Romans 6:3-6:7 - United in His Death

Calvin (8/11/01)

6:3: In baptism, we put on Christ, uniting with Him. Baptism is not solely the holy cleansing, but also the death of the old self. Footnote: Baptism is a professing of union and submission to the authority of Christ. Baptism into His death is a uniting by dying a death similar in nature, though His be physical, and ours spiritual.
6:4: The purpose of our baptism is that we may die to our old ways, and be recreated as new creatures in Christ. The death of the old and the life of the new are inseparably connected. Christ having been given to us so as to bring life to us who were condemned to die, what purpose could our death in Him serve but to bring new life on its heels? Here, Paul declares that the death of Christ is effective for the destruction of our sinful nature, and His resurrection is effective for establishing us in righteousness. Both these aspects will be present in the recipient of true baptism, for true baptism is no empty symbol. The one who has truly been baptized cannot but respond to the call of Christ upon his new self. (Gal 3:27 - All who were baptized in Christ have put Him on as clothing.) As is so often the case, mention of the resurrection brings about an exalting of the glory of God who accomplished not only Christ's resurrection, but our own. In this exaltation, we are given all the more reason to put faith in the God who has done these things.
6:5: Being grafted together with Him, joined at an indiscernible point of union. As any grafted branch, our life and death thereafter are shared in common with that tree to which we have been joined. Thus, in Christ's death to flesh, we die to our flesh. In His resurrection to life, we are restored to life as well. The operation indeed is not identical, our death may not be by the same means, yet there remains a similarity. The analogy of grafting must not be pushed beyond its intent. Where the fruit of the naturally grafted branch remains that of the original branch, in our spiritual grafting, our fruit is that of the receiving tree. The focus in this comparison is upon the life dependency that is made between the grafted branch and the tree. So it is for us with Christ. Our death and our life are His own death and life, and so we know our life secure in Him. Footnote: The use of 'engrafted' is not proper to the word so translated, which has more the meaning of being planted together. However, Greek usage shows that the word often takes on the idea of union, or joining together, so the idea of grafting is not completely inappropriate. The future tense is used in this passage, conveying the fact that our death and rebirth is a process continuing through our daily life. Alternatively, that future tense may be intended to express the certainty of that life following upon the death we have shared already.
6:6: The nature we brought with us into life is so incapable of seeing God's kingdom that it must be put to death, and that death can only be accomplished by joining to the death of Christ on the cross. Although the old man may still kick within us, yet it is the full death of that sinfulness that is in sight in this passage, not a physical death of flesh and bone, but a death of the corrupted mass of sin that is our nature. So long as we remain Adam's children, we are held captive by sin, and cannot but sin the more. But, when that sinful nature is put to death on the cross, when we are grafted into Christ, those bonds are broken once for all, and we become victorious in our battle with sin, even though we may not cease entirely from it.
6:7: The death we have died frees us from those bonds sin held over us in life. Footnote: Freed should more properly be justified, which meaning fits equally well with the passage at hand. We have been justified from the guilt and penalty associated with our sinful past, death having paid the penalty. "To die to sin is an evidence of being justified from its guilt." Though we find no example in this world of one who has completely died to sin, though we find in ourselves evidence to the contrary, yet we ought not to lose hope, nor ought we to cease in our efforts to achieve that great end. The work begun by Christ on the day of our rebirth is not completed upon that day, but remains a continuous process throughout this life. Though the perfect fruit of death to sin may never appear in us, yet there ought be evidence of progress.

Matthew Henry (8/12/01)

