Title: Union with Christ/Romans 6:1-23
Contents
union with Christ
Text: Romans 6:1-23
What then shall we say? Shall we abid in sin so that grace may increase?
How can we, who are dead to sin, live any longer in it?
First of all, Paul is being told that where there is more sin, there is more grace. Where there is more sin, there is more grace. He points out that the logic of sin can be increased in order to receive more grace. In fact, there were such people. .And it is in us now. Faith is not an object of speculation. It is possible to say and think that is plausible by developing a strange logic, but which is absurd in the end and completely deviates from the spirit of the gospel. These are phenomena that can happen whenever we do, when we take a speculative approach, or when we take faith as the subject of debate. Therefore, we must be careful. We must be humble before the Word. The expression in the text that it cannot be done is very strong. It is an expression of negation. It is saying that such a thing should never happen. Yes. Such a thing should never happen in us. We repented of our sins and came to receive grace and blessings. It is not from the book. You should never become a deceiver of the truth.
Paul teaches us to be 'dead to sin'. Here, sin is specifically referring to the relationship to sin. The word dead is in the negative past tense and refers to the fact that we have already died definitively. The word death has the meaning of being completely separated and cut off.
Let me ask you one question. Have you been completely cut off and separated from your relationship with sin? Well, would you say no yet or I'm not sure? Look at verse 3
“For all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus, we
Don't you know that you were baptized?"
That's right. Jesus Christ has already solved the problem of our sins. He already died on the cross to take the penalty of all sins for sin. Verse 10 says that His death was death for sins once and for all. One man Adam obeyed Through the obedience of Jesus Christ, the one who committed this original sin, who entered the world through refusal, He has already set us free from the chains of sin by dying on the cross. It also says that just as Christ was raised from the dead, so we too may walk in new life. The text speaks of union with Christ through baptism. The present baptism is abbreviated, but the meaning of baptism is not It means being united to Christ, dying with Christ, and living with Christ again.
It seems that the rite of baptism was held in the days of Jesus. It is the ceremony of completely immersing the person being baptized and then raising it again. Baptism means that he died and rose again in this way. We all died in union with Christ. I am in Greece and Christ is in me. To be united with Christ is to share with Christ. When Greece died, I died, and when Christ lived, I lived. This is a mysterious thing. It is difficult for human reason to comprehend. But it is true. We can all feel and confess our union with Christ by spirit and with our spiritual eyes.
If we have become united with him in the likeness of his death,
And they will be united in imitation of his resurrection.
The saints are those who are united with Christ. Those who confess that I am in Christ and Christ is in me. I have been crucified with Christ, so it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. With Christ He died and lived with Christ. What is dead and what is living? of verse 6.
We know that our old self was crucified with Jesus, that the body of sin
that we may no longer be enslaved to sin.
It was our old self that died. Our old self died on the cross when Jesus Christ died on the cross.
Living with Christ is a new life, a new life, a new self, and a saved life. We must have a clear conviction and confession of faith here. This is the core of Paul's gospel. In Romans 11, the word explains this with
You, the stone olive tree, are those who have been grafted and have received the essence of the true olive tree root.
We all lived in the tree of original sin called sin. Because we are attached to the big tree of sin, we have lived with various sins. Not only did we not know God, but we insisted on our own way and lived our own way. That is why we are all doomed to death. But look, what is faith, what does it mean to be united with Christ? It is in this tree of original sin. We are completely cut off, and Paul says in chapter 11 that we are cut off. Completely cut off, cut and cut off - this is dead to sin and grafting us into the tree of life called Christ. This is Christ and is the union of. In verse 8
If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Dear saints, we must believe that if I died with Christ, I would also live with him. This is the heart of the gospel. It is all of the gospel. It becomes possible. See verse 10 below.
His death was death to sin once for all, but his life to God
in the same way that you also consider yourselves dead to sins, Christ Jesus
To God from within you shall be regarded as living.
That's what faith means. I confess that I am dead to sin and alive to God. Satan keeps instilling a spirit of doubt into us. He keeps driving our faith speculatively. They are trying to drive us formally and prevent us from accessing the truth of the gospel. Satan keeps taking advantage of us that we are still sinners. In fact, we are. We are still sinners. We still have evil thoughts in our hearts. But clearly remember Please.
Even if evil thoughts remain within us, it is the fact that we are already servants of God, children of God, and people of God, not slaves by nature. As long as we believe in Christ, we confess our union with Christ and It is a fact that as long as we are baptized in the name of God and receive the grace of the forgiveness of sins, we have already essentially changed our identity. Verse 17 says that you were originally slaves of sin. Yes. We used to be slaves of sin. Originally, he was a slave to sin. But not anymore. Because that slave is dead. A slave cannot be freed from his master until he dies. But when the slave dies, he is completely free. That is what verse 18 says.
Freed from sin, you have become slaves to righteousness.
Paul is not explaining or persuading now. He is proudly proclaiming. How loud is the proclamation? Isn't it like a waterfall that relieves our tight suffocation that has come down for thousands of years in an instant? We are essentially free from sin. Now we are slaves to righteousness. We are no longer slaves to sin. The moment we realize we are set free from sin, we are truly free. I will set you free. Paul said this at the beginning of Romans 8. Proclamation.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
This is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
I have set you free
How loud is the proclamation? Now we must have the conviction and confession that we are dead from sin, and that we are children of God, servants of God, who were grafted into Christ's tree of life at the time of Christ's death and in His resurrection. is nothing. If this is clear, we are nothing. We are not afraid of anything. Daily life is a life of thanksgiving and admiration, and daily worship is a joy and a festival. We are urging you not to offer it to sin, but to offer it to God as an instrument of righteousness.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are all weapons of righteousness. We have already become weapons of righteousness. We must have clear convictions about our identity. And now we must become servants of God who are well written by God.
There are a total of 16 chapters in the book of Romans, but now we have explained chapter 6. The essence of the gospel and the core of the gospel are contained in the book of Romans. It was the same in the Reformation era, and it was the same at the end of the 19th century. And now it is time for us to study the book of Romans again. Dear saints, our church has a lot of work to do in the future. What would you do? We have no other way. We must all return to the gospel through the Word. We must read the Bible, meditate on it deeply, and listen to the still small voice of God given to us through the Bible. There is no other way than the Word.
Now, in the last verse 23, Paul confesses:
The wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
there is eternal life
May the blessing of eternal life united in Christ be with us from now on to eternity. Amen.