Foundations Study  - The Christ Centered Life  Lesson #3 & 4 January 6, 2002

Intro Review:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ø      6:1-3  The first Question and answer!   read 1-3!

Question #1;  Are we to continue in sin so that grace might increase? 

 

 

   - sin  h` a`marti,a refers to what?  The sin nature, that strong desire, propensity to sin, to operate outside the expressed will of God.

 

 

   - continue = evpime,nw = to be at home or a guest in someone's house; implication is of hospitality, fellowship, cordiality;

 

 

 

 

   - What does v.2 say??  How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

     You have already died to sin! Aorist tense avpoqnh,|skw

 

 

 

   - Clearly the death to sin is real, and its final in that its effective, for the whole of one's Christian life.

 

     Three reasons that I can say that!

            1.

 

            2.

 

            3.

 

 

        - As to the question can we continue in a cordial relationship with the OSN, the context is going to give us several reasons why we can not do this. 

    #1.

 

    #2.

 

 

    #3.

 

 

    #4.

 

 

 

Ø      6:3 First emphasis on what we need to know!  Read v.3

 

 

  - Or do you not know, = present  agnoew  keep on not being ignorant

 

  - that all of us  o[soi relative pronoun plural; as many as/all of us who;  looks at a group in which all have the same qualifications; characteristics; all are believers in Christ.

 

  - all believers Paul says have been baptized into Christ Jesus bapti,zw = aorist passive indicative;  passive = outside agent!

    [also] have been baptized into His death.

 

 

 

 

Ø      6:4  Gives us the significance & purpose of the baptism spoken of in verse 3

 

  - we have been buried with Him [ou=n auvtw/| - together with Him] [how]  through baptism into [eivj] death;

 

  - in order that [purpose,] just as Christ was raised from the dead  [reality of His resurrection]  through the glory of the Father,  [brings into focus all that God is, His divine attributes]

 

so we too might walk in newness of life.

 

   - newness of life,  kaino,thj a newness/freshness; speaks of a life that has a new and fresh quality

 

 

  * Baptism  [no water in context]

    - Etymology of the word;

a.  metal when heated red hot being placed into water to temper it.

used baptize to describe that process; Homer in The Odyssey 700 BC.

     b.  Sinking of a ship; The ship was said to be identified with the water as it sunk.  Euripides  400 BC.

           c.  Swords dipped in blood was said to be identified with war.    Xenophon in Anabasis  360 BC.

 

    - Meaning is to identify; to take something and so identify it with something else so that its nature or character is changed.

 

    - What God does for each one at salvation based on the work of Christ on the cross is the foundation of or the basis of the new life in Christ!

 

    - Context:  Baptism refers to bringing the believing one into a vital living union with Jesus Christ; 

 

    * There are three aspects of this identification;

             #1.  1 Cor 12:13

 

             #2.  Gal 3:27

 

             #3.  Rom. 6:3

 

 

 

                     living union

                    with Jesus Christ          Joined to the one

                                              at the r-hand of Father

      died                                                

                                             

                   resurrected

           

            buried

 

 

Observations:

1.  We all              but we do not                 ! 

2.  Freedom from the            of sin is by              and so is freedom from the           of sin by grace.

 

3.  The basis for this freedom is God's provision of the cross, whether it is effective in our life is our choice, acting in accord with the facts. 6:12-13

 

4.  In God's eyes no             has elapsed between us and the            .  

 

5.  The text does not say that the sin nature             , that it is no longer present, the text says we       to it, not that it died.

 

6.  Just as the work of Jesus Christ on the              provides salvation when believed;  so His work on the             provides the victory over              domination of life when believed. 

 

7.  Our union with Christ is a              reality, obscured most of the time, especially in our culture, in a materially oriented world.  [what determines or motivates our priorities]

 

8.  This identification, this               with Christ, in His death, burial, resurrection; is                to the church age and the C/A believer.

 

 

Ø      6:5  For if we have become 

   -  draws a conclusion based on the statement from the previous verse;

 

   - "become"  recognizes a change in state or condition;

 

   - Are the results of these changes                      or are they more lasting?

verb tense tells us;  ginomai = perfect tense

 

 

For since we have become united with Him in the likeness of his death

   - "united"  su,mfutoj [su,m + fuw  to spring up, to produce]  lit. to grow up together; fig. to be united with, closely identified with;

 

 

 

 

   - "in the likeness of His death" o`moi,wma that which is made like something;  not an exact likeness; speaks of resemblance, similarity;

 

 

 

 

Because this is true, that we have been united with Him in His death something else is true;

    "certainly we shall be also (in the likeness) of His resurrection,"

 

 

        -  Other passages on being raised with Christ   Eph. 2:6;   Col. 2:12;  3:1  

 

 

The context then focuses on our current situation, our position, being raised with Him having all the                   needed to live in newness of life.

 

 

 

 

Ø      6:6  continues with more important information we need to know!

We must answer three problems if we are to understand this crucial verse;

      1.  Who is the old man?? 

      2.  Who or what is the body of sin?

      3.  What does the verb done away with mean, what is involved?

  "knowing this"  ginwskw  indicates that we are to have knowledge;   that is, an intimate understanding and discerning of the facts involved.

 

that our old self was crucified with (Him),

palaio.j   old from the point of use not age;

 

   - Term refers to all that we were, whole person, by virtue of our belonging to Adam.

 

       What about that old man?

   - was crucified with (Him)  [aorist passive indicative]   sustauro,w Old man/self died with                  on the cross. 

 

 

   - Next follows 2 purposes for the old man being crucified with Christ at salvation;

 

    #1 that our body of sin might be done away with,

       - to. sw/ma th/j a`marti,aj(,  our body =                ;

 

       - lit. that our sin possessed body; recognizes that we are dominated and controlled by the sin nature before salvation;

 

       - might be done away with  katarge,w  aorist passive subjunctive; with  i[na = purpose clause

literal meaning of the expression "done away with" is  "to put out of business" or  "to dissolve business relationships." 

                     Other meanings:  made powerless, impotent, rendered ineffective"

 

 

       - it would appear that in this context Paul uses the verb to express the termination of a relationship.

 

     #2 [purpose]  that we should no longer be slaves to sin;

 

 

The OSN has been rendered                 ,  put out of business so that we, no longer      are                    , dominated by it; doesn't say that it is no longer there.