Dead to Sin and the Old Man
Colossians 3:3&4 “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
This is the understanding of the cross that we all must come to. Here we will find relief for our souls. Paul writes multiple times in his epistles that we died with Christ at the cross. To grasp His death is freedom. To grasp His life is salvation.
Jesus declares to the Jews in the Temple, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Here He is speaking of being made free from sin. Christians all over the earth seek to get free from sins or bad deeds. Jesus said if the Son makes you free you are free. Read the Chapter. See the context.
How can it be that we have been made free from sin, but yet have so many issues with sins or bad deeds? Christians are caught in all kinds of bad situations, including divorce. Why is this? We do not KNOW HIM! We do not Know our salvation. If the Son has set us free, we are free indeed. How did he do this? He put us to death where we were held.
In Romans 6, the Apostle Paul declares we are baptized into the death of Christ. He writes in the Chapter that we are dead to sin. The word know or knowing is used 3 times between verse 3 through verse 11 alone. These words are three different Greek words. In verse three the word know mean is dealing with information. Paul is saying do you do not have the information of what happened when you were baptized into Jesus Christ. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?”
In verse 6, Paul is dealing with an experiential knowing. “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.” This word is the same word used when Mary says to the angel as recorded in the gospel of Luke, “I have not known a man.” We know our old man is crucified through our experience and knowing of Christ who is in us. This is the answer to our hearts. We must know Him, period!
Finally, in verse 9, “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him,” this knowing means seeing or perceiving. I believe as we know Him we will see and perceive that death has no more dominion over Christ, and in that it has no dominion over Him it is true of His body also. Death has no dominion over you if you are members of His Body. He that is dead is free from sin and its domain.
Our dominion is in what Christ Jesus has accomplished. He died to the world and all that was in it, and was raised out from the dead to live unto God. We live unto God through Him. He is now our life. When He appears in us, as that is where He dwells, we appear in this glorious life of Christ. Glory to God!
