Jesus was both dead and alive

JESUS WAS BOTH DEAD AND ALIVE
AND IN HIM SO ARE WE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Romans 6:10 10
The death he died, he died to sin once
for all;but the life he lives, he lives to God.
Death And Life In Christ by Spurgeon
“Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
Him, knowing that Christ, being raisedfrom the dead, dies no more.
Deathhas no more dominion over Him. Forin that He died, He died
unto sin once:but in that He lives, He lives unto God. Likewise reckon
you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 6:8-11
THE Apostles never traveled far from the simple facts of Christ’s life, death,
resurrection, ascension, exaltationand secondadvent. These things, of which
they were the witnesses, constitutedthe staple of all their discourses. Newton
has very properly said that the two pillars of our religion are the work of
Christ for us, and His work in us by the Holy Spirit. If you want to find the
Apostles, you will surely discoverthem standing betweenthese two pillars.
They are either discoursing upon the effectof the passionin our justification,
or its equally delightful consequencein our death to the world and our
newness oflife.
What a rebuke this should be to those in modern times who are ever straining
after novelties. There may be much of the Athenian spirit among
congregations, but that should be no excuse for its being toleratedamong
ministers. We, of all men, should be the last to spend our time in seeking

something new. Our business, my Brothers and Sisters, is the old labor of
Apostolic tongues–to declare Jesus–who is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. We are mirrors reflecting the transactions of Calvary, telescopes
manifesting the distant glories of an exalted Redeemer. The nearer we keepto
the Cross, the nearer, I think, we keepto our true vocation.
When the Lord shall be pleasedto restore to His Church once more a fervent
love to Christ, and, when once again we shall have a ministry that is not only
flavored with Christ, but of which Jesus constitutes the sum and substance,
then shall the Churches revive–then shall the settime to favor Zion come. The
goodly cedarwhich was planted by the rivers of old and stretchedout her
branches far and wide has become, in these modern days, like a tree dwarfed
by Chinese art. It is planted by the rivers as before, but it does not flourish.
Only let God the Holy Spirit give to us, once again, the bold and clear
preaching of Christ crucified in all simplicity and earnestness,and the dwarf
shall swellinto a forestgiant! Eachexpanding bud shall burst into foliage, and
the cedarshall toweraloft again, until the birds of the air shall lodge in its
branches. I need offer you no apology, then, for preaching on those matters
which engrossedallthe time of the Apostles, and which shall shower
unnumbered blessings on generations yet to come.
1. THE FACTS REFERRED TO IN THESE FOUR VERSES
CONSTITUE THE GLORIOUS GOSPELWHICH WE PREACH.
The first facthere very clearly indicated is that Jesus died. He who was
Divine, and therefore, Immortal, bowed His head to death! He whose human
Nature was allied to the omnipotence of His Divine Nature, was pleased
voluntarily to submit himself to the sword of death. He who was pure and
perfect, and therefore deserved not death, which is the wages ofsin,
nevertheless condescendedforour sake to yield Himself up to die. This is the
secondnote in the Gospelscale.
The first note is incarnation–Jesus Christbecame a Man–angelsthought this
worthy of their songs, and made the heavens ring with midnight melodies. The
secondnote is this, I say, that, being found in fashionas a Man, He humbled
Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. He died
as a sacrifice. Methinks, aftermany lambs from the flocks of men had poured
out their blood at the foot of the altar, it was a strange spectacle–tosee God’s
Lamb brought to that same altar to be sacrificed. He is without spot or
blemish, or any such thing. He is the firstling of the flock. He is the only one of
the GreatMaster–a rightroyal, heavenly Lamb.

Such a Lamb had never been seenbefore. He is the Lamb who is worshipped
in Heaven, and who is to be adored world without end. Will that sacredhead
condescendto feel the axe? Will that glorious Victim really be slain? Is it
possible that God’s Lamb will actually submit to die? He does so without a
struggle. He is dumb in the shambles before the slaughterers. He gives up the
warm blood of His heart to the hand of the executioner, that He might expiate
the wrath of God.
Tell it! Let Heaven ring with music and let Hell be filled with confusion! Jesus,
the EternalSon of God, the Lamb of Jehovah’s Passover, died! His hands
were pierced. His heart was broken. To prove how surely the spearhad struck
the mark, the vital fluid flowed in a double flood, even to the ground–Jesus
died. If there is any doubt about this, there is doubt about your salvationand
mine. If there were any reasonto question this fact, then we might question
the possibility of salvation. But Jesus died, and sin is put away. The sacrifice
smokes to Heaven–Jehovahsmells a sweetsavor, and is pleased–through
Christ, the Victim–to acceptthe prayers, the offerings, and the persons of His
people.
Nor did He die as the Victim only. He died as the Substitute. We were drawn
as soldiers for the greatwarfare, but we could not go. We were feeble, and
should have fallen in the battle and have left our bones to be devoured by the
dogs of Hell. But He, the mighty Son of God, became the Substitute for us. HE
entered the battlefield. HE sustained the first charge of the adversary in the
wilderness–three times He repulsed the grim Fiend and all his host. He smote
His assailantswith the swordof the Spirit until the enemy fled and angels
waited upon the weary Victor. The conflictwas not over, the enemy had but
retired to forge fresh artillery and recruit his scatteredforces fora yet more
terrible affray.
For three years the greatSubstitute kept the field againstcontinual onslaughts
from the advance guard of the enemy, remaining conquerorin every skirmish.
No adversary dared to show his face, or if he shot an arrow at Him from a
distance, our Substitute caught the arrow on His shield and laughed His foes
to scorn. Devils were castout of many that were possessed. Whole legions of
them were compelled to find refuge in a herd of swine. And Lucifer himself
fell like lightning from the Heaven of His power. At last the time came when
Hell had gatheredup all its forces–andnow was also come the hour when
Christ, as our Substitute–must carry His obedience to the utmost length. He
must be obedient unto death.
He has been a Substitute up till then. Will he now throw down His vicarious
Character? Will He now renounce our responsibilities, and declare that we

may stand for ourselves? NotHe. He undertook, and must go through.
Sweating greatdrops of blood, He flinches not from the dread assault.
Wounded in hands, and in feet, He still maintained His ground. And though,
for the sake ofobedience, He bowedHis head to die, yet in that dying He slew
Death. He put His foot upon the dragons' neck, crushedthe head of the old
serpent, and beat our adversaries as smallas the dust of the threshing floor.
Yes, the blessedSubstitute has died. I say if there were a question about this,
then we might have to die–but inasmuch as He died for us–the Believershall
not die. The debt is dischargedto the utmost farthing. The account is cleared.
The balance is struck. The scalesofjustice turn in our favor–God’s swordis
sheathedforever–andthe blood of Christ has sealedit in its scabbard. We are
free, for Christ was bound. We live, for Jesus died. Dying, thus, as a Sacrifice,
and as a Substitute, it is a comfortto us to know that He also died as Mediator
betweenGod and man.
There was a greatgulf fixed, so that if we would pass to God, we could not,
neither could He pass to us if He would condescendto do so. There was no
way of filling up this gulf, unless there should be found one who, like the old
Roman, Curtius, would leap into it. Jesus comes, arrayedin His pontifical
garments. Wearing the breastplate, bearing the ephod–a Priestforever after
the order of Melchisedek.His kingly characteris not forgotten, for His head is
adorned with a glittering crown, and over His shoulders He bears the
Prophet’s mantle.
How shall I describe the matchless glories ofthe Prophet-King, the royal
Priest? Will He throw Himself into the chasm? He will. Into the grave He
plunges, the abyss is closed!The gulf is bridged, and God can have
communion with man! I see before me the heavy veil which shields from
mortal eyes the place where God’s Glory shines. No man may touch that veil
or he must die. Is there any man found who can rend it?–that man may
approachthe MercySeat. O, that the veil which parts our souls from Him
that dwells betweenthe Cherubim could be torn throughout its utmost length!
Strong archangel, wouldyou dare to rend it?
Should you attempt the work, your immortality would be forfeited, and you
must expire. But Jesus comes, the King Immortal, Invisible. With His strong
hands He rends the veil from top to bottom–and now men draw near with
confidence–forwhenJesus died, a living way was opened. Sing, O heavens,
and rejoice O earth! There is now no wall of partition, for Christ has dashed it
down! Christ has takenawaythe gates ofdeath, posts and bars, and all–and
like another Samson–carriedthem upon His shoulders far away.

This, then, is one of the greatnotes of the Gospel–the factthat Jesus died. Oh,
you who would be saved, believe that Jesus died! Believe that the Son of God
expired! Trust that death to save you, and you are saved! It is no great
mystery. It needs no learned words, no polished phrases–Jesus died–the
Sacrifice smokes. The Substitute bleeds. The Mediatorfills up the gap–Jesus
dies–believe and live!
But Jesus rises–this is no mean part of the Gospel. He dies. They lay Him in a
new sepulcher. They embalm His body in spices–His adversariesare careful
that His body shall not be stolenaway. The stone, the seal, the watch, all prove
their vigilance. Aha! Aha! What do you do, men? Can you imprison
Immortality in the tomb! The fiends of Hell, too, I doubt not, watchedthe
sepulcher, wondering what it all could mean. But the third day comes, and
with it the messengerfrom Heaven!
He touches the stone–itrolls away. He sits upon it, as if he would defy the
whole universe to roll that stone back again. Jesus awakes,as a mighty man
from his slumber–unwraps the napkin from His head and lays it by itself–
unwinds the cerements in which love had wrapped Him. He puts them by
themselves–forHe had abundant leisure. He was in no haste. He was not
about to escapelike a felon who bursts out of prison, but like one whose time
of deliverance from jail has come. He lawfully and leisurely leaves His cell.
He steps to the upper air, bright, shining, glorious and fair. He lives! He died
once, but He rose againfrom the dead. There is no need for us to enlarge here.
We only pause to remark that this is one of the most jubilant notes in the
whole Gospelscale. Foryou see, Brothers and Sisters, the rich mysteries,
which, like the many seeds ofthe pomegranate, are all enclosedin the golden
apple of resurrection! Deathis overcome!Here is found a Man, who by His
own power, was able to struggle with Deathand hurl him down. The grave is
opened. There is found a Man able to dash back its bolts, and to rifle its
treasures.
And thus, Brothers and Sisters, having delivered Himself, He is able, also, to
deliver others. Sin, too, was manifestly forgiven. Christ was in prison as a
hostage, keptthere as a Surety. Now that He is allowedto go free, it is a
declarationon God’s behalf that He has nothing againstus. Our Substitute is
discharged. We are discharged. He who undertook to pay our debt is allowed
to go free. We go free in Him. “He rose again for our justification.” No–more–
inasmuch as He rises from the dead, He gives us a pledge that Hell is
conquered. This was the greataim of Hell–to keepChrist beneath its heel.
“You shall bruise His heel.” They had gotten the heel of Christ, His mortal
flesh, beneath their power, but that bruised heel came forth unwounded!

