He bore not only our sins on the cross; He also bore our sin nature on the cross.  “God made Christ who had no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).”  Since our bondage to sin came when we were born sinners; our deliverance from sin came when God included us in Christ’s death.  “We are convinced that one died for all, therefore all died (2 Corinthians 5:14).”

• Stage Two: “As Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  In the next phase of water baptism, we are raised in new resurrection life out of the watery grave.  This demonstrates that Jesus Christ now lives in us and has become our new life (2 Corinthians 13:5; Colossians 1:27; 3:4).  Everything we need for godliness has been deposited in us through Christ (2 Peter 1:3).  Jesus Christ has become our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).  Thus water baptism outwardly demonstrates that God has included us in the death, burial and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.  As Paul wrote, “Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead (Colossians 2:12).”

   To sum up, when we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, God put to death our sinful Adam nature and removed it from us.  At the same time, He replaced our sinful nature with Christ’s holy nature so that we might walk in the power of Christ’s resurrection life.  This is the spiritual reality that Paul declares in Romans 6:4.  This is the spiritual lesson that God wants the body of Christ to learn from water baptism.  Water baptism is God’s way for new believers to be immediately instructed that their old sin-driven man has died and been buried and they are now a new Spirit-led person in Christ.  This is also Paul’s personal testimony: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me (Galatians 2:20).”  As we continue our devotional studies, we will further explore this powerful and liberating truth.

Tomorrow: Romans 6:5

“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?”  Romans 6:3

   In our last devotional study, we focused on the need to genuinely repent as the first step to living sanctified and wholly devoted to Jesus Christ.  Since repentance and faith always go hand-in-hand, Paul in this verse confronts the real reason why so many Christians continue to live in sin – unbelief!  More specifically, most Christians do not believe and act on the truth that they have died with Christ.  Paul here asks, “Do you not know that when you were born again, you were baptized into Christ’s death?”  The Greek word for baptized means immersed.  Therefore, when we were saved, we were spiritually immersed into Christ’s death!  When Christ died, we died with Him!  This is a divine fact.  The Bible says, “Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).”  The Bible also says, “We died with Christ (Romans 6:8).”  Most Christians mistakenly think that because they were water baptized, they “know” this truth.  Mental assent might work to acquire intellectual knowledge but it does not work to obtain divine knowledge.  Although they may mentally concur with the Biblical doctrine that they have died with Christ, most Christians do not have divine revelation on this truth.  Only God’s personal revelation of this truth to you will produce a true conviction in your spirit that your sinful nature is dead and gone.  “So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).”

   Four times in Romans Chapter Six (verses 3, 6, 9, and 16), Paul uses the word “know” to express the importance of spiritually comprehending what Christ’s death on the cross has accomplished for us.  In Biblical terms, to spiritually know a truth means much more than just mentally understanding a Biblical concept or doctrine.  It means that you are so convinced of this truth that you base your entire life on it.  Many Christians doctrinally “know” that they died with Christ; however, they do not act on this truth.  From God’s perspective, if you “know” a Biblical truth, it means you believe and act on it.  Conversely, if you do not act on a Biblical truth, it means you really do not spiritually know it.  This is what Jesus Christ taught: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the flood came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.  Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell and great was its fall (Matthew 7:24-27).”  

   Therefore, in Romans 6:3, Paul exhorts us to believe and act on this great truth of Christ’s Atonement.  This is the divine truth: when we were saved, we were immersed into Christ’s death so that when Christ died, we died with Him and our sinful nature was buried (removed) with Him.  This is the gospel message of Christ crucified and the foundation of our Christian faith.  The Biblical definition of faith is found in the book of Hebrews: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1).”  We can be just as sure of the fact that we have been freed from sin (since we died with Christ) as we are sure of the fact that our sins are forgiven in Christ (since Christ died for us).  Both of these divine facts are Scriptural and both of these divine provisions of Christ’s Atonement are certainly ours.  However, just as saving faith in Christ cannot be mentally grasped, neither can the divine knowledge that we have died in Christ be mentally grasped.  The eyes of our heart will only be enlightened to see the divine meaning of Christ’s death on the cross if we are willing to come under Christ’s Sovereignty.

   God will not reveal the precious truth of His Son’s death to anyone who is unwilling to do His will.  God gives heavenly insight to those who are willing to submit to His Son’s authority.  This is the spiritual lesson of the story of the centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant (Matthew 8:5-10).  As commander of one hundred Roman soldiers, the centurion understood how authority worked.  Because the centurion was submitted to Rome’s authority, he was also entrusted with the power to use that authority.  The centurion knew that because Jesus was under the authority of God the Father, He had God’s authority and power to heal.  “When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said, ‘Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel (Matthew 8:10).”  In other words, true faith springs from a heart of humility and submission toward God.  “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:5-6).”  So, let us wholeheartedly submit ourselves to God’s Sovereignty.  Let us stand firm in faith without wavering in the truth that we have died with Christ.  If you are having trouble believing this Biblical fact, immerse yourself daily in the word of truth, repent from unbelief, and by faith (without depending on your feelings) submit yourself to God.

