Building on what Paul said in the beginning of Romans 6 about baptism and what it signified, he talks about the new life that God gives to those who trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. He boldly declares in verses 6-7, “We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,” which is what baptism portrayed.
He then says, “that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” He makes this point stronger in verses 9-10, “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.”
The victory of Christ’s death to sin, and His resurrection, never to die again, is the lynch pin for our living in victory over sin. That’s why Paul challenges Christians in verse 11 to count themselves “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” The word “count” has the idea of reckoning, computing or taking into account. Faith is not a leap into the dark unknown. Faith grows out of a process in which we take into account what is true. What did Paul declare to be true? Listen again to verses 6-7, “We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” That is the truth. Count on it!
Counting on no longer being a slave to sin is not a mental game so much as an act of faith.
