Chapter # 6 Paragraph # 1 Study # 7
June 12, 2016
Humble, Texas
(014)
1769 Translation:
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [
in the likeness] of [
his] resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [
him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1901 ASV Translation:
4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become
united with [
him] in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [
in the likeness] of his resurrection;
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [
him], that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin;
7 for he that hath died is
justified from sin.
8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him;
9 knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over him.
10 For
the death that he died, he died unto sin
once: but
the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus.
- I. Jesus Was Raised Out From The Dead.
- A. In Romans, Paul only referred to the verbal concept of resurrection in one text previous to the one under our present consideration: Romans 4:24-25. Besides this context, only one other mentions resurrection prior to our current text: Romans 1:4.
- 1. Both of these previous texts focus upon "resurrection" as something that must be "believed" if the outcomes for which it is designed are to occur.
- a. In the Romans 1 text, Jesus is to be received as the "Son of The God" because He was raised from the dead.
- b. In the Romans 4 text, we are only "imputed" to be righteous if we believe in the God Who raised Jesus because that act was designed to at least sweep away the foundations of our unbelief (the carryover from being "sons of The Disbelief").
- 2. Could it be any plainer that "faith" is a necessity for the intentions of God through resurrection to be accomplished for any given individual human being's salvation? The power of resurrection remains, even in the face of disbelief, but the application of it to specific situations hinges upon whether, or not, a person is "believing".
- B. The focus of the exercise of the power: the realm of "deadness".
- 1. In human experience, "deadness" is the most catastrophic and irreversible experience.
- a. A case can be made that Paul actually uses the death/resurrection terminology to present his claims in the starkest forms available so that his readers will come to grips with the issues of "faith" and existential reality.
- b. In a way, Paul has pushed the envelope as far as it can be pushed in truth so that people will have the starkest contrast possible between "faith" options.
- c. This is the most likely reason for Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:19 that the saints will be able to come to grips with "the exceeding greatness of His power to usward..." as it relates to His willingness to transform us from within. If this were a simple thing for the saints, it would not be a major matter of prayer for them; therefore, those of us who are "saints" are more than likely to significantly miss the point.
- 2. In biblical revelation, reversing "deadness" is considered to be sufficient "proof" of the present activity of "God" that no one can be "excused" for not "believing" once the proof is in.
- II. The Effective Agent of Resurrection Is Identified To Be "The Glory of The Father".
- A. The phrase, "The Glory of The Father", is very broad because the "glory" is immense as a subject of inquiry and a matter of eternity.
- B. In Romans 1:4, however, this immensity is reduced to two specific issues of this "glory": power and holiness. The straightforward implication of this is that however much "power" is required to "resurrect", it is bounded by the "holiness" that keeps all of God's character "balanced" without conflict or fault within itself.
- III. The Application is "that we should walk in newness of life".
- A. What does our identification with the resurrection of the Christ have to do with any ability of ours to "walk in newness of life"?
- 1. Since the resurrection was a pivotal point in the plan of God in respect to the imparting of the Holy Spirit (John 7:39), and since our bondage to the spirit that works in the sons of The Disbelief, it is only really after the resurrection that believers had the power to live a different kind of life as a matter of the basic provision of salvation by God.
- 2. It is by the Spirit that we live and are to walk (Galatians 5:25).
- 3. The use of "newness" is very restricted; the only other use in the New Testament being Romans 7:6 where Paul pointedly says that we are to live "in newness of spirit". The deliberate contrast in this text is that which exists between the "external" (oldness of the letter) and the "internal" (newness of spirit). The flesh can handle the "external" with a high degree of efficiency (Philippians 3:6), but is hopeless regarding the "internal" (Romans 7:7).
- B. And since all of this is "by faith", we must see that it was the resurrection of the Christ from the dead that makes "faith" sufficiently stable so that "life" can proceed out of it.