Could you please explain Romans 6:8?
Listen: 127.2
Let’s begin by reading Romans 6:6-8, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” The Apostle Paul is writing to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us here that, as believers, our ‘old man’ has been crucified, or put to death, with Christ. The ‘old man’ is in contrast to the ‘new man’ that we read about in Colossians 3:9-10, “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” The old man is the old standing that we had before the Lord before we were saved. It refers to our old natural human corrupt nature that we all have in Adam.
Paul speaks of this death again in Galatians 2:20where he says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Although our old man has been crucified, the Lord Jesus now lives inside each believer, making us to become this ‘new man’. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Our old standing before the Lord is gone and we are made brand new in Christ! How wonderful it is to realize that, as believers on the Lord Jesus, we are no longer the slaves to sin that we once were. We are ‘freed from sin’ as we just read in Romans 6:7.
Let’s look again at Romans 6:8, “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” This does not refer to the resurrection and to our future state with the Lord in Glory, although that is a precious truth. This verse is speaking of the present. As Christ was raised up from the dead, so have we been raised from the death of sin. As he lives, so we live. We are, in fact, raised up, and, as it were, made alive to him. Let’s consider Colossians 3:1-3which tells us, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” We who believe on the Lord Jesus are dead with Christ, risen with Christ and in possession of a life which is hid with Christ in God and we are therefore safe and secure in Christ.
Let me close by quoting a Godly and gifted writer, A.C. Gaebelein, who wrote concerning Colossians 3:1-3, “The more a believer enters into those blessed truths, making them his own by reckoning himself dead with Christ and risen with Him, with his life hid with Christ in God, the more will the things above be for him the great attraction and the things on earth will lose their charm. The things above are Christ and His glory. The things on earth include all the deceiving things mentioned in the previous chapter (Colossians, chapter 2), such as the rudiments of the world, philosophy and words of vain deceit, legalism, ritualism, ordinances, as well as worldly ambitions, honors, pleasures and achievements. All these will fade away when the believer’s heart is occupied with Him who fills the throne in glory. This is the true and only way of sanctification–heart occupation with the risen Christ. (127.2)