Grace Lutheran Church Weekly Devotion - Romans 6:1–11
Romans 6:1–11
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Saint Paul is clear, in Baptism God connects us with Christ, both in His death and in His resurrection: “We were buried therefore with Him by Baptism into death,” (vs. 4a). That also means before Baptism, we were disconnected from Christ. When Paul writes “We were buried therefore with Him by Baptism into death” (vs. 4) it is as if he is saying, we figuratively travel back two-thousand years and are with Christ when Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea place Him and us in the tomb on Good Friday. But he says, God does not leave us in Christ’s tomb! God also raises us with Christ to new life: “in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (vs. 4b). We do not have to wait until our death to experience that “newness of life!” It is ours today, here, and now! Just think about this: We were “by nature children of wrath” and “dead in our trespasses” and sins (cf. Ephesians 2:3-4), but now, by His action, God has raised us to new life in and through Baptism. He has rescued us from the tyranny of sin that binds us. In this new life we no longer live for ourselves but for Christ who reconciled us to God. Nor do we live to gratify our sinful desires, rather we live to please our gracious God. Yet, as Baptized Christians we realize that we will never be free from sin this side of heaven. Even though we are walking in the newness of life, we are still going to sin every day. But what sets Christians apart from the unbelievers in the world is that we do not live to sin. Yes, we sin, but we repent of our sin daily. We live in the forgiveness that is ours in Christ, and we walk in the newness of life that God gave us in our Baptism.
Our God given connection with Christ in our Baptism does not end when our life on this earth ends. Paul is saying there is more to come, “if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His” (5). Just as God raised Jesus physically and bodily from the dead, He will also raise all people who are connected to Christ and His resurrection through Holy Baptism physically and bodily from the dead on the Last Day! As a Baptized child of God this is our sure and certain hope. Death does not have the final say, it is not the end. Rather death is a doorway into an eternal life. It is the gateway to the presence of God along with all those who have gone before us and all who will come after us.
On the Last Day, all of humanity, living and dead, will stand before Christ. Then all people will be “judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done” (cf. Revelation 20:12). But have no fear: all believers who are Baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, have their name written in the Book of Life. On that day, all Baptized Christ believers will enthusiastically sing “Joy to the world the Lord is come, let earth receive her King!”
825 North 1st West
Cheyenne Wells, CO, 80810-0728
Sunday Service begins at 9:00AM
