Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER SIX (Lesson X)

Scottish theologian Robert Haldane makes some interesting points here on these two verses. First, he says, now that believers have become one with Christ by virtue of His death, their prospects of living forever with Him have greatly improved. In other words, it is as of yet not totally guaranteed. He reasons that the term “life” here is post-resurrection living, the same as it appears in verse 5. Since the Apostle speaks of it as a future life, it would be a mistake to interpret it as signifying the believer’s spiritual life here and now, or as a reference to the believer’s life from now to the end of his road. Haldane sees no need to strain at developing such an interpretation.

Then Haldane writes: “The Apostle states the assumption that, as Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again, so neither will those die again who have died and risen with Him. This obviously refers to the resurrection life, and not to the present spiritual life. It is a fact of inconceivable consolation that after the resurrection the believer will never again die. All the glory of heaven could not make us happy without this truth.”¹ In other words, if all that Christ suffered was only to benefit us during our short lifetime here on earth, it would have been a costly mistake on God’s part, and would not have given those who believe in Him any hope for in the future.

Swiss scholar Frédéric Godet makes the point that when Paul says, “To live with Christ,” it means to share His life as one risen and glorified. For Godet, from Christ’s heavenly position He transmits Himself to the person who has appropriated salvation through His death by faith. In that way, He fills up with His holy life, the void left by those who renounce their life for His sake. Says Godet: “This is our Pentecost, the result of His resurrection.”² Charles Ellicott gives us this to think about when he says that the eternal nourishment that a believer receives through living in Christ and Christ living in them is a guarantee for a permanent relationship with Him, as long as they are dependent on His. Writes Ellicott: “If it were possible that the life of Christ should fail, the whole fabric that the believer’s faith builds upon would fall to the ground.”³

Douglas Moo gives a good summary of these two verses: “In verse 8, Paul shows that living with Christ automatically follows dying with Him. The one always includes the other. As in verse 5, many interpreters think that living with Christ is something a believer has already experienced. But the future tense again more likely refers to that coming Day when believers will be bodily raised with Christ. But while our bodily resurrection lies in the future, we enjoy even now the benefits of Christ’s resurrection. In verse 9, Paul explains just what Christ’s own resurrection means: He now lives in a state in which death is no longer possible and has no power over Him. He has conquered death. And, Paul implies, we who belong to Him also have the assurance of conquering death.”⁴

Verses 10-11: Yes, when Christ died He died to defeat the power of sin one time – enough for all time. He now has a new life, and His new life is with God. In the same way, you should see yourselves as being dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

What a powerful message Paul delivers to the believers in Rome who were being pressured to think more of orchestrating their own freedom through their good works instead of through the work of Christ. This is what Paul also preached to the Corinthians: “Christ had no sin, but God made Him become sin so that in Christ we could be right with God.”⁵ But unlike the sacrifices under the Law that had to be offered with each sin, Jesus died one time for all sin. This is how the writer of Hebrews put it: “He came to offer Himself only once. And that once is good enough for all time.”⁶ And the Apostle Peter agreed with this: “For the Messiah Himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that He might bring you to God.”⁷ That’s why Paul had no doubt, when he wrote the Corinthians, that because Christ died, we should know how to live for His glory: “He died for all so that those who live would not continue to live for themselves. He died for them and was raised from death so that they would live for Him.”⁸

Because of this fact, Paul did not mince words with those who claimed to be followers of Christ. He told the Corinthians: “God paid a very high price to make you His. So use your bodies to glorify God.”⁹ This was the same thing Paul told the Galatians: “I died to the law so that I could live for God. So I am not the one living now – it is Christ living in me.”¹⁰ And echoed the same message in his letter to the Colossians: “Your old-self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God. Yes, Christ is now your life.”¹¹ But believers do not live for God by their own strength. Jesus made that clear when He said: “Because I live, you too will live.”¹² This is a theme that Paul will repeat in Chapter 8, verse 10.

In one of his sermons, Chrysostom offers some advice after he asks, “What does ‘died to sin’ mean?” For this early church preacher it meant that although Christ was not subject to sin, He came in order to destroy and remove its power. Thus, He died for our sin. And since Christ did not die twice, there is no second washing. Chrysostom said that Paul frightened the Romans because this was his way of saying, “You had better stay away from any tendency to sin!” He then goes on to say: “Look out for yourselves… because complete freedom from sin is not a reality as yet… We are told to live for God in Jesus Christ our Lord and to lay hold of every virtue, having Jesus as our ally in the struggle.”¹³ That is why after the resurrection we will be removed from the presence of sin completely. There will be no more condemnation, temptation, pain or sorrow. It is then that we all will be totally free. As the old negro spiritual song goes: “Free at last, free at last. I thank God I’m free at last.”¹⁴

Martin Luther took what Paul says here and remarks that because Christ is eternal, so also is our spiritual life. Christ is our life, and through faith, He shines into our hearts the rays of grace which abide forever.¹⁵ And John Calvin looks at the suitability of saying that Christ died that He might destroy sin and concludes: “We must observe what is suitable to Christ in this form of expression; for He is not said to die to sin, so as to cease from it, since the words must be taken as applying to us, but that He underwent death on account of sin, that having made Himself a ransom, He might annihilate the power and dominion of sin.”¹⁶

John Calvin also remarks on this verse, the way this is applied to Christ is different than the way it applies to us. Christ did not, like us, die to sin for the purpose of ceasing to commit it. Calvin says that there are two misinterpretations often given. First, the way verse 2 is explained, and then, as a natural consequence, how it is understood here in verse 10. If commentators mistake the meaning of the one, they are compelled to adjust it in the other. Calvin notes that some introduce the idea of death to the power of sin in verse 2, but in this 10th verse that is impossible. Our Lord never felt the power of sin, and, therefore, could not die to it. However, He died to cover the guilt of sin, that is, the guilt of His people’s sins which He took upon Himself. As a consequence, those dying to sin as declared in verse 2, do so precisely the same way He died to it – once.¹⁷

I like what Puritan scholar Charles Simeon said about this subject. He wrote that Paul took for granted that the believer was “dead with Christ.” By virtue of his union with Christ, the believer can partake of all that Christ either did or suffered for him. Was Christ crucified, dead, and buried? Of course! So the believer then is also crucified, dead, and buried. Christ underwent all of this in His body, but the believer experiences all of this in his soul. Simeon says that every believer has what is called “the old man,” or “the body of sin.” This old man undergoes a change equivalent to that which Christ experienced in His mortal body. This old man is “crucified.” Says Simeon, since crucifixion can be slow and gradual, so sometimes a believer’s “body of sin” dies slowly until it is destroyed. The believer, at his baptism, considers this as a solemn oath on his part, just as what God pledged to him is solemn.¹⁸

Robert Haldane agrees with Calvin and makes the observation that here in this 10th verse we have the same declaration concerning our Lord and Savior as in the 2nd verse concerning believers, especially when it comes to their being dead to sin. That’s why what is true in one case must also be true in the other. However, if someone offers the wrong interpretation to verse 2, then they must, by necessity, say the same thing about verse 10 here.¹⁹

