Study 17 – Dead To Sin

God does not see three races on planet earth in Adam (sinners), in Christ, and in Christ and also free from sin. Either we are in Adam or we are in Christ, and if we are in Christ we are free.

When Paul challenges us, 'Don't you know …' he continues, 'that all of us …' (Rom. 6:3). There is no 'death-to-sin' experience reserved for a few particularly holy believers.

All who have been 'baptised into Christ' have died to sin.

This does not mean that baptism renders sin powerless over us. Some years ago, people used to teach that if you had a sin problem it was probably because you had not been baptised properly. So they would repeatedly baptise Christians to help them overcome their sin.

Baptism symbolises burial and you do not bury people in order to kill them! You bury them because they are already dead.

When they buried Jesus, it was final proof that He was dead. We are dead to sin because of our union with Christ. We are not 'being crucified' with Him. It's a past event (Gal. 2:20). When He died, we died; when He was raised up, so were we. All that He accomplished is ours.

When God took us out of Adam He did not revamp our old nature, He gave us a brand new one: the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). We are not 'forgiven sinners' but new creations. 'The old has gone, the new has come!' (2 Cor. 5:17). Jesus is the new foundation in our lives.

Maybe you are thinking, 'He doesn't know me. I wish my thought-life really were dead. It's absolutely screaming with life!'

Well, either you believe God or you don't. We agree that two men were crucified with Christ because this is what the Bible says. We have no other proof. That same Bible tells us that 'our old self was crucified with him' (Rom. 6:6).

God, who is the truth, says that this is the truth. Do you believe it?

To Meditate On

God wants you to know that you have died with Christ.

'I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of god, who loved me and gave himself for me' (Gal. 2:20).

Food For Thought

We read, 'Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan' (Mark 1:9).

In a concordance LOOK UP all the references in Acts which refer to people being baptised in water. How were believers baptised in the New Testament?

Have you been baptised in the same way? If not, question whether you are acting in accordance with the Word of God.

Be Inspired

… you were in Him when He died. How can you know? You can know for the one sufficient reason that God has said so. It does not depend on your feelings. If you feel that Christ has died, He has died; and if you do not feel that He has died, He has died. If you feel that you have died, you have died; and if you do not feel that you have died, you have nevertheless just as surely died … Let me tell you, You have died! You are done with! You are ruled out!
WATCHMAN NEE

To Confirm

Confirm for yourself the truth that Christians have died with Christ by LOOKING UP and WRITING DOWN the relevant sections from the following verses:

2 Cor. 5:14; Col. 2:20; Col. 3:3.

… having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead (Col. 2:12).