6:3: Since the heart is, by its nature, opposed to holiness, it takes the strong arguments that only the Holy Spirit can apply to bring it around. First among these arguments stands our baptism, designed to demonstrate the death and life that have been bought for us, that we might by that example restrain ourselves from sin, and be quick in our duty to God. Baptism binds us to Christ, as an apprentice to his master. Being baptized into His death, we share in the privileges that death procured. Equally, we share in the obligation of complying to the purposes of His death, redemption from all sin. In baptism, we promised to die to sin, as Christ died for sin, and we do poorly if we don't make good our promise.
6:4: Newness of life requires a newness of the heart from which life springs. The rules of our life, the purposes we strive for, the principles by which we determine our actions, in all these we must choose a new way, following after Christ, our new leader. We are no longer what we were, and so we ought not to do what we did before. We have declared ourselves to be, and bound ourselves to be by that declaration, sealed to the Lord, and so cut off from sin. To make, from this verse, a case for full immersion in Baptism doesn't follow. It is in the import of the symbolized that we are buried, not in the symbol itself. As our conformity to His death obliges us to cease from our old life of sin, so our conformity to His resurrection obliges us to rise up in newness of life by the power of the Father that raised Him. (Col 1:11 - We are strengthened by the power of His glorious might, so as to be steadfast in patience.) The newness of life we have in Him is to be devoted to other purposes, driven by other principles and rules, than was our existence prior to Christ. Before our salvation, we were our own chief end, but now, it is God who is our highest purpose.
6:5: Being conformed to Christ in His death, we die unto sin, and know the sharing of His suffering. (Php 3:10 - I desire to know Him, both in the power of His resurrection, and in the fellowship of His sufferings, so conformed to His death.) We are planted with Christ as grafted stock, sharing in His nature for the purpose of being fruitful to sanctification. The sacrament of baptism is a conformity to the crucifixion of Christ to which the creeds testify. His death was one cursed (Gal 3:13 - He, made a curse for us, redeemed us from the curse that the Law imposed in penalty, as Scripture tells us, everyone that hangs on a tree is cursed.) So sin is devoted to destruction, and dies slowly but certainly on the cross. That it is the old man can only hasten its end. (Heb 8:13 - Whatever is becoming old and obsolete is ready to disappear completely.)
6:6: Not only must we stop our sinful acts, but also those habits and inclinations that led us to so act must be destroyed. It is the inclinations that act the tyrant over us, and so long as they remain, although the enemy may be weakened, we are not completely delivered. The death of the cross was a slow but certain death. So it is with the death of sin in the believer. Slow, yes, but certain in Christ.
6:7: Baptism is the cutting off of ourselves from sin's domain. We have joined in union with Christ, who has put that domain to death. If we then persist in sinning, we violate our obligation to our Savior, and return as a ghost to the lands wherein we are dead. (Job 3:19 - In death, the slave is free from his master.) And shall we then return to our slavery?

Adam Clarke (8/13/01)

6:3: Baptism is a profession of belief, and the one who makes the profession is bound by his baptism to live in righteousness. He has accepted the obligation of living according to Christ's precepts. As Christ's death completely separated Him from every spark of life in His body, so we ought to be completely separated from sin in ours.
6:4: Paul may or may not have had full immersion in mind, in which one is symbolically drowned, and then returned to life. The symbolism of this form of baptism continues in that the one baptized generally throws off his old garments, and puts on fresh garments, much as we throw of our old life of sin, and put on a new life in Christ. However, the rain falling on Noah's ark is also a figure of baptism, in which no immersion is found. (1Pe 3:20-21 - God patiently waited for the ark to be ready, and in it saved only eight people. This act of God had correspondence to the baptism that now washes and saves you through Christ's resurrection.) There is also a slim possibility that Paul was thinking of the viewpoint that held death by drowning to be the most noble means of departing this life. Whatever the view, the point remains that we are to die to sin, and walk in a new life. That same power of God that raised Christ from death is needful for our soul to be brought from death to new life. We cannot walk in that life without Him.
6:5: The full image being put forth in this verse requires us to understand that in being planted together, we are being shown a plant that derives its nourishment from the sap of the host, as occurs with some vines, or with grafted stock. An alternative view is that Christ's death forms the soil in which we are planted, and from which we draw our nourishment.
6:6: In the example of the planted seed, we know that the two lobes of the body of the seed must die and decay to provide the first nourishment to the germ, allowing it to grow. To a degree, this example bears upon our life in Christ, for we, too, cannot grow unless the body of sin in which we have this germ of true life is put to death. This is the death that was made possible for us when Christ died on the cross. His true death upon that cross ought to be made as real and true a death for our sinfulness, so that His true resurrection might be as real and true a new life of righteousness in us. (Ro 8:3 - God sent His Son in flesh like our own sinful flesh.) This body of flesh, Christ gave up to death, so as to atone for our sins, and open the way for His life-giving Spirit to come and breathe life into our hearts. That same Spirit, having now its access, puts our body of sin to death, that we may rise in new life. The old man, or old self of this verse is also known as the fleshly lusts, and the body of sin, and was so understood by the Jews, as well. (Eph 4:22 - Lay aside your old self, which is corrupt in its deceitful lusts. Col 3:9 - Don't lie to each other. You put the old self away, along with its practices. Gal 5:24 - We who belong to Christ have crucified fleshly passions and desires. Col 2:11 - By the circumcision of Christ, that body of flesh was removed from us.) Our slavery has been put to an end, and our body can no more perform the functions of sinfulness than a dead body can perform the functions of life.
6:7: We are justified, freed, and delivered from sin. But, are we not also taught here that we are fully sanctified, separated unto God? It must be, else our own death becomes our Savior, the effect brought by sin's cause becomes so strong as to turn back upon its own cause, and destroy it. Further, the power of Christ and of the Holy Spirit is made weak by the implication that it was able to do more than weaken the hold of sin upon us. If our cessation of sin depends upon death, how then are we in any way an improvement upon the infidel? They, too, cease from their sins at their death.

