Romans 6:1-11 – Identifying with Christ in Baptism

One danger about the teaching of being saved by grace alone is this: it may be interpreted as a license to do whatever one desires. Paul was well aware of this tendency. He was accused slanderously of propagating this teaching in Romans 3:8. We can understand why he would be very careful when he made the statement in Roman 5:20 that “…where sin increased, grace abound all the more….” He knew that some would make a big deal out of it.  Some on hearing this would take this remark as an excuse to commit sin. Their logic is this: if sin means more grace than let’s continue to sin so that more grace will be released. Sin could even be made into a religious duty because it would be creating opportunities for God to avail His grace and love and thus glorify Himself.

When Paul made the statement that, “…where sin increased, grace abound all the more,” he anticipated his readers to ask, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? So he voiced it first. He also quickly and vehemently answered with an emphatic, “May it never be!” It’s as good as saying “Perish that thought!” And quickly Paul asked a question that presupposes no for an answer. He asked, “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” So from verses 3-14, he gave the reasons why we should not continue to live in sin.

Paul began by using the symbol of baptism to show the nature of our identification with Christ. Baptism is a symbol of many wonderful realities. In baptism we have a mystical experience of identifying with Christ’s death and resurrection. We actually died and were buried with Him. Not only that, we are also raised with Him and now we share in His resurrected life. The life we had before conversion, that was an instrument of sin, is now buried in Christ’s death. And just as Christ rose from the dead, we also rise with Him in the newness of life. And just as Christ did not serve sin, so we must also not serve sin. Why? It’s because our old life has been crucified in Christ and it’s rendered inoperative, so that we will no longer serve sin.  Verses 8-10 tell us that Christ died once for us. That is to tell us the finality of Christ’s redeeming work. In this we can have confidence that Christ will never come under the power of sin and death again.

We need to grasp this two truths and hold it tightly. Though we may not fully understand the nature of our identification with Christ in baptism, we actually died in His death and raised with Him in His resurrection to a new resurrected life. Because of that, we need to know that the dominion of sin over our life has been broken, and so we are free from sin.  

What Paul is saying is essentially this: when we were one with Adam we had his nature, and sin was a natural consequence. Now that we are identified with Christ and one with the Lord, the natural consequence would be a changed lifestyle. In verse 11, Paul went on to show us how to apply this truth. We must reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. It is good to know 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sin, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This verse is needful because we will surely slip and fall at times in our journey. But here Paul is telling us what we so commonly know from the adage that “Prevention is better than cure.” He calls on us to contemplate our identification with Christ. It can help to curb our sinning ways. To identify with Christ in His death and resurrection is to keep reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ Jesus.