Chapter # 6 Paragraph # 1 Study # 8
September 5, 2006
Lincolnton, N.C.
(249)
1769 Translation:
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.
1901 ASV Translation:
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.
Notes:
- I. The "Knowing" Issue.
- A. In 6:3 Paul raised the possibility of an "ignorance" problem that had primarily to do with the reality of our union with Christ by baptism.
- B. At this point he raises the "newness of life" possibility by means of "knowing".
- 1. The "content" of the knowledge focuses upon Paul's claim that "our old man" was united to Christ in His crucifixion.
- a. The first question is this: what/who is "our old man"?
- 1) Paul only refers to this "old man" three times in the New Testament: Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9; and this Romans text.
- 2) In Ephesians 4 there is an "old man" and a "new man". The "old man" walks in the vanity of his mind and the "new man" walks in the renewal of the mind.
- 3) In Colossians 3, there is also an "old man" and a "new man". The "old man" walks in things which bring the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience and the "new man" is "being renewed unto true knowledge".
- 4) In this Romans text, there is a context arising out of chapter five wherein the apostle made it very clear that Adam is the "original" (old) man, and that Christ is the "new" progenitor of a new humanity. The implication is that the "men" are crucial in what they "impose" upon the offspring. In Adam, there is an inner combination of spirit and mind which dominates the "body" as the instrument of the expression of "Adamic humanity". In Christ, there is a new combination because of the "gift of the Spirit" Who takes up residence in our bodies and we relate to Him by means of our "minds". In 1 Corinthians 14:14 Paul wrote of a distinction between the "spirit" and the "mind" that could result in a "mindless" action of the spirit in which the body was actually engaged in a real activity that was "bypassing" the "mind". It seems clear that what he was addressing was the Spirit of God producing something through his body so that his mind did not participate...even though he calls Him "my spirit". In Ephesians 2 Paul wrote about "the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience" and identified him as the "prince of the power of the air". The question is this: is the human spirit of man bonded to the satanic spirit of the adversary so that there is no ability to be free from sin (and if so, why did God impart His Spirit to men instead of simply breaking the bonds and ejecting the satanic spirit?), or is the spirit of man just as corrupt as the satanic spirit that works in him? The problem here is this: it seems to be a teaching of the Scriptures that when a "spirit" is created by God, it is never afterwards "uncreated". Thus, even eternal judgment continues forever because the "spirit" does not cease to be. Thus, the "corruption" of the spirit of man seems to consist in the bonding of the human spirit with the satanic spirit. But, Satan is not an omnipresent spirit, so in what way are the spirits of the sons of disobedience bonded to him? It would appear that the only way this can be real is if every man's spirit is bound to a fallen angelic spirit.
- 5) Conclusion: The "men" are, first, Adam and Christ and, then, are "the individual presences of Adam and Christ in current individuals" through their "on-going impact upon their offspring". Adam made his "on-going impact" by means of physical generation and all that it entails (including the bondage of the human spirit to the principle of indwelling Sin); Christ made His "on-going impact" by means of the regeneration of the Spirit and all that that entails (the reuniting of the human spirit to the Spirit of God). Before Christ gave His Spirit to men, what was the nature of "regeneration"? Jesus, Himself, made a distinction between the "degree of impact" which the Spirit made upon believers before His "glorification" and the "degree of impact" which the Spirit made upon believers after His "glorification". He said "...He dwelleth with you and shall be in you." (John 14:17) in conjunction with John's comment that "...the Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39).
- b. The next question is this: in what sense is he "crucified" if, in fact, he can continue to be "fruitful" in producing sins out of the bodies of believers?
- 1) Because Jesus became as Adam, He died as Adam. Thus, when Jesus was put to death, Adam was crucified also.
- 2) That was the "end" of Adam because the death blocked the "physical linkage of dominion of the head over the offspring" and resurrection did not restore it. There is no "physical generation" in resurrection. ("they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels...").
- 3) However, that "end" was not the "physical end". In other words, when Christ died as Adam, Adamic humanity did not physically die. Since physical death is the only revealed mechanism for terminating the "Adamic impact", as long as physical death has not occurred that impact has not been terminated. Thus, the process of life for those "in Christ" is a "hope" process that is significantly tied to the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. Christ's crucifixion was the comprehensive act of the death of Adamic humanity that has been incrementally playing out in human history throughout every generation.
| 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? |
This issue is of present living. It has to do with "remaining upon Sin" (the word indicates a persistence in a current behavior that is sometimes faced with an apparent futility). The "logic" is that "where Sin abounded, Grace superabounded, so why shouldn't we simply persist in that process?". |
| 6:2a God forbid. |
The potency of this denial is reinforced by Romans 3:8. |
| 6:2b How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? |
This thesis is that we "died" to Sin. The "logic" is that we cannot "live" in it. |
| 6:3a Know ye not, |
There may be a problem: ignorance. |
| 6:3b that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? |
We were baptized into Christ Jesus. We, therefore, were baptized into His death. |
| 6:4a Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; |
Therefore we were buried together with Him. The burial was through the baptism into the death. |
| 6:4b 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. |
The purpose was to empower us to live a "new" life. The provision is the glory of the Father. |
| 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: |
The "logic" is that we have become [Perfect Indicative] "in the likeness of His death" so that we shall be "in the likeness" of His resurrection.
|
At Issue:
The "glory of the Father" is at the heart of our provision for a resurrected-kind of "Life". There is no "physical" connection with Jesus as there is with Adam -- the "generation" is not of physical sperm and egg. There is no on-going physical genetic linkage in Christ as there is in Adam. The "connection", though not physical (of the flesh), is, nonetheless, real: it is of the Spirit. The "requirement" for function exists in the realm of "ignorance/knowing", not in the realm of "autopilot arising out of carnal impulses" (i.e. ignorant submission to what comes out of the genetic/physical reality). The knowledge is of the reality of the Spirit, not of the reality of the flesh.
The point of Romans 6:1-14 is our removal from "under" the Law. All of the "death" truth is at the reckoning-of-God level: it has nothing to do with "physical" reality. In Adam there is a direct physical linkage; in Christ there is an immediate Spiritual linkage. In Adam there is condemnation because of violation of "Law"; in Christ there is total fulfillment of "Law" so that it is no longer a "consideration" in terms of "condemnation necessity" (i.e. "you must do this or perish"). The "perish" aspect of the equation is gone so that the "must" aspect is also gone.
There is the issue of the human spirit and its "production" out of the human body. If the fall of Adam resulted in a "bondage" of his spirit to Satan, the only way the bondage can be broken is if those two spirits are separated. The problem is in the "body". It was the "body" of Adam that was affected by the fruit of the tree of which he ate. But, it was the "deception of the mind" that initially allowed Sin's inner presence in the body. Thus, it is also the enlightenment of the mind that allows God's Spirit to dominate the body of man. If the spirit of man is united to the Spirit of God, whence cometh sin?