Barnes' Notes (8/14/01)

6:3: Continuing in answer to the charge of licentiousness, Paul points to the profession made in baptism. Having renounced sin, it is not possible that we should encourage its continuance. In the baptized, Paul views the whole of professing Christianity, there can be no exception, no true Christian who could abide by the idea put forth in v1. Baptism is a solemn dedication of our lives to the service of him into whose name we are baptized. (1Co 10:2 - All Israel was baptized into Moses in the events of the cloud of God's glory, and the sea of Egypt's defeat.) To sin would be a direct violation of the rule of Christ in our lives. (Mt 28:19 - Go and make disciples of all, baptizing them into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,) into His service, 'devoting all unto Him and His cause.' In our baptism is a strong similarity with His death. Death made Him insensate to the things of the world, and so the death of our sins in Him makes us insensate to its enticements. The purpose of His death was to free men from the power of sin, and we have consecrated ourselves by our profession to pursue that same purpose.
6:4: While it seems likely that full immersion is in view as Paul looks at baptism, it is neither the sole conclusion one might draw from this passage, nor is it the point. The point is that by our profession we should be as dead to sin as Christ became to life, and we should rise to new life as Christ rose to His glorification. (Col 2:12 - We were both buried with Him in baptism, and raised up with Him through faith in God who raised Him from the dead. Mt 3:6 - Christ was baptizing them in the Jordan, as they confessed their sins. Mt 3:16 - After His own baptism, He came up from the water, and the Spirit of God descended on Him.) The solemn purpose of baptism is to die to sin and to the world. But, not only death is found in baptism, for like Christ we are to rise from that death to a new life of holiness. That same power of the Father by which Christ was raised from death (Mt 28:2-3 - A severe earthquake, and the angel of the Lord descended to roll away the stone, with an appearance like lightning, and clothes of purest white) is the power by which we are able to walk in this new life. We must join Him in rising to the new life offered by God's power, the life of holiness, freed from, and free of sin. The course of our new life should reflect this holiness. (Ro 4:12 - Those who walk in the faith of Abraham are his children. Ro 8:1 - For those in Christ Jesus, no condemnation. 1Co 5:7 - Clean away any leaven, for you are unleavened, as Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed. 1Co 10:3 - all ate the same spiritual food. Eph 2:10 - We are His workmanship, created to do those good works which God prepared for us to do. Eph 4:1 - Walk worthy of your calling.) By our profession in baptism, we became dead to sin, as Christ was dead. Being so devoted to Him by our profession, we are bound also to rise to new life, as He did. This verse cannot be used as a proof of immersion as the sole means of baptism. First, Paul is not discussing baptism as a primary subject, nor is he expounding his doctrine regarding baptism. It is brought up to illustrate his main point, which is the obligations brought upon the Christian by his own profession. Those obligations arise 'from the fact of baptism, not from the mode.' Even were it shown that this was the common mode, it would not follow that it was the sole mode. No command is found in Scripture declaring that immersion must be the means, and in fact, examples may be found which suggest other means. (Ac 8:38-39 - Philip and the eunuch went into the water and the eunuch was baptized by Philip, after which the Spirit took Philip away to other parts, and the eunuch continued his journey rejoicing.) If one wishes to press for a literal view of this verse demanding immersion, then they ought also to pursue a literal view of the following verse, and somehow be planted. One cannot press for literalism where Scripture is speaking in allusions.
