Romans 6:11-14 Romans 6:11-Consider Yourselves Dead To The Sin Nature But Alive To God In ...

108 Pages·2008·0.72 MB·English

Romans 6:11-14

Romans 6:11-Consider Yourselves Dead To The Sin Nature But Alive To God
In Christ Jesus

The apostle Paul in Romans 6:11 commands the Roman believers to consider
themselves dead with respect to the sin nature but alive with respect to God in
Christ Jesus.
By way of review of the chapter thus far, we noted in Romans 6:1-2a, Paul
emphatically rejects the idea that a Christian living under the dominion of the sin
nature accentuates the grace of God.
Romans 6:1-2a, “Therefore, what is the conclusion that we are forced to?
Should we persist in living under the dominion of the sin nature in order that
grace might increase? Absolutely not!”
In Romans 5:20b, Paul taught that where personal sin increased, God’s grace
infinitely abounded. Then, in Romans 6:1, he poses the rhetorical question that
presents the concept of a believer persisting in living under the dominion of the sin
nature in order that God’s grace might increase in the sense of giving God more
opportunity to manifest His grace through the forgiveness of sins.
In Romans 6:2a, he emphatically rejects this idea. Then, in Romans 6:2b, Paul
poses another rhetorical question that demands a negative response and rejects the
idea of the believer persisting to live in under the dominion of the sin nature in
order that God’s grace might increase or manifest itself more often.
Romans 6:2, “Absolutely not! We, who are indeed of such character and of
a particular class of individuals, have died with reference to the sin nature,
how shall we still live under its dominion?”
In Romans 6:2b, Paul poses a rhetorical question, which asks, “If we
(Christians) have died with reference to the sin nature, how shall we still live under
its dominion?” He is asking his fellow Christians, “is it right or appropriate that
they have a lifestyle of obeying the lusts of the sin nature when they have died to
the sin nature by being identified with Christ in His death?” Paul is not asking here
the means by which we might live in sin! Rather, he is asking if it is appropriate
for a Christian to do so when in fact, he has died to the sin nature through the
physical death of Christ.
In this passage, the interrogative particle pos should be translated “how” and
not “how is it possible” since we know from the Scriptures that it is possible for a
believer to habitually live under the dominion of the sin nature, i.e. Solomon.
Then, in Romans 6:3, Paul employs the verb agnoeo, which means, “to be
ignorant.” He uses this word with reference to ignorance concerning the teaching
that sinners are identified with Jesus Christ in His death through the baptism of the
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Holy Spirit the moment they were declared justified by God the Father as a result
of exercising faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:3, “Or, are some of you in a state of ignorance concerning the
fact that all of us who have been identified with Christ, who is Jesus, have
been identified with His spiritual death?”
Paul poses this rhetorical question in response to any misconceptions regarding
his teaching in Romans 5:20 that where sin increased, God’s grace abounded all
the more in form of the forgiveness of sins. The second person plural form of the
verb emphasized that Paul was posing this question to the believers in Rome who
might have erroneously come to the conclusion that grace is a license to sin as a
result of being ignorant of the fact that they have been identified with Christ in His
death through the baptism of the Spirit. This type of attitude is called
“antinomianism” comes from the Greek anti, “against” and the noun nomos, “law,”
thus the expression literally means, “against the law.”
In Romans 3:8, Paul states that he was accused of antinomianism by the
Judaizers.
Romans 3:8, “Furthermore, what is the conclusion that we are forced to?
(As we have been slanderously charged with in the past and continue to be up
to the present moment and as some have in the past alleged we say and
continue to do so up to the present moment), ‘Let us perpetrate evil acts in
order that blessings might result.’ No! Their condemnation is, as an eternal
spiritual truth, deserved.”
Jude addresses the issue of antinomianism in Jude 4.
Jude 4, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long
beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the
grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord,
Jesus Christ.”
The second person plural form of the verb agnoeo in Romans 6:3 is a
“categorical” plural meaning that it does not refer to all the Roman believers but
only a “particular category” of believers who were leading a sinful lifestyle as a
result of erroneously concluding that grace is a license to sin. Not all Christians
were ignorant that they were identified with Christ in His death and as a result
were leading a sinful lifestyle. So when Paul says “all of you” in Romans 6:3, he is
not referring to all the believers in Rome but rather “some” of them.
In Romans 6:3, this rhetorical question that the verb agnoeo introduces, implies
or presupposes that these carnal Roman Christians were expected to know that they
were dead to sin by virtue of their identification with Christ in His death through
the baptism of the Spirit. This spiritual truth was illustrated in the early first
century apostolic church through water baptism.