Christ sustainedno injury by His dying. He was as glorious, even in His
human Nature, as He was before He expired. “You will not leave My soul in
Hell, neither will You suffer Your holy One to see corruption.” Beloved, in
this will we triumph–that Hell is worsted–Satanis put to confusion, and all his
hosts are fallen before Immanuel. Sinner, believe this! It is the Gospelofyour
salvation. Believe that Jesus of Nazarethrose againfrom the dead. Trust Him,
trust Him to save your soul. BecauseHe burst the gates ofthe grave, trust
Him to bear your sins, to justify your person, to quicken your spirit, and to
raise your dead body–and verily, verily, I sayunto you–you shall be saved!
We now strike a third note, without which the Gospelwere not complete.
Inasmuch as Jesus died, He is now living. He does not, after forty days, return
to the grave. He departs from earth, but it is by another way. From the top of
Olivet He ascends until a cloud receives Him out of their sight. And now, at
this very day, He lives. There at His Father’s right hand He sits–bright like a
sun–clothedin majesty. The joy of all the glorified spirits, He is His Father’s
intense delight. There He sits, Lord of Providence–atHis girdle swing the keys
of Heaven and earth and Hell. There He sits, expecting the hour when His
enemies shall be made His footstool.
Methinks I see Him, too, as He lives to intercede. He stretches His wounded
hands, points to His breastplate bearing the names of His people, and for
Zion’s sake He does not hold His peace. And for Jerusalem’s sakeHe does not
rest day nor night, but ever pleads–“OhGod!Bless Your heritage. Gather
togetherYour scatteredones. I will that they whom You have given Me be
with Me where I am.” Believer, this is a cluster of camphire to you, a bundle
of myrrh–be comfortedexceedingly–
“He lives! The greatRedeemerlives!
What joy the blessedassurance gives!”
Trembling Penitent, let a living Savior cheeryou. Exercise faith in Him, only,
who has immortality. He lives to hear your prayer–cry to Him–He lives to
present that prayer before His Father’s face. Put yourself in His hands. He
lives to gather togetherthose whom He bought with His blood, to make those
the people of His flock who were once the people of His purchase. Sinner, do
you believe this as a matter of fact? If so, rest your soul on it, and make it
shine as a matter of confidence–andthen you are saved!
One more note and our Gospelsong need not rise higher. Jesus died. He rose.
He lives. And He lives forever. He lives forever. He shall not die again. “Death
has no more dominion over Him.” Ages shall follow ages, but His raven locks
shall never be blanched with years. “You have the dew of Your youth.”

Diseasemay visit the world, and fill graves, but no disease orplague can touch
the immortal Savior. The shock of the last catastrophe shallshake both
Heaven and earth, until the stars shall fall like withered fig leaves from the
tree. But nothing shall move the unchanging Savior. He lives forever. There is
no possibility that He should be overcome by a new death–
“No more the bloody spear,
The Cross and nails no more.
For Hell itself shakes atHis name,
And all the heavens adore.”
Would it not be a strange doctrine, indeed, if any man should dream that the
Son of God would again offer His life a sacrifice? He dies no more. This, too,
reveals another part of our precious Gospel–fornow it is certain, since He
lives forever–thatno foes canovercome Him. He has so routed His Enemies,
and driven His foes off the battlefield, that they will never venture to attack
Him again. This proves, too, that His people’s eternal life is sure. Let Jesus
die, and His people die. Let Christ leave Heaven, and, O you glorified ones!
You must all vacate your thrones and leave your crowns without heads to
wearthem–and your harps untouched by fingers that shall wake them to
harmony. He lives forever.
Oh, seedof Abraham, you are savedwith an everlasting salvation by the sure
mercies of David! Your standing in earth and Heaven has been confirmed
eternally. God is honored, saints are comforted, and sinners are cheered, for,
“He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him,
seeing He ever lives to make intercessionfor them.”
Now, I would to God, that on one of these four anchors your faith might be
able to get rest. Jesus died, poor Trembler. If He died and took your griefs,
will not His atonement save you? Resthere. Millions of souls have restedon
nothing but Jesus'death–andthis is a granite foundation. No storms of Hell
can shake it. Geta good handhold on His Cross–holdit and it will hold you.
You cannot depend on His death and be deceived. Try it–taste and see, and
you shall find that the Lord is good–andthat none cantrust a dying Savior
without being with Him in Paradise.
But if this suffices you not, He rose again. Fastenupon this. He is proved to be
Victor over your sins, and over your adversary. Can you not, therefore,
depend upon Him? Doubtless there have been thousands of saints who have
found the richest consolationfrom the fact that Jesus rose againfrom the
dead. He rose againfor our justification. Sinner, hang on that. Having risen
He lives. He is not a dead Savior, a dead Sacrifice. He must be able to hear our

plea, and to presentHis own. Dependon a living Savior–dependon Him
NOW.
He lives forever, and therefore it is not too late for Him to save you. If you cry
to Him, He will hear your prayer, even though it is in life’s last moment, for
He lives forever. Though the ends of the earth were come, and you were the
last man, yet He ever lives to intercede before His Father’s face. Oh, gadnot
about to find any other hope! Here are four greatstones for you–build your
hope on these. You cannot want surer foundations–He dies, He rises, He lives,
He lives forever. I tell you, Soul, this is my only hope, and though I lean there
with all my weight, it bends not.
This is the hope of all God’s people, and they abide contentedin it. Do, I pray,
come now and rest on it. May the Spirit of God bring many of you to Christ.
We have no other Gospel. You thought it a hard thing, a scholarly thing, a
matter that a college must teachyou, that the university must give you. It is no
such matter for learning and scholarship. Your little child knows it, and your
child may be saved by it. You without education–youthat can scarcelyread
the Bible, you can comprehend this–He dies. There is the Cross. He rises.
There is the open tomb. He lives. There is the pleading Savior. He lives
forever. There is the perpetual merit. Depend on Him! Put your soul in His
hands, and you are saved!
If I have brought you under the first head of my discourse to a sufficient
height, you can now take another step and mount to something higher. I do
not mean higher as to real value, but higher as a matter of knowledge, because
it follows upon the factas a matter of experience.
II. The greatfacts mentioned in our text represent THE GLORIOUS WORK
WHICH EVERY BELIEVER FEELS WITHIN HIMSELF.
In the text we see death, resurrection, life, and life eternal. You observe that
the Apostle only mentions these to show our share in them. I will read the text
again–“Now ifwe are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
Him: knowing that Christ, being raisedfrom the dead, dies no more. Death
has no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once:
but in that He lives, He lives unto God. Likewise reckonyou, yourselves, also
to be dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord.”
Well, then, it seems that as Christ was, so we also are dead. We are dead to sin
because sincan no more condemn us. All the sins which God’s people have
ever committed dare not accuse–muchless canthey condemn those for whom
Jesus died. Sin can curse an unbeliever, but it has no powerso much as to

mutter half a curse againsta man in Christ. I cannotclaim a debt of a dead
debtor, and although I am a debtor to the Law, yet since I am dead, the Law
cannot claim anything of me. Norcan sin inflict any punishment upon me. He
that is dead, as says the preceding verse, is freed from sin. Being dead to sin,
we are free from all its jurisdiction. We fear not its curse. We defy its power.
The true Believer, in the day when He first came to Christ, died to sin as to its
power. Sin had been sitting on a high throne in his heart, but faith pulled the
tyrant down, and rolled him in the dust. And though it still survives to vex us,
yet its reigning poweris destroyed. From the day of our new birth, if we are,
indeed, true Christians, we have been dead to all sin’s pleasures. Madame
Bubble canno longerbewitch us. The varnish and gilt have been worn off
from the palaces ofsin. We defy sin’s most skillful enchantments. It might
warble sweetmusic, but the dead ear is not to be moved by melodies.
Keep your bitter sweets, O earth, for those who know no better delicacies.
Our mouths find no flavor in your dainties. We are dead to sin’s bribes. We
curse the gold that would have bought us to be untruthful, and abhor the
comforts which might have been the rewardof iniquity. We are dead to its
threats, too. When sin curses us, we are as little moved by its curses as by its
promises. A Believeris mortified and dead to the world. He cansing with
Cowper–
“I thirst, but not as once I did
The vain delights of earth to share.
Your wounds, Emmanuel, all forbid
That I should seek my pleasures there.
It was the sight of Your dear Cross
First weanedmy soul from earthly things,
And taught me to esteemas dross
The mirth of fools and pomp of kings.”
I am compelled, however, to saythat this mortification is not complete. We
are not so dead to the world as we should be. Instead of saying, here, what the
Christian is, I think I may rather saywhat he should be, for where am I to
look for men that are dead to the world nowadays? I see professing Christians
quite as fond of riches. I see them almost as fond of gaiety and vanity. Do I not
see those who wearthe name of Jesus, whosedress is as full of vanity as that
of the worldling? Whose conversationhas no more savorof Christ in it than
that of the open sinner? I find many who are conformed to this world, and
who show but little renewing of their minds.

Oh, how slight is the difference nowadays betweenthe Church and the world!
We ought to be, in a spiritual sense, evermore Dissenters–dissenting from the
world–standing out and protesting againstit. We must be to the world’s final
day Nonconformists, notconforming to its ways and vanities, but walking
without the camp, bearing Christ’s reproach. Do some of you recollectthe day
when you died to the world? Your friends thought you were mad! They said
you knew nothing of life, so your ungodly friends put you in the sepulcher,
and others of them rolled a greatstone againstyou. They, from that day, put a
ban upon you.
You are not askedout now where you once were. The sealis put upon you–
they call you by some opprobrious epithet, and so far as the world is
concerned, you are like the dead Christ. You are put into your grave, and shut
out from the world’s life. They do not want you any more at their merry-
makings–youwould spoil the party. You have now become such a Methodist–
such a mean hypocrite, as they put it–that they have buried you out of sight.
They have rolled the stone, and sealedit, and setwatchers at the door to keep
you there. Well–andwhat a blessedthing that is–forif you are dead with
Christ–you shall also live with Him!
If we are thus dead with Christ, let us see that we live with Him. It is a poor
thing to be dead to the world unless we are alive unto God. Deathis a
negative, and a negative in the world is of no great use by itself. A Protestant
is less than a nobody if he only protests againsta wrong. We want a
proclaimer, one who proclaims the Truth of God as well as protests against
error. And so, if we are dead to sin, we must have, also, the life of Christ. And
I trust, Beloved, we know, and it is not a matter of theory to us–I trust we
know that in us there is a new life to which we were strangers once.
To our body and our soul there has been superadded a spirit, a spark of
spiritual life. Just as Jesus hada new life after death, so have we a new life
after death, by which, I trust, we rise from the grave. But we must prove it.
Jesus proved His resurrectionby infallible signs. You and I, too, must prove
to all men that we have risen out of the grave of sin. Perhaps our friends did
not know us when we first rose from the dead. Like Mary, they mistook us for
somebody else. Theysaid, “What? Is this William who used to be such a
hectoring, proud, ill-humored, domineering fellow? Can he put up with our
jokes and jeers so patiently?”
They supposed us to be somebody else, and they were not far from the mark,
for we were new creatures in Christ Jesus. We talkedwith some of our
friends, and they found our conversationso different from what it used to be,
that it made their hearts burn within them–just as Jesus Christ’s disciples