6:5: The planting together indicates an intimate connection. Thus, we are spoken of as being intimately connected with Christ in His death. As we have shared in the intimate connection of that death, we can expect to share intimately in His resurrection, just as seed planted together can expect to sprout together. As He rose from the grave, so we will rise from sin, because of the union between Christ and His people. (Jn 15:1-10 - I am the vine, the Father is the dresser, removing fruitless branches, and pruning the fruitful that they may increase the more. My Word has already cleaned you, remain in Me, and I in you, that you may be very fruitful. Without Me, you can do nothing, you would be thrown into the fire as dead branches to burn. But, if you remain in Me, and keep My words in you, you are proven My disciples, loved by the Father who loved Me. Jn 14:19 - The world will no longer see Me, but you will. And, because I live, you will, too.) We are planted with Him, we grow with Him, and we ripen into the harvest together. We "are united together in His death, start up life together in His resurrection, and are preparing together for the same harvest of glory in the heavens." Although we may indeed resemble Him on that last day, that is not the object here. Rather, it is the similitude between His rising from the grave, and our rising from sin.
6:6: All Christians ought to know that our corrupt nature was crucified by His crucifixion, that we are to freed from our enslavement to sin. (Eph 4:22 - Put aside your old man, your former ways, which are corrupted with lusts and deceit. Col 3:9 - You have laid that old man aside, along with its practices, so don't lie to each other any longer.) That old man is put to death on the cross, a slow and agonizing death in which we can see the long struggle which each of us goes through in subduing that flesh. All who have tasted salvation have tasted the struggle of that dying sinful nature, have known the lingering conflict before they fully submitted themselves to God. But the work is completed, and we are freed from the grip of sin, and so we will live to God. By our body of sin, Paul simply refers to that same old man, to the power of the gospel to destroy sin's power in our heart. (Col 2:11 - In Him, you had a spiritual circumcision, where He removed the body of the flesh.) Sin was made powerless over us, it is weakened, and in the end, terminated, by Christ's work on the Cross. Our slavery to sin is ended. We are free of its bonds because of the death Christ has wrought upon it. (Ro 6:17-18 - Though you were slaves to sin, thank God that you became obedient to the teaching of the gospel to which we committed you, freed to become slaves of righteousness.)
6:7: Death exempts a man from the commands of his master. Slavery cannot follow one into the grave. This is no reference to some future life, but is to be our condition here and now. (Ac 13:38-39 - Know that Christ has proclaimed forgiveness of sins. It is through Him that the believer is freed from even those things that the Law did not free you from. 1Pe 4:1 - Be of the same purpose as Christ, who suffered in the flesh, for the one who has so suffered has ceased from sin.) The perfection of the saints is not implied here, but only the breaking of sin's dominion. That slavery may be ended, and yet, the Christian will doubtless be aware of many failings and imperfections on his own part.

Wycliffe (8/15/01)

6:3: Having declared a truth, Paul now illustrates it. Baptism, for the Christian, focuses on the meaning and outcome of Christ's death. (Ac 8:16 - The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon them, for they had only been baptized in the name of Jesus. Ac 19:5 - When they heard how John had told people to believe in Jesus, who came after him, they were baptized in Jesus' name. 1Co 1:13 - Why claim to follow Paul? He wasn't crucified for you, nor is it his name into which you were baptized. 1Co 1:15 - None should say they were baptized in Paul's name, or any other name but Christ. Mt 28:19 - Make disciples of all, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.) Paul places a further accent on the meaning of baptism for the believer's way of life.
6:4: Christ really and truly died, and the believer really and truly died with Him. Resurrection brought Christ into a new manner of life, and so we ought also to be raised into a new manner of life. We were buried with Him so as to live in newness of life in our ordinary, day to day routines, as well as in church.
6:5: The focus of this verse is upon the likeness. Sinning in the likeness of Adam meant sinning in a similar fashion by breaking specific commands, not necessarily in the same particular act. So, our death bears a resemblance to Christ's, but will not necessarily be crucified as He was. We will have a resurrection like His, but not identical to His. Both baptism and resurrection point to the change in our way of life, to the new life we walk in by the power of God.
6:6: The old man, the body of sin, was crucified with Christ. The focus is on the body, because the body is so involved in the committing of sins.
6:7: One who is dead cannot respond to life any longer. One who is dead to sin cannot respond to sin any longer.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (8/15/01)

