Romans 6.4a-The Believer Has Been Identified with Christ In His Physical Death and Burial
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday June 8, 2008
Romans: Romans 6:4a-The Believer Has Been Identified With Christ In His Physical Death and Burial
Lesson # 181
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 6:1.
This morning we will study Romans 6:4a, which teaches that the believer is identified with Jesus Christ in His physical death and burial.
Romans 6:1-4, “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.”
“Therefore” is the “inferential” use of the conjunction oun (ou@n) (oon), which draws a conclusion from Paul’s statement in Romans 6:3, that the believer has been identified with Christ in His spiritual death.
If the believer has been identified with Christ in His spiritual death, then we can infer or draw the conclusion that the believer has been identified with Christ in His physical death.
“We have been buried” is the verb sunthapto (sunqavptw) (soon-thap-to), which literally means, “to bury with someone” or “to be buried together with another.”
Since burial of a dead body certified the reality of physical death, the verb sunthapto indicates that the noun thanatos, “death” is not being used in reference to Christ’s spiritual death in Romans 6:4, which it was in Romans 6:3 but rather that it is being used with reference to His physical death.
Therefore, in Romans 6:4, Paul is teaching that the believer has been identified with Christ in His physical death whereas in Romans 6:3, he taught that the believer has been identified with Christ in His spiritual death.
The first person plural form of the verb sunthapto is an “inclusive we” referring to Paul and his audience, who like himself, are sinners who have been declared justified by God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:4, “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.”
The noun baptisma, “baptism” means that God the Holy Spirit identifies the believer positionally with Christ in His crucifixion (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6), death (Rom. 6:3-5, Col. 2:20; 3:3), burial (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12), resurrection (Rom. 6:4, 9; 7:4; Col. 2:12; 3:1) and session (Eph. 2:6).
When I say that the Spirit “identifies” us with Christ, I mean that at the moment of salvation, the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit causes the believer to become identical and united with Christ and also ascribes to the believer the qualities and characteristics of Christ.
When I say “positionally” I am referring to what God has done for the church age believer and His viewpoint of the church age believer meaning He views the believer as He views His Son and does “not” view the believer according to his sins and transgressions and former manner of life prior to salvation.
At the moment of salvation, the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit causes the believer to become identical and united with the Lord Jesus Christ and also ascribes to the believer the qualities and characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ.
By positionally, I mean that God views the believer as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ since at the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit placed the believer in union with Christ, identifying him with Christ’s crucifixion (Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20), His death (Romans 6:2, 7-8; Colossians 2:20; 3:3), His burial (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12), His resurrection (Romans 6:5; Ephesians 2:6; Philippians 3:10-11; Colossians 2:12; 3:1) and His session (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1).
“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 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).
The believer can experience this victory and deliverance by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that he has been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ (Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17).
“Ultimate sanctification” is the perfection of the church age believer’s spiritual life at the Rapture, i.e. resurrection of the church, which is the completion of the plan of God for the church age believer (1 Cor. 15:53-54; Gal. 6:8; 1 Pet. 5:10; John 6:40).
It is the guarantee of a resurrection body and will be experienced by every believer regardless of their response in time to what God has done for them at salvation.
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).
Therefore, in Romans 6:4, the noun baptisma does not refer to water baptism but rather it refers to the act performed by the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit on behalf of those sinners who exercise faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Romans 6:4, “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.”
As we noted earlier, since burial of a dead body certified the reality of physical death, the verb sunthapto indicates that the noun thanatos, “death” is not being used in reference to Christ’s spiritual death in Romans 6:4, which it was in Romans 6:3 but rather that it is being used with reference to His physical death.
Therefore, in Romans 6:4, Paul is teaching that the believer has been identified with Christ in His physical death whereas in Romans 6:3, he taught that the believer has been identified with Christ in His spiritual death.
In Romans 6:3, he speaks of the justified sinner being identified with Christ in His spiritual death so as to solve his problem of being spiritually dead.
Then, in Romans 6:4, he speaks of the justified sinner being identified with Christ in His physical death so as to break the power of the sin nature.
In Romans 6:5, the apostle teaches that the justified sinner is identified with Christ in His resurrection in order to solve the problem of possessing a sin nature.
Romans 6:5, “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.”
This identification with Christ’s resurrection solves the problem of the sin nature in that it guarantees that the believer will receive a resurrection body like the last Adam, Christ so as to replace his sinful body.
Therefore, in Romans 6:3, the noun thanatos, “death” is a reference to the spiritual death of Christ, which dealt with the consequences of obeying the desires of the sin nature and committing personal sin.
However, in Romans 6:4, Paul teaches that the believer is identified with Jesus Christ in His physical death since thanatos, “death” is used in relation to our Lord’s burial, which certified that a person was physically dead.
Our Lord’s physical death broke the power of the sin nature and then in Romans 6:5, Paul teaches that the believer is identified with Christ in His resurrection in order to solve the problem of possessing a sin nature and guaranteeing the justified sinner that he will receive a resurrection body to replace his sinful body.