Charles Hodge summarizes the contents of Paul’s teaching in this 6th chapter up to verse eleven. 1) The most prominent doctrine in this passage is that Christ’s death secures the destruction of sin whenever it secures its pardon. 2) When a professing Christian continues to live in sin, they provide sure evidence that they are not real Christians. In so doing they misrepresent and slander the gospel of the grace of God. 3) Holiness does not lead to a pardon, a pardon leads to holiness. 4) The most effective way to gain victory over sin is to bond with Jesus Christ. This requires seeing His death as securing the pardon for sin and restoring us to the Divine favor. That then will procure for us the influence of the Holy Spirit. It will take pardon and holiness in order to successfully subdue sin. 5) It is comforting to every believer to know that having the evidence of being a true Christian, makes sure they will one day live with Christ. As long as the Head of the body lives, surely must all the members of the body live. 6) Says Hodge: “To be in Christ is the source of the Christian’s life; to be like Christ is the sum of His excellence; to be with Christ is the fullness of His joy.”²⁰

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER SIX (Lesson IX)

British Bible scholar F. F. Bruce has an excellent exegesis on this subject. He points out that the person we used to be has been crucified with Christ. That this “crucifixion” refers to a past event and expressed by Paul this way: “Those who are united by faith to Christ are reckoned as having been crucified with Him when He was crucified.”¹ Paul uses it in the same sense when he said: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”² Bruce writes: “In this latter passage there may be a side-glance at an alternative meaning of the verb ‘crucify’ (stauroō), namely ‘fence off.’ The person I now am (‘in Christ’) has been fenced off by the cross from the person I formerly was (‘in Adam’), when I belonged to the current world-order.”³ That certainly suggests that our old nature should have nothing to do with our new spiritual nature.

John Stott makes the point that as far as we are concerned, we all deserved to die for our own sins. And, in fact, he says we did die, although not in person, but in the person of Jesus Christ our substitute. He died in our place. Therefore, we have been united with Him by faith as demonstrated through baptism. Not only that but being in union with Him we have risen again. Says Stott: “So the old life of sin is finished because we died to it, and the new life of justified sinners has begun. Our death and resurrection with Christ render it inconceivable that we should go back. It is in this sense that our sinful-self has been deprived of power and we have been set free.”⁴

And Douglas Moo comments on what he sees as Paul’s concerned that we understand what follows from this action. As he explains it, the result is: “The body of sin [i.e., our bodies as dominated by sin] might be done away with.” In his mind, Paul is saying that being under the Lordship of Christ means we no longer allow sin to dominate us. Says Moo: “The purpose is that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”⁵ How true that is! Since sin’s power over us has been vetoed, we are now free to reflect that living holy in our new freedom. We should no longer exhibit any of sin’s characteristics. We see that verse 7 backs up what Paul claims in verse 6 by reminding his readers of an ancient proverb that death severs sin’s hold on a person.⁶

Jewish writer David Stern points out that Yeshua raised people from the dead, as did Elijah and Elisha. However, all those they raised died again. That’s why we must see Yeshua’s resurrection as the firstfruits of a new creation,⁷ in which believers have a share.⁸ This new creation lives on because the curse of death has been eliminated.⁹ Stern tells us that in the Mekhilta¹⁰ on Exodus it reads: “If it were possible to remove the angel of death, I would do so – but the decree has already gone forth. Rabbi Yossi says, ‘On this condition did they [Israel] stand on Mount Sinai, that the angel of death [would] not prevail over them, as it is written, ‘I said (when I gave you the Torah): You are angels and all heavenly creatures. But as Adam you will die (having perfected your ways as he did), and as one of the (first) princes will you fall.’¹¹”¹² From Stern’s perspective, Yeshua went way beyond this. He conquered death, so that death has no authority over Him or over those united with Him.¹³

Verses 8-9: If we died with Christ, we know that we will also live with Him. Christ was raised from death. And we know that He cannot die again. Death has no power over Him now.

The Apostle Paul now carries this concept of Christ being crucified and resurrected to life with the old sinful nature being crucified and the new spiritual nature being raised to explain that this new life is not only meant for this life but is actually intended life everlasting. If it was only for this life, seeing that mankind’s stay here on earth is limited to being like a short breath, then Christ certainly paid an awful price for believers to benefit for only a short time. That’s why the term “everlasting life” is so important in John 3:16.

Many scholars believe that before the distribution of Paul’s writings among the churches, the original Apostles had already established creeds or articles of faith. We see this in Paul’s instructions to young Timothy: “Here is a true statement: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him. If we remain faithful even in suffering, we will also rule with Him.”¹⁴ Paul had previously spoken of this in his letter to the Corinthians: “God raised the Lord Jesus from death, and we know that He will also raise us with Jesus. God will bring us all together, and we will stand before Him.”¹⁵ And to the Thessalonians Paul wrote: “We believe that Jesus died, but we also believe that He rose again. So we believe that God will raise to life through Jesus any who have died and bring us all together when He comes.”¹⁶

This message about being raised to everlasting life was already in Jewish writings. Most Rabbis believed that David’s words: “My heart and soul will be very happy. Even my body will live in safety because you will not leave me in the place of death,”¹⁷ supported that doctrine. In most cases, Rabbis assign these words to the coming Messiah. So if Christ is raised from death, then it follows that those who die with faith in Him will also be raised on resurrection day. The Apostle Peter certainly understood it this way.¹⁸ And the writer of Hebrews declares that Christ’s, death in order to win the victory over death, was all part of God’s plan.¹⁹ In fact, among the Jews, in a document titled “Tikkunei Zohar,” we find this phrase: “Who is the mystery of the name Jehovah, and in Him, there is no sin, neither shall death have the dominion over Him?”²⁰

How incomplete would this entire analogy be without the resurrection? Yes, it is a relief to be freed from sin, even if it took Jesus’ death. But there is no appeal to follow a doctrine of dormant existence; to bypass the experiences of life in the flesh just to escape sin’s curse without any ensuing benefits. Christ’s resurrection, however, provides for a life more abundant than ever before. For once we have died to sin, we are resurrected in righteousness to newness of life. We no longer serve our Master as unwilling slaves to the Law, but as obedient children of God in a spirit of love. And when this temporal existence ceases, our life continues on, only in a new body and in a wonderful, joyous place. Oh yes! It is wonderful to finally be dead to sin, but even more joyous to be raised to life again in Christ Jesus.

Several early church scholars make interesting points here about Christ needing to die only once. For instance, Origen says that if Christ had to die more than once, it would then require that those who died with Him the first time would need to die again. Since baptism symbolized this death with Christ, then each time a person sinned they would need to be rebaptized. This would create a revolving door, and no one would have time to walk the highway of holiness. But Origen states that Paul makes this clear, Christ never needed to die again. Not then, not now. Says Origen: “Those who will live with Him may now be sure of having eternal life.”²¹

And early church writer Pelagius adds that we should not fear having to die each time we sin if we died willingly the first time that’s all God’ requires.²² This would then also mean, there is no reason to be baptized a second time if we sin. Pelagius says that the reason is clear: “You cannot be baptized a second time because Christ cannot be crucified for you a second time.” The writer of Hebrews makes this very clear.²³ That doesn’t mean we should not repent, but there is no requirement to repeat their baptism.²⁴ The gist of all this suggests that after a person has become a new creation in Christ Jesus and is baptized to show their transformation from the old nature to the new nature, should they once again fall into sinful practices, Christ need not die again for their salvation, and they need not be baptized again since they cannot be born again twice.

