Brand New

Christ is the incarnate Substitute, that is, the crucified, buried, resurrected, ascended, and glorified Lord! Because of Him, all men may go free with no wrath of God and no penalty for sin placed on them. God offers a free pardon to all men, all people. The cost of this freedom is absolutely free to all people, however, it cost God everything. No one can buy it, earn it, we do not deserve it, nor can anyone work for it. It is freely given, because it is all of grace. In other words, as it has been said, "it is God's riches freely given to man, at Christs expense." Satan has been defeated, man has been redeemed, is now declared righteous, and is in right standing with God. All men are judicially and legally set free from sin, guilt, condemnation, unworthiness, inferiority and the punishment of sin, which is death. However, all of this can only be received on God's terms, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

No longer do we identify with our "old nature" but with our new nature which is in Christ as we will see played out in Romans chapter six. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells us, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:1-2) If a believer is "dead to sin," it is impossible for him or her to live in sin. If a person lives in sin, then he or she is not dead to it and knows nothing of the true grace of God. The aspect of death is not only physical but also a spiritual state, (not to mention, eternal death) and is spoken here as being "dead to sin," that is, separation from sinful living. Therefore, the expression "dead to sin” speaks of the way that the believers spiritual state is separated unto God from the sin in which he/she formerly lived. Notice that Paul never states that "sin is dead to us" but that we are "dead to sin." The law of sin or the principles of sin is still present in the believer, but it can be rendered inoperative as the believer walks after the higher law. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2)

Paul now asks another question. "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?" (Romans 6:3) We need to ask ourselves the same question, and in doing so, also ask, do we truly believe this? The believer became "dead to sin" by being united with Jesus Christ, that is, baptism into Christ. Baptism here refers to immersion into His death. Believers are to see in Calvary not only Christ’s death for him or her, but also his or her death. Every believer by spiritual union with Christ, enters into His death and in water baptism, testifies his or her identification with His death. It goes on, "Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4) Christ was raised up from the dead by the power of the Father. (Ephesians 1:19-21) In this, the believer is also raised up. Christ rose to walk in newness of life. The believer also rises to walk in newness of life, the new nature, not in the oldness of the old life.

Again, believers, by applying faith to God's Word are to, "put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,  and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:22-24) and, "put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him." (Colossians 3:9-10) Believers are to lay aside, renounce, render inoperable the old man and "walk in newness of life" which was instantly imparted at the moment of regeneration. The Holy Spirit seals this reality by saying to us, "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin." (Romans 6:5-6)

If one can believe that they were united together in the likeness of Christ’s death, then we also are to believe that we are also in the likeness of His resurrection. Notice the tense here. Not, is crucified with Him, but, was crucified with Him. The same truth is brought out in Paul's revelation of this very thing, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) This is very important to grasp. This is where faith arises and says, "my old man (old demonic, fallen, spiritually dead, sinful nature) was crucified with Christ and now I have a new nature, Christ lives in me and now I live by faith in Him!"

The Centenary Translation of Romans 6:6 puts it this way, "For this we know, that our old self was crucified with Christ, in order that the slave of sin might be destroyed; so that we should no longer be in slavery to sin." Although I am virtually saying the same thing again, let's make this verse a faith declaration, that is, "I died with Christ, the o1d man, that sinful nature, that was a partaker of spiritual death, died with Christ and now I am no longer a slave to sin." The reality is, by nature, we were born as slaves to Satan and sin. Now, the believer is no longer a slave to Satan and sin but servants, even sons and daughters of God in Christ. The word "destroyed" in this verse means, made void, made without effect; to bring to naught, vanish away, put away, put down, abolished, to cease, rendered inoperative, or inactive. When the body of Jesus was crucified, died, and was rendered inactive, inoperative, the believer's body of sin is the same because of his or her union with Christ in His death. Therefore, we are no longer serving sin but serving Jesus in this brand new, recreated, born again, supernatural life provided by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.PTL...