Romans 6.5-The Believer's Identification with Christ in His Physical Death is the Basis for His Future Resurrection
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday June 11, 2008
Romans: Romans 6:5-The Believer’s Identification with Christ in His Physical Death is the Basis for His Future Resurrection
Lesson # 183
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 6:1.
This evening we will study Romans 6:5, which teaches that the believer’s identification with Christ in His physical death is the basis for his future resurrection.
Romans 6:1-5, “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.”
“For” is the “inferential” use of the conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a first class conditional statement that draws an inference or self-evident conclusion from Romans 6:2-4 that the believer is dead to the sin nature because he has been identified with Christ in both His spiritual and physical deaths.
The protasis of the first class conditional statement affirms Paul’s teaching in Romans 6:2-4 that through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the believer is dead to the sin nature because he has been identified with Christ in both His physical and spiritual deaths.
The believer’s identification with Christ in His spiritual death solves his problem with the consequences of possessing a sin nature and obeying its desires whereas his identification with Christ’s physical death solves his problem of the sin nature, which resides in his physical body.
In Romans 6:5, the apodasis then draws an inference from this statement that the believer has also been identified with Christ in His resurrection in the sense that he will also receive a resurrection body like Christ that will replace his sinful body.
“If” is the conditional particle ei (ei)) (i), which introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.
The idea behind the first class condition in Romans 6:5 is not “since” but rather, “if-and let us assume for the sake of argument, then...”
This would encourage Paul’s audience to respond and come to the conclusion of the apodosis since they already agreed with him on the protasis.
Therefore, Paul is employing the first class condition as a tool of persuasion with his audience.
In Romans 6:5, the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument that we have become united (with Christ) in the likeness of His physical death and of course we know for certain that this is true.”
The apodasis is “(then) certainly, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.”
In Romans 6:4, the basic relation that the protasis has to the apodasis is “evidence-inference.”
The “evidence” is that the Christian has been identified with Christ in His physical death through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The “inference” is that the Christian is identified with Christ in His resurrection and will therefore be raised from the dead like Christ was.
The response to Paul’s protasis by his Christian readership would be obvious.
Of course they believe that they were identified with Christ in His death!
He is not attempting to prove that his protasis is true rather he is saying with the first class condition that we agree that this doctrine is true that we have been identified with Christ in His physical death, which breaks the power of the old Adamic sin nature.
The first class condition would then persuade them to respond to the conclusion found in the apodasis that they will emphatically be raised from the dead like Christ.
Therefore, Paul’s audience would have to come to his conclusion if they submit to this line of argumentation.
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.”
“United” is the adjective sumphutos (suvmfuto$) (soom-foo-tos), which denotes that the sinner has been entered into “union with” Jesus Christ through the baptism of the Spirit the moment he was declared justified by the Father as a result of exercising faith in His Son Jesus Christ as their Savior.
This union is indivisible and eternal in the viewpoint of God as a result of the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit in identifying the justified sinner with Christ in His physical death.
In the Greek New Testament, there are at least eight different analogies that express the justified sinner’s union with Christ: (1) The last Adam and the New Creation (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 5:17a). (2) The Head and the Body (Col. 1:18a). (3) The Great Shepherd and the Sheep (Heb. 13:20). (4) The True Vine and the Branches (John 15:5a). (5) The Chief Cornerstone and the Stones in the building (Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:5-6). (6) The Great High Priest and members of the Royal Priesthood (Heb. 4:14a; 1 Pet. 2:9a). (7) The Groom and the Bride. (Our wedding occurs at the Second Advent) (Rev. 19:7). (8) The King of Kings and the Royal Family of God (Rev. 19:14-16).
“In the likeness of His death” emphasizes a correspondence between the justified sinner and Christ’s physical death on the Cross in the sense that the justified sinner through the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit “corresponds in form, nature and character and agreement with” Christ’s physical death.
The justified sinner is “conformed” to Christ’s physical death in the sense that Christ’s physical death solved the justified sinner’s problem of the sin nature.
Therefore, the justified sinner’s union with Christ’s physical death is God’s viewpoint of the justified sinner.
The justified sinner is “conformed to” Christ’s physical death in the sense that it God’s viewpoint of the justified sinner since he is no longer under the headship of Adam but under the headship of Christ.
God now views the justified sinner as He views Christ, namely, having died physically on the Cross so as to negate the sin nature that entered the human race through the transgression of Adam.
Just as God viewed the sinner as having sinned when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden so God views the justified sinner as having died physically on the Cross when Christ died physically.
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.”
“Certainly” is the adversative use of the conjunction alla (a)llav) (al-lah), which intensifies the apodasis of the first class conditional statement in Romans 6:5 and emphasizes the “certainty” that the justified sinner will be conformed physically to Christ’s resurrection.
Paul is saying in this first class conditional statement that if the justified sinner is in union with Christ with respect to conformity with His physical death, then, “certainly” he will be in conformity with His resurrection.
“In the likeness of His resurrection” emphasizes a correspondence between the justified sinner and Christ’s resurrection from the dead in the sense that the justified sinner through the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit “corresponds in form, nature and character and agreement with” Christ’s resurrection.
The justified sinner will be “conformed to” Christ’s resurrection, which will permanently eradicate the justified sinner’s old Adamic sin nature.
Here in the apodasis of Romans 6:5, Paul is “guaranteeing” his fellow Christian readers and all Christians that they will be conformed to Christ’s resurrection since this is God’s viewpoint of the justified sinner who is under His Son’s headship.
God now views the justified sinner as He views Christ, namely, he was raised with Christ so as to permanently eradicate the sin nature that entered the human race through the transgression of Adam.
Just as God viewed the sinner as having sinned when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden so God views the justified sinner as being raised from the dead when Christ was.
Here in the apodasis of Romans 6:5, Paul teaches that the justified sinner will be “conformed to” Christ’s resurrection meaning that he will receive a resurrection body like Christ’s, which will permanently eradicate his present sinful body that he received via the imputation of Adam’s sin at his physical birth.
Therefore, the believer is entered into union with Christ, conformed to His resurrection in the sense that this is God’s viewpoint of the believer as a result of what He has accomplished for the believer through the baptism of the Spirit.
In this passage, Paul is referring to the third and final stage of the justified sinner’s sanctification, which is “ultimate” sanctification, which 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).
The rapture is something we the church, the body of Christ, and the future bride of Christ should be eagerly anticipating because we will receive our resurrection bodies at that time.
Philippians 3:20-21, “For our citizenship exists from eternity past in the realm of the heavens, out from which also we ourselves at the present time are eagerly anticipating as Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who will cause our humiliating body to be outwardly transformed to be identical in essence with His glorious body because of the power that will enable Him to marshal all things created to Himself.”