Early church scholar Diodore explains that Paul was saying that if Christ could die for a sinner two or three times, there were be no risk in going back to their old sinful ways. However, since He died only once, then those who have participated in His death through baptism and raised to newness of life need not die to sin again either. Says Diodore: “There will be no second baptism, no second death of Christ. Therefore, we must be careful to stay alive.”²⁵

The Apostle John put this in the simplest terms when he said: “If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done… If anyone sins, we have Jesus Christ to help us. He always did what was right, so He is able to defend us before God the Father. Jesus is the way our sins are taken away.”²⁶

Reformer Martin Luther points out that the carnal nature has the seed of the Devil and endeavors to bring forth sin and bear sinful fruit. The spiritual nature has the seed of God and seeks to bring forth obedience and the fruit of righteousness. So as the old saying goes, “One rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel.”²⁷ That’s why it is so important that the Works of the Flesh are not allowed to grow to such a volume that it begins to spoil the Fruit of the Spirit. That is also why the purging power of sanctification is so needed.

We all know that love continues to be the central theme of so many novels, films, songs, theater plays, and poems, they are practically innumerable. Greek dramatist Sophocles (496-406 BC) in his Oedipus Trilogy made this statement: “Have ye to bear your long, long ministry; a heavy load, I know, and yet one word wipes out all score of tribulations – love.”¹ Perhaps by Paul’s day, this was a common proverb since it is repeated by James (5:20) and Peter (1Peter 4:8).

Methodist founder John Wesley preached and taught about entire sanctification which is described as follows: “Entire sanctification is a state of perfect love. It is righteousness and true holiness which every regenerate believer may obtain by being delivered from the power of sin, by loving God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength, and by loving one’s neighbor as one’s self. Through faith in Jesus Christ, this gracious gift may be received in this life both gradually and instantaneously and should be sought earnestly by every child of God.”²

However, to understand love as Paul uses it, we must look to the Scriptures. A search will reveal that nowhere do we find the phrase “God is joy” or “God is peace” or “God is patience;” and on those occasions where the characteristics of God include kindness, goodness, or faithfulness, these are either adjectives or verbs. In order for the Holy Spirit to channel these elements into fruition in our personality, He does so by planting the same essence the Bible reveals as the primary attribute of God – Love.

This love is deposited in our hearts at the moment we are born again; when our salvation from certain damnation is justified because we accepted Christ’s work on the cross. As that love matures in our hearts and minds, we exhibit the results of that growing love as evidence of our sanctification – called the Fruit of the Spirit.³ Maybe we should all begin to pray for sanctification instead of all the things of this world that we want. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

I heard this story once before but was reminded of it when my oldest daughter posted it. So I want to share it with you just in case you’ve never seen it. It should increase your faith in God our Creator. And if you have heard it, it’s still a joy to listen to it again.

Click on the hyperlink below to access the video.

https://answersingenesis.org/biology/microbiology/laminin-and-the-cross/

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER SIX (Lesson VIII)

In a letter early church scholar Ambrose wrote to emperor Constantius, he states that the price was paid on the cross for all mankind through the shedding of the Lord’s blood, a price that had to be paid so that the blood of all humanity was not required. Their blood was mandated by the Law and the sacred customs that were followed according to the precepts of their holy religion. Ambrose then writes, “But, since our Lord Christ suffered, seeing that the ransom is now paid for all, there is no longer any need that the blood of every man one by one should be shed by circumcision. In the blood of Christ, the circumcision of all has been solemnized [observed]. On His cross we are all crucified together with Him and buried in His tomb, and planted together in the likeness of His death that we may no longer be slaves of sin.”¹ Again, we must remind ourselves that these are figures of speech, they are not to be taken literally.

Martin Luther points out that humankind’s original nature was good and pure, but it was sin that corrupted that innocence, and by doing so mankind was reduced to having an evil nature with wicked tendencies. Keeping this in mind, it is understandable how some who have not yet been reborn can still act morally right and be seen as being good. But that is not enough. The virus of sin must be removed so that the Spirit of Christ can live corrupt free in His new creation.²

John Calvin says this is why Paul declares that such a corrupt nature must be fastened to the cross of Christ so that Christ’s death will render it powerless. This regeneration cannot be accomplished any other way. So by being joined with Christ on the cross, we are then able to bud and grow into the kind of person that resembles Christ more than it does Adam. Adam Clarke then makes the point that no amount of words will confirm that a person has been grafted into Christ, it will take evidence that such a union exists. It is like when antibiotic crème is put on an infection. The rash does not disappear within minutes. Sometimes it takes days, even weeks before it fades away. So when a person declares that they are born again. It may take awhile, but sooner or later evidence of the cure will be clearly seen.³

British Methodist preacher Joseph Benson gives his thoughts on Paul’s assertion that if we are united with Christ in life, we will certainly be united with Him in resurrection. He sees it is a robust and beautiful expression because our complete depravity and corruption, which, by nature, metastasized throughout the human race, and left no part unaffected. This malady is exactly what dies on the cross with Christ. It may die slowly, but our unity with Christ ensures its demise. When we remember the cross and the power it has, along with all the help which the Gospel says is available, designed to destroy all such corrupt passions and sinful habits, it should inspire us to have nothing to do with them under any circumstances. The reason this is so important is that from birth the body is subordinate to sin. Benson compliments the Apostle Paul for personifying sin in a manner similar to animated writers, who make their discourses lively and compelling. They speak of the virtues and vices as individuals. This is not that hard to do because our corrupt passions and evil actions are members of the old nature.⁴ Such tendencies cannot be overcome by treating the symptoms; they must be rendered utterly useless forever so that we are not obligated to serve sin anymore.⁵

Robert Haldane points out that the whole purpose of the believer’s crucifixion with Christ was to liberate mankind from being sin slaves. This comes from the fact that all people who do not accept Christ as their Savior will remain enslaved to sin. This was always the case of servants who remained under the power of their masters. Also, the purpose of our crucifixion with Christ, by faith in His death, was that we might be delivered from our own bondage. This is why believers should resist sin in order to avoid being returned to slavery. Since this is the design of Christ’s crucifixion, anyone who is still enslaved to sin cannot be considered as crucified with Christ. Christians are to be known by the way they live just as a tree is known by its fruit. It was the result of Paul’s crucifixion with Christ that caused him to say, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me.”⁶ Haldane then goes on to say: “These are the grounds on which justification and sanctification are inseparably connected, and the reasons why those who are dead to sin, or, as it is here expressed, justified from sin, can no longer live therein. From all this, we see the necessity of retaining the Apostle’s expression in the verse before us, justified from sin.”⁷

Charles Hodge points out that Scriptures everywhere define and describe the fall of Adam and native depravity of mankind. Everyone is born subject to the wrath of God. As such, we are aliens to the commonwealth of Israel. We are without God, and without hope. This is the natural state and way of living for everyone born in this world. Says Hodge: “Through the redemption that is in Christ, a radical change is effected; old things pass away, all things become new.⁸ The old man, our corrupt [human] nature which is prior in time, is crucified, and a [spiritual] nature new and holy is induced.”⁹