   In Hebrews 6:1-2, six topics are listed as the foundational teaching for all new believers in Christ.  The first two are: 1) Repentance from dead works, and 2) Faith toward God.  In our devotional studies, we have now briefly discussed these two.  The third topic listed in Hebrews is “instruction about baptisms.”  This would include teaching on water baptism and the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  In our next devotional study, we will look at the spiritual meaning of water baptism.  Note: Instruction on the baptism in the Holy Spirit can be found elsewhere in our website.

Tomorrow: Romans 6:4

“May it never be!  How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”  Romans 6:2 

   In this verse, the apostle Paul emphatically answers the question of whether a Christian should keep practicing sin with a resounding, “May it never be!”  Other versions of the Bible translate this as “Certainly not!” “Absolutely not!” and “God forbid!”  Paul also makes it clear that any Christian who continues to practice sin is “living in sin.”  Now there was a time when the term “living in sin” meant more to the church.  In the past, Christians who were “living in sin” were not allowed to participate in church life.  These days, however, it is common for Christians to be living in sin and still be active church members.  This is grievous and tragic.  The Bible says that if you are living in sin, you are not living in Christ.  “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness… no one who lives in Him keeps sinning.  No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or knows Him (1 John 3:4 & 6).”  There are two reasons why many Christians continue to practice sin instead of practicing sanctification.  The first reason is an ignorance of what the Bible calls “the fear of God.”  This “fear of God” is a direct result of seeing God as He truly is – a holy God.  Once we see God as holy, we will understand the evil of sin and hate sin.  This is why the Bible says “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil… the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 8:13; 9:10).”  The other reason that most Christians do not know how to stop sinning is because they do not know (believe and act on) the Biblical truth of what Jesus Christ has fully accomplished for us on the cross.  This is the truth that Paul introduces for the first time in this verse.  Normally, when Christians ask how they can stop sinning, they are told they should try harder to stop sinning by reading the Bible more, praying more, going to church more, involving themselves in ministry more, etc.  But Paul has a different answer.  In effect, he says, “Don’t you know you that you have died to sin?”  This is the great Biblical truth that sets you free from sin and this is the truth that we will look at more closely in our future devotional studies.

   The first step a Christian must take, if they desire to live a sanctified life free from sin, is to sincerely repent from the sin of unbelief.  God will not grant us the faith to believe in His Son’s work on the cross unless we have a repentant heart.  We must repent from this unbelief concerning the power of Christ’s death on the cross.  The fruit of our unbelief is disobedience and lawlessness (living in sin).  The Bible says if we continue to willfully and persistently practice sin after being saved, we will be trampling the Son of God under our feet; treating the blood of His New Covenant as unholy; and insulting the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:26-29).  The Bible says that unless such a person repents, he can expect terrifying judgment and severe punishment from God (Hebrews 10:29-31).  Repentance should always be our first response to hearing the gospel of the kingdom of God, which is the message of Christ’s Kingship.  John the Baptist preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2).”  Jesus proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17).”  Jesus’ disciples “preached that men should repent (Mark 6:12).”  When a crowd of unbelievers were convicted by the apostle Peter’s preaching, they cried out, “What shall we do?” Peter’s response was, “Repent and be baptized, everyone of you for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:37-38).”  The apostle Paul “declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must repent and turn to God and have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21).”  It is evident from the Scriptures that Jesus and His disciples preached repentance foremost in their message of the gospel.

   What does the Bible mean to repent?  The Greek word for “repent” is metanoeo, which means to change your mind and purpose.  True repentance is not a feeling; it is a decision.  Repentance means you decide to turn away from sin and turn to God.  Jesus told the following parable which illustrates the nature of repentance.  “There was a man who had two sons.  He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’  “I will not,’ he answered, but later changed his mind and went.  Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing.  He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go.  Which of the two did the will of his father? (Matthew 28-32).”  From this parable, we see that repentance is demonstrated by a change in our mind and actions.  John the Baptist said, “Produce fruit that proves your repentance (Matthew 3:8).”  The apostle Paul exhorted that men “should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance (Acts 26:20).”  The only way we can know God is to repent and turn away from sin.  “In the past God overlooked ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).”   There is no substitute for repentance.  Baptism, church membership and ministry cannot take the place of repentance.  Yet, preaching on repentance is missing from most pulpits today.  As a result, our churches are filled with people who have never truly repented from living in sin and, therefore, do not really know God.

