Romans 6. Have you ever watched a baptism and heard the pastor say something like “buried in death with Christ and raised to walk in newness of life with Him”? I love this imagery from the baptism ceremony of being buried beneath the water in symbolic death and being raised up out of the water into a new life in Christ. Romans 6 gives the theological basis for this practice, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead… we too might walk in newness of life.”(6:3-4)

Romans 1-3 helped us see the sinfulness of all humankind. Romans 3-5 explained how we can be reconciled to God and have a right relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ. This is all great news – we have been reconciled and delivered from sin!

How then shall we live?! Romans 6 answers that question by explaining what our response should be to having been reconciled to God.

We know that our old [sinful] self was crucified with him… so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin (6:6-7). The old self is dead, crucified and buried with Jesus. Are we to continue in sin?? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (6:1-2) One who has died has been set free from sin (6:7).  

We are set free from sin and are not to live that way any longer. The command to us is to not let sin reign over us. Do not let sin therefore reign in your mortal body… do not present your members to sin (6:12-13). The power of sin over us has been broken, but it’s always lurking out there wanting to retake control. We have been set free, but sometimes staying free takes effort! For sin will not have dominion over you (6:14).

Instead of being slaves to sin, we are to surrender ourselves to God and to walk in a new life with Him. The life he lives, he lives to God. So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (6:10-11). The text argues that we are all slaves to something, we all serve a god of some sort. Having been reconciled to God, our response should be to surrender and serve Him alone, we have become slaves of righteousness (6:18).

Think this week about the imagery of baptism. Think about how your old self was buried under the water, washed clean, and then raised to walk in a new, clean life of surrender to God.

Do you allow sin to be present in your body? This is not what God intended for his people. We have been set free and sin does not have dominion over us. What do you need to do to walk in this freedom?