Living With Him

We come now in our investigation on Godly Living, for which I am forever indebted to Paul’s grand treatise – on the fullness and finality of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone – coming now to verses 8-10 of Romans ch 6,

Romans 6:8–10 LSB

Now if we 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.

I trust you will recall that when we looked closely at Romans 6:5, we discovered that Paul had set out 2 great themes in order to provide us a full and complete picture of our union with Jesus Christ, saying...

Romans 6:5 LSB

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,

And he proceeded to work out these phrases in the following verses. So now that we have fully investigated the depth and breadth of that first phrase, “if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death”, working through the real death of the me that was, in vv 6-7,

Romans 6:6–7 LSB

knowing this, that our old man 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 has been justified from sin.

Now in these 8th, 9th, and 10th verses before us today, we see his exposition of that second phrase in verse 5, “certainly, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection”.

Romans 6:8–10 LSB

Now if we 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.

Now, although this verse relates and expounds that second half of verse 5, it also builds on the exposition in verses 6 and 7, that exposition on the real death of the me that was, was crucified with Him.

And that context doesn’t stop there, but it is imperative that we also recall that this exposition takes place in the midst of answering the very real, very present question, “shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase?”

In other words, this whole exposition Paul has been giving us is meant to support and explain his basic response to that question in Verse 2, “May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” And his entire response has been a continual describing to us of who we are, he has written exclusively to describe for our frail minds our very present state. He’s not once given us a command thus far, he’s not once spoken eschatologically, about the end times. His entire response up to this point has been based in what has happened to us, and how those past events have shaped our present reality. And that description of the present reality continues here in verses 8–10! He’s not talked about an experiential knowledge, but our present state and position.

In fact, we do not even see the first command until verse 11!

In other words, we are still talking about who and what we are, in relation to Jesus Christ!

And thus far, we have been talking only about an end to our subservient relationship with sin.

In doing so, I think going back to Romans 5 would be helpful here,

Romans 5:20–21 LSB

Now the Law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The thing that we must remember, is that the work of Jesus Christ the Righteous did not simply reverse the curse and condemnation in Adam for those who are justified by faith! And in Paul’s explanation here in chapter 6 verses 6 and 7, that reversal, which is in itself wondrous and glorious, but that death and its removal from the reign and rule of sin, is not all that has happened!

We were not simply “rescued from the authority of darkness”, but we have also been “transferred…to the kingdom of the Son of His love”, as Colossians 1:13 declares!

The earth-shattering, eternity-changing reality, is that grace abounded all the more! That grace super-abounded over the tyrannical reign of sin, in the same manner that an ocean of water so completely overcomes the shallow bounds of a small bucket – grace completely, unstoppably overflows any bounds placed on it in our lives!

In the same way, our union with Christ also does not merely stop at a simple restoration, for it is only through our union with him that we have life, and life abundantly. So we move on now, to Paul’s exposition on that second half of verse 5:

Romans 6:5 LSB

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,

So let’s think about what we’ve learned: our union with Christ Jesus, comes not in His resurrection, but our union with Him is in His death, verse 3 saying “Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” That baptism, you recall, is not a baptism in water, but rather our immersion into and uniting with our Lord. And importantly, “it is in the likeness of His death” that “we are united with Him”, as we learned in the first half of v5.

And then, recall, that second half of verse 5 is worked out in full in verses 8-10,

Romans 6:8–10 LSB

Now if we 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.

It is on account of this, Paul says in verse 8, “if we died with Christ”, a statement which we know to be true for those united with Christ, those who have been justified by faith! So for us, in a very real sense it would be right for those who have been truly saved, to think of this instead in the more affirmative “since”, “since we have died with Christ”, the rest of the statement must be true! The condition has been met, so the result is certain! We shall, as a statement of certainty, live with Him.

This isn’t only an “end of the age” reality, this “shall” is future from the perspective of the death which has already occurred; for death precedes resurrection; a resurrection cannot occur until and unless a death occurs.

It is as if you were saying in our vernacular today, “from experience, if you forget your umbrella in a rainstorm, you’ll be wet!” This is a statement of a present certainty and reality for all those who are in Christ!

Remember, this entire section is reminding us of what is already true of us, even Paul’s first command to us in verse 11 is to consider, it is based upon and pointed to this description of our current position and reality.

How is it that we know these things to be true? How is it that we can believe this thing, that because we died with Him we shall also live with Him, even here and now? Paul explains the basis for this believe in verses 9 and 10, “knowing”!

It is no accident that the culmination of Paul’s abhorrence at the idea of continuing to live in sin lies not with himself, nor his readers, but solely and squarely upon the Lord Jesus Christ!

For if death is no longer master over Jesus, it of necessity requires that at some time past it did have such a relationship to Him.