6:3: Baptism is not solely into recognition of Christ, but into the fullest participation of all that He is for sinners, an agreement sealed by heaven. (Mt 28:19 - Go make disciples, baptizing them in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 1Co 10:2 - all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea. Gal 3:27 - All who were baptized in Christ are clothed with Christ.) Both the benefits and the obligations of that agreement are in view. Man has sought to reduce the significance of Christ's death, making of it no more than the completion of an exemplary life, a life whose model we are to follow. But His death is of far greater significance than that alone. (Mt 1:22 - All that took place, did so to fulfill the Lord's words that came by the prophets. Mt 20:28 - He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to ransom many by the giving of His life. Lk 22:19-20 - At the last supper, He broke the bread, declaring it to be symbolic of His body, which was given for us, and offered the cup as a symbol of the new covenant that was sealed by His blood. Jn 1:29 - John the Baptist declared Him to be the Lamb of God, which would remove the sins of the world.. Jn 3:14-16 - The Son must be lifted up even as Moses lifted the serpent symbol, so that those who believe in Him might have life eternal. God's love for us was so great that He gave His only Son for us to believe, and so not die, but rather live forever. Jn 6:51 - I am the heavenly bread that brings eternal life to all that eat of it. That bread is my life, which I will give for the life of the world. Jn 6:53-56 - Unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life. But those who do will be raised up to eternal life, for My flesh and blood are the true food and drink. In partaking of them, you abide in Me, and I in you. Jn 10:15 - I lay down My life for the sheep. Jn 10:17-18 - That is why the Father loves Me. I lay My life down, and I will take it up again. Both these, I do on my own authority, and by no other, for that is the commandment given Me by My Father. Jn 12:32 - If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself. Ac 20:28 - Be on guard, to shepherd the church purchased by His blood. 1Co 1:23-24 - We preach of Christ as crucified, which confounds and confuses both Jew and Gentile, but the believer sees in it the power and the wisdom of God. 1Co 5:7 - Christ has been sacrificed as our Passover, so we ought to clean out the old leaven of sin, and be an unleavened loaf of righteousness. 1Co 15:3 - Of greatest importance is the fact that Christ died for our sins in accord with Scripture. 2Co 5:15 - He died for all, so that we should no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose for us. 2Co 5:21 - He who knew no sin was made to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we could become the righteousness of God. Gal 2:20 - With Christ, I have been crucified and no longer live. Rather, Christ lives in me, and I live my life by faith in Him who loved me, and delivered Himself to death for my benefit. Gal 3:13 - He redeemed us from the Law's curse in His death on a tree. Gal 4:4-5 - At just the right time, God sent His Son to be born in the full obligation of the Law, so that He could redeem us from that Law, allowing us to be adopted as sons. Eph 1:7 - We are redeemed through His blood, forgiven by the riches of His grace. Eph 2:13 - We who were once greatly separated from God have been brought close to Him by the blood of Christ, Eph 2:16 - reconciled to God as one body through the cross, on which our enmity with God, and His with us was put to death. Eph 5:25 - Love your wife even as Christ loved the church, giving Himself up for her. Col 1:20-22 - He has reconciled all things on earth and in heaven to Himself by the blood of the cross. Even us, who were alienated from Him, and hostile towards His ways, He has reconciled through the death of His body, so that we can be presented to Him as holy and blameless. Ti 2:14 - He gave Himself to redeem us from all our lawless deeds, purified as a people for His own possession, anxious to do good deeds. Heb 9:14 - The blood of Christ is greatly effective to cleanse your conscience from dead works to a life of service to the living God. Heb 10:10 - We have been sanctified once and for all by the offering of the body of Jesus, Heb 10:12 - which having offered, He sat down at God's right hand, Heb 10:14 - for that one offering was sufficient for all time to perfect those who are sanctified. Heb 10:19 - It is by His blood that we have confidence to enter the Holy of Holies. Heb 13:12 - He suffered outside the camp so as to sanctify the people through His blood. Heb 13:20 - God brought the Shepherd up from death. 1Pe 1:18-19 - Our redemption was not bought with futile treasures of silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. 