Colossians 3:3
3 For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
On the face of it, this is a very odd statement. If I am dead, what life do I have to be "hid with Christ in God"? And if Paul is writing to dead people, why write to them at all? Dead people don't read, do they? So, what in the world is Paul talking about in the verse above? Why is he writing to people he says are dead? How can they be dead and yet, apparently, able to consider his words? How can they be dead and also alive with Christ in God? Paul sounds like he's talking nonsense here.
Of course, Paul has more to say on the matter of Christians being dead. And thank goodness! If all we had was his remark above, we'd have to wonder at his sanity. But Paul also wrote,
Galatians 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Paul's thinking is starting to come into focus here. Or is it? He says that he (and by extension all others who have likewise trusted in Christ as their Saviour and submitted to him as Lord) has been "crucified with Christ." Well, hold on now. The Roman Emperor Nero ordered Paul's head chopped off. That's what historical tradition maintains about Paul's death. So, why is Paul saying he was crucified? Well, thankfully, Paul explains himself more fully in his letter to the Roman church:
Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Okay. Here's this odd business about being dead again. But there is an important qualification here: to sin. We have died - not physically - but to sin. What does that mean? Paul elucidates:
Romans 6:3-6
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised 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 united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be 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 with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Paul says here that baptism is symbolic of our union with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. This seems pretty weird. Christ died over 2000 years ago. How was I put to death, buried and resurrected with him when there are two millenia separating me from Christ's death and resurrection? What's Paul been smoking? Well, obviously, Paul can't be speaking of a physical reality. He must, then, be speaking of things spiritual that are not constrained by time, space and matter as the material universe is. Okay, so my death, burial and resurrection with Christ are spiritual events that I have no way of empirically verifying, they are events not immediately accessible to my physical senses. It looks like I have to take what Paul is saying on faith. I have to trust that he is giving me the straight goods on this spiritual reality, just like I trust any other spiritual claim I encounter in the Bible. I mean, hey, I have no way to empirically verify that when I trusted in Christ as my Saviour, I was saved, justified and sanctified as the Bible says. I have to take these things on faith, too.
All right. So, I died spiritually, was buried, and rose again with Christ some 2000 years ago. Sounds trippy. But Paul says its true. Fine, then. So what? Why is Paul talking about this stuff? Do I really need to know about being dead to sin and alive unto God? Apparently, yes:
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Uh, what? I don't have to be a slave to sin any longer? I guess that's why Paul begins chapter six by saying, "What shall we say, then, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we who are dead to sin continue any longer therein?" So, I don't have to continue any longer in sin? Why, then, do I sin at all? If I'm dead to sin, why do I struggle with it? Paul doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. It would be fantastic if what he said was true, but my experience defies his statements. But, then, I read this:
Romans 6:11-12
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
Hmmm...okay, so I have to reckon myself dead to sin. The word "reckon" is an accounting term meaning "to count." Paul is saying, then, that I need to count on the fact that I'm dead to sin. Not just know it but count on it; put my full weight on this fact and trust myself to it. But, again, my experience indicates that Paul's claim about believers being dead to sin just isn't true. And then it occurs to me: why is Paul writing any of this to the Roman Christians in the first place? Well, he's teaching them. He's informing them of things of which, apparently, they were ignorant. And from what he communicates in Romans chapter six, the Christians to whom he was writing were struggling with sin just like me. According to Paul they were dead to sin, too, but, like me, they weren't living like it. They weren't reckoning themselves dead to sin. They were probably going with their experience as the basis for deciding what was true about themselves. But Paul tells them that their experience is false. Whatever sin may be in their lives, the truth, God's spiritual truth, is that they are actually dead to sin. The way to change their experience to fit with Paul's claims in chapter six of Romans was for them to know and then to count on the truth of their death to sin in spite of their experience of sin. This is what it means to "walk by faith, not by sight."
So, as I know and count on the truth of my crucifixion with Christ, I am able to refuse sin and live free of its dominion in my life. Wow. This means, then, that every time I sin, I live a lie. The truth is, I'm dead to sin; it has no more dominion over me than I choose to give it. I'm free from the corrupting, destructive power of sin in my life. All I gotta do is know it, believe it, and count on it.
How about you? Are you dead, too?