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When the believer was placed under the water that portrayed the believer as
having been identified with Christ in His death and burial whereas when he was
taken up out of the water that portrayed the believer identified with Christ in His
resurrection.
The verb agnoeo in Romans 6:3 in this rhetorical question indicates quite
clearly that believers have a responsibility to know the truth about their union and
identification with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Now, when Paul wrote this epistle, he had never been to Rome and was thus not
acquainted with the Roman believers, thus his question indicates that he considered
it common knowledge among the Christian community that the believer was
identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. In fact, upon His
ascension into heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ informed the apostles that they would
be baptized with the Holy Spirit, which turned out to be ten days later on the day of
Pentecost (Acts 1:5 compare with Acts).
Then, in Romans 6:3, Paul switches back from the second person plural to the
first person plural since he is teaching his readers truths, which pertain to all
believers. He employs the first person plural form of the relative pronoun hosos
(os% o$), which refers to those sinners who have been identified with Christ through
the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a result of being declared justified by the Father
through faith in His Son Jesus Christ
Romans 6:3, “Or, are some of you in a state of ignorance concerning the
fact that all of us who have been identified with Christ, who is Jesus, have
been identified with His spiritual death?”
In Romans 6:3, the relative pronoun hosos has no antecedent and is in the
masculine gender referring to all those who have been declared justified through
faith in Jesus Christ since only believers in Jesus Christ are identified with Him in
His death through the baptism of the Spirit.
Paul teaches in Romans 6:4a that the believer is identified with Jesus Christ in
His physical death and burial whereas Romans 6:4b teaches that Christ’s
resurrection enables the believer to walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:4, “Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism
with respect to His physical death in order that just as Christ was raised from
the dead ones through the glory of the Father, in the same way, we, ourselves
will also walk in the realm of an extraordinary life.
He teaches in Romans 6:5 that the believer’s identification with Christ in His
physical death is the basis for his future resurrection.
Romans 6:5, “Therefore, if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of
argument that we are entered into union with Him, conformed to His physical
death. Of course, we believed this is true. Then, certainly, we will also be
united with Him, conformed to His resurrection.”
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Then, in Romans 6:6, we studied that the believer’s old Adamic sin nature has
been crucified at the Cross in order that it might be deprived of its power so that
the believer might not be its slave.
Romans 6:6, “This we are very familiar with through instruction, namely,
that our old man was crucified with Him in order that the sinful body would
be deprived of its power with the result that we are no longer in a perpetual
state of being slaves to the sin nature.”
In Romans 6:7, Paul teaches that the believer is freed from the tyranny of the
indwelling old Adamic sin nature because he has died with Christ as a result of
having been identified with Christ in His physical death through the baptism of the
Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:7, “For you see the one who has died is freed from the power of
the sin nature.”
Paul instructs the Roman believers in Romans 6:8 that since they have died with
Christ through the baptism of the Spirit, they will as a certainty, in the future, at the
resurrection, i.e. rapture of the church live with Christ in the sense that they will
receive a resurrection body like Christ.
Romans 6:8, “Now, as previously stated, if and let us assume that it is true
for the sake of argument that we have died with Him. Of course, we have
already established that this is true. Then, we do have this absolute confidence
that we, as a certainty, will in the future also live with Him.”
Then, in Romans 6:9, he teaches that physical death no longer has dominion
over Jesus Christ because He has been raised from the dead. The implication of
this is that if physical death no longer has any control over Christ, then neither
does the sin nature, which resides in the physical bodies, have dominion over the
believer who is identified with Christ in His physical death and resurrection.
Romans 6:9, “Because we know for certain, namely that because Christ
was raised from the dead ones, He can never again, as an eternal spiritual
truth, die. Death can never again, as an eternal spiritual truth, have dominion
over Him.”
Paul in Romans 6:10 instructs the believers in Rome that the Lord Jesus Christ
died physically for the destruction of the sin nature but now lives to God.
Romans 6:10, “For you see, the physical death that He died, He died for the
destruction of the sin nature once and for all but the life that He now lives, He
lives forever for the benefit of God the Father.”
In Romans 6:1-10, Paul is teaching his readers the doctrine of their position in
Christ and not their experience, which is indicated in that the verbs he employs in
these verses are in the indicative mood. In these verses, he teaches the Roman
believers the doctrine of retroactive positional truth and current positional truth.
The former means that when Christ died on the Cross, God views the justified
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sinner as having died with Christ as well. The latter means that when Christ was
raised from the dead, God views the justified sinners as having been raised from
the dead with Christ.