1Pe 2:24 - On the cross, He bore our sins, so that we could die to sin and live to righteousness, healing the great wound of sin by His wounds. 1Jn 1:7 - If we walk in the light we have fellowship, and His blood cleanses us from all sin. 1Jn 2:2 - He is the propitiation for our sins, as well as those of the whole world. [He is both personally effective, and universally able.] Rev 1:5 - He loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood. Rev 5:9 - Worthy are You, slain to purchase a nation from every tribe and tongue for God by Your blood. Rev 7:14 - Those who have come out of the tribulation have been washed and made white by the blood of the Lamb.) The one who has been baptized into the death of Christ has 'formally surrendered' the whole life of sin, and 'sealed himself' to be a new creature in a life of righteousness. Having so departed from sin, how can he continue in it? This idea is so foundational to Christianity that Paul takes it as a basic truth, understood by all, and requiring no further supporting argument.
6:4: The death of baptism is a past act, completed by the Gospel, and sealed by our public profession. It is a great indignity (Rev 11:8-9 - Their bodies will be left in the street of Sodom, where the Lord was crucified, for three and a half days, not allowed a tomb) to leave a dead body lying about, so the body that was killed by the work of the Gospel is fitly buried by our baptism. In descending into the depths of the earth, Christ severed His last connection with earthly life. In the burial of baptism, we sever our last connection with the sinful life we led before Christ. Christ's resurrection is generally credited as a work of the Father in Scripture, a declaration by Him of His acceptance of Christ's work. (1Co 6:14 - Not only has God raised the Lord, but He will also raise us up by His power. 2Co 13:4 - He was crucified because of weakness, but He lives because of God's power. Eph 1:19-20 - Know the greatness of His power toward the believer, which is one with the strength of His might by which He raised Christ from the dead to sit at His right hand in the heavens.) That new life we are resurrected to begins immediately upon our belief. Every lapse, then, shows us to be forgetful of the purging we have had (2Pe 1:9 - When we lack the qualities of righteousness, we show ourselves to have forgotten that purification we have had from our sins.) The mode of baptism is not at issue here, nor should it be in the church. The essence of the act is in the contact, symbolic of our living contact with Christ.
6:5: Christ's death and resurrection are inseparable events. So, too, our participation in one is inseparable from participation in the other. The resurrection is not solely a future event for us, but is of immediate effect (Ro 6:11 - We are dead to sin, and we are alive to God in Christ). The future tense here, indicates the fact that our present condition is but a partial realization of the fullness of our resurrection.
6:6: It is our old selves, all that we were prior to regeneration, that die with Christ. (Col 3:9-10 - Don't lie. You've put aside the old self and its practices, and put on the new self, renewed by true knowledge to the image of your Creator. Eph 1:22-23 - He has subjected all things under His feet, He is the head over all the church, which is His body. He fills all in all. Gal 2:20 - I have been crucified with Him, and no longer live. Rather, He lives in me, and my life is lived by faith in Him. Gal 5:24 - Those who belong to Christ have crucified the fleshly passions and desires. Gal 6:14 - I'll not boast of anything but the cross of Christ, which has crucified me to the world, and the world to me. Jn 3:3 - Unless you are reborn, you cannot see God's kingdom. Ti 3:5 - He saved us not because of our good deeds, but because of His mercy. He has washed us, regenerated us, and renewed us by the Holy Spirit.) Sin has been put to death, destroyed. It is the habits of the mortal body that are in sight in the death of the body of sin. (Ro 6:12 - Don't allow sin to rule your bodies. Ro 6:13 - Don't present your bodies to be used for sinful purposes, but present them to God to be used for righteousness. Ro 7:23 - There is a different law working in my body, which is at odds with the law of my mind, causing me to be imprisoned by the law of sin that is at work in my body. Ro 8:13 - If you still live by the flesh, you must die, but if you live by the Spirit, the body is already being put to death so that you can live. Ro 12:1 - Present your bodies as living, holy sacrifices to God, your service of worship to Him.) Even so, it is not the body which is the source of sin, but the will. The body of sin gives clear expression to the impact of the crucifixion upon us.
6:7: Dead to sin, we have been acquitted. Death dissolves all claims, and that death has been died by Christ. (Ro 8:12 - so we are no longer obliged to live according to the flesh.)

