[:en]Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ (vs. 1-14)
Since God is love and He forgives, do we have the freedom to sin as much as we want? Paul’s answer is a definitely NO! If a person has this kind of attitude to take advantage of God’s forgiveness, it shows that he does not understand the seriousness of sin. Jesus paid with His life so that we can be forgiven. The availability of God’s mercy must not be an excuse for careless living to moral laxness.
During Paul’s day, baptism was by immersion. Christians were completely buried in water to symbolize the death and burial of the old way of life. Coming up out of the water symbolized resurrection to new life with Christ. Our old and sinful life are buried as dead, so we can start to enjoy the wonderful new life with Jesus.
Since we are identified with Christ in His death, our evil desires and bondage to sin died with Him. As we are united by faith with Him in His resurrected life, our old self was crucified with him, so freedom from sin hold on us. We should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin (vs. 6-7) The power of sin over us died with Christ on the cross. Our “old sinful nature” died once and for all, so we are free from the power of sin. Although we still sin, but now we can choose to live for Christ. Because of Christ death and resurrection, believers never have to fear death. We can experience a new vigor of life and enjoy fellowship with Him.
“Count yourself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (v. 11). Therefore, we should be unresponsive to sin but become alive to God by living a new life that glorifies Him.
Slaves to Righteousness (vs. 15-23)
Paul asked this question: Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace” (v. 15) Of course not! When we were under the law, sin was our master and the law does not help us overcome sin. But now that we have been set free, so that Christ becomes our master and He gives us power to do good rather than evil. Before, we are weak in our natural selves, so we offer parts of our body in slavery for impurity and wickedness. Now that we have been set free from sin, we should offer our body in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness and eternal life.[:]