Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
To be dead with Christ is to be baptized into His death and buried with Him by baptism into death, with the old man crucified with Him, the body of sin destroyed, service to sin ended, and freedom from sin for those who are dead. To live with Him is to be planted in the likeness of His resurrection and to walk in newness of life as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and reaching this is the high standard required to represent Christ rightly. This rests on knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more and death has no more dominion over Him, for in that He died He died unto sin once, but in that He lives He lives unto God. It means reckoning oneself to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, not letting sin reign in the mortal body to obey its lusts. It means not yielding the members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yielding to God as those alive from the dead, with the members as instruments of righteousness unto God, for sin shall not have dominion because of being under grace and not under law, since the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Those who believe in Jesus Christ and are buried with Him by baptism openly renounce sin before many witnesses and show deadness to the reigning power of sin. Coming up out of the water is the symbol of resurrection, in which believers experience in themselves the same divine power that raised Christ from the dead. Their life is hid with Christ in God, set on things above where Christ sits at the right hand of God and not on things on the earth, and when Christ who is their life shall appear they shall also appear with Him in glory. To be dead with Christ is to be crucified with Him, dead to the world but alive unto God and alive to Christ. Baptism is a semblance of this death to the world, to its fashions, its customs, and its evil practices, and by abiding in Christ a person partakes of His resurrection life, with Christ formed within and glorified in that life, for in Him is the power of life.
Being crucified with Christ, buried with Him, and then quickened by His Spirit so as to be filled with His life is the definition of true sanctification taught in the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ lived a life of holiness as the pattern and object-lesson His followers are to copy. Through union with Christ and living faith, believers are crucified and dead with Him and will live with Him, sharing in the power of His mediation and rising to walk in a new life. This new life includes sanctification and conformity to God in will, temper, spirit, and thought, carried forward by faith in God's power. Dying to sin and receiving life in Christ belong together, for when a person dies to sin Christ's grace gives new life and changes the heart, subduing the natural desires, sanctifying the understanding, and making the person fit to enjoy heaven and the company of holy beings. The verse is connected with teaching the knowledge of salvation and redemption from sin's bondage and defilement, alongside self-denial and control of the passions.
Being dead with Christ is living with Him now in the Christ-life, which requires constant dependence on the Lord Jesus, giving the self wholly to Him for service, and working as He worked and bearing the message He bore. Those dead and risen with Him have the similitude of His character stamped on the heart by His Spirit, revealing the purity of character He revealed as an example, and sanctification is the outworking of truth in daily life, received where God can give it. By clinging close to the One who gave His life for them, believers receive power to become the sons of God and power to obtain victory over sin, revealing purity and holiness. They never gloss over sin, and perverted appetites and passions are uprooted and cast away, for children of God are not slaves of passion but show that truth has sanctified their souls. The reason is sanctified and guarded as a precious heaven-sent gift, the heart is gladdened by rich promises and bright prospects, and every feature of experience is radiant with heaven's brightness and filled with thanksgiving.
To be dead with Christ is to be baptized into His death and buried with Him by baptism into death, with the old man crucified with Him, the body of sin destroyed, service to sin ended, and freedom from sin for those who are dead. To live with Him is to be planted in the likeness of His resurrection and to walk in newness of life as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and reaching this is the high standard required to represent Christ rightly. This rests on knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more and death has no more dominion over Him, for in that He died He died unto sin once, but in that He lives He lives unto God. It means reckoning oneself to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, not letting sin reign in the mortal body to obey its lusts. It means not yielding the members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yielding to God as those alive from the dead, with the members as instruments of righteousness unto God, for sin shall not have dominion because of being under grace and not under law, since the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
Those who believe in Jesus Christ and are buried with Him by baptism openly renounce sin before many witnesses and show deadness to the reigning power of sin. Coming up out of the water is the symbol of resurrection, in which believers experience in themselves the same divine power that raised Christ from the dead. Their life is hid with Christ in God, set on things above where Christ sits at the right hand of God and not on things on the earth, and when Christ who is their life shall appear they shall also appear with Him in glory. To be dead with Christ is to be crucified with Him, dead to the world but alive unto God and alive to Christ. Baptism is a semblance of this death to the world, to its fashions, its customs, and its evil practices, and by abiding in Christ a person partakes of His resurrection life, with Christ formed within and glorified in that life, for in Him is the power of life.
Being crucified with Christ, buried with Him, and then quickened by His Spirit so as to be filled with His life is the definition of true sanctification taught in the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ lived a life of holiness as the pattern and object-lesson His followers are to copy. Through union with Christ and living faith, believers are crucified and dead with Him and will live with Him, sharing in the power of His mediation and rising to walk in a new life. This new life includes sanctification and conformity to God in will, temper, spirit, and thought, carried forward by faith in God's power. Dying to sin and receiving life in Christ belong together, for when a person dies to sin Christ's grace gives new life and changes the heart, subduing the natural desires, sanctifying the understanding, and making the person fit to enjoy heaven and the company of holy beings. The verse is connected with teaching the knowledge of salvation and redemption from sin's bondage and defilement, alongside self-denial and control of the passions.
Being dead with Christ is living with Him now in the Christ-life, which requires constant dependence on the Lord Jesus, giving the self wholly to Him for service, and working as He worked and bearing the message He bore. Those dead and risen with Him have the similitude of His character stamped on the heart by His Spirit, revealing the purity of character He revealed as an example, and sanctification is the outworking of truth in daily life, received where God can give it. By clinging close to the One who gave His life for them, believers receive power to become the sons of God and power to obtain victory over sin, revealing purity and holiness. They never gloss over sin, and perverted appetites and passions are uprooted and cast away, for children of God are not slaves of passion but show that truth has sanctified their souls. The reason is sanctified and guarded as a precious heaven-sent gift, the heart is gladdened by rich promises and bright prospects, and every feature of experience is radiant with heaven's brightness and filled with thanksgiving.