As Albert Barnes makes note Paul’s term, “body of sin.” He takes this expression to mean what Apostle Paul described as, “our old man.” But Barnes questions why the term “body” is used. It has been a point of disagreement among interpreters of Paul’s writings for a long time. Some say it is the way that Jews denoted intensity or emphasis. Others purport that it is to be taken as a reference to our flesh, identifying our sinful propensities and lusts. However, for Barnes, it is merely another form of conveying the idea contained in the phrase “our old man.” It is a way of personifying sin in living form. This is how it is put to death on a cross. Barnes goes on to say: “It refers to the moral destruction of the power of sin in the heart by the Gospel, and not to any physical change in the nature or faculties of the soul.¹⁰ Sin becomes debilitated, weakened, and finally annihilated, by the work of the Cross… That we should not be subject to its control. The sense is, that before this we were slaves of sin but now we are made free from this bondage because the moral death of sin has freed us from it. Sin is here personified as a master that had dominion over us, but is now dead.”¹¹

Preacher Octavius Winslow offers something for all of us the think about with regard to remarks on how what Paul says here affects the direction and encouragement of Sanctification. He cautions that we should not misunderstand the true nature of sanctification. First of all, it is an internal and radical change. Secondly, any personal mortification of external sinful habits does not rise to the level necessary to qualify for what the Gospel defines as sanctification. It is understood that external transformation of lifestyle and attire is part of real holiness, but it means nothing without first having a clean heart and cleansed soul. People may eliminate what they consider as sinful, but fail to remove the principle that causes such sin, allowing it to operate with impunity. Winslow illustrates it this way: “We may visit a forest, and level a tall cedar to the earth; yet, if we leave the root deeply embedded in the soil, the vital principle yet remaining in all its vigor, what marvel if, in the course of time, that root shall again shoot forth, and branch out as before?” Genuine sanctification, therefore, requires daily expunging of the root from which sin springs. This requires a continuous effort to eradicate the virus that causes the disease of sin. Says Winslow: “The Word of God bears us out in this: ‘And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.’¹² ‘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.’¹³ Do not rest short of this. Would you be holy as God is holy and happy as the saints in glory are happy? – then must you reach after this and rest not until you attain it.”

I also like when Winslow says that as a result of sanctification, we are motivated to seek higher ground in holiness. He tells us that we should never be satisfied with a limited measure of grace, or with an inferior faith. We should not be satisfied with just enough Christianity to get us into heaven. Winslow laments that there are too many Christians who are content with this. They seem satisfied to wait and see if they make it into heaven in the end. They leave the great question of their acceptance to be decided in another world, and not in this one. They rest on what little information they have, evidence that is weak and questionable. They point to some early experience, some impression, or sensation, or short-lived joy that long ago disappeared. They are content to live and die this way.

Winslow makes it clear that we should never become satisfied with anything less than making Jesus Christ, Lord of our lives. As Paul said, we are to forget everything that is behind us and look forward to that which is ahead of us,¹⁴ to advance in our sanctification. To do so, we must seek to have the daily witness of communion with God. Not just for our sake, but for the sake of others and for Christ’s sake. This allows us to follow Peter’s advice: “Give all diligence to make our calling and election sure.”¹⁵ Winslow concludes with this warning: “Beware of self-dependence in this work. Remember the words that Jesus once spoke to His disciples, and now speaks to you, ‘Without me, you can do nothing.’¹⁶ Self-trust, self-complacency, self-boasting, all must be crucified; and, strong only in the strength that is in Christ Jesus, must the believer gird himself to the work. Our wisdom is to go in our weakness and folly to Jesus. In this lies the great secret of our victory: ‘When I am weak, then am I strong.’¹⁷ ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’¹⁸ ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.‘¹⁹”²⁰

Charles Spurgeon gives us an eloquent treatment of this subject: “God has driven the nails through the active powers of our sin, both hands and feet are fastened to the cross of Christ, and although the heart and the head may sometimes wander, yet our old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin may be destroyed; and we are looking forward to that happy day when the old man shall be dead altogether, and we shall be made ready to enter into the inheritance of the saints in light. We believe that our old man will never die until we die, but we thank God that the death of our body will be also the death of the body of sin.”²¹

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER SIX (Lesson VII)

Verse 5: Christ died, and if we have also been planted with Him by dying, we will certainly be joined with Him by rising from death as He did.

In case there was any doubt in the minds of those believers in Rome reading this letter as to what Paul was trying to illustrate through baptism, he now makes it crystal clear. This was in line with what he wrote the Ephesians,¹ something he also shared with the Philippians: “All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised Him from death. I want to share in His sufferings and be like Him even in His death. Then there is hope that I myself will somehow be raised from death.”²

Those Jewish members of the church in Rome who were familiar with Scripture may have been reminded of God’s word to His people: “Judah, I planted you like a special vine. You were all from good seed. How did you turn into a different vine that grows bad fruit?”³ But Paul may have had these words of our Lord on his mind: “It is a fact that a grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die before it can grow and produce much more wheat. If it never dies, it will never be more than a single seed. Whoever loves the life they have now will lose it. But whoever is willing to give up their life in this world will keep it. They will have eternal life.”⁴

Martin Luther points out that just as a branch grafted into a tree has the same life or death in common with the tree, we will partake both of the life and death benefits in Christ. Because, if we are grafted according to the likeness of Christ’s death, which was not without a resurrection, then our death shall not be without a resurrection.⁵ The resurrection Paul is speaking of here first is the new creature in Christ Jesus who rises from the death of the old nature, and it is this new nature that is guaranteed resurrection when its earthly house is destroyed by death.

Robert Haldane points out that Paul states: “If we have been planted with Christ.” This life and resurrection are not automatic just because you read the Bible or attend Church. The conditional statement “if,” is evidently founded on Paul’s premise of what it takes. And this postulation is clear: If we are dead and buried with Christ in relationship to sin, then we will equally be with Him in His resurrection in connection to everlasting life. If we have been buried with Christ, so we shall rise with Christ. Haldane then repeats Paul’s phrase of Planted together. He notes that this word in the original Greek refers to trees, and designates planting them side-by-side. Says Haldane: “It signifies the closest union of any kind, as being incorporated, growing together, joined with, united. The meaning, then, is, that as in baptism we have been exhibited as one with Christ in His death, so in due time we shall be conformed to Him in the likeness of His resurrection.”⁶

Albert Barnes also notes that the Greek adjective symphytos (planted) used here, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It identifies vegetation planted at the same time so that it sprouts and grows together. A field of grain that was sown at the same time, so everything grew simultaneously was given this name. Hence, it means closely connected, or joined together. Says Barnes: “Here it denotes that Christians and the Savior have been united intimately in regard to death; as He died and was laid in the grave, so have they by profession died to sin. And it is, therefore, natural to expect that, like grain sown at the same time, they should grow up in a similar manner, and resemble each other.”