when they went to Emmaus. But they did not know our secret. Theywere
strangers to our new life. Do you remember, Christians, how you first
revealedyourselves unto your Brothers and Sisters, the Church? In the
breaking of bread they first knew you. That night when the right hand of
fellowship was given to you, the new life was openly recognizedand they said–
“Come in, you blessedof the Lord, why stand you without?”
I trust, in resurrection-life you desire to prove to all men that this is not the
common life you lived before–a life which made you serve the flesh and the
lusts thereof–but that you are living now with higher aims and purer
intentions, by a more heavenly rule and with the prospectof a more Divine
result. As we have been dead with Christ, dear Brothers and Sisters, I hope we
have also, in our measure, learned to live with Him.
But now, remember, Christ lives forever and so do we. Christ, being raised
from the dead, dies no more. Death has no more dominion over Him. The
fourteenth verse is wonderfully similar–“Sinshall not have dominion over
you, for you are not under the Law, but under Grace.”Sin made us die once
in Adam, but we are not to be slain by it again. If Christ could die now, we
could die. But since Christ cannever die again, so the Believercan never
againgo back to his old sin. He dies to sin no more–he lives and sin has no
more dominion over him. Oh, this is a delightful theme! I know not how to
express the joy my own heart feels at the sense of security arising from the
fact that Christ dies no more. Deathhas no more dominion over Him.
And sin has no more dominion over me, if I am in Christ. Suppose, my
Brothers and Sisters, suppose for a moment, that Christ could die again.
Bring out your funeral music! Let the muffled drums beat the march of the
dead! Let the heavens be clothed in sackcloth, and let the verdant earth be
robed in blackness, forthe Atonement, earth’s greathope, is incomplete!
Christ must die again. The adversaries we thought were routed have gathered
their strength again. Deathis not dead. The grave is not open. There will be
no resurrection! The saints tremble. Even in Heaven they fearand quake. The
crowns upon glorified heads are trembling. The hearts that have been
overflowing with eternal bliss are filled with anxiety, for the throne of Christ
is empty!
Angels suspend their songs. The howling of Hell has silencedthe shouts of
Heaven–the Fiends are holding high holiday and they screamfor very joy–
“Jesus dies again!Jesus dies again!Prepare your arrows!Empty your
quivers! Come up, you legions of Hell! The famous Conqueror must fight, and
bleed, and DIE again!We shall overcome Him yet!” God is dishonored, the
foundations of Heaven are removed, and the Eternal Throne quivers with the

shock of Christ subjectedto a seconddeath! Is it blasphemy to suppose this?
Of course it is!
Yet, my Brothers and Sisters, it were equal blasphemy to suppose a true
Believergoing back again to his old lusts, and dying againby sin. For that
were to suppose that the Atonement were incomplete. I can prove that it
involves the very same things. It supposes an unfinished sacrifice, for if the
sacrifice is finished, then those for whom it was offeredmust be saved. It
supposes Hell triumphant–Christ had bought the soul, and the Spirit had
renewedit–but the devil wipes away the blood of Christ, expels the Spirit of
the living God and gets to himself the victory. A saint perish? Then God’s
promise is not true, and Christ’s word is false–“Igive unto My sheepeternal
life, and they shall never perish.”
If one saint perishes the foundations are removed, eternal justice is just a
name, the Divine honesty is suspect, the purposes of Godare frustrated, and
the crownof Sovereigntyrolls in the mire. Weep, angels!Be astonished, O
heavens!Rock, O you hills with earthquake!And Hell, come up and hold riot–
for GodHimself has ceasedto be God–since His people perish! “BecauseI
live, you shall live also,” is a Divine necessity. And if dominion canever be had
by sin over a Believeragain, then, mark you, death can againhave dominion
over Christ. But that is impossible. Therefore rejoice and be glad, you
servants of God!
You will notice, that as they live, so, like Jesus Christ, they live unto God. This
completes the parallel. “In that He lives He lives unto God.” So do we. The
forty days which Christ spent on earth, He lived unto God, comforting His
saints, manifesting His Person, giving forth Gospelprecepts. Forthe few days
we have to live here on earth, we must live to comfort the saints, to setforth
Christ, and to preach the Gospelto every creature. And now that Christ has
ascended, He lives unto God. What does that mean? He lives, my Brothers
and Sisters, to manifest the Divine Character. Christ is the permanent
revelation of an invisible God.
We look at Christ and we see justice, truth, power, love. We see the whole of
the Divine attributes in Him. Christian, you are to live unto God–Godis to be
seenin you. You are to show forth the Divine heart of compassion,
longsuffering, tenderness, kindness, patience. You are to manifest God–living
unto God. Christ lives unto God, for He completes the Divine purpose by
pleading for His people, by carrying on His people’s work above. You are to
live for the same, by preaching that sinners may hear, and that the electmay
live–by teaching that the chosen may be saved. Teaching by your life, by your

actions, that God’s Glory may be known, and that His decrees maybe
fulfilled.
Jesus lives unto God, delighting Himself in God. The immeasurable joy of
Christ in His Father no tongue can tell. Live in the same way, Christian.
Delight yourself in the Lord! Be blessed. Be happy! Rejoice in the Lord
always, and againI say, rejoice!Our Redeemerlives unto God, that is, He
lives in constantfellowship with God. Cannot you do so, too, by the Holy
Spirit? You are dead to sin–see to it that you live foreverin fellowshipwith
the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
Now I have been talking riddles to some of you. How many of you understand
these things? If any are troubled because theyunderstood the first part, and
they do trust in Christ’s death, but they do not understand the secondpart–
ah, Beloved, you shall understand one of these days. If you are resting on
Christ’s death, that death shall yet be made mighty in you. But you that have
known something of this, I pray you struggle after more. Ask the Lord to
mortify you altogether, to fill you with the Divine life, and to help you to
persevere unto the end. Pray that you may live unto Godand unto God alone.
III. Having brought you this far, there is only one other stepto take, and then
we have done. Let us notice that the facts of which we have spokenare
PLEDGES OF THE GLORY WHICH IS TO BE REVEALED IN US.
Christ died. Possiblywe shall die. Perhaps we shall not. We may be alive, and
remain at the coming of the Son of Man. But it may be, we shall die. I do not
think we should be so certain of death as some Christians are, because the
Lord’s coming is much more certain than our dying. Our dying is not certain,
for He may come before we die. However, suppose we shall die–Christrose
and so shall we–
“What though our inbred sins require
Our flesh to see the dust,
Yet as the Lord our Savior rose,
So all His followers must.”
Do not, my Brothers and Sisters, think of the cemeterywith tears, nor
meditate upon the coffin and the shroud with gloomy thoughts. You only
sojourn there for a little season, and to you it will not appear a moment. Your
body will sleep, and if men sleepall through a long night it only seems an hour
to them, a very short moment. The sleeping time is forgottenand to your
sleeping body it will seemno time at all–while to your glorified soul it will not
seemlong because you will be so full of joy that a whole eternity of that joy
would not be too long.

But you shall rise again. I do not think we getenough joy out of our
resurrection. It will probably be our happiest moment, or rather the
beginning of the happiest life that we shall ever know. Heaven is not the
happiest place. Heaven at pleasure. But the Heaven that is to be–whenbody
and soul will both be there–surpassesallthought. Resurrectionwill be our
marriage day. Body and soul have been separatedand they shall meet againto
be remarried with a goldenring, no more to be divorced, but as one
indissolubly united body to go up to the great altar of immortality and there
to be espousedunto Christ forever and ever.
I shall come againto this flesh, no longer flesh that candecay, no longerbones
that ache–Ishallcome back to these eyes and these ears, all made channels of
new delight. Say not this is a materialistic view of the matter. We are at least
one-half material, and so long as there is material about us we must always
expectjoy that shall not only give spiritual, but even material delight to us.
This body shall rise again. “Canthese dry bones live?” is the question of the
unbeliever. “They must live,” is the answerof faith. Oh, let us expectour end
with joy, and our resurrectionwith transport.
Jesus was not detained a prisoner, and therefore no worm can keepus back.
No grave, no tomb can destroyour hope. RisenHe lives, and we shall rise to
live forever. Anticipate, my Brothers and Sisters, that happy day. No sin, no
sorrow, no care, no decay, no approaching dissolution! He lives forever in
God–so shallyou and I–close to the Eternal. Swallowedup in His brightness,
glorified in His Glory, overflowing with His love! I think at the very prospect
we may well say–
“Oh, long-expectedday begin,
Dawnon these realms of woe and sin.”
We may wellcry to Him to bid His chariots hastenand bring the joyous
season!He comes,!He comes, Believer!Rejoice with joy unspeakable!You
have but a little time to wait, and when you have fallen asleepyou shall leap–
“From beds of dust and silent clay,
To realms of everlasting day.”
And you–
“Farfrom a world of grief and sin
With God eternally shut in,
Shall be foreverblessed!”
May the Lord add His blessing, for Jesus'sake. Amen.

BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Significance OfBaptism
Romans 6:3, 4
S.R. Aldridge
To suppose that the acceptanceofthe grace of God in Christ renders us
carelessaboutthe further committal of sin is to misapprehend the nature of
redemption. We cannot dissociate the external results of Christ's work from a
considerationof its inward effects upon the mind and heart of the man who
profits by it. Fora practical refutation of the supposition, the apostle points to
the acknowledgedmeaning of the ceremony wherein eachbeliever indicates
his close relationshipto the Saviour.
I. BAPTISM THE SYMBOL OF AN ALTERED LIFE. What canmore
forcibly setforth an abandonment of former feelings and, behaviour than
being "dead and buried"? The allusion here to immersion is questionedby
none, and a watergrave speaks eloquentlyof a changedattitude to sin and the
world. We are so constitutedthat this appeal to the senses powerfully
impresses both the actualparticipator in the act and the spectators ofthe
living picture.
II. A SYMBOL OF COMPLETE FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST. The
followerof Christ repeats in his inward experience the death, the burial, and
the resurrectionof Christ. These were necessitatedby the presence and
enormity of sin, and to "put on Christ" as our Redeemeris to adopt his
crucifixion and subsequenttriumph as our expressionofhatred againstall
that perverts the moral order of the world. To be immersed into the death of
Christ is to be completely surrendered to the claims of the Son of God, and to

share his hostility to evil, rejoicing in his conquest overdeath and the grave,
and the adversary of mankind. By compliance with his commandment does
the disciple signify his entire dedication to his Master's service.
III. CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS NEW LIFE. Emerging from the Burial,
the candidate rises with Christ as his Example and Companion. His is to be an
active life, "a walk," not a dreamy repose ofself-absorptioninto the bliss of
Nirvana. The contrastto the old careerwas exemplified in the resurrection
gladness and glory of the Lord. No more was sin to exert its baleful influence;
the body of the risen Lord no longer could be tortured with hunger and thirst
and suffering. The Saviourwas limited no longer by material barriers; he was
endowedwith full authority from on high, and crownedwith ever-increasing
splendour. When the Apostle Paul saw his Lord, the Brightness excelledthe
noonday sun. These triumphs are in their degree repeatedin the spiritual life
of the baptized believer. He casts off the works of darkness and puts on the
armour of light. He keeps his body under, so that the spirit rules. The voice
from heaven proclaims him God's beloved son. Insteadof anguish there is
peace and joy. He sits in heavenly places, and God causethhim always to
triumph in Christ Jesus. Suchis the ideal life of fellowship with Christ in his
resurrection, shadowedforth By the ascentfrom the baptismal waters. -
S.R.A.

Biblical Illustrator
What shall we saythen? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Romans 6:1-5
Grace and sin
T. Chalmers, D. D.
1. This question was prompted by a sentence, the very cadence ofwhich
seemedto be still alive in the apostle's memory (Romans 5:20). It is well to
trace the continuity of Scripture — to read the letter of an inspired writer as
you would read any other, as an entire composition, through which there
possibly runs the drift of one prevailing conception.
2. The tenure upon which eternallife is given, and upon which it is held under
the economyof the gospel, Paulmakes abundantly manifest by such phrases
as "grace,"and "free grace,"and "justificationof faith and not of works,"
and the "gift of righteousness" onthe one hand, and the "receiving of the
atonement" on the other. And yet the apostle, warm from the delivery of these
intimations, and within a single breath of having uttered that where there was
abundance of guilt there was a superabundance of grace in store for it —
when met by the question of What then? shall we do more of this sin, that we
may draw more of this grace? onhis simple authority as a messengerfrom
God he enters his solemn caveatagainstthe continuance of sin. Lavish as the
gospelis of its forgiveness for the past, it has no tolerationeither for the
purposes or for the practices ofSin in the future. Couple these two verses, and
learn from the simple change of tense two of the most important lessons of
Christianity. With the first of these verses we feelourselves warrantedto offer
the fullest indemnity to the worst and most worthless. Your sin has abounded;
but the grace of God has much more abounded. No sin is beyond the reach of
the atonement — no guilt of so deep a dye that the blood of a crucified
Saviour cannot washaway. But the sinner should also look forward, and

forgetnot that the same gospelwhich sheds an oblivion over all the sinfulness
of the past, enters upon a war of extermination againstfuture sinfulness.
3. The term "dead," in the phrase "dead unto sin," may be understood
forensically. We are dead in law. The doom of death was upon us on account
of sin. Conceive that just as under a civil government a criminal is often put to
death for the vindication of its authority and for the removal of a nuisance
from society, so, under the jurisprudence of Heaven, an utter extinction of
being was laid upon the sinner. Imagine that the sentence is executed — that
by an actof extermination the transgressoris expunged from God's animated
creation. There could be no misunderstanding of the phrase if you were to say
that he was dead unto or dead for sin. But suppose God to have devised a way
of reanimating the creature who had undergone this infliction, the phrase
might still adhere to him, though now alive from the dead. And in these
circumstances, is it for us to continue in sin — we who for sin were consigned
to annihilation, and have only by the kindness of a Saviour been rescuedfrom
it? Now the argument retains its entireness, though the Mediatorshould
interfere with His equivalent ere the penalty of death has been inflicted. We
were as goodas dead, for the sentence had gone forth, when Christ stepped
between, and, suffering it to light upon Himself, carried it away. Does not the
God who loved righteousness andhated iniquity six thousand years ago, bear
the same love to righteousness andthe same hatred to iniquity still? And well
may not the sinner say — Shall I againattempt the incompatible alliance of an
approving in God and a persevering sinner; or againtry the Spirit of that
Being who, the whole process ofmy condemnation and my rescue, has given
such proof of most sensitive and unspotted holiness? Through Jesus Christ,
we come againunto the heavenly Jerusalem;and it is as fresh as ever in the
verdure of a perpetual holiness. How shall we who were found unfit for
residence in this place because of sin, continue in sin after our readmittance
therein?
4. But while we have thus insisted on the forensic interpretation of the phrase,
yet let us not forbear to urge the personal sense ofit, as implying such a
deadness of affectionto sin, such an extinction of the old sensibility to its
allurements and its pleasures, as that it has ceasedfrom its wonted powerof
ascendencyoverthe heart and characterof him who was formerly its slave. So

the apostle (vers. 5, 6) goes onto show that we are planted togetherin the
likeness ofHis death. He is now that immortal Vine, who stands forever
secure and beyond the reachof any devouring blight from the now appeased
enemy; and we who by faith are united with Him as so many branches, share
in this blessedexemption along with Him. And as we thus share in His death,
so also shall we share in His resurrection. By what He hath done in our stead,
He hath not only been highly exaltedin His own person; but He hath made us
partakers of His exaltation, to the rewards of which we shall be promoted as if
we had rendered the obedience ourselves. This tallies with another part of the
Bible, where it is said that Christ gave Himself up for us, that He might
redeem us from all iniquity and purify us unto Himself a peculiar people
zealous of goodworks.
5. Now how comes it that because we are partakers in the crucifixion of
Christ, so that the law has no further severity to discharge upon us, that this
should have any effect in destroying the body of sin, or in emancipating us
from the service ofsin? How is it that the fact of our being acquitted leads to
the factof our being sanctified? There canbe no doubt that the Spirit of God
both originates and carries forward the whole of this process. He gives the
faith which makes Christ's death as available for our deliverance from guilt;
and He causes the faith to germinate all those moral and spiritual influences
which bring about the personaltransformation that we are inquiring of. But
these He does, in a way that is agreeable to the principles of our rational
nature; and one way is through the expulsive power of a new affectionto
dispossessanold one from the heart. You cannotdestroy your love of sin by a
simple actof extermination. You cannotthus bid awayfrom your bosom one
of its dearestand oldestfavourites. Our moral nature abhors the vacuum that
would thus be formed. But let a man by faith look upon himself as crucified
with Christ, and the world is disarmed of its powerof sinful temptation. He no
longerminds earthly things, just because betterthings are now within his
reach, and "our conversationis in heaven — whence we also look for the
Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ." And this is in perfect analogywith familiar
exhibitions of our nature in ordinary affairs. Let us just conceive a man
embarked, with earnestambition, on some retail business, whose mind is
wholly takenup with the petty fluctuations that are taking place in prices and

profits and customers;but who nevertheless is regaledby the annual
examination of particulars at the end of it, with the view of some snug
addition to his old accumulations. You must see how impossible it were to
detach his affections from the objects and the interests of this his favourite
course by a simple demonstration of their vanity. But suppose that either
some splendid property or some sublime walk of high and hopeful adventure
were placed within his attainment, and the visions of a far more glorious
affluence were to pour a light into his mind, which greatly overpassedandso
eclipsedall the fairness of those homelier prospects that he was wont to
indulge in — is it not clearthat the old affectionwhich he could never getrid
of by simple annihilation, will come to be annihilated, and that simply by
giving Place to the new one.
(T. Chalmers, D. D.)
Free grace and sin
J. OswaldDykes, D. D.
1. The foregoing chapters are a proof and defence of the first fundamental
truth of the gospel— that the only way in which we can be pardoned is
through our trusting exclusively, not to what we have ourselves done, but to
Christ and His atonement. Nay; we have the principle that the more sin has
abounded, so much the more superabundant and triumphant is the free
favour of God.
2. To many this has always appearedto be very perilous teaching. It seems to
offer no security for practicalvirtue — if, indeed, it does not actually put a
premium upon sin. What else is that but to saythat we may sin the more in
order to make God's forgiving mercy the more illustrious? Of course, if
anything approaching to this were a fair deduction from the doctrine of
justification, then such a doctrine would be grosslyimmoral. But the same
objectionwas takenin St. Paul's day againstSt. Paul's teaching;and he met it
by a vigorous repudiation. Indeed his answerto it formed the secondmain
sectionof his theologicalsystem, since in that answerhe developedthe whole

theory of Christian holiness. And the charge of immoral tendency, which
glancedharmlessly off St. Paul and the Church of his time, may very well
prove equally harmless againstthe evangelicalChurches ofmodern date.
Remember, the free acquittal of a penitent believer is not the end of the
gospel, but only the means. Now, if free justification turn out on trial not to
save a man from his sin, but to encouragehim in it; then it turns out to be a
cheat, like all other gospels orrecipes for working deliverance which men
have ever concoctedor experimented with before Christ and after Him! The
question, therefore, is a vital one. It just means this: Is the gospela successor
a failure?
3. St. Paul's instant reply is a blunt and staggering one. It amounts to this:
such an abuse of free grace is unthinkable and out of the question. Christians
are people who, in the mere factof becoming Christians, passedthrough an
experience which put a virtual end to their sinful life. Such a difficulty is
purely intellectual, arising in the minds of men who try to comprehend the
gospelfrom the outside without having first experiencedit. But, then, when
once this intellectual difficulty has been startedby a non-Christian objector,
the Christian craves to find an intellectual answer. Thatmy Christian faith is
inconsistentwith persisting in sin, I feel. How it comes to be thus inconsistent
with it, I want also to see.
4. It is under this view that St. Paul proceeds. "Are you ignorant of what
every Christian is supposedto know — how as many of us as were baptised
into Christ, were baptised into His death?" Well, then, it fellows that "we
were buried along with Him by means of that baptism of ours into His death,
for the express purpose, not that we should remain dead any more than He
did, but that, just as He was raisedfrom the dead, so we also should walk in a
new life." In the case ofconverts in the primitive Church, conversionwas
always publicly attested, and its inward charactersymbolised, by the
initiatory rite of baptism. For them nothing could seemmore natural than to
look back upon their baptismal actwhenever any question arose as to what
their conversionreally meant. Its most generalmeaning was this, that it put
baptised believers into the closestpossible relationshipwith Christ, their
SecondAdam, of whose "body" they were thenceforwardto be "members,"
whose fortunes they were thenceforwardto share. But if baptism sealour