New Thoughts (8/16/01-8/17/01)

(8/15/01) Mt 28:19 - Baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One name. It is a singular reference, showing that in these three, there is only one declared. It is the same form of the word onoma, or name, by which Jesus addressed the Father in the Lord's Prayer (Mt 6:9). This is just one more piece of the proof for the Trinity. They are One. There is but one God, even as He has declared in His word. Yet there are three persons in this One true God. One day we shall know in full.

(8/17/01) Mr. Clarke appears to have failed in the task of viewing the whole context in pursuing this section. He has arrived at a position that demands our perfect sanctification from the start. Yet, it is evident even from the next few chapters of this book that such is not to be expected. In all of Scripture, one will find no example of a man who came to perfect sanctification in this life. Some suggest Enoch as an example, but I don't know that we can claim that with certainty. I think the weight of the evidence suggests that he, too, had his failings until that day on which he walked with God. Clarke presents the viewpoint that a God who could not save entire from the start is a weakened God. But isn't it equally true that a God who is bound by some greater necessity, that is required to save complete and entire at ground zero, is no god at all, since He is no longer the sole necessity? God remains sovereign, and He remains all-wise. There is a purpose to the gradual process of sanctification, whether or not we understand that purpose as yet. However, the history of God's people shows the danger in this flesh, when we are handed things in too easy a fashion. When Israel was at ease, it seems invariably that they forgot about God, and wandered off after other interests. Are we any different? I don't think so. Were sanctification an instant offer, a given from the start, we would develop no spiritual muscle in the struggle against sin. Where then would be our perseverance, our proven character? What proof, if there was never any test to prove ourselves against? One might just as well question the entire plan of God, and assume a greater wisdom than the all-wise One. Better by far to accept His gracious gift, to be thankful for His strength in the fight we must continue in, and to rejoice in the hope of our eternal rest, knowing that hope anchored in the very throne room of God.

It is indeed the will from which sin flows, and not the body. This was the error of many sects, the idea that the physical was somehow evil, where the spiritual was pure. That is not what Scripture teaches. The fallen angels are as much a matter of spirit as are the angels of God. And yet, one would hardly declare the fallen angels pure. It is the will that leads us to pursue our lusts. It is the will that God must change within us, so that we might desire righteousness instead. It is God who both works and wills in us, as we are reborn in Him. The body was killed on the cross, and buried in baptism, but it was the body of sin, not the physical body. We are not to wander into some strange asceticism, denying our every physical need in hope of a quicker transition to the purely spiritual world. We are to subdue this body, not destroy it. We are to restore the proper order, where the will is centered on God, and the will is restored to its rightful rule over the body. Too long have our sensations ruled our will. This remains so for many in the church. We are delighted when our senses are pleased, but not when righteousness is required. We want the resurrection without the burial that must precede it. But we cannot be reborn unless we first die. And if we die, we ought certainly to be buried. And how shall we accept this, except we know - in the fullest sense - that He will raise us up in newness of life?