In these verses, Paul employs the indicative mood with the verbs indicating he
is presenting statements of doctrine. In other words, he is reminding them and in
some cases educating some of the Roman believers regarding their new position in
Christ, which they acquired when they were declared justified through faith alone
in Christ alone. However, in Romans 6:11-23, he then addresses their conduct as
indicated in that the verbs he employs are in the imperative mood signifying that
he wants his readers to experience their position in Christ.
Therefore, beginning in Romans 6:11, Paul is addressing his readers’
experience or conduct. In Romans 6:1-10, Paul has been teaching the Roman
believers “positional sanctification.” However, in Romans 6:11-23, he is teaching
them about “experiential sanctification.”
“Sanctification” is a technical theological term for the believer who has been set
apart through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of salvation in order to serve
God exclusively and is accomplished in three stages: (1) Positional (2) Experiential
(3) Ultimate.
Sanctification deals with conforming the believer to the holiness of God and
reproducing it in the believer.
“Positional sanctification” is the believer’s “entrance” into the plan of God for
the church age resulting in eternal security as well as two categories of positional
truth (1 Cor. 1:2, 30; 1 Pet. 1:2; 1 Thess. 5:23; Eph. 5:26-27; Heb. 2:11; 10:10;
Acts 20:32; 26:18; Rom. 6:3, 8; 2 Thess. 2:13).
“Retroactive” positional truth is the church age believer’s identification with
Christ in His death and burial (Romans 6:3-11; Colossians 2:12).
“Current” positional truth is the church age believer’s identification with Christ
in His resurrection, ascension and session (See Ephesians 2:4-6; Colossians 3:1-4).
“Positional sanctification”: (1) What God has done for the church age believer.
(2) His viewpoint of the church age believer. (3) Sets up the potential to experience
sanctification in time. (4) Provides the believer with the guarantee of receiving a
resurrection body.
“Experiential sanctification” is the function of the church age believer’s
spiritual life in time through obedience to the Father’s will, which is revealed by
the Spirit through the communication of the Word of God (John 17:17; Rom. 6:19,
22; 2 Tim. 2:21; 1 Pet. 3:15; 1 Thess. 4:3-4, 7; 1 Tim. 2:15).
The will of God is that the believer obey the teaching of the Word of God that
he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ, which constitutes
experiencing sanctification.
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“Experiential sanctification” is the post-salvation experience of the believer
who is in fellowship with God by confessing any known sin to the Father when
necessary followed by obedience to the Father’s will, which is revealed by the
Spirit through the Word of God.
Experiential sanctification is only a potential since it is contingent upon the
church age believer responding to what God has done for him at the moment of
salvation, therefore, only believers who are obedient to the Word of God will
experience sanctification in time.
The believer who experiences sanctification is walking in “newness of life” and
he does this by obeying the teaching of the Word of God, which states that the
believer has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ and which
teaching is inspired by the Holy Spirit (See Romans 6).
All three stages of sanctification refer to the process of conforming the believer
into the image of Jesus Christ, which is the Father’s plan from eternity past.
Romans 8:28-30, “And we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to
His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become
conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among
many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these
whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also
glorified.”
Romans 6:1-11, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that
grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in
it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him
through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if
we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we
shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self
was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away
with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin for he who has died is freed
from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with Him. knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to
die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He
died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so
consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
“So” is the adverb of manner houtos (out^ w$) (hoo-tos), which introduces a
comparative clause that draws a comparison between the physical death and life of
Christ in a resurrection body and the attitude Christians are to adopt towards
themselves.
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In Romans 6:10, Paul taught that the Lord Jesus Christ died physically for the
destruction of the sin nature but now lives solely for God.
Romans 6:10, “For you see, the physical death that He died, He died for the
destruction of the sin nature once and for all but the life that He now lives, He
lives forever for the benefit of God the Father.”
The statement “He lives to God” means that the Lord Jesus Christ lives in a
resurrection body for the benefit of the Father in the sense that He is fulfilling the
Father’s will and is thus glorifying the Father. This does not imply that prior to
receiving a resurrection body that He did not live for the benefit of the Father by
doing His will and bringing glory to the Father, He did since His spiritual and
physical deaths on the Cross were in obedience to the Father’s will and brought
glory to the Father. However, Paul is speaking in the context of the implication of
Christ’s death and resurrection in relation to the justified sinner’s identification
with Christ in His death and resurrection.
Since the justified sinner is identified with Christ’s death, which deprived the
sin nature its power, then the justified sinner is freed to and obligated to live for the
will and glory of the Father.
