Rom 6:3-11, Eph 2:1-6, Col 2:12 | Family | STEP | Were baptized into his death ; were so united with him as to be the followers of him in his death by dying to sin as he did. See this idea more fully stated in verses . True Christians will never make the fact that they are saved by grace and not by works, nor the fact that the greater and more numerous their sins the more abounding the grace which saves them, an occasion or excuse for continuing in sin.

Romans 6:3-11

Were baptized into his death; were so united with him as to be the followers of him in his death by dying to sin as he did. See this idea more fully stated in verses Ro 6:10,11. True Christians will never make the fact that they are saved by grace and not by works, nor the fact that the greater and more numerous their sins the more abounding the grace which saves them, an occasion or excuse for continuing in sin. We also should walk in newness of life; for our death with Christ to sin implies our resurrection with Christ to God, which is to us a new life of holiness. See on verses Ro 6:10,11. Planted together; that is, as the original word implies, closely united, namely, with Christ.

We shall be also; closely united with Christ. Our dying with Christ to sin, implies our rising with Christ to God. Verses Ro 6:10,11. Our old man; our natural love of sin, and inclination to commit it.

Is crucified with him; a repetition of the idea that we die with Christ to sin. The apostle uses the word crucified with reference to the manner of our Lord's death; perhaps also to intimate the lingering and painful nature of the process by which the old man dies, to give place to the new man.

The body of sin; the same as "the law of sin which is in my members," chap Ro 7:23, which in the old man controls the body, making it a body of sin and death, chap Ro 7:24. For he that is dead; that is, as the context shows, he that has died to sin. Compare verse Ro 6:18. Dead with Christ; in the sense above explained--one with him in sympathy, desire, and effort as to the object of his death, the deliverance of his people from sin.

We believe that we shall also live with him; be like him, through communications received from him, in living to God, even as the branch is like the vine. Joh 14:19; Joh 15:5; Heb 7:25. He died unto sin; in reference to sin, the design of his death being to put away sin. He 9:26. By making expiation for sin he prepared the way for its forgiveness, and thus its removal from the souls of all that believe in him.

In that he liveth; liveth in his new resurrection-life.

He liveth unto God; his life is devoted to the glory of God in the furtherance of the work of redemption. Before his crucifixion, Christ lived unto God also. But that was a life of humiliation leading to the death of the cross, and may here be reckoned as a part of the process of his dying unto sin. His resurrection-life, on the contrary, is a life of exaltation, in which all power is given into his hands for the glory of the Father, in the over-throw of the kingdom of Satan and the establishment of the kingdom of God in this world. Likewise reckon ye; be like Christ, in dying to sin and living to God.

Dead indeed unto sin; dead in reference to sin, in the sense of putting it away from you, and having no more to do with it.

Alive unto God; living a new life of holiness devoted to God's glory, in imitation of Christ's resurrection-life.

Through Jesus Christ; by virtue of your union with him through faith. In this and the preceding verse, we have the key to the interpretation of the preceding comparison extended in various forms through verses Ro 6:4-9. Faith in Christ is the means not only of justification, but of sanctification; and produces a change not of state and condition only, but of character and conduct. It leads a person to live not unto himself, but unto Him who died for him and rose again.

Ephesians 2:1-6

Quickened; made alive.

Dead in trespasses and sins; it is a living death which the apostle describes. They were dead to God and holiness, and alive to this world and fleshly lust. They lived in trespasses and sins, and this is spiritual death. In time past; in their unconverted state.

The prince of the power of the air; Satan, the ruler of the power of the air, that is, of the empire of evil spirits, whose abode is the air. Satan does much to lead men to disobey God, and when they violate divine laws they take part with Satan against Jehovah. Among whom ; namely, among which children of disobedience. We all ; Jews and Gentiles. Had our conversation ; lived. Desires of the flesh ; bodily appetites and passions. Of the mind ; such as pride, envy, covetousness, and ambition. By nature ; naturally children of wrath, because children of disobedience. All men naturally are more pleased in gratifying their bodily appetites, and the selfish inclinations of their own hearts, than in learning and doing the will of God; thus showing that they are opposed to holiness, in love with sin, and heirs of divine wrath. Together with Christ; as God raised Christ from the dead in behalf of his people and as their surety, so they, by virtue of their union with him, had been raised from spiritual death, which is the pledge of their future union with Christ in the resurrection of the body also to a glorious immortality. Raised us up together--made us sit together; that is, together with Christ, as in the preceding verse.

In heavenly places; see note to chap Eph 1:3.

In Christ Jesus; all this takes place in and through our union with Christ.

Colossians 2:12

Buried with him in baptism; by openly renouncing sin, and publicly professing to hate and forsake it; thus showing their deadness to its reigning power.

Risen with him; from their death in sin, by believing on him, and thus experiencing in their own persons the same divine power which raised Christ from the dead.