Alive to God in Christ

“Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:4-14

The cross is further removed from a purely historical perspective when we realize that we too are involved in its ageless liberation. The Apostle Paul informs us that by God’s unfathomable working we were included in the Lord Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. We have been crucified, buried, and raised with Christ. Through faith in Christ Jesus, we have died to sin and been joined with Him to become “a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17).

This concept is difficult to understand. Perhaps this analogy with help: Think of a book mailed to Europe. Inside the book is a 3 x 5 photograph. Wherever the book is sent, the photograph goes also. God placed us in Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. What happened to Jesus also has happened in us.

Daily the believer is told to “reckon” or “consider” himself (count it as so) “to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). We can do so only because of our union with Christ. His death to sin is ours, and His life with the Father is ours. The cross is the means to an entirely new way of living - now and forever.

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25