Barnes goes on to say that similar to such fellow-plants, we too will resemble Him on the day of resurrection. However, Barnes also believes that as Christ rose from the grave, so will we rise from sin. As He lived a new life after being raised up, we likewise will live a new life. The validity of using such a figure of speech is taken from the New Testament doctrine of union between Christ and His followers. In Barnes’ mind, Paul’s use of this factor is drawn from what was said by the Savior Himself: “Because I live, ye shall live also.”⁷ Says Barnes: “There is perhaps not to be found a more beautiful illustration than that employed here by the Apostle of seed sown together in the earth, sprouting together, growing together, and ripening together for the harvest. Thus, the Savior and His people are united together in His death, start up to life together in His resurrection, and are preparing together for the same harvest of glory in the heavens.”⁸

Adam Clarke makes it clear that the death of Jesus Christ is represented as the seed from which His fruitfulness springs. Just as Christ is the author of eternal salvation passed on to all who believe; and as genuine believers in Him are represented as being planted in His death, and springing up out of it; that all their growth, vigor, firmness, beauty, and fruitfulness follows from it. Says Clarke: “In a word, it is by His death that Jesus Christ redeems a lost world; and it is from that vicarious death that believers derive that pardon and holiness which makes them so happy in themselves, and so useful to others. This sacrificial death is the soil in which they are planted; and from which they derive their life, fruitfulness, and their final glory.”⁹

Charles Hodge believes that Paul’s whole discussion here relates to sanctification. There is a necessary connection between the death of Christ as an atonement for sin, and the holiness of His people. As such, those who are cleansed and pardoned from the guilt and punishment of sin, are likewise cleansed also from its pollution. Hodge says that this is evident. But he goes on to caution that we cannot eliminate all references to the future resurrection of the body.¹⁰

Then Charles Ellicott makes an important point on how our growing in Christ should be understood. He points out that the Greek word “symphytos” uses here does not necessarily mean “planted.” Rather, it means to be conjoined, united, growing together. It is used only once here in the New Testament. Ellicott says: “The metaphor is taken from the parasitic growth of a plant, but applies to natural growth, not ‘planted together with,’ as in the Authorized version. The idea would correspond to the growth of a bud or graft regarded as part of that of the stock in which it is inserted, but without reference to the operation of budding or grafting. It is used here to express the closest intimacy and union.”¹¹

One Jewish scholar makes an interesting comparison between this verse and verse 4. In his mind, in baptism, we are conformed to Christ’s death, and in being baptized, we conform to His moral life. This writer believes that Paul’s words may be rooted in Isaiah’s saying, “by His stripes, we are healed.”¹² He bases this on the fact that the Hebrew root word for “stripes” is chabbuwrah, which comes from the root chabar, meaning, “to be joined.¹³”¹⁴ This might give us pause to revisit what Paul said to Timothy: “If we suffer with Him, we will also reign with Him.”¹⁵

Verses 6-7: We know that our old life was put to death on the cross with Christ. This happened so that our sinful selves would no longer have power over us. That would make us slaves to sin. That’s why anyone who has died in Christ is made free from sin’s control.

Here Paul lays another layer on his teaching of how we become new creatures in Christ Jesus, which he illustrated with the ordinance of water baptism. We see this same concept in Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “I am not the one living now – it is Christ living in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God. He is the One who loved me and gave Himself to save me.”¹⁶ That’s why he goes on to explain: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their sinful self. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do. We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.”¹⁷

Paul encouraged the Colossians to live a positive life: “You are now wearing a new life, a life that is new every day. You are growing in your understanding of the one who made you. You are becoming more and more like Him.”¹⁸ This echoes the cry we find in Isaiah’s Song of Praise: “Lord, you are our God, but in the past, we followed other lords. We belonged to other masters, but now we want people to remember only one name – Yours.”¹⁹ This confession of faith was necessary. We cannot forget what happened to the children of Israel when after centuries living in squalor in Egypt, being slaves and beaten by their Egyptian masters as they slaved in the hot sun, they still complained to Moses after being miraculously delivered: “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt — it cost us nothing! — and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic!”²⁰

The Jews refer to what was said by God Himself on such serious flaws in man’s mind: “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind since the imaginings of a person’s heart are evil from his youth.”²¹ One Jewish scholar puts God’s words here in paraphrase: “I must not allow them opportunities to sin, since they refrain from sin only out of fear of My retribution. Were they to know that I have sworn an oath not to bring a general calamity on mankind, they would continue sinning every day.”²² Paul was not convinced of such an argument. He says that people must put to death the very desire to sin, and the only way to do so is to crucify the carnal nature with Christ.²³ And the Apostle Peter has this to say: “Christ suffered while He was in his body. So you should strengthen yourselves with the same kind of thinking Christ had. The one who accepts suffering in this life has clearly decided to stop sinning.”²⁴

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER SIX (Lesson VI)

Reformer Martin Luther makes the point that after Jesus rose from the dead, He paid no attention to what might be going on back at the tomb. He was only interested in what was happening in the hearts and minds of His followers.¹ In the same manner, once our old carnal nature is buried in Christ, the new person must not become preoccupied with what was done in the past. They should put their trust and energy in what is expected of them in the present.

John Calvin followed by saying that the object is that when we become dead to our old selves, we might then become new creatures in Christ. For Calvin, Paul makes a transition from a fellowship in death to a fellowship in life. These two things are tied together with a tight knot – that our old sinful nature is destroyed by the death of Christ, and that His resurrection brings righteousness, and renders us, new creatures. Says Calvin: “Surely, since Christ has been given to us for life, to what purpose is it that we die with him except that we may rise to a better life? And hence for no other reason does he slay what is mortal in us, but that he may give us life again.”²

Between the Reformation period and the Wesleyan Revival era (AD 1500-1800), some scholars expressed doubt that baptism by immersion was demanded here by Paul. For instance, John Bengel (AD 1687-1752) says: “The fruits of the burial of Christ. Immersion in baptism, or at least the sprinkling of water upon the person, represents burial, burial is a confirmation of death.”³ Adam Clarke suggests we look at it as drowning the old sinful nature. He writes: “Drowning among the ancients was considered the most noble kind of death; some think that the Apostle may allude to this. The grand point is that this baptism represents our death to sin, and our obligation to walk in newness of life: without which, of what use can it or any other rite be?”⁴

Great Methodist preacher Joseph Benson joins Paul in asking if any believer can be ignorant of this great and obvious truth, that so many of us as were baptized, were baptized into Christ. By that he means, all baptized believers have openly professed their Christian faith and by faith have been made part of the mystical body of Christ by baptism. It also implies that all who engaged in baptism are thereby conformed to His death, by dying to sin, just as He died for sin. In doing so, they crucified their flesh with its affections and lusts, just as His body was crucified on the cross. This allows them to then become partakers of all the benefits thereof, one of which is the mortification of sin and all sinful passions. Says Benson, being baptized into Christ, or ingrafted into Him through faith, we draw new spiritual life from this new root, through His Spirit, who fashions us like unto Him, and especially regarding His death and resurrection.”⁵

Then Albert Barnes notes that it is altogether probable that the Apostle was referencing the custom of baptizing by immersion here. Barnes agrees that this cannot be proven beyond doubt, but he says: “I presume that this is the idea which would strike the great mass of unprejudiced readers.” Although Barnes agrees that this may be true, he is confident that Paul’s main scope and intention was not in trying to describe the mode of baptism; nor to affirm that that mode was to be universal. Instead, it was to show that we mean the solemn profession we make before our baptism, That we had become dead to sin, the same way Christ died to the world around Him when He was buried. And that as He was raised up to life, so we should also rise to a new life. A similar expression occurs in Colossians 2:12, ‘Buried with Him in baptism.”⁶