This is a big thing, the end of one life, and the beginning of another, and this is part of what baptism symbolizes for us. But, we ought to remain aware that it is only a part. There's more to baptism than death and life. Baptism is, even as marriage, a solemn contract. It is a covenant we enter into with our God and Savior. He has already accomplished that change within us by which He calls us to Himself. He has freely given us the gift of salvation already, and He has empowered us to come freely to Him. He has broken the bonds of our slavery, and now asks us to willingly bind ourselves to His service. In the Old Testament, we see that provision was made for the one who wished to bind himself to a master of his own will. Such a one was marked by special ceremony, displayed as different from any other servants that might be in the household, for he is there of his own will, and not due to coercion by outside events. So, in baptism, we come to our new Master, and declare ourselves willingly bound to His household for life. Matthew Henry sees it as the binding of an apprentice to his master, but I don't think that captures the full impact, for an apprentice remains an apprentice only for a time. Eventually, he will leave his master, and strike out on his own. For us, this is not the case. Rather, as Mr. Barnes has said, we are 'devoting all unto Him and His cause.' Our personal goals are to be His goals. We have willingly set aside our own interests in favor of His. When we are baptized in His name, it is not just that we acknowledge Christ, not even that we acknowledge that we are His followers. No! It's so much more. We have come into full participation in all that He is, all that He has and will accomplish, all that He purposes. We have signed our covenant, our contract with Him, to serve His house for life, and that contract has been sealed by heaven.

The benefits of that covenant are great, indeed. Life eternal is no small thing. To be provided with an environment of holiness, of complete absence of sin, in which to spend that life is simply astounding. To be allowed a part in a work that could just as well have been done without us, to be a part of His holy plan, is honor beyond all expectation. But, it is not only the benefits that we have signed on for. We have acknowledged the obligations as well. If we have accepted the benefits that Christ's death has procured for us, we must also accept the obligation of complying to the purpose of that death. He died to redeem us from all sin. All of it. We have accepted that redemption, by His grace. We have sealed the agreement. So having accepted the blessing, so having taken our place in His household, we must pursue the end that His death purposed to accomplish, the death of all our sins. Knowing this, we must know that to persist in our sins is to violate our obligations as servants of our Lord.

Oh God! I would that I could claim I had forgotten those obligations when I've stumbled and sinned against You. But, that isn't the case. Your words, Your desires, Your holiness is ever before me, and yet, this will of mine still turns to this side and that. I can only thank You that this torment is present, that even as I turn from Your direction, I know the longing to stay on the course. I pray that as we continue to walk together, You will strengthen my renewed will within me, that I will know victory. Help me, oh Father, to be mindful that indeed sin's destruction is a slow and agonizing death, even as Your death upon the cross was slow and agonizing. Thank You, Jesus, that just as Your death, once upon the cross, was certain, so in Your death, the death of this sinfulness within me is also certain. You were able to lay down Your life in the end, to willingly accept the death that awaited, and so shorten the torment. Would You, then, enable this will of mine to be willing to lay down the life of sin that still remains, to accept the death that You have provided for that sinfulness, and so shorten the torment? You have reminded me, not that long ago, of the many sad possibilities that You kept me from pursuing as I would have done. How You have preserved me for this time! What an impossible debt of gratitude I owe You, my Lord! How long it took me to recognize Your hand in action in my life, and yet, You kept protecting me. What have You brought me along for, oh God? What is it You would have of me, besides my love? Is there anything I could do for You? Certainly nothing that would begin to repay what You have done for me. Yet, I pray that You would ask of me, and find me willing. I pray that You would continue to reshape this miserable clay until it comes into the shape of the vessel You have always wanted it to be.

That which was procured for us on the cross became ours immediately upon our belief. The resurrected life has already begun in us, although we hold it now only in part. But, that part brings with it the full assurance that when we finally see Him as He truly is, we will be like Him. We know His promise is sure, for He has already begun to fulfill all His promise in us, and what He has begun, He is faithful to complete, for He is not a man, that He should lie, nor that He should change. There is no shadow of turning in Him. And it is to Him that we have surrendered our whole life. We have put our seal to the contract of the new creature, to live a righteous life by faith in Him. Let us strive, then, to walk worthy of the calling by which we have been called (Eph 4:1), to set aside our former selves, to indulge no more the lusts that ruled us before we knew Him. 2Corinthians 4:10 says that we seek to make Jesus manifest in our lives. It doesn't say we want to. It doesn't say we ought to. It says we do. It is to be assumed of every true believer that we so desire, that we so strive, that every possible effort is being made on our part to make Jesus manifest. He is the true light that came into the world, and He has put that light in us. Can anybody see it?