Romans 6:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

NIV: Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

NASB: Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

CSB: Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him,

NLT: And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.

KJV: Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

NKJV: Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

The word "if" near the start of this verse can be read as "since," as a reference to those who are in Christ. As Paul showed in the previous verse, our faith in Christ began with a spirit-baptism into Christ. This caused us to be so closely identified with Him that God gives us credit for His righteousness and takes His death as payment for our sin.

In that sense, we died with Christ on a spiritual level and were resurrected to a new spiritual life. We are spiritually alive for the first time ever (Ephesians 2:5). Paul now writes that because we died with Christ in that way, we will also live with Him. It's unclear if Paul is referring to living in Christ now as spiritually-resurrected people or living with Christ for eternity as physically-resurrected people. However, both are true, and both might be indicated by this verse. God intends for us to live this new spiritual life He has given to us with Christ. And we definitely look forward to the day we will be physically brought back to life to spend eternity with Christ.

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.

Accessed 12/21/2024 2:00:15 PM