Preacher Octavius Winslow, in one of his sermons on Sanctification, point to the phrase: “Planted in the likeness of His death’ ‘our old man crucified with him’ ‘the body of sin destroyed’ ‘that henceforth we should not serve sin.’⁷ By this, says Winslow, the atoning blood of Jesus lays the foundation of all future degrees of sanctification. It all begins at the cross of Christ, he says, it is the starting point for the soul in its holiness journey, and the goal to which it often returns. At the cross, the body of sin is fatally wounded, and from it, pardon, and peace, and holiness flow; and through it, the soul daily rises to God in a holy surrender of itself to His service. Says Winslow: “Let no man dream of true mortification of sin, of real sanctification of heart, who does not deal constantly, closely, and believingly with the atoning blood of Jesus. The Holy Spirit brings the cross into the soul and lays it upon the heart to be the death of sin. ‘I am crucified with Christ.’⁸ ‘That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.’⁹ ‘I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus’¹⁰ – and see how the cross lifted Him above the world and deadened Him to it – “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.’¹¹ Thus did Paul breathe after and attain unto holiness.”¹²

Robert Haldane gives us something interesting to think about concerning baptism in that the death of Christ was meant to destroy sin, and His burial to prove that He really died. For Haldane, Christians are represented as being buried with Christ by baptism. This signifies that actually died with Him. As such, if they were buried with Him they will surely not remain in the grave. Just as Christ arose from the dead, so shall they also rise. Says Haldane: “Their baptism, then, is the figure of their complete deliverance from the guilt of sin, signifying that God places to their account the death of Christ as their own death: it is also a figure of their purification and resurrection for the service of God.”¹³ In other words, our baptism can be seen as representing two deaths and two resurrections. First, our old nature dies in Christ, and we are resurrected to newness of life alive in Christ. Second, because of the first meaning, we also can be assured that if we then die as Christ died and are buried as He was buried, we will also be resurrected to live with Him eternally.

H. A. Ironside also addresses his view of baptism: “In my baptism, I confess that I have died to the old life as a man in Adam under the dominion of sin. I am through with all that. Now let me prove the reality of this by living the life of a resurrected man-a man linked up with Christ on the other side of death-as I walk in newness of life. Thus all thought of living in sin is rejected, all antinomianism refuted.¹⁴ My new life is to answer to the confession made in my baptism. I am to realize practically my identification with Christ. I have been planted together with Him in the similitude of His death-that is, in baptism – I shall be (one with Him) also in the similitude of His resurrection. I do not live under sin’s domination. I live unto God as He does who is my new Head.”¹⁵

Charles Hodge explains that we must participate in Christ’s death to be partakers of His life. We share in what His dying provides so we may enjoy what His living supplies. Hodge notes that Justification is necessary for sanctification to develop and mature. Says Hodge: “The two are inseparable.” So he concludes: “There can be no participation in Christ’s life without a participation in His death, and we cannot enjoy the benefits of his death unless we are partakers of the power of His life. We must be reconciled to God in order to be holy, and we cannot be reconciled without thereby becoming holy.”¹⁶

From Frédéric Godet’s point of view, the relationship between burial and baptism, as indicated by the Apostle is this: Burial is the act which breaks of the last tie between man and his earthly life. This is exactly what our Lord’s burial was intended to show. In the same way, by being baptized the believer publicly proclaims their break with the lifestyle of the present world, as well as his own. The Apostle Paul does not rest his case on the bare facts of Christ’s resurrection, but solely on its permanent consequence, the new life which flows from it, allowing believers to walk in newness of life. His purpose in doing so is that he can persuade all believers not to return to their former life. This results from living in reality rather than the act upon which it is based.”¹⁷

F. F. Bruce says that just as burial places a seal on death, so baptism is a token burial in which the old order of life in sin comes to an end, to be replaced by the new order of life in Christ. It is clear that Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of God the Father. Bruce notes that the word ‘glory’ applies particularly to God’s glorious power. In other words, “To the working of His great might which He accomplished in Christ when He raised him from the dead.”¹⁸ So, says Bruce: “We too might walk in newness of life. This is the new mode or quality of life which results from the impartation of Christ’s risen power to the believer. Paul and other New Testament writers frequently use the verb ‘walk’ in this ethical sense.¹⁹”²⁰

And Douglas Moo makes this statement: “Baptism stands for our whole conversion experience. By it, we have been brought into union with Christ and the powerful events of His redemptive work. The effects of these events are therefore at work in us. That means we now have the ability to ‘live a new life.’”²¹ This is why it is important that we do not put too much emphasis on grace being part of our participation in the sacraments. Participating in the sacraments alone are not what God is looking for. Rather, He wants to see how such ordinances influence and motivate us in the newness of life in Christ.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER SIX (Lesson V)

British theologian F. F. Bruce explains the symbolism of water baptism this way: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ,¹ – i.e. you have been incorporated in Him, have become members of His body,² and so have shared by faith-union with Him those experiences which were His historically: His crucifixion and burial, His resurrection and exaltation.” Bruce says we can get further enlightenment on Paul’s doctrine of baptism where he points out that all the Israelites who left Egypt are said to have been “baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”³ Therefore, let’s think of Pharaoh and his army as the devil’s horde and the bondage of sin and the Red Sea as a baptismal river. Then, water baptism should seal the believer’s exodus, his deliverance from the bondage of sin, and his entry into a new life of freedom, just as the Israelites were freed from Egyptian bondage under the power of Pharaoh to live in freedom.⁴

Karl Barth says that we should see baptism as a sacrament of truth and holiness. To him, it is a sacrament because it is the sign which directs us to God’s revelation of eternal life. Once we realize this, then the Gospel is no longer a Christian “myth,” but the Word from God. Says Barth: “It does not merely signify eternal reality, but is eternal reality, because it points significantly beyond its own concreteness. Baptism mediates the new creation: it is not itself grace, but from first to last a means of grace.”⁵

John Stott gives an excellent exposition on how to answer those who ask whether Christian people are free to sin and how it betrays their complete ignorance of what their baptism meant. He says that in order to grasp Paul’s argument we need three clarifications about baptism. First, the word baptism means water baptism unless it is stated otherwise… Secondly, baptism signifies our union with Christ, especially with Christ crucified and risen… Thirdly, baptism does not by itself secure what it signifies. Writes Stott: “To be sure, the New Testament speaks of baptism in terms of our washing away our sins, our clothing ourselves with Christ, and even of our being saved by it, but these are examples of dynamic language which attributes to the visible sign the blessing of the reality signified. It is inconceivable that the Apostle Paul, having spent three chapters arguing that justification is by faith alone, should now shift his ground, contradict himself, and declare that after all salvation is by baptism.”⁶ Stott is not suggesting that Paul did have a change of heart, but that this would have been contrary to his own thinking.