Now, in Romans 6:11, houtos draws the comparison between Christ’s death and
resurrection and always living for the benefit of the Father and the justified
sinner’s attitude towards himself as a result of having been identified with Christ in
His death and resurrection through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Since the justified sinner has been identified with Christ’s physical death, which
deprived the sin nature of its power over the justified sinner, the justified sinner
must now regard himself as being someone who is dead to the sin nature.
Since the justified sinner has been identified with Christ’s resurrection, which
permanently eradicates the sin nature, the justified sinner must now regard himself
as alive to God.
Since the justified sinner is identified with Christ’s death, which deprived the
sin nature its power, then the justified sinner is freed to and obligated to live for the
will and glory of the Father.
Since the justified sinner is identified with Christ in His resurrection and since
Christ lives forever in a resurrection body for the will and glory of the Father, then,
the justified sinner is freed to and obligated to do so as well.
Since the justified sinner’s relationship with the Father is based upon Christ’s
eternal life and identification with Christ in His death and resurrection, then the
justified sinner is freed to and obligated to live for the will and glory of the Father
like Christ does.
We will translate houtos, “in the same way.”
“Even” is the “adjunctive” use of the conjunction kai (kai)V , which introduces a
statement that presents church age believers who “in addition to” Jesus Christ
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should be living for the will and glory of God the Father. We will translate the
word, “also.”
Romans 6:11, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to
God in Christ Jesus.”
The next word in the original Greek text of Romans 6:11 is not translated by the
New American Standard Updated Version and New International Version, namely,
the nominative second person plural personal pronoun humeis (um( ei$~ ) (hoo-mice),
which literally means, “all of you” and refers to the Roman believers.
Humeis is the plural form of the second person singular pronoun su. In Romans
6:11, the nominative form of the personal pronoun humeis is employed here to
emphasize a comparative contrast between Christ living solely for the glory of the
Father and the Roman believers adopting the attitude that they are dead to the sin
nature and alive solely for the glory of God. The word emphasizes the contrast
between Christ living for the glory of the Father and the Roman believers doing the
same as well.
Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wants all his readers without
exception to adopt the attitude that they are dead to the sin nature and alive for the
glory of the Father.
The personal pronoun humeis functions as a “nominative subject” meaning that
the Roman believers as the subject are to perform the action of the verb logizomai,
“consider” and obey the command to consider themselves dead to the sin nature
and alive to God.
We will translate humeis, “all of you, without exception.”
Corrected translation thus far of Romans 6:11: “In the same way, also, all of
you without exception…”
Romans 6:11, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to
God in Christ Jesus.”
“Consider” is the second person plural present (deponent) middle imperative
form of the verb logizomai (logivzomai) (lo-gidz-o-my).
The deponent verb logizomai occurs throughout the literature of antiquity, and
it is attested as early as Aristophanes, Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon, and
Herodotus. It is derived from the verb lego (legv w), “count, collect, reckon.”
The word’s root log-, “put together, collect, harvest” suggests a regulated
perception and an acceptance of given facts. Hence, logizomai means: (1) Reckon,
credit, rank with, calculate (2) Consider, deliberate, grasp, draw a logical
conclusion, decide.
In one sense logizomai is a commercial technical term meaning “to charge to
the account of, to credit.” It was a secular bookkeeping term, which meant to make
an entry in the account book or to put to one’s account.
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The word expressed the economic and legal concept of crediting something to
another’s account. Along with this are other business and numerical senses: “to
calculate, compute, figure.” This is regularly the usage attested in the papyri.
A second distinct definition of logizomai in classical and Hellenistic Greek does
not concern business dealings. In this sense, it still means “to calculate, evaluate,
consider” and adds the ideas of “to expect, to conclude (by reasoning), to infer.”
So in secular usage logizomai refers, on the one hand, to objective
“reckoning/account” of value and debit in commerce and on the other hand in
classical philosophy it is used of objective “affirmation” of matters by the
philosophers (cf. Plato Phd. 65c).
In political contexts the verb could also take on a political significance.
Liddell and Scott list the following classical meanings for the verb (page 1055):
(1) Prop. Of numerical calculation, count, reckon (2) Calculate roughly, not by
rule, but off-hand (3) Calculate the interest (4) Reckon or calculate that (5) Down
to one’s account (6) Audit the accounts of a person (7) Without reference to
numbers, take into account, calculate, consider (8) Reckon, consider that (9)
Count, or reckon upon doing, calculate or expect that (10) Count upon (11)
Conclude by reasoning, infer that (12) Abs. Has finished reasoning (13) Passive,
counted or calculated in silver.