   Many born again Christians wish they had more faith to believe that Christ delivered them from the power of sin.  However, we cannot hope to have more faith in the cross of Christ unless we truly repent from sin.  If we secretly want to keep sinning, God will not give us the faith to believe in the delivering power of Christ’s death on the cross.  Jesus said, “Unless you repent you will all perish (Luke 13:3).”  Whenever the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, we should always repent.  Repentance does not mean we feel sorry that we were caught sinning and then continue to sin with the expectation that God will always forgive our sin.  Without true repentance, we cannot have true faith.  Jesus told the church in Laodicea, “Be zealous and repent (Revelation 3:19).”  True repentance springs from a broken and contrite heart that earnestly yearns to turn away from sin.  The Bible says this is “the repentance that leads to life (Acts 11:18).”  May God grant us a spirit of repentance so we might receive His life!

   There are two actions a Christian must take to overcome sin and live holy in Christ.  We have just discussed the first action required: Repent!  In our next devotional study, we will look at the second action required to walk in sanctification: Believe!  For Jesus said, “Repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15)!”

Tomorrow: Romans 6:3

“What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?”  Romans 6:1

   In this first verse of Romans Chapter Six, the apostle Paul introduces the subject of sanctification.  Previously, in Chapter Five, Paul taught that we are justified and saved by faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrificial, atoning death on the cross for our sins.  Now Paul rhetorically asks, “After being saved by God’s grace, should we continue to keep sinning?”

   In the very next verse (Romans 6:2) Paul emphatically answers his own question with, “Absolutely not!”  This signifies that after salvation something extraordinary should occur in the life of a believer, and the Bible calls this sanctification.  Sanctification is the setting apart of the believer exclusively for the will and purpose of God – to know Him intimately and to practice lawfulness instead of lawlessness.  The Bible says, “But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself (Psalm 4:3).”  Sanctification can be described as coming under God’s Sovereignty, which should be the normal experience and outcome of salvation.  In fact, if sanctification does not occur, neither does salvation.  The Bible says, “Without sanctification no one shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).”  Therefore, the salvation, sovereignty and sanctification of God should all occur in the life of a true believer and disciple of Jesus Christ.  The possibility and the provision for a believer to be able to experience all three was bought and paid for by Jesus’ blood when He died on the cross.  To not fulfill God’s whole purpose for His people by “continuing in sin” would be a travesty and a possible indication that person may not even be saved; for our sanctification to God is the true fruit of our salvation (Romans 6:22).  The Bible says, “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment (Hebrews 10:26-27).”

   God is above all a Holy God.  The Bible says, “I the Lord your God am holy (Leviticus 19:2).”  God desires to have spiritual fellowship and communion with us.  But this is impossible unless a person is positionally right with God (living justified by faith in Christ’s completed work on the cross) and is also experientially right with God (living sanctified by faith in Christ’s completed work on the cross).  Therefore, God calls every Christian to live a sanctified life – a life in which we no longer practice sin but live wholly devoted to God.  The Bible says, “Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy for I am Holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).’”  For a Christian, there is no exception to God’s call to sanctification.  The Bible says, “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a sanctified life.  Therefore, He who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 4:7-8).”

   When God calls us to live a holy life, He does not mean merely a religious, moral life apart from faith in Christ’s completed work on the cross.  Man is prone to thinking that his own goodness is sufficient and he does not comprehend that God hates human righteousness.  The Bible says “even our best actions are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).”  This kind of man-made morality is a bastard holiness that springs from the flesh and is not born of the Spirit.  It is a counterfeit “Christianity” that attempts to nullify the power of Christ’s death on the cross.  The Bible calls this kind of morality “having a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Timothy 3:5).”  Biblical sanctification or holiness is Christ sovereignly living in you as your Lord and King.  The Bible exhorts you to “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts (1 Peter 3:15).”  As we continue in our devotional study of Romans Chapter Six, we will see that we are no longer doomed to chronically practice sin.  We are already dead to sin and alive to God!  The Bible says, “No one who is born of God will continue to practice sin because His seed abides in him; and he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God (1 John 3:9).”  This is true Christianity, which is based on our faith in Christ’s completed work on the cross and not on our natural ability to be religiously moral.  As Paul said, “We are of the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh (our natural ability to practice morality) (Philippians 3:3).”

   We are saved by grace and our faith in the truth (Ephesians 2:5; Titus 2:5).  However, once we are saved, our lives should produce the fruit of sanctification, which is the proof of our salvation.  Jesus warned that anyone who claims to be a Christian but continues to practice lawlessness will not enter the kingdom of heaven.   “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me in  that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness (Matthew 7:21-23).”