incorporation into the Representative Manfrom heaven; who does not know
that the specialact of Jesus with which of all others we are brought most
prominently into participation, is nothing else than His death and burial?
That central thing about Christ on which my faith has to fastenitself is His
expiatory death upon the Cross for sin. Am I to be justified through Him at
all? Then it is "through faith in His blood" (Romans 3:25). Have I, an enemy,
been "reconciledto God" by His Sonat all? I was reconciled"by the death of
His Son" (Romans 5:10). To that death upon the Cross of expiation which was
attestedby His three days' burial the gospeldirects the sinner's eye, and on
that builds his trust for pardon and peace with God. And the greatrite which
certified the world and me that I am Christ's, was before all else a baptism
into the death of Him who died for me!
5. All this St. Paul treats as a Christian commonplace. Its bearing on our
continuing in sin is obvious. Conversionthrough faith in Christ's propitiation
is seento be essentiallya moral change, a dying to sin. The nerve of the old
separate, selfish, sinful life of eachman was cut when the man merged himself
in his new Representative, andgave up his personalsins to be judged,
condemned, and expiated in his Atoner's Cross. Now, how can a man who has
gone through an experience like that continue in sin? For him the old bad past
is a thing dead and buried. Old things are passedaway, everything has
become new. Such a man can no more go back to be what he was before, feel
as he felt, or act as he used to act, than Jesus Christcould rise out of His grave
to be once more the Victim for unexpiated guilt and the Sin bearer for a guilty
race.
6. The Christian dies to his old sin that he may begin to live to holiness and
God. This is the express design Godhad when He put our sins to death in His
dear Son's Cross. Faithin Christ makes us morally incorporate with Him in
spirit, as well as legally embracedunder Him as our Representative. Christis
our Head in that He represents us before the law, so that in His death all who
are His died to sin. Christ is no less our Head to quicken us as His members,
and in His living againwe all live anew. The will and the power to walk in new
moral life are therefore guaranteedto us by our faith. Christian faith is very
far from a superficial, or inoperative, or merely intellectual act, such as a man
can do without his moral characterbeing seriouslyaffectedby it. It is

connectedwith the deep roots of our moral and religious nature. It changes
the main current of our ethical life. Those who have been baptised into Christ
and saythey trust in His death as the ground of their peace with God, are
bound to satisfythemselves that their faith is of a sort to kill sin, and to
maintain the life of righteousness.
(J. OswaldDykes, D. D.)
The purity of the gospeldispensation
G. Goldie.
That the gospeldispensation, insteadof relaxing the principles of moral
obligation, strengthens and renders the sin committed under its light the most
inexcusable, may be illustrated —
I. FROM THE NATURE AND PERFECTIONSOF GOD. He is a being of
absolute purity. Being thus perfect in Himself, He must love every
resemblance ofHis own perfection in any of His intelligent creatures;and the
more nearly they resemble Him, the more must they be the objects of His
favour.
II. FROM THE CHARACTER AND OFFICES OF THE REDEEMER. The
Redeemeris the beloved Son of God, one with the Father; and, therefore, the
arguments drawn from the perfections of God, to illustrate the purity of the
gospeldispensation, are equally conclusive with respectto the Redeemer. In
His severaloffices, no less than in His personal character, Christinvariably
promoted the cause of righteousness. Forthis He sustainedthe office of a
prophet; for this He became our great High Priest, to restore that intercourse
which sin had interrupted. For this end, too, He became our King, and gave us
a system of laws suited to that state of reconciliation. Now, suchbeing His
character, suchthe offices which He sustainedas our Redeemer, and such the
end for which He did sustainthem, it follows, by necessaryconsequence, that
the dispensationof the gospel, so far from relaxing the obligations of moral
duty, tends powerfully to confirm them.

III. FROM THAT PERFECT RULE OF MORAL CONDUCT WHICH THE
GOSPELPRESCRIBES.It is at once the most simple, the most pure and
perfect that ever was delivered to the world; as superior to the much-famed
systems of philosophers as its Divine author was superior to them. It lays the
foundation of moral duty in the heart, the true spring of action; and by one
simple principle of which every heart is susceptible, eventhe principle of love,
it provides for the most perfect moral conduct, and for the proper discharge
of the duties of life.
IV. FROM A CONSIDERATION OF THE BRIGHT EXAMPLES WHICH
ARE SET BEFORE US IN THE GOSPEL.
V. FROM THE POWERFULAID WHICH THE GOSPELPROMISESTO
ENABLE US TO OBSERVE ITS PRECEPTSAND IMITATE THE BRIGHT
EXAMPLES WHICH IT SETS BEFOREUS. The gracious Author of this
Divine influence is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God, the third person in the
ever blessedTrinity.
VI. FROM THE ULTIMATE END AND DESIGN OF THE WHOLE
SCHEME. The greatend of the gospelscheme undoubtedly is to bring us to a
state of perfect felicity in the glorious kingdom of our God; to the full
enjoyment of that immortality which our Saviour hath revealed. With the
attainment of this glorious end, holiness, or moral purity, and inseparably
connected, both in the nature of things and by the positive laws of God's
moral government.
1. In the nature of things, the unholy or immoral must be excluded from
heavenly happiness. They are incapable of it. There is no conformity between
the dispositions which they have cultivated and the joys of the celestial
regions.
2. It is not only in the nature of things, but by the positive law of God's moral
government, that the unrighteous are excluded from heaven and happiness.
(G. Goldie.)

Perversions ofevangelicaltruth
W. Hubbard.
1. What shall we say then? Say to what? To the greataffirmation that man is
justified freely by God's grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Shall it be this: Let us persist in sin that grace may multiply? How sharply
Paul turns upon the immoral suggestion!It is a corruption not to be endured.
2. But why did the apostle submit a conclusionlike that to his readers? He
knew that his doctrine did not contain it, but he knew that a corrupt human
heart and a perverted understanding could put it in. That the conclusion, or
its equivalent, has been asserted, and that often, where if submitted as a
proposition it would be rejectedwith loathing, it is not without a subtle
influence, is matter of observation.
I. THERE ARE THOSE WHO THINK THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO
CONTINUE IN SIN AND BE SAVED.
1. How often one is forcedto notice that men may combine a love of
evangelicaldoctrine with love of money and a shrewdness that makes men
who are not evangelicalshrug their shoulders. We have known men, great
wrestlers in prayer, whose lives, and the whisperings of whose doings, have
made us ashamed. Moralconfusionis at the bottom of these inconsistencies.
Our evangelicaldoctrines are not to blame. The fault and the failure is in
those who profess them while only half-perceiving them, and ignore their
moral issues.
2. Paul shows us that grace comprises not only a gracious actofpardon done
by God in the believer's interest, but also an active principle of sanctification
in the believer's soul. The abounding of grace is only manifested in the
breaking of sin's power and the destruction of sin's principle. Grace is the
enemy of sin, not its covering. He who is savedby grace is not a leper clad in
white raiment, but a leper healed. Grace is not beauty thrown over the
deformity of some foul sickness;it is health. It is life counter-working death,
and no man can continue in sin and yet be saved by grace.

3. But still, Is not grace a gift? Certainly. But God gives life. Yet life is not
something external to the creature to whom it is given. It is not like a string of
beads round the neck or a ring on the finger. The gift of life to a dead stick
after that manner would leave it a dead stick still. Hear a parable. Early one
summer morning I came upon an orchard. The trees were beautiful, and fruit
was abundant. I wanderedon until I came upon a tree having neither bloom
nor fruit. I said, "You poor, losttree, what can you be doing here? I marvel
you are not removed." Upon which this tree replied, tartly, "You are in a
greatmistake. I am neither poor nor lost." "Well," I said, "you have neither
leaves nor fruit, and, I should judge, no sap." "Whathas that to do with it?"
it broke out. "You seemnot to know that a greatsaviour of trees has been
down here, and I have believed his gospel, and am savedby grace. I have
acceptedsalvationas a free gift, and, though I have neither leaves nor fruit, I
am savedall the same." I lookedat it with pity and said, "You are a poor
deluded tree; you are not savedat all. You are dead and good-for-nothing,
despite all your talk about grace and redemption. Life, that is salvation. When
I see you laden with fruit, I shall say, 'Ah! that poor tree is savedat last; it has
receivedthe gospeland is savedby grace.'"As I turned away, I heard it
saying, "You are not sound; you do not understand the gospel."And I
thought, so it is, as with trees so with men.
II. ANOTHER FORM OF THIS ANTINOMIANISM OF THE HEART
CONNECTS ITSELF IMMEDIATELYWITH THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
Men talk and actfrequently as if in Christ's shed blood there was a shelter
from the consequenceoftheir sins, even though they remain in their sins.
They harbour covetousness, envy, hate, and pride; they stain their hands with
dishonesty, and then, with their stained hands uplifted in the face of God, aver
that they believe in the death of Christ for their sins, and are saved. This is not
the gospelPaulpreached. He asks,"How shall we who died to sin live any
longertherein?" He who has by faith appropriated the expiatory death of
Jesus, in and by that act died to sin. In the apostle's day, baptism was the open
significationof the death. It was as the burial of one who had died. It would be
a new thing to see a dead man going on as if nothing had happened. So the
savedman does not persevere in sin; how should he? He has died to it. Sin has
no further claim. Who can claim anything of the dead? He is not sinless. Sin,

alas!is not dead, but lie is dead to it. He has not got beyond its trouble, but he
has gotbeyond its bondage. Faith in Christ's death as our means of pardon,
includes also His life as the principle of our sanctification. As one delightfully
said, "The Cross condemns me to be holy."
(W. Hubbard.)
Distorteddoctrines
C. H. Spurgeon.
A man's nose is a prominent feature in his face, but it is possible to make it so
large that eyes and mouth and everything are thrown into insignificance, and
the drawing is a caricature and not a portrait. So certainimportant doctrines
of the gospelcanbe so proclaimedin excessas to throw the restof the truth
into the shade, and the preaching is no longerthe gospel, but a caricature, and
a caricature of which some people seemmightily fond.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Inconsistency
J. Lyth, D. D.
I. THE CONDUCT OF MANY PROFESSEDCHRISTIANS INDICATES —
1. That they have some knowledge ofgrace.
2. That they do not heartily receive it because ofsin.
3. That they rather use it as a shelter for sin.
II. SUCH CONDUCT IS ABOMINABLE, because it —
1. Tempts God.
2. Is irrational.