The word is found in the legal language of Demosthones and Lysander, then
especially in the papyri and inscriptions (Demosthones Or., 27, 39; P. Oxy. XII,
1434, 8 (107-108 A.D.). It was used for charging up a debt (Demosthones Or. 27,
46).
In classical literature logizesthai means to “deliberate, to conclude.” Especially
in Plato it is the typical term for the non-emotional thinking of the philosopher
seeking suprapersonal knowledge, in this case, the receptive apprehension of
something objectively present.
The term then takes on political significance in Demosthones, whose speeches
are an appeal to logizesthai as the only way to express the facts as they are (Or., 5,
12), but in later historical writing this whole sense becomes less important.
Philo occasionally leans on Plato with his emphasis on the rational course of
thought (Sacr. AC, 2; Spec. Leg. III, 194). The sense “to regard as” is rare
(Aristophanes Vesp. 74:5). It is found with hos and particularly in Plato (Phileb.
18c; Ditt. Or., 665, 28).
Eichler lists the following classical meanings (The New International
Dictionary of New Testament Theology, volume 3, pages 822-823): (1) Reckon,
credit, rank with, calculate (2) Consider, deliberate, grasp, draw a logical
conclusion, decide.
The LXX (Greek translation of the Old Testament which was in existence at the
time of Jesus and the apostles) used logizomai frequently, it occurs over a hundred
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times. Logizomai occurs over 100 times in the LXX. It is found in Genesis 15:6;
Leviticus 7:18 and Numbers 18:27. The Hebrew word that it primarily translates is
the word chasav “to think, account,” and is found in many passages (Gen. 15:6; 2
Sam. 14:13; Jer. 11:19; Num. 18:17; Psa. 106:31) just to name a few.
The following is a list of Hebrew terms which are translated in the LXX by the
verb logizomai: (1) Hayah (hyh), “be; were” (2 Sm. 19:43). (2) Chashav (bvj),
Qal: “reckon” (Gen. 15:6); “plan, devise” (2 Sm. 14:13; Jer. 11:19); niphal: “be
reckoned, be considered” (Nm. 18:27; Ps. 106:31 [105:31]; Is. 32:15); piel:
“calculate, plan” (Lev. 27:23; Prv. 16:9 [16:1]; Na. 1:9). (3) Manah (hnm), “count”;
niphal: “be counted, be numbered” (2 Chr. 5:6); Is. 53:12). (4) Qara (arq), “call”;
niphal: “be called” (Dt. 3:13). (5) Shuv (bwv), “return; remember” (Is. 44:19).
The Hebrew word that it primarily translates is the word chashav “to think,
account,” and is found in many passages (Gen. 15:6; 2 Sam. 14:13; Jer. 11:19;
Num. 18:17; Psa. 106:31) just to name a few. It was also used to translate four
other Hebrew words: (1) Hayah, “to be” (2 Sam. 19:44), (2) manah, “to count”
(Isa. 53:12), (3) qara, “call” (Deut. 3:13), (4) shuv, “return, consider” (Isa. 44:19).
J. Eichler writes of the word’s LXX usage, “While logizomai originally denoted
a non-religious, human activity, in the LXX, consistently with Hebrew chashav, it
is sometimes used for man's relationship to God, and very often for God's purposes
with men, whether they are thoughts of peace; or punitive judgments, or whether
He will change them, if His people will only repent. The Hebrew word brought
about an entirely new meaning to the word that it did not have in classical Greek
writings. Logizomai now involved personal feelings as well as objective
reckoning” (New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, volume 3,
page 822-826).
In the LXX, logizomai involves greater subjectivity and is used of personal
opinion (e.g. Gen. 31:15; 1 Kgs. 1:13), but also in an objective sense, especially in
regards to the doctrine of imputation (Gen. 15:6). The verb logizomai appears 42
times in the Greek New Testament and is found primarily in the Pauline corpus.
Logizomai occurs 19 times in Romans, 3 times in 1 Corinthians (4:1; 13;5, 11),
8 times in 2 Corinthians, once in Galatians (3:6), once in 2 Timothy (4:16) and
twice in Philippians (3:13; 4:7). The word appears only 4 times in the Gospels
(Mk. 11:31; 15:28; Lk. 22:37; Jo. 11:50) and only once in Acts (19:27); Hebrews
(11:19); James (2:23) and 1 Peter (5:12).
Interestingly, of the 42 occurrences of the verb, about half are in direct citations
of the LXX or formulations influenced by OT citations. This is the case especially
in the Pauline epistles.
J. Eichler commenting on the usage of the word by the apostle Paul, writes,
“Paul uses logizomai and logismos in relating the foundation of faith to the
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