   But here is the dilemma faced by most sincere Christians who have a “good and honest heart (see Luke 8:15).”  How do we experience deliverance from the power of sin?  The answer is as simple and profound as it was for you to receive Christ by faith and be saved.  How did that occur?  The gospel – the word of forgiveness from sin – when preached to you became real.  You may have believed, for example, the Bible verse where Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6),” or the Bible verse, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).”  You believed this word of truth to the point of acting on it.  This is the same way the word of deliverance from sin can become reality to you as a born again believer.  The Bible says, “Reckon yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11).”  If you believe this word of truth to the extent that you act on it, you will enter into deliverance from practicing sin, and “the truth will set you free (John 8:32).”  Until you make this truth of the cross your own, you will continually be overcome by compromising sins.  It is just a matter of believing what God says.  If you believe, you will be saved.  If you believe, you will be free from practicing sin.  It all hinges on your decision to believe or not believe.  It is your choice.  In our next devotional study, we will look at how we can experience the normal Christian life – a life free from the entanglement of sin so that we might serve God with a pure heart.

Tomorrow: Romans 6:2

A Devotional Bible Study on Romans Chapter Six

The apostle Paul’s letter to the “beloved” believers in Rome, written in the early Spring of A.D. 57, is the greatest doctrinal book in the New Testament.  Martin Luther called Paul’s letter to the Romans “the true masterpiece of the New Testament and the purest gospel.”  In his letter to the Romans, Paul establishes the purpose and power of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross to redeem mankind from the depravity and doom of sin.  If the Book of Romans had a subtitle, it would be entitled “The Obedience of the Faith,” since Paul both opens and closes his letter to the Romans with this goal of the gospel (Romans 1:5; 16:26).  Paul’s letter to the Romans is so important to the Christian faith that one historian has concluded that not only was the Protestant Reformation a direct result of a greater spiritual understanding of this letter, but every spiritual restoration of the church since then has been linked to a deeper knowledge of the Book of Romans.

   Paul’s letters to the saints at Ephesus and Colossae, written during his imprisonment in Rome, are breathtaking in their divine presentation of God’s heavenly perspective of both the church, which is Christ’s body, and of Christ, who is the head of the body.  But it is Paul’s practical, foundational teaching in his letter to the Romans (particularly Chapter Six) which provides the way we can know and experience the glorious reality of Jesus Christ and His body, the church.  If we do not have a divine understanding and practical application of Romans Chapter Six, we will fall short of truly experiencing God’s eternal purpose as presented in Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and Colossians. 

   In Romans Chapter Five, Paul declared the doctrine of justification by faith.  Now, in Chapter Six, Paul declares the doctrine of sanctification by faith.  What do the Biblical words “justification” and “sanctification” mean?  Justification refers to our salvation and new birth in Christ, whereas sanctification refers to our separation from the world and obedience to Christ.  In Chapter Five, Paul taught that our salvation (our justification to God) depended solely on our faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement (His sacrificial death on the cross).  In Chapter Six, Paul now teaches that our sanctification (our obedience to God) also depends solely on our faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement.  For when Christ died on the cross, He died not only to forgive us (justify us) from the penalty of our sins, He also died to free us (separate us) from the power of sin.  In Chapter Five, Paul explains that we have been judicially declared righteous on the basis of faith in Christ alone (justification).  In Chapter Six, Paul introduces and explains the divine exchange that God performed on our behalf through Christ’s crucifixion.  In Chapter Six, Paul declares our sinful nature has been removed from us and we have Christ’s righteous life actually imparted into us, through our union with Him (sanctification).  Therefore, we are not only righteous positionally in Christ; we are righteous experientially in Christ if we believe and act on this divine exchange of the cross.

   Understanding the power of Christ’s death on the cross is the key for any Christian who wants to live in victory over sin.  This is the whole gospel that Jesus Christ personally revealed to Paul (Galatians 1:11-12) and this is Paul’s personal testimony (Galatians 2:20).  Salvation is only the beginning and not the end of God’s purpose for His people.  Knowing and acting on the whole gospel is vital to every Christian since only those who overcome the sin of this world can truly know Jesus Christ and receive the riches of their glorious inheritance in Christ (Ephesians 1:15-18).  In Romans Chapter Six, verses 1-11, Paul focuses on spiritually understanding Christ’s completed work on the cross.  Then, in verses 12-23, he focuses on spiritually applying that divine understanding.  Our hope and prayer is that this verse-by-verse study of Romans Chapter Six will firmly anchor your faith in the divine truth of the cross of Christ.  Every verse in Romans Chapter Six is important to understanding and applying this divine truth that we have been freed from sin and enslaved to God through Christ Jesus.  Each devotional study podcast is about ten minutes long.

Part I (Verses 1-11) Spiritual Understanding

Part II (Verses 12-23) Spiritual Application – Coming Later