3. Courts certain destruction.
4. Is impossible where grace is really active.
(J. Lyth, D. D.)
The abuse of Divine mercy
C. H. Spurgeon.
A certain member of that parliament wherein a statute for the relief of the
poor was passedwas an ardent promoter of that Act. He askedhis steward
when he returned to the country, what the people said of that statute. The
stewardanswered, that he heard a labouring man say, that whereas formerly
he workedsix days in the week, now he would work but four; which abuse of
that goodprovision so affectedthe pious statesmanthat he could not refrain
from weeping. Lord, Thou hast made many provisions in Thy Word for my
support and comfort, and hast promised in my necessitiesThy supply and
protection; but let not my presumption of help from Thee cause my neglectof
any of those means for my spiritual and temporal preservationwhich Thou
hast enjoined.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
Deathto sin
T. Robinson.
Abounding sin is the occasionofabounding grace, but abounding grace is for
the destructionof abounding sin. It is absurd to suppose that a medicine
should aggravatethe disease itcures.
I. BELIEVERS ARE DEAD TO SIN.
1. In their condition before God.

2. In their characterin consequenceofit.
3. Forensicallyin the eye of the law.
4. Experimentally; in point of fact.
5. In their affectionfor it.
6. In its power over them. Or, to put it another way, believers have died to sin
legally in justification; personally in sanctification;professedlyin baptism;
and will die completely to it in glorification.
II. THIS IS ACCOMPLISHED —
1. By participation in Christ's death who died for it.
2. By communication of the power of Christ in killing it.
3. By professionmade in baptism of renouncing it.Death to sin is the necessary
consequence ofunion with Christ, who delivers from its depraving,
condemning, and reigning power.
(T. Robinson.)
Converted men dislike sin
C. H. Spurgeon.
An Armenian arguing with a Calvinist remarked, "If I believed your doctrine,
and was sure that I was a convertedman, I would take my fill of sin." "How
much sin," replied the godly Calvinist, "do you think it would take to fill a
true Christian to his own satisfaction?" Here he hit the nail on the head.
"How can we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?" A truly converted
man hates sin with all his heart, and even if he could sin without suffering for
it, it would be misery enough to him to sin at all.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Breaking with sin
Prof. Godet.
The Christian's breaking with sin is undoubtedly gradual in its realisation,
but absolute and conclusive in its principle. As, in order to break really with
an old friend whose evil influence is felt, half measures are insufficient, and
the only efficacious means is a frank explanation followedby a complete
rupture which remains like a barrier raisedbeforehand before every new
solicitation;so to break with sin there is neededa decisive and radical act, a
Divine deed taking possessionofthe souland interposing henceforth between
the will of the believer and sin (Galatians 6:14). This Divine deed necessarily
works through the actionof faith in Christ's sacrifice.
(Prof. Godet.)
The two lives
H. R. Reynolds, D. D.
(text and ver. 11): —
I. THE CONTRASTEDLIVES: "Life in sin," and "being alive unto God."
The contrastis such that the unspiritual can perceive it, though unable to
understand it. The ungodly may say,We neither know nor care whether a man
is justified or not, but we do know whether he keeps the law of conscience,
whether he acts up to his professedprinciples, whether he does that which,
apart from his profession, we know to be right. But how is it that the world is
able to form these judgments? Was the civilised world qualified to do this in
the days of Cicero or of Pericles?Was there to be found then, or is there to be
found now, where Christianity is not, anything approximating the same
jealousyof conscience, etc., whichthose who now boastthat they are men of
the world often exhibit? Surely not. If worldly men are competent judges of
Christian principle, it is because the atmosphere breathed by true Christians
has stimulated its life and awakenedits conscience. The worldis indebted to

the Christianity it is ready to revile for its powerto call Christians to its bar.
Note:
1. What is meant by living in sin." The term has been almostappropriated to
describe certain forms of bold and unblushing transgressionof moral law. If a
man is a known drunkard, adulterer, or rogue, he is said to "live in sin"; and
no one excuses orpalliates his conduct. But the corruption of human nature
goes downdeeper, and the ravages of sin are far more extensive than this.
That man is "living in sin" —(1) Who can sin without remorse. If a man sins
and his only thought is, "How shall I escape the indignant scornof the
world?" he is taking pleasure in ungodliness, he is only happy in the absence
of God.(2) Who does what he knows to be wrong, but palliates it by pleading
the force of circumstances, the nature of society, orthe custom of the
world.(3) Who habitually neglects to do that which God and his conscience
have often calledupon him to accomplish. "To him who knowethto do good
and doeth it not, to him it is sin." It is not enough that a man should avoid the
practice of evil; he must not be lacking in generosity, goodtemper, self-
restraint, religious emotion, zealand work for God and man.(4) Who finds
pleasure in the commissionof sin, hankers after forbidden sweets,and would
like to go where he could escape detection. To sum up, "All ungodliness is
sin." To be without God, to act irrespectivelyof His authority, to find pleasure
in what is opposed to His will, is to live in sin and bring the consequencesof
such a life down upon the soul.
2. What is meant by being "alive unto God." By being "alive to" anything is
meant a vivid conceptionof its reality, a joy in its presence, a devotion to its
interests. Thus one man is alive to business, another to his reputation, another
to truth. One man is alive to beauty in nature or art, he is therefore quick to
discern its presence, keento criticise its counterfeits, filled with joy when
surrounded with its exponents. Another man is alive to literature or science,
his earis sensitive to every messagefrom the great world of letters and
invention, and the world exists, so far as he is concerned, to sustainand
furnish material for his favourite pursuit. One man is alive to the well-being
of his own country, and another to the wider interests of man. With the help
of these illustrations we may assume that a man is alive unto God —(1) When
he fully recognisesthe signs of the presence of God. Habitual transgressionor

neglectof the laws of God is incompatible with the condition of a man who
sees Godeverywhere. Thatman is "alive to God" to whom God is not a
theory by which he canconveniently accountfor the universe, or a name for
certain human conceptions of nature and its workings, or an invention of
priestcraft to terrify the soul, or a philosophic conceptthe presence or absence
of which has little to do with life or happiness, but the greatand only reality,
the prime and principal element of all his thoughts. No one fully recognises
the presence ofGod unless he has advanced beyond the teaching of nature,
and receivedfrom Holy Scripture, from the inward operations of the Spirit in
his ownheart, more than philosophical speculations cangive him. If alive unto
God, every revelationof His infinite essencesuggeststo our quickenedspirit
the presence ofour Fatherand our Friend.(2) When the sense ofthe Divine
Presence awakens allthe energies and engagesallthe faculties of his nature. If
duly conscious ofthe Divine Presence, we shallrender the appropriate
homage of our entire being. Then every place is a temple, every act is a
sacrifice, everysin the pollution of a sacredplace, the defilement of a holy day.
It is morally impossible for one who is alive unto God to imagine that he is
doing too much to express his sense ofreverence, gratitude, or obligation. In
one word, selfis subdued to Him, and human will is lostin God's.(3)When he
finds his highestdesires gratified. If we are alive unto God, we shall find that
we are following the bent of our true nature. He that drinketh of the water
given him by Christ, shall never thirst after those draughts of carnalpleasure
to be found in the broken cisterns of human invention, and it shall be in him a
well of waterspringing up to everlasting life.
II. The two lives have been described and contrasted, life in sin and life unto
God. IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO CONCEIVE OF TWO MODES OF
LIFE MORE OBVIOUSLY OPPOSED TO ONE ANOTHER. Theycannot
coexistin the same spirit.
1. If sin is delighted in, God is dreaded. There is no tendency in human nature
by means of which sin can be remedied or undone. The punishment of sin is
death, i.e., moral alienation of heart from God, sinful habit and tendency.
Consequently every sin carries in itself its ownperpetuation and the germ of
further transgression.

2. A life unto God supposes a spirit to whom the nearness, the perfections, the
work of the Lord are unutterable delights; to whom the whole universe is a
transparent medium, through and behind which is seenthe face of the Eternal
God.
III. HOW SHALL THOSE THAT ARE LIVING IN SIN EVEN LEARN TO
BE ALIVE UNTO GOD?
1. The charge had been brought that that gospellookedleniently on sin, and
the apostle boldly takes it up, admits its seeming plausibility, anticipates its
possible force, and answers it by showing what was involved in that faith
which justifies the soul. The life unto God cannever supervene in a soul which
has been living in sin, "except," says he, "through a death unto sin."
Justificationimplies the removal of its penalty, its non-imputation, the
exhaustion of its sting, the annihilation of its wages. Ournew and holy life is
not the ground of our justification, nor, strictly speaking, the consequence of
our pardon and acceptancewith God; but it is in one sense the pardon itself,
the wayin which the Holy Ghostslays that enmity within us which was the
greatcurse of sin. "How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?"
2. As far as his illustration is concerned, the apostle states a truism when he
says that one who is dead to sin cannot live any longer therein. A man who is
dead to sin may be carried awayfrom his standing ground by some terrible
and novel blast of temptation; but it is a contradiction in terms to assertthat
he can "live in sin."
3. What, then, is meant by "death to sin"?(1)Not a desperate fearof the
consequencesofsin. This fails to repress gross vice and crime. There are no
cowards so greatas those who often make violent assaulton the life and
property of others. They choose darknessthatthey may avoid detection; they
are armed to the tooth when they go againstfeeblenessand womankind.
Multitudes tremble at the preaching of righteousness, temperance, and
judgment to come, but sin as if they never trembled. Fearmay have kept you
back from the commissionof sin, and warned you to paths of honour and
usefulness, and yet never have slats the desire after what is hateful to God.(2)
Not respectto the opinion of the world. The goodopinion of our fellow citizens

is a powerful motive to virtue; but if it is our only one, there is nothing eternal
in our virtue. Then if our circumstances were changed, we shouldchange also.
Let us be put back to times when a lowerhonour prevailed in business or in
society, we should be forcedback to the undeveloped morality of the past, and
"live in" the practice of what we now see to be "sin."(3)Notmere self-respect.
There are those who are carelessaboutthe world's respectas long as they can
secure their own. This reverence for conscience, andindependence of the
judgment of others, is closelyakinto the highest virtue, but yet as an ultimate
principle it is not sufficient. The proud independence of mankind may
speedily run up into an audacious independence of God. Self-respectmay
rapidly blossominto self-idolatry.(4)"Deathto sin" is not securedby
orthodox creed, ceremonialexactness,oreven religious zeal. These are all
occasionallyconfoundedwith it, but they may be all compatible with a "life of
sin." Church history is full of proofs that neither articles, nor sacraments, nor
profession, nor even greatsacrifices forreligion, avail to slay the sin of the
heart or render the soulalive to God.(5)By this process ofexclusion we have
brought the meaning of the phrase "death to sin" to a much more limited
group of experiences. The apostle identifies it with union to Christ, that which
he sometimes calls "faith in His blood," "baptism into Christ," or "living by
faith on the Son of God," because "Christliveth in us." Paul knew he was
appealing to a safe and sure tribunal when he went right to the consciousness
of his converts. "Likewisereckonye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." It is certainthat the apostle
would not have these Romans reckonthus unless it were true. Observe, it is
not merely that they are to reckonthat Christ died for their sins, but they are
also to reckonthat they too are dead unto sin through Jesus Christ.
4. The way, then, in which this change is effectedis by union with Christ —(1)
In His Passion. "Bythe Cross the world is crucified unto me and I unto the
world"; "I am crucified with Christ"; "If we be dead with Him, we shall also
live with Him." We are "buried with Him by baptism into His death." The
thought often recurs that our faith in Him nails our own hands to the cursed
tree and films our eye on worldly glory. If we have takenup this thought into
our entire spiritual nature, that "Christ died for our sins," then we are dead.
As we become alive to what the death of Christ really is and means, how it

