Romans 6.10-Christ Died To The Sin Nature But Lives To God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday June 25, 2008
Romans: Romans 6:10-Christ Died To The Sin Nature But Lives To God
Lesson # 189
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 6:1.
This evening we will study Romans 6:10, which teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ died physically for the destruction of the sin nature but now lives to God.
Romans 6:1-10, “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.”
Paul’s statement in Romans 6:10 explains why physical death can never again have dominion over Christ as Paul mentions it did in Romans 6:9.
Physical death no longer has dominion over Christ “because” His physical death was for the destruction of the sin nature that is the cause of physical death in the human race.
“The death that He died” refers to the physical death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:10, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
The statement “He died to sin” means that Jesus Christ’s physical death was for the destruction of the sin nature in the sense that His death deprives the sin nature of its power over the justified sinner and it will permanently eradicate the sin nature from the life of the justified sinner when he receives a resurrection body.
“Once for all” is the adverb ephapax (e)favpc) (ef-ap-ax), which is used in relation to our Lord’s physical death and implies that Christ’s physical death will not be repeated.
In Romans 6:8-9, Paul teaches that Christ’s resurrection means that physical death can no longer have dominion over Christ.
Here in Romans 6:10, the adverb ephapax emphasizes that physical death can no longer have dominion over Christ because His physical death was for the destruction of the sin nature that is the cause of physical death.
The implication is that the sin nature has been deprived of its power over the justified sinner since Christ’s physical death was the means used by God to accomplish this.
The adverb emphasizes that Christ’s physical death resolved the problem of the sin nature in the human race and guarantees that it will eventually be permanently eradicated from the human race.
The adverb ephapax is used three times in the New Testament in relation to both Christ’s physical and spiritual deaths on the Cross.
Hebrews 7:26-27, “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.”
In this passage, the word is used in relation to Christ’s spiritual death since the writer is speaking of personal sins, which Christ’s spiritual death dealt with.
Spiritual death is the consequence of committing sin and possessing a sin nature.
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 place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
Again, the word is used in relation to Christ’s spiritual death since the writer makes a reference to the blood of Christ, which is a representative analogy for the spiritual death of Christ.
Hebrews 10:10, “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
In this passage, the word is used in relation to the physical death of our Lord since the writer is speaking in the context of the physical body of our Lord.
Here in Romans 6:10, the adverb ephapax is used in relation to our Lord’s physical death since the relative pronoun hos is referencing the noun thanatos in Romans 6:9, which spoke of the physical death of Christ.
This word implies that Christ’s physical death will not be repeated.
Romans 6:10, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
“But” is the “adversative” use of the conjunction de (deV) (deh), which introduces a statement that presents a contrast with Paul’s statement in the first part of the verse.
In Romans 6:10a, Paul taught us that physical death no longer has dominion over Christ “because” His physical death was for the destruction of the sin nature that is the cause of physical death.
His physical death also led to His resurrection, which was designed to permanently eradicate the sin nature from the human race since His resurrection body would replace the sinful Adamic body.
Now, Paul employs the conjunction de in order to present a statement that is in contrast with Christ’s physical death, namely, He now lives in a resurrection body.
“The life that He lives” refers to the life that Christ now lives in a resurrection body.
This statement signifies the third and final stage in the career of the Lord Jesus Christ: (1) Pre-incarnate: Eternity past as the 2nd Person of the Trinity, the Son of God. (2) Incarnate: Virgin birth through the 1st Advent to the resurrection. (3) Glorified Incarnate: Resurrection and on into eternity future.
Romans 6:10, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
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 free 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 free 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 free to and obligated to live for the glory of the Father as well.
In Romans 6:11, Paul establishes the connection between Christ’s death and resurrection and always living for the benefit of the Father and the justified sinner’s conduct, which should agree with Christ’s.
Romans 6:11, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Therefore, Paul’s statement in Romans 6:10b that Christ lives forever for the will and glory of the Father sets up the contrast with Christ and the believer in Romans 6:11.