How can the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God, holy and righteous Himself, have such a relationship with death? Philippians 2:6-8 declares that “...although existing in the form of God, [He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” We read again in Galatians 4:4 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,”

It is Jesus Christ who, in Hebrews 2:14, “...Himself likewise also partook of the same [flesh and blood],” Galatians 4:5 reminding us of His purpose, “so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

It was Jesus Christ who willingly, voluntarily chose to place Himself in this realm!

It was Jesus Christ who was conceived of the Holy Spirit within the womb of the woman, Mary. It was Jesus who was born of that woman, born under the Law, who was laid in a manger because there was no place for them.

It was Jesus Christ of whom the angel that same night declared to the shepherds in Luke 2:10-12, “‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’”

It was Jesus Christ of whom Simeon, waiting for the comfort of Israel, found Jesus being brought into the temple in Luke 2:28-32, “…took Him into his arms and blessed God, and said, ‘Now Master, You are releasing Your slave in peace, According to Your word. For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT FOR REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And for the glory of Your people Israel.’”

It was Jesus Christ who the wise men from the east fell to the ground and worshipped, giving treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

It was Jesus Christ, who came to his older cousin John, who proclaimed in John 1:30 “This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who has been ahead of me, for He existed before me.’”, at whose baptism of repentance given because in that way it was fitting for them to fulfill all righteousness, John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him in Matthew 3.

It was Jesus Christ who was “tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin”, in Hebrews 4:14; made possible only through His being born of a woman under the Law, for James shows us the impossibility of this temptation had he not been as fully man as He was fully God, saying in James 1:13 “…for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”

It was Jesus Christ who was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”, as Isaiah 53:3 declares; He was deeply moved, deeply effected, by this realm of sin and death, John 11:35 stating plainly, “Jesus wept.”, and again in verse 38 “So Jesus, again being deeply moved within...”

It was Jesus Christ who lamented over Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37-38, crying out “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you did not want it. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!”

It was Jesus Christ the Righteous, says 1 Peter 2:23, “who Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree”, who 1 John 2:2 declares is Himself "the propitiation for our sins”, declaring in ch 4 of that epistle that it was for this purpose that the Father had sent Him.

It was Jesus Christ who “died to sin once for all”, as verse 10 puts it, dying to the realm of sin into which He had placed himself by being born under the Law. Due to His one death, for all time, He has been separated and severed from that realm, just as verse 7 declares.

And it’s not “once” in the sense of “I once went to the store”, something that happens occasionally and repeatedly, but once, and once only, that is why we see “for all” added, not to indicate the scope for which He died, but that one, and only one death of Christ may ever occur.

It is a thing never to be repeated! Hebrews 7:26-27 declares “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”

And yet further in Hebrews 9:11-12, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy places once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

And finally Hebrews 9:24-26, “For Christ did not enter holy places made with hands, mere copies of the true ones, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy places year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

It is Jesus Christ who has no need or capability to die any more, according to verse 9, that through His one death, as Heb 2:14 declares, “He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,” “so that, “ Rom 5:21 explains, “as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

For death is the result of sin, it is the due punishment for wrongdoing, it is through death that we know a person is guilty of sin, going back to Romans 5:14 “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the trespass of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” as a way to help us comprehend just how it was that “death spread to all men, because all sinned” in verse 12 of that chapter.

And “the death that He died, He died to sin”! Sin may no longer touch Him! He has no more relationship to it!

And so now, no longer under the Law, no longer under the reign and rule of sin, “the life that He lives, He lives to God”!

But let us be clear also about this, Jesus has always lived in perfect obedience to God, Jesus’ behavior and conduct always was, and constantly is, righteous!

But now that He has died, having fully completed and finished the work His Father gave Him to do, He has returned to the Father, John 17:5 declaring “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

It was Jesus Christ who did not simply die , but who “was raised from the dead by this glory of the Father”, as we read in v4, the definitive, positive proof that God the Father was fully satisfied with the work He had completed on the cross; it is a resounding announcement to all that Jesus was raised again for our justification, just as Romans 4:25 declares!

It is Jesus Christ whose resurrection has been well-established, there were innumerable witnesses to His death on that Roman cross, and then also of His resurrection according to 1 Corinthians 15:5-8,

“... He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. After that, He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.”

and it is Jesus Christ, who, Hebrews 10:12-13 declares, “...having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time UNTIL HIS ENEMIES ARE PUT AS A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.”

“The life that He lives, He lives to God”, indeed!

And we have the great comfort, that “...if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,”

We have been united with Christ, Romans 6:3 tells us that we “were baptized into Christ Jesus”, baptized, or perhaps better immersed, into Him!

We died with Christ! This death we just discovered is a death He died once, a death in which repetition is not only unnecessary, but is impossible! He, and we who are joined to Him, the me that is, can never die again; as death is no longer master over Him, even so death is no longer master over the me that is! The me that was has died, never to live again, and the me that is, different from my body, the body which was made good but mis-used and abused by the tyrannical reign of sin, is not me.

The me that lives, lives to God.

Ephesians 2:4-6 declares “But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”

It has happened, it is our reality. We who died to sin, live to God!

Let us pray!