Jewish scholar David Stern points out that the Greek word ‘baptizô,’ usually transliterated ‘baptized,’ comes from the root meaning to “dip, soak, immerse” into a liquid so that what is dipped takes on qualities of what it has been dipped in. This would apply to such things as cloth in dye or leather in tanning solution.⁷ He says: “This is why being immersed into the Messiah (v. 3) is equated with being united with Him (v. 5). These verses support the case that immersion is the preferred form of baptism, since baptism is compared here with burial, and burial resembles immersion but does not resemble pouring or sprinkling.”⁸

Verse 4: So when we were baptized we were buried with Christ in His death. And, as Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father, so likewise we were given a new life to live.

Paul now expands on how baptism both represents the end of an old life and the raising a new life with Christ as the source of our living spirit. No other religion teaches this concept. That’s why Paul was so excited about sharing it. He wrote about this to the Colossians: “When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and you were raised up with Him because of your faith in God’s power. God’s power was shown when He raised Christ from death. You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self. But God gave you new life together with Christ.”⁹

It is clear that Paul is speaking of spiritual death and life, not physical. However, at the end of life, this process will be repeated after our physical bodies are buried and return to the earth, we will be raised with spiritual bodies to live forever with God. This is how Paul puts it: “Your old-self has died, and your new life is kept with Christ in God. Yes, Christ is now your life, and when He comes again, you will share in His glory.”¹⁰ This was not new to Pauline theology, remember what he said to the Corinthians: “God will raise our bodies from death with the same power He used to raise the Lord Jesus.”¹¹

But he takes this a little further in another letter to the Corinthians: “For although the Messiah was executed on a stake in weakness, now He lives by God’s power.”¹² In other words, believers also were weak when their old nature was buried in death by immersion, but through God’s power they were raised to new life and continue to live that life by God’s power. Paul put it this way to the Ephesians: “You will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe. It is the same as the mighty power He used to raise Christ from death and put Him at His right side in the heavenly places.”¹³ Later in the same letter, Paul says: “We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against Him. But He gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with Him in the heavenly places.”¹⁴

So, the born again experience is more than just a spiritual catharsis, it also affects our physical bodies since they are now the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Paul explained it this way: “When anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new world. The old things are gone; suddenly, everything is new! All this is from God.”¹⁵ No wonder Paul had to admonish the Ephesians about letting down their guard: “You were taught to leave your old self. This means that you must stop living the evil way you lived before. That old-self gets worse and worse because people are fooled by the evil they want to do. You must be made new in your hearts and in your thinking. Be that new person who was made to be like God, truly good and pleasing to Him.”¹⁶

Paul also had words of encouragement for the Colossians for whom he prayed every day. He told them, this is what I pray: “That God will make you completely sure of what He wants by giving you all the wisdom and spiritual understanding you need; that this will help you live in a way that brings honor to the Lord and pleases Him in every way; that your life will produce good works of every kind and that you will grow in your knowledge of God; that God will strengthen you with His own great power, so that you will be patient and not give up when troubles come.”¹⁷ What a beautiful prayer that we can emulate when praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ on a daily basis.

That’s why Paul could say to them later: “Now you are wearing a new life, a life that is new every day. You are growing in your understanding of the One who made you. You are becoming more and more like Him.”¹⁸ The Apostle Peter may have had this same thought in mind when he wrote: “Be careful that you do not fall from your strong faith. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory be to Him, now and forever! Amen.”¹⁹ No Christian should want to see a fellow believer fall or go astray. Unfortunately, criticism and condemnation are offered too often instead of compassion and care. Praying for one another should not be something we are asked to do, but something we do out of the graciousness and goodness of our heart.

Early church scholar Origen has an interesting commentary here in which he notes that since Christ rose from the dead by the glory of the Father, and we have died to sin and are buried together with Christ, that all who see our good works can glorify our Father in heaven.²⁰ Consequently, it can be rightly said to have risen together with Christ by the glory of the Father so that we may walk in newness of life. For Origen, this newness of life occurs when we have successfully, “Put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new man who has been created according to God,”²¹ and, “Who is renewed in the knowledge of God according to the image of Him who created him.”²² But Origen warns that we should not think that this renewal of life, which is said to take place once for all, is enough by itself. This newness must constantly and daily be refreshed.²³ When Paul said: “That we too might walk in newness of life,”²⁴ he was revealing the spiritual principle that as long as we are making progress, we may be said to be walking in Him. Christians should not be thought of as walking around aimlessly. Says Origen, “Rather, those who are making progress will eventually come to the place where they ought to be.”²⁵

Early church Bishop Cyril emphasizes that Emmanuel gave up His soul for us. He indeed died in the flesh. So when we are baptized, does our flesh die in the same way His did? Not hardly. Origen then explains in what sense we were buried with Him in a death like His. Since Christ died in the flesh to remove the sin of the world, we do not die to the flesh but to guilt, As Paul wrote: “We must break down the power of sin within us by mortifying our earthly members.”²⁶ Also, “As we have died a death like His, so we shall also be conformed to His resurrection because we shall live in Christ.”²⁷ Origen points out: “It is true that the flesh will come to life again, but still we shall live in another way, by dedicating our souls to Him and by being transformed into holiness and a kind of glorious life in the Holy Spirit.²⁸”²⁹

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER SIX (Lesson IV)

Early church scholar Ambrosiaster gives his view on the effect water baptism should have on our attitude toward sin: “Once we have been baptized, we should no longer sin since when we are baptized, we die with Christ.”¹ Ambrosiaster goes on to explain that this is what it means to be baptized into Christ’s death. By doing so, all our sins have been cast off as dead, and being renewed we might rise as those who have been born again to new life, so that just as Christ died to sin and rose again, so through baptism we are seen as rising with new hope of resurrection day. Therefore, baptism is the death of sin so that a new birth might follow, which, although the body remains, nevertheless, we are renewed in our mind because all our old evil deeds are buried. With this understanding of what Paul is saying, it does make the thought of going back into sin even more incredulous.

Reformer Martin Luther gives his comment on the same subject: “We are not found in a state of perfection as soon as we have been baptized into Jesus Christ and His death. Having been baptized into His death, we merely strive to obtain (the blessings of) this death and to reach our goal of glory.”² In Luther’s mind, when we are baptized, it signifies that we are going from certain death into a new life in the kingdom of heaven. But we do not immediately move into eternal life in its fullness. Rather, we have taken our first steps toward eternal life. Luther goes on to say, he believes baptism is necessary because it should place us on a dead-end road in search of sin.

John Calvin follows the same theme: “Paul takes up another principle — that we are then really united with the body of Christ, when His death brings forth in us its fruit; yes, he teaches us, that this fellowship [with Christ] is to be regarded in baptism as a form of death; for washing is not the only thing displayed in baptism, but also the putting to death and the dying of the old man.”³ From Calvin’s point of view, once we become partakers of the grace of Christ, immediately the effectiveness of His sacrifice as an expiation and propitiation for our sins takes effect. But the ultimate benefit of this fellowship as to the death of Christ will come later when we are raised to eternal life.

John Bengel also mentions that when Paul wrote this letter, it is clear that most Christians had been baptized by that time. So explaining baptism to new converts was well suited at this point because as adults they were worthy candidates for baptism, having passed through the experiences that Paul had been writing about. Bengel notes that Paul in his Church epistles,⁴ at the beginning of which he calls himself an Apostle, mentions baptism expressly. Also, that the ground upon which baptism is based is Christ Jesus. Bengel remarks that in some cases, the name Christ is put first because it is more apt for the occasion.⁵ Bengel likens baptism this way: When a person is baptized, they put on Christ, the second Adam. It is the same thing as if, at that moment, Christ suffered, died, and was buried for that person, and, that person suffered, died, and was buried with Christ.⁶ It is evident that Bengel is speaking here spiritually and figuratively.

