I died with Christ and died to the power of sin's rule over my life

Romans 6:1-6What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.


If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

So often we think of ourselves as helpless with regard to sin. "This is just my little vice", "It's just who I am and I can't ever see myself changing" or other things we tells ourselves to reassure ourselves. We fight every now and again, and vow to be better, sometimes to the point of despair when we find that we can't win the battle. As Paul teaches us elsewhere, the law and our self efforts to be holy only serves to pour gasoline on the flames of temptation, as the very thing we try to use as a weapon turns on us and sides with our enemy.

Then we hear about grace and realise we don't have to worry about being better because we're already accepted despite our imperfection! We may even go the other way and flaunt our freedom from fear by recklessly sinning some more - after all, we'll show God's grace to be all the more wonderful!

Either approach - law or licence - falls short of what God offers us in the gospel. I find it interesting that Paul totally takes our eyes off ourselves and our attempts to fight sin and focuses instead on Jesus and what happened to us in Him. He doesn't say "Of course, sin still matters under grace so make sure you still work hard at defeating temptation" as so many Christians seem to say - swapping out accomplished salvation for works-based sanctification. He says "Why live in sin? You died to it!!"

Now, you may not feel like you've died to sin - especially at the point of temptation when you're weighing up whether you'll give in or not. At that point, sin feels very much alive and well to you! But the truth remains - you died to sin when Jesus was crucified on the cross. When you trusted in Him, and entered into baptism, your old life died and was buried along with Jesus. Sin no longer has power over people who died to it!

And if we died, we will surely be raised again, to live a new life free from the rule and dominion of sin. Not through our own efforts at obedience, but because we are now in Christ and live in Him by the Spirit. Turns out both law and licence get it wrong - there is a third way! Living by the life of Christ, as Col 3:3 points out - "For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."

These are the twin freedoms in the gospel - freedom from sin's power, and freedom from the need to strive in our strength and life.

So next time you're tempted to give into sin, remember you died with Christ and you are free to say no. Victory in the battle can be yours as you live in the power of Christ's resurrection.

And next time you're tempted to renew your dedication to fight sin, remember that your dedication in this is neither here nor there - it may even be the very thing holding you captive to sin. Instead, remember that you have died to sin, and your life is hidden in Christ with God. Rejoice that the matter is settled and as this truth takes up residence in your heart and mind, you'll find the siren call of sin weakening and will experience the life that is already yours!