Selah.
3 For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
On the face of it, this is a very odd statement. If I am dead, what life do I have to be "hid with Christ in God"? And if Paul is writing to dead people, why write to them at all? Dead people don't read, do they? So, what in the world is Paul talking about in the verse above? Why is he writing to people he says are dead? How can they be dead and yet, apparently, able to consider his words? How can they be dead and also alive with Christ in God? Paul sounds like he's talking nonsense here.
Of course, Paul has more to say on the matter of Christians being dead. And thank goodness! If all we had was his remark above, we'd have to wonder at his sanity. But Paul also wrote,
Galatians 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Paul's thinking is starting to come into focus here. Or is it? He says that he (and by extension all others who have likewise trusted in Christ as their Saviour and submitted to him as Lord) has been "crucified with Christ." Well, hold on now. The Roman Emperor Nero ordered Paul's head chopped off. That's what historical tradition maintains about Paul's death. So, why is Paul saying he was crucified? Well, thankfully, Paul explains himself more fully in his letter to the Roman church:
Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Okay. Here's this odd business about being dead again. But there is an important qualification here: to sin. We have died - not physically - but to sin. What does that mean? Paul elucidates:
Romans 6:3-6
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised 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 united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be 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 with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Paul says here that baptism is symbolic of our union with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. This seems pretty weird. Christ died over 2000 years ago. How was I put to death, buried and resurrected with him when there are two millenia separating me from Christ's death and resurrection? What's Paul been smoking? Well, obviously, Paul can't be speaking of a physical reality. He must, then, be speaking of things spiritual that are not constrained by time, space and matter as the material universe is. Okay, so my death, burial and resurrection with Christ are spiritual events that I have no way of empirically verifying, they are events not immediately accessible to my physical senses. It looks like I have to take what Paul is saying on faith. I have to trust that he is giving me the straight goods on this spiritual reality, just like I trust any other spiritual claim I encounter in the Bible. I mean, hey, I have no way to empirically verify that when I trusted in Christ as my Saviour, I was saved, justified and sanctified as the Bible says. I have to take these things on faith, too.
All right. So, I died spiritually, was buried, and rose again with Christ some 2000 years ago. Sounds trippy. But Paul says its true. Fine, then. So what? Why is Paul talking about this stuff? Do I really need to know about being dead to sin and alive unto God? Apparently, yes:
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Uh, what? I don't have to be a slave to sin any longer? I guess that's why Paul begins chapter six by saying, "What shall we say, then, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we who are dead to sin continue any longer therein?" So, I don't have to continue any longer in sin? Why, then, do I sin at all? If I'm dead to sin, why do I struggle with it? Paul doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. It would be fantastic if what he said was true, but my experience defies his statements. But, then, I read this:
Romans 6:11-12
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
Hmmm...okay, so I have to reckon myself dead to sin. The word "reckon" is an accounting term meaning "to count." Paul is saying, then, that I need to count on the fact that I'm dead to sin. Not just know it but count on it; put my full weight on this fact and trust myself to it. But, again, my experience indicates that Paul's claim about believers being dead to sin just isn't true. And then it occurs to me: why is Paul writing any of this to the Roman Christians in the first place? Well, he's teaching them. He's informing them of things of which, apparently, they were ignorant. And from what he communicates in Romans chapter six, the Christians to whom he was writing were struggling with sin just like me. According to Paul they were dead to sin, too, but, like me, they weren't living like it. They weren't reckoning themselves dead to sin. They were probably going with their experience as the basis for deciding what was true about themselves. But Paul tells them that their experience is false. Whatever sin may be in their lives, the truth, God's spiritual truth, is that they are actually dead to sin. The way to change their experience to fit with Paul's claims in chapter six of Romans was for them to know and then to count on the truth of their death to sin in spite of their experience of sin. This is what it means to "walk by faith, not by sight."
So, as I know and count on the truth of my crucifixion with Christ, I am able to refuse sin and live free of its dominion in my life. Wow. This means, then, that every time I sin, I live a lie. The truth is, I'm dead to sin; it has no more dominion over me than I choose to give it. I'm free from the corrupting, destructive power of sin in my life. All I gotta do is know it, believe it, and count on it.
How about you? Are you dead, too?
Selah.
