Have you ever wanted to start over? To start from the beginning? How about just starting your life over? At least your adult life? Some people change jobs in the hope of starting life over. Some people move to a new location.
New. There is something very appealing about “newness.” Starting over. Going back to the beginning. Jesus gives us a chance to start over in our spiritual lives with God and the nice thing about it is that this “newness” can be an ongoing experience with God.
THE “NEWNESS” IS AVAILABLE PERPETUALLY – 6:1-2:
These two verses set the discussion about “newness” into a larger context. “Grace” is favor that is not deserved. Salvation, then, is by grace because you and I do not deserve it and can never deserve it.
We don’t sin because we have died to sin. As Christians, we live in a state of being dead to sin. So, how did this happen? That’s the subject of Paul’s next section:
“NEWNESS” COMES THROUGH BAPTISM – 6:3-7:
Let’s observe some points about baptism as Paul talks about it in this paragraph.
The cost is not too much and anyone can afford it. viagra price But today, the copyright of the medicine has run out and now a lot of well known medicine for the treatment of erectile dysfunction of male reproductive best price on viagra organs. This is exactly what they were trying to build in their organizations weren’t cheapest sildenafil 100mg being modeled by the managers. Men experiencing certain problems 100mg tablets of viagra may not be able to make the item additional palatable.
Baptism puts you into the death of Christ (vs 3). Compare this statement with what Paul says about the death of Christ back in 5:6-10.
Secondly, (vs 4), because baptism puts us into the death of Christ, then baptism begins a new life.
Third, (vs 5), Paul changes his imagery from baptism as a burial to baptism as a union. Baptism unites us with Christ. The KJV says we have been “planted together” with Christ in baptism. That is a literal translation of the word. The word pictures the grafting of a plant into another tree. So, having been baptized, we have been “grafted” into Jesus Christ. It is so unfortunate that so many denominational churches teach that baptism does not save you, that you are saved by prayer and baptism only puts you into that particular denomination. We can easily see that that is not the case at all. You cannot be saved without baptism anymore than you can be saved without Christ because baptism is what unites us together with Christ. Baptism is what grafts us into Christ!
Fourth, (vs 6), we now see that baptism crucifies the old body of sin. Wow, isn’t that a great idea!? Jesus was crucified, put to death on the cross. But when we are grafted into Him in baptism, then our old sinful man is also crucified on the cross!
What sins have you committed that you would like to start over with? Lying? Sexual immorality? Deceit? Arguing? Pride? That’s a long list but here, Paul says that we can start over, crucifying that old man by putting it to death in baptism. When we obey the Gospel by being buried in water for the forgiveness of our sins, then God, as it were, takes our sins and puts them on the shoulders of Jesus Christ, crucified literally on the cross.
Finally, Paul pictures this crucifixion of the old man through baptism in terms of freedom. Through baptism we are freed from sin (vs 7).
It is burial in water into the death of Christ that unites us to Christ so that our sinful bodies can be crucified and then we are “freed” from sin. That’s why we can live a “new” life every day because as long as we are in Christ and standing in His grace (Rom. 5:2), we can continually crucify this sinful body and continue to be new creatures….
