CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST – ROMANS 6

Has Christ been crucified for our sin according to the Scripture?

Was Christ raised again on the third day according to the Scripture?

There is virtual agreement, even amon most critical theologians, that the resurrection of Jesus is the central claim of Christianity.  Willi Marxsen asserts that it is still the decisive issue in Christian theology today; to have uncertainty concerning this claim is to jeopardize all of Christianity.  Gunther Bornkamm agrees that without the message of Jesus’ resurrection there would be no church, no NT, and no Christian faith even to this day.  Jurgen Moltmann clearly states that Christianity either stands or falls with Jesus’ resurrection.

Thank you Willi, Gunther, and Jurgen . . . but we already knew that – didn’t we.

This we believe!

We do not understand the fullness of its importance. 

Nor do we understand the awesome power that it involves.

But we do believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In fact, that is why I came to church today.

Why did you come today?

I would like every handshake, every song, every offering, every prayer, every lesson taught, every message preached, even every cup of coffee consumed  . . . to ooze with the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

What else can we do?

We can shake hands, sing songs, give gifts, pray, teach, preach and not have one bit of it ever leave the ground.

This can be sincere, well meaning, and even accomplish some good . . . but only reach our human level.

If I owned an airplane, and I drove it from my house to church today.  Down Highway 313, then left turn at Dairy Queen onto Highway 11, through town, over the bridge, right turn on to County Road 5, and into the parking lot.

You would not come to me and say – that was a good job!

We know that a plane was meant to fly.

I came to church today to reach a lot higher than that – how about you?

So how does the Church of Jesus Christ accomplish this?

By asking these two important questions:

Have you been crucified with Christ?

Have you been resurrected with Christ?

Co-crucified and co-resurrected believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are the Holy Spirit empowered vessels of God . . . that are made to bear this kind of fruit.

Do you believe this?

Just as the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the Christ is a clear and obvious fact to His church; so the co-crucifixion and co-resurrection of his children should also be an obvious fact to His church.

How can this be?

What does this mean?

This is answered in two important ways:

My dealings with the law has to be crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).  Gentile law breaker or Jewish law craver.

My sinful nature (flesh) has to be crucified with Christ (Galatians 5:24).  Since I live in the Spirit (Walk in the Light) I can keep in step with the Spirit (Mexican Hat Dance – stoikay!).

My intimate connection to this old world has to be crucified with Christ (Galatians 6:14).  “Good-bye old world, I’m through with you . . . I’m on my way, praise the Lord, to Canaan Land.”

MY OLD NATURE WAS NAILED TO CHRIST’S CROSS . . . SO THAT IT MAY NOT RULE OVER ME – I AM NO LONGER A SLAVE TO SIN.

6:2 – We died to sin, how can we live in it?

6:3 – Baptized into Christ Jesus’ death (Spirit baptism . . . symbolized in our water baptism).

6:4 – Buried with Christ through baptism into His death . . . in order that . . . just a Christ was raised . . . we too may live a new life.

peripatew – to walk, to walk about, to conduct one’s life.

RO 6:5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 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-- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

MY POSITION:

Old self was crucified . . . so that the body of sin might be done away with = rendered powerless.

sunestaurwqh  . . . sustaurow (aorist passive) – to crucify together.

“Count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11) – To consider . . . To recon

MY DECISION:

Old self was crucified . . . so that the body of sin might be done away with = rendered powerless.

katargew  (aorist passive subjunctive – mood of probability) – to render inoperative, to make inactive.

6:9 – no longer has mastery over him (kupieuw . . . kurios) same in verse 14.

6:12 – do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies (Basileuw . . . to be king or rule).

Colossians 3:5 – “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature”.

(aorist active imperative)

Ephesians 4:20-32 – Put off old self.

Every trait of the Old Man’s behavior is putrid, crumbling, or inflated like rottening waste or cadavers, stinking, ripe for being disposed of and forgotten (Barth, Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament).

Colossians 3:9 – “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

Ephesians 4:22 – “You were taught, with regard to your former ways of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Co-crucified and co-resurrected believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are the Holy Spirit empowered vessels of God . . . that are made to bear this kind of fruit.

DYING TO LAW (CRUCIFYING MY FLESH) ALLOWS ME TO BEAR FRUIT TO GOD

Notice Romans 7:4-6 (dying to what once bound us, frees us to serve in the Spirit . . . we might bear fruit to God).

Notice Galatians 6:7-11 (if we sow to our flesh we will reap destruction . . . if we sow to the Spirit will reap eternal life).

Chambers:  Co-resurrection – The proof that I have been through crucifixion with Jesus is that I have a decided likeness to Him.  The incoming of the Spirit of Jesus into me readjusts my personal life to God.  The resurrection of Jesus has given Him authority to impart the life of God to me, and my experimental life must be constructed on the basis of His life.  I can have the resurrection life of Jesus now, and it will show itself in holiness (Romans 6:5).

Ephesians 2:6 – raised up together; “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

Colossians 2:12 – risen with; “Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Colossians 3:1 – risen with Christ; “Since, then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”