Adam Clarke explains that every person who believes in the Christian faith and receives baptism as proof that he actually believes it, and takes possession of it, must be committed to living a life of doing what is right according to the teachings of Christ. For Clarke, to be baptized into Christ is to acknowledge the doctrine of Christ crucified, and to undertake baptism as a proof of the genuineness of that faith, and the obligation to live according to its precepts. Clarke writes: “As Jesus Christ in His crucifixion died completely, so that no spark of the natural or animal life remained in His body, so those who profess His teachings should be so completely separated and saved from sin, that they have no more connection with it, nor any more influence from it, than a dead man has with or from his departed spirit.”⁷ This is where sanctification blossoms after the new birth.

Robert Haldane shares his thoughts on this same subject. In this verse, Haldane sees Paul proving that Christians should consider themselves as dead to sin because they died with Christ. In his view, the rite of baptism exhibits Christians as dying, buried, and risen with Christ. The Apostle was referring to what he believed was well-known to those whom he addresses. They were aware that by faith believers are made one with Christ and that they become members of His body. For Haldane, this union with Christ is represented emblematically by baptism. Not only that but in baptism, they are also described as dying with Christ who bore their sins. Therefore, the satisfaction rendered to the justice of God by Christ, is a satisfaction from them, as they are now constituent parts of His body.

Haldane goes on the make a significant point: “The figure of baptism was very early mistaken for a reality, and accordingly some of the [church] fathers speak of the baptized person as truly born again in the water. They supposed him to go into the water with all his sins upon him and to come out of it without them. This indeed is the case with baptism figuratively. But the carnal mind soon turned the figure into a reality. It appears to the impatient man a too tedious and ineffectual way to wait on God’s method of converting sinners by His Holy Spirit through the truth, and, therefore, they have effected this much more extensively by the performance of external rites.”⁸ As Haldane says, this is an attempt on man’s part to go ahead and do what the Holy Spirit is ordained to do because they do not want to wait for God to act. However, if a person’s certificate of baptism does not have the stamp of the Holy Spirit on it, it is worthless even if the stamp of the church is displayed there.

Albert Barnes added his insight to the effect of baptism: “The act of baptism denotes dedication to the service of Him in whose name we are baptized. One of its designs is to dedicate or consecrate us to the service of Christ.” Barnes then points out that the Israelites are said to have been ‘baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;’⁹ that is, they became consecrated, or dedicated, or bound to him as their leader and lawgiver. Here in this narrative, the argument of the Apostle Paul is evidently drawn from the supposition that we have been solemnly consecrated by baptism to the service of Christ; and that to sin, therefore, is a violation of the very nature of our Christian profession.¹⁰

H. A. Ironside follows this same thought pattern: “Israelites were ‘baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.’ They passed through death as a figure [of speech], and Moses was their new leader. Pharaoh’s dominion was ended so far as they were concerned.¹¹ So we who are saved are now baptized the death of Christ. We have accepted His death as ours, knowing that He died in our place. We are baptized unto Him as the new Leader.”¹² Ironside then asks if this the baptism in the Holy Spirit? He does not think so. He explains that the Spirit does not baptize unto death, but into a new life in the Body of Christ. In other words, water baptism signals the end of something old, whereas, Holy Spirit baptism signifies the start of something new.

But Charles Hodge raises an important point: “No fact is more obvious than that thousands baptized [today] are unregenerate. It cannot be, therefore, that the Apostle intends to say, that all who are [merely] baptized are thereby united with Christ in salvation. It is not of the efficacy of baptism as an external rite that he assumes his readers are well informed: it is of the import and design of that sacrament, and the nature of the union with Christ, of which baptism is the sign and the seal. It is the constant usage of Scripture to address professors as believers, to demand of them as professors what is true of them only as believers.”¹³ It’s another way of saying that water baptism does not save a sinner nor does it make the sinner a new creation in Christ Jesus. Baptism follows faith, faith does not follow baptism.

Hodge goes on to say that this is why we address a company of professing Christians as true Christians and why we call them brethren in Christ. We also speak of them as beloved of the Lord, partakers of the heavenly calling, and heirs of eternal life. Thus, baptism was the appointed mode of professing faith in Christ, of avowing allegiance to Him as the Son of God, and acceptance of His gospel. Therefore, when a person is baptized into Christ, they are baptized in the likeness of His death. So, Hodge asks, how then can a person who was sincere in receiving baptism with its intended design and import, live in sin? That is impossible. The act of faith implied and expressed in baptism, is receiving Christ as our sanctification as well as our righteousness.

Then Hodge adds that although justification is the primary object of the death of Christ, yet justification leads to sanctification. Christ died that He might purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.¹⁴ If such is the intimate connection between justification and sanctification in the purpose of God giving His Son to die for us, there must be an intimate like connection between them in the experience of the believer. The very act of faith by which we receive Christ as the propitiation for sin is spiritual death to sin. It is by its very nature a renunciation of everything which it was the design of Christ’s death to destroy. So we can see that regeneration and sanctification are part and parcel of the new birth.

Frederic Godet lays out his understanding: “When one is baptized into Christ, it is by virtue of His death that the bond thus formed with Him is contracted. For by His blood we have been bought with a price. Baptism serves only to give Him in fact what belongs to Him in right by this act of purchase. Baptism thus supposes the death of Christ and that of the baptized man himself (through the appropriation of Christ’s death).”¹⁵ And Charles Ellicott adds this: “Why has baptism this special connection with the death of Christ? In the first place, the death of Christ is the central and cardinal fact of the Christian plan. It is specially related to justification, and justification proceeds from faith, which is ratified in baptism. In the second place, the symbolism of baptism was such as naturally to harmonize with the symbolism of death. It was the final close of one period, and the beginning of another—the complete stripping off of the past and putting on of the ‘new man.””¹⁶

Norman Cousins, Adjunct Professor of Medical Humanities at the University of California, and later, Editor-in-Chief of Saturday Review of Literature, was quoted as saying: “Hope, faith, love and a strong will to live offer no promise of immortality, only proof of our uniqueness as human beings and the opportunity to experience full growth even under the grimmest circumstances. Far more real than the ticking of time is the way we open up the minutes and invest them with meaning. Death is not the ultimate tragedy in life. The ultimate tragedy is to die without discovering the possibilities of full growth.”¹

Unfortunately, we live in a day and age when people are beginning to think that everything should come to them. That they don’t have to go out and seek and strive to attain what will give them a satisfied and productive life. They have become content with what others can give them, not what they could achieve with study, hard work, and dedication to a mission and goal in life. So when they die, what can they point to as their contribution to society and the significant changes made by their being present in this world. As Mr. Cousins indicated, it’s like watching a flower die that never had a chance to blossom and bloom, or a thoroughbred colt pass away that never was given the opportunity to run the triple crown races it may have won. Don’t let that be you. – Dr. Robert R Seyda