Romans 6:4 - Printer Friendly

ESV: We 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.

NIV: We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

NASB: Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

CSB: Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

NLT: For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: 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.

Paul is introducing a collection of teachings about what happens when a person trusts in Christ for his or her salvation. In the previous verse, he wrote that Christians have been baptized into Christ Jesus and into His death. This seems to mean that, through the Holy Spirit, a person who comes to faith in Christ experiences a spiritual baptism that takes us into Christ Himself (1 Corinthians 12:13). We become so closely identified with Him that God gives us credit for Christ's righteousness and accepts His death as payment for our sin.

Paul has also said that on that spiritual level we were baptized into Christ's death on the cross. Now he writes that we were also buried with Him into death. Paul means to communicate that a real spiritual transaction took place when we were saved. On a spiritual level, we experienced death and burial with Christ. Then God gloriously raised us from that spiritual death just as He raised Christ from physical death. The Father did all of this so we would be able to walk in, to experience for the first time, spiritual life.

This is a huge and mysterious idea, but it is at the heart of what it means to truly be a Christian. Those who come to God through faith in Christ do not merely sign some documents and get their Jesus card. A real, spiritual transformation takes place inside of us. We do not remain the same as we were before. We come to life for the first time (Ephesians 2:5), and God means for us to participate in this new life in a meaningful way. This is not only profound, it helps to explain why a life of persistent and willful sin is incompatible with a profession of faith in Christ (Galatians 5:19–24; 1 John 3:6–9).

Romans 6:1–14 explores how Christians should think about and respond to sin now that we are in Christ and our sins are forgiven. In explaining this, Paul reveals new information about what happened when we put our faith in Christ. In a spiritual sense, we died with Him, and to our sin. We were then resurrected to a new spiritual life. Now Paul instructs us to continue remembering that we are no longer slaves to sin. We must not offer our bodies to be used for sin, but we must offer ourselves as instruments of righteousness, instead.

In Romans 6, Paul answers the question of whether Christians should continue to sin. His answer is emphatic: we absolutely should not. First, when we came to God by faith in Jesus, we died to sin. We are not slaves to it any more. Second, what did living for sin ever get us? It led to shame and death. The righteousness given to us for free by God in Christ Jesus leads to becoming like Jesus and to eternal life. We should serve righteousness instead of sin.

After comparing Adam and Christ and what their choices brought into the world, Paul now turns to ask if Christians should continue in sin once they have been saved. He gives several reasons why we must not: we died to sin's power over us; we are now servants to righteousness; and what good did sin ever bring to you, anyway? Paul will transition in Romans 7 to a discussion of what it means to be released from the law of Moses.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.