Romans 6:3-11

Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.

For a dead person has been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.

As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.

BACKGROUNDER

The journey to the Cross ends with victory. The victory of the Cross won by Jesus. The crucifixion of Jesus brought about his death. That’s obvious. But what makes the death of Jesus on the cross a victory?

This passage tells us of three ways in which the Cross means victory for Jesus. 1) Jesus dies no more; death no longer has power over him. 2) Jesus himself, who took on our sin (2 Corinthians 5), has died to sin once and for all. 3) Now past death and sin, Jesus lives for God, for on the Cross he gave his all to his Father.

The victory of the Cross has changed the whole world. Consider how the state of the world as God created everything began in pure goodness. Yet, because of the Fall, the whole world is separated from God, and is doomed. “Creation was subjected to futility” (Romans 8:20). Because of the victory of the Cross, the whole world now has hope. The curse (Genesis 3, Galatians 3) which hung over all of us has been broken.

Each one of us is now invited to receive the victory of the Cross. Faith in Christ, and entering into his life in baptism, is our yes to this victory. From the very first Christians, baptized on the day of Pentecost, till today, baptism is entry into the death of Jesus.

United in the death of Jesus, we are united with him in the resurrection. We too “must think of ourselves as dead to sin and alive for God in Christ Jesus”. Our human life, even as Christians, is still under the shadow of sin. And we still await our own deaths.

But Paul wants to reassure us. Just like the whole world is transformed by the victory of the Cross, we too are different. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) In other words, the victory of the Cross means hope for us, as it does for the whole world.