prepares the only way by which a new life could enter our race, and a new
spirit be given to transgressors, by which God could justify the ungodly, and
still be just; it is not difficult to understand that faith in Christ, that union to
Christ, involves dying with Christ to sin. A true and deep faith in Christ, a
recognitionby mind and heart of His work, is such an intuition of law, such a
sense ofGod, such a revelation of the evil of sin, such a burning of the heart
againstthe world, the flesh, and the devil, that the apostle was justified in
saying that Christians might reckonthemselves dead unto sin.(2) In His life
and resurrection. The new life of the soulis a resurrectionlife, chargedwith
all the associationsand aspirations which would be possessedby one who had
passed, through dying, from death to life. The life unto God flows out of the
life of God in the soul.
(H. R. Reynolds, D. D.)
Christ's legislative glory to be preached
Howels, of Longacre.
The following curious incident once happened to a clergyman. One day, after
preaching, a gentleman followedhim into the vestry, and, putting a £10 note
into his hand, thanked him most energeticallyfor the great comfort he had
derived from his sermon. The clergymanwas very much surprised at this, but
still more so when shortly afterwards the same thing againtook place;and he
determined to sift the affair to the bottom, and find out who this man was that
was so comforted by his discourse. He discoveredthat he was a personat that
very time living in the most abominable wickednessand in the very depths of
sin. "Certainly," said he to himself, "there must be something essentially
wrong in my preaching when it can afford comfort to such a profligate as
this!" He accordinglyexamined into the matter closely, and he discovered
that, whilst he had been preaching Christ's sovereignty, he had quite forgotten
his legislative glories. He immediately altered the style of his sermons, and he
soonlost his munificent friend. I am told that, by preaching Christ's
legislative glory, I also have driven some from my chapel. Pray for me, my
brethren, that I may still preach doctrine, and that Longacre may become too

hot for error in principle or sin in practice;pray for me that with a giant's
arm I may lash both.
(Howels, of Longacre.)
The atonementgives no encouragementto sin
H. W. Beecher.
There is no influence more mischievous on the morals of a people than to
interpret the atonementin such a way as to make it independent of good
works, if to the atonement you give any other than purely legalconnection. If
it includes state of nature and characterin its connections, thenmust it stand
forever associatedwith human endeavour and conditioned upon it. Else the
sacrifice ofJesus becomes a harbour for thieves — a port into which sinners
can at any moment steerwith all their sins on board, the moment that the
winds of conscience beginto blow a little too hard and threaten wreck to their
peace. And this is what I calla plain accommodationofsinners, and hence a
premium on sin. For sin is sweetto the natural man, sweetto his pride, his
cruelty, his senses;and who would not sin and have the sweetnessofit, if when
he found it troublesome he could, by the saying of a prayer, or the utterance
of a charmed word, be in an instant delivered from it forever? And yet I
believe that in just this supposition multitudes in Christendom are living.
Salvationis something to be visited upon them, independent of their conduct;
nay, in spite of their conduct. Jesus is a cabalistic wordwhich, no matter how
they live, if they but whisper it with their dying gaspinto the earof death, he
is bound to pass them up into heaven and not down into hell, where their
deeds would consignthem and which their characters fit. They cheat, they lie,
they slander, they hate, they persecute, but then is not there mercy for all?
Will not faith save a man; and have not they faith? And are they not told that
God will do anything in answerto prayer; and did you ever see men pray as
fast as these fellows canwhen they are sick? This is what I call making Christ
a harbour for thieves and Christianity a premium on sin. This is what I call
the most horrible perversionof the gospelplan of salvationconceivable!

(H. W. Beecher.)
Deathto sin, a difficulty
D. Thomas, D. D.
There is nothing so hard to die as sin. An atom may kill a giant, a word may
break the peace ofa nation, a spark burn up a city; but it requires earnestand
protracted struggles to destroy sin in the soul.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(10) But it is not possible that the life of Christ should fail. Deathhas lost all
its power over Him. The death which He died, He died to sin. It was the last
sacrifice whichHe made to sin, and one that freed Him from its dominion for
ever. He died to it once for all, and His death did not need to be, and could not
be, repeated. On the other hand, His life is assured, because it is wholly
dependent upon God.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
6:3-10 Baptism teaches the necessityofdying to sin, and being as it were
buried from all ungodly and unholy pursuits, and of rising to walk with God
in newness of life. Unholy professorsmay have had the outward signof a
death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, but they never passed
from the family of Satan to that of God. The corrupt nature, called the old
man, because derivedfrom our first father Adam, is crucified with Christ, in
every true believer, by the grace derived from the cross. It is weakenedand in
a dying state, though it yet struggles for life, and even for victory. But the

whole body of sin, whateveris not according to the holy law of God, must be
done away, so that the believer may no more be the slave of sin, but live to
God, and find happiness in his service.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
For in that he died - For in respectto the design of his death.
He died unto sin - His death had respectto sin. The design of his death was to
destroy sin; to make an atonement for it, and thus to put it away. As his death
was designedto effectthis, so it follows that Christians being baptized into his
death, and having it as their objectto destroy sin, should not indulge in it. The
whole force of the motive; therefore, drawn from the death of Christ, is to
induce Christians to forsake sin;compare 2 Corinthians 5:15, "And that he
died for all, that they which live should not henceforth, live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them and rose again."
Once - ἐφάπαξ ephapax. Once only; once for all. This is an adverb denying a
repetition (Schleusner), and implies that it will not be done again;compare
Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 10:10. The argument of the apostle
rests much on this, that his death was once for all; that it would not be
repeated.
In that he liveth - The object, the design of his living. He aims with his living
powerto promote the glory of God.
Unto God - He seeks to promote his glory. The argument of Paul is this:
Christians by their professionare united to him. They are bound to imitate
him. As he now lives only to advance the glory of God; as all his mighty
power, now that he is raised from the dead, and elevatedto his throne in
heaven, is exerted to promote his glory; so should their powers, being raised
from the death of sin, be exertedto promote the glory of God.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
10. For in that he died, he died unto—that is, in obedience to the claims of
sin once—forall.

but in that he liveth, he liveth unto—in obedience to the claims of God.
God—There never, indeed, was a time when Christ did not "live unto God."
But in the days of His flesh He did so under the continual burden of sin "laid
on Him" (Isa 53:6; 2Co 5:21); whereas, now that He has "put away sin by the
sacrifice ofHimself," He "liveth unto God," the acquitted and accepted
Surety, unchallenged and unclouded by the claims of sin.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
For when he died unto sin, i.e. to take awaysin, he died but once;see Hebrews
9:28, and Romans 10:10,14;but when he rose again from the dead, he lived
with God for ever an immortal, endless life. By this phrase is expressedthat
eternal and indissoluble union which the Son hath with the Father.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For in that he died,.... The death of Christ was settled and agreedto in the
covenantand council of peace;it was spokenofby the prophets, and typified
by sacrifices;Christ came into the world in order to die, and actually did die
the death of the cross;in which the greatlove of God and Christ is expressed
to us; and which is a fundamental article of the Christian faith: and when he
died,
he died unto sin once:he died to that, which we by nature are dead in, and
could never make atonementfor; which he himself never lived in, and which
men naturally love to in; and which had he not died for, we must have died for
to all eternity; and he died not for any sin of his own, or of angels, nor for the
sins of every man, but for the sins of his people; it may be rendered, he died in
sin: in the likeness ofsinful flesh, in which he was sent; having as a surety sin
laid on him, and bore by him, and for which he was wounded, bruised, and
died: or rather to sin; that is, to make atonement for it, procure the pardon of
it, take it away, and utterly abolish it: and this he did "once";this is observed,
in reference to the repeatedsacrifices ofthe old law, which could never
expiate or remove sin; and to show, that Christ's dying once was enough, his
sacrifice was fully satisfactoryto the law and justice of God:

but in that he liveth: which must be understood, not of his life as God, but as
man; and that not on earth, but in heaven;where he lives with God, at the
right hand of God, and by him, by the powerof God: and
he liveth unto God; to his glory, and to make intercessionforus.
Geneva Study Bible
For in that he died, he died unto sin {m} once: but in that he liveth, he liveth
unto {n} God.
(m) Once for all.
(n) With God.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Romans 6:10. Proofof the θάνατος αὐτοῦ οὐκέτικυριεύει.[1426]
ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανε] ὃ is in any case the accusative ofthe object. But whether Paul
conceivedit as:for as to what concerns His death (see Vigerus, ed. Herm. p.
34; Frotscherand Breitenbach, a[1427]Xen. Hier. 6, 12; Matthiae, p. 1063),
or what, i.e. the death which He died (so Rückert, Fritzsche, de Wette,
Philippi; see Bernhardy, p. 106 f.; comp on Galatians 2:20) cannotbe
determined, since both renderings suit the correctinterpretation of what
follows. Yet the latter, analogous to the expressionθάνατονθανεῖν, is to be
preferred as the more simple, and as uniform with Galatians 2:20.
τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθ.]the relation of the dative is to be determined from νεκροὺς
τῇ ἁμ. in Romans 6:11; therefore it can be nothing else than what is contained
in ἀπεθάν. τῇ ἁμ. in Romans 6:2 (comp Hofmann), namely: he is dead to sin
(dative of reference), i.e. His dying concernedsin; and indeed so that the latter
(namely the sin of the world, conceivedas power)has now, after He has
suffered death on accountof it, become without influence upon Him and has

no more powerover Him; He submitted Himself to its powerin His death, but
through that death He has died to its power.[1430] So also have we (Romans
6:11) to esteemourselves as dead to sin (νεκροὺς τῇ ἁμ.), as rescuedfrom its
graspthrough our ethical death with Christ, in such measure that we are
releasedfrom and rid of the influence of this power antagonistic to God. The
close accordanceofthis view of τῇ ἁμ. ἀπέθ. with the context(according to
Romans 6:11; Romans 6:2) is decisive againstthe ex planations of the dative
deviating from it, such as: ad expianda peccata (Pareus, Piscator, Grotius,
Michaelis, and others including Olshausen);or: ad expianda tollendaque
peccata (Koppe, Flatt, Reiche, Fritzsche, Philippi); or: in order to destroy the
powerof sin (Chrysostom, Beza, Calvin, Bengel, and others, including Ewald
and Umbreit). Rückert, Köllner, and de Wette wish to abide by an indefinite
reference of the death of Jesus to sin as the remote object; but this simply
explains nothing, and leaves only a formal parallelism remaining.
ἐφάπαξ] for once, with emphasis, excluding repetition, once for all. Comp
Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 10:10;Lucian, Dem. euc. 21.
ζῇ τ. Θεῷ] vivit Deo, namely so, that now in His estate ofexaltation, after He
has through His death died to the power of sin, His life belongs to God, i. e.
stands to God in the relation of being dependent on, and of being determined
by, Him. The contrastto the preceding yields the excluding sense. Christ’s
earthly life, namely, was also a ζῆν τῷ Θεῷ, but was at the same time exposed
to the death-powerof human sin, which is now no longer the case, inasmuch
as His life rescuedfrom death is wholly determined by the fellowship with
God. This latter portion of the verse belongs also to the proof of Romans 6:9,
since it is in factjust the (exclusive)belonging to God of Christ’s life, that
makes it certainthat death reigns no longer over Him; as ζῶν τῷ Θεῷ he can
no longer be παθητός (Acts 26:23), which He previously was, until in
obedience to God ἐξ ἀσθενείας He was crucified(2 Corinthians 13:4).

[1426]Nota parenthetical intervening clause (Hofmann), which is
appropriate neither to the essentialimportance of the sentence in the train of
thought, nor to the application which it receives in ver. 11.
[1427]d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the
particular passage.
[1430]Rich. Schmidt, Paul. Christol. p. 55, justly insists that Christ for His
own person died to sin, but further on (p. 59), ends in finding an ideal, not a
real relation. But He died really to sin, inasmuch as He took upon Himself, in
the death of the cross, the curse of the law; after which human sin had now no
longerany power over Him. Compare on ver. 3.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Romans 6:10. This is expanded in Romans 6:10. ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανε, τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ
ἀπέθανεν ἐφάπαξ· the ὃ is ‘cognate’accus.Winer, p. 209. “The death that He
died, He died to sin once for all.” The dative τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ must be
grammatically the same here as in Romans 6:2; Romans 6:11, but the
interpretation required seems different. While He lived, Christ had
undoubtedly relations to sin, though sin was foreign to His will and conscience
(2 Corinthians 5:21); but after He died these relations ceased;sin could never
make Him its victim againas at the Cross. Similarly while we lived (i.e.,
before we died with Christ), we also had relations to sin; and these relations
likewise, different as they were from His, must cease with that death. The
difference in the reference of the dative is no doubt an objectionto this
interpretation, and accordinglythe attempt has been made to give the same
meaning to dying to sin in Christ’s case as in ours, and indeed to make our
dying to sin the effectand reproduction of His. “The language ofthe Apostle
seems to imply that there was something in the mind of Christ in dying for us
that was the moral equivalent [italics ours] to that death to sin which takes
place in us when we believe in Him, something in its very nature fitted to
produce hte change in us.” Somerville, St. Paul’s Conceptionof Christ, p. 100

f. He died, in short, rather than sin—laid down His life rather than violate the
will of God; in this sense, whichis an ethicalone, and points to an experience
which can be reproduced in others under His influence, He died to sin. “His
death on the Cross was the final triumph of His holiness, overall those desires
of the flesh that furnish to man unregenerate the motive power of His life.”
But though this gives an ethicalmeaning to the words in both cases, it does not
give exactlythe same ethical meaning; a certain disparity remains. It is more
in the line of all Paul’s thoughts to say with Holtzmann (N. T. Theol., ii., 118),
that Christ by dying paid to sin that tribute to which in virtue of a Divine
sentence (κρίμα, Romans 5:16)it could lay claim, and that those therefore
who share His death are like Himself absolvedfrom all claims of sin for the
future. For ἐφάπαξ, see Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 10:10. The
very idea of death is that of a summary, decisive. never-to-be-repeatedend. ὃ
δὲ ζῇ κ.τ.λ. “The lite that He lives He lives to God”.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
10. in that he died] Lit. that which He died; His dying, in all that it involved.
So below, that which He liveth.
unto sin] i.e., as the previous argument shewed, “with reference to the claim of
sin;” to meet and cancelit; and therefore so as now to be out of reachof its
doom.
once]once for all, “once and for ever.” The word here is not necessaryto the
argument, but it enforces, by contrast, the continuousness of His life. It also,
though less pointedly, suggests the completeness ofthe atonement, and so the
greatness ofits results. (On the latter reference see Hebrews 7:27;Hebrews
9:12; Hebrews 10:10; where “once,” “onceforall,” is the same word as that
here, in the Gr.).

unto God] i.e. with respectto God; as having obtained (representativelyfor
us) God’s acceptance, andhaving thus entered on an immortal permanence
(representativelyfor us) of joy and power before Him. (The same phrase, but
with different specialreference, occurs Luke 20:38.)
Bengel's Gnomen
Romans 6:10. ὃ, in that) This has more force than ὃ, in that.—τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, to
sin) The dative of disadvantage, as in Romans 6:11. Sin had been castupon
Christ, but Christ abolished it by His death for us; He truly died.—ἐφάπαξ)
This has a strongermeaning in this passagethan ἅπαξ. So Hebrews 7:27, and
ἅπαξ, 1 Peter3:18.—ζῇ τῷ Θεῷ) He lives to God, a glorious life derived from
God, Romans 6:4 [raised up—by the glory of the Father] full of divine vigour,
lasting for ever. ForGod is the God of the living.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 10. - For in that he died, he died unto sin once:but in that he liveth, he
liveth unto God. "Diedunto sin" certainly does not mean here, as some have
takenit, died by reasonof sin, or to atone for sin, but has the sense, elsewhere
obvious in this chapter, of ἀποθνήσκειν, followedby a dative, which was
explained under ver. 2. Christ was, indeed, never subject to sin, or himself
infected with it, as we are; but he "bore the sins of many;" "the Lord laid on
him the iniquity of us all." He submitted for us to the condition and penalty of
human sin; but, when he died, he threw off its burden, and was done with it
for ever(cf. Hebrews 9:28, "Unto them that look for him shall he appear the
secondtime without sin unto salvation"). The purpose of thus describing the
permanent life to God of the risen Christ is, of course, to show that the new
life of us who are accountedto have risen with Christ must in like manner be
permanent and free from sin. "Quo docere vult hanc vitae novitatem tota vila
esse Christianis persequendam, Nam si Christi imaginem in se repraesentare
debent, hanc perpetuo durare necesseest. Nonquod uno momento emoriatur
caro in nobis, sicuti nuper diximus: sed quia retrocedere in ea mortificanda
non liceat. Si enim in coenum nostrum revolvimur, Christum abnegamus;
cujus nisi per vitae novitatem consortes esse nonpossumus, sicut ipse vitam
incorruptibilem agit" (Calvin). The next verse expresses this clearly.

Vincent's Word Studies
In that He died (ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανεν)
Lit.. what he died; the death which he died. Compare sin a sin, 1 John 5:16;
the life which I live, literally, what I live, Galatians 2:20.
Once (ἐφάπαξ)
More literally, as Rev., in margin, once for all. Compare Hebrews 7:27;
Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 10:10.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BRUCEHURT MD
Romans 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with Him, (NASB:Lockman)
Greek:ei de apethanomen (1PAAI) sun Christo, pisteuomen (1PPAI) hoti kai
suzesomen(1PFAI) auto
Amplified: Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with Him, (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
GWT: If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
(GWT)
NLT: And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life.
(NLT - Tyndale House)

Phillips: And if we were dead men with him we canbelieve that we shall also
be men newly alive with him. (Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest: Now, in view of the fact that we died once for all with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live by means of Him,
Young's Literal: And if we died with Christ, we believe that we also shall live
with him,
NOW IF WE HAVE DIED WITH CHRIST: ei de apethanomen (1PAAI) sun
Christo:
Ro 6:3, 4, 5; 2Ti2:11,12
Romans 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Romans 6:5-11: Deadto Sin, Alive to God - StevenCole
Romans 6:1-14 Deadto Sin; Alive to God - John MacArthur
Romans 6:1-11 Alive Through Christ's Death - John MacArthur
Romans 6:1-14 The Spiritual Significance ofThe Resurrection, Pt. 1 - John
MacArthur
Romans 6:1-14 The Spiritual Significance ofThe Resurrection, Pt. 2 - John
MacArthur
Romans 6:1-14 Spiritual Transformation, Part 3 - John MacArthur
Romans 6:6-10 Dying to Live 2- Study Guide (click dropdown menu) - John
MacArthur
If - This particle (ei) introduces a first class conditionalstatementwhich
assumes the following is true and canbe translated"since" or"in view of the
fact that" (we have died with Christ).
We have died (599)(apothnesko [wordstudy] from apo = marker of
dissociationimplying a rupture from a former association, separation,
departure, cessation+ thnesko = die) literally means to die off and can speak

of physical death but in this context speaks figuratively (metaphorically) of a
believer's death to sin.
Have died is aorist tense which signifies that this event happened in the past at
a point in time. When a person choosesto turn to Christ and turn awayfrom
sin, they die! This is a historicalevent in the life of every believer.
Click for more discussionof apothnesko in the expositionof Paul's rhetorical
question in Romans 6:2 (see note "how shall we who died [apothnesko]to sin
still live in it.")
Paul now goes onin the next three verses to explain additional benefit of our
union with Christ in His death. Here he explains a truth the natural mind
cannot comprehend, that since we died with Christ, we shall now and in the
future live with Christ.
With (4862)(sun/syn [word study]) speaks ofan intimate, irreversible union.
As an aside, it is interesting that although believers have been crucified with
Christ at Calvary (past tense salvation - justification), Jesus still calls us to
take up our cross (a picture of suffering and death) daily (Lk 9:23, cf Paul's
instruction in Col 3:5-note), these latter exhortations equating with present
tense salvation( ~ sanctification). In this verse in Ro 6:8 Paul is teaching us
the truth that we died with Christ in the past and this death is a once for all
experience that has positioned us in Christ and enables us to carry out the
daily call to death to our old self's lusts (but this too is appropriated "by
faith" - Col 2:6-note).
WE BELIEVE THAT WE SHALL ALSO LIVE WITH HIM: pisteuomen
(1PPAI) hoti kaisuzesomen(1PFAI) auto:
Jn 14:19; 2Cor4:10-14;13:4; Col 3:3,4; 1Th4:14, 15, 16, 17
Romans 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Romans 6:5-11: Deadto Sin, Alive to God - StevenCole
Romans 6:1-14 Deadto Sin; Alive to God - John MacArthur
Romans 6:1-11 Alive Through Christ's Death - John MacArthur

Jesus was both dead and alive

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Jesus was both dead and alive

Similar to Jesus was both dead and alive (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Jesus was both dead and alive