Sharing in Christ's Death: Escaping the Consequence of Sin

In the previous 2 articles in this series leading up to Passover, we observed that sin causes death and we learned that sin is the transgression of God's law - the same law that is found in the Old Testament. We deserve death for our sins, but God has given us a way that leads to life. This post is going to elaborate on exactly what we have to go through to obtain the life that God has promised.

Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned

Aren't we dead already if that's the case? YES, we are, and that's exactly the point that I'm now going to make. In Acts 2, the people heard Peter's sermon and were terrified when Peter condemned them for their sins because they knew that they deserved to die:

Acts 2:37-38
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

We are cut off from God because of our sins, but He has given us a way back to Him: through repentance and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Death is the penalty that God ordained for sin, which is why a sacrifice is required: the penalty doesn't get waived, and the price of blood must be paid. In particular, you must accept the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that your sins will be forgiven, and this acceptance is formalized by baptism. Of all of the possible symbols that God could have chosen to represent the New Covenant, why baptism?

Romans 6:3-4
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

The reason that we are baptized is to show that we are sharing in the death of Christ, considering our sinful selves to be dead and left behind to drown in the water. However, Peter didn't just say to undergo the physical process of baptism and give lip-service to accepting Christ - he said that we must repent. Christ's sacrifice is UTTERLY WORTHLESS to you if you will not turn from your sin and repent. You have to hate what you've done as much as God does - you have to consider yourself dead. In this way, we share in the death of our Savior so that we can live a new life as He now does:

Romans 6:5-6
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Once you have repented and put yourself to death in baptism, you can start to live a new life, symbolized by the life that Christ obtained in His resurrection. Christ did not simply die for our sins so that we could continue sinning; rather, Christ died because of sin and was resurrected to LIFE so that we may receive the Holy Spirit, as Peter spoke of in Acts 2. It is by the Holy Spirit that we can begin to LIVE God's way - the way that gives life rather than death. 

Romans 6:8-12
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

 If you have repented and been baptized then you have an obligation to live a new life, just as Christ is alive. The last verse above makes it clear that the primary distinction of our new life is that we obey the law of God rather than our own desires, which lead to sin.

Romans 8:6-11
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you... And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness... He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you.

If you live according to your innate desires, then you cannot be living as God wants you to - no matter how good of a person you try to be: "[the carnal mind] is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." This also implies, once again, that a direct result of living your new life to God is that you will obey the law of God by the Power of God living in you, which is the Holy Spirit.

This is the manner in which we obtain salvation: we were dead because of our sins, therefore God sent His Son to live sinlessly and die in our place. In order to accept that sacrifice, we are obligated to repent of breaking God's law and also die with Christ, putting ourselves to death through baptism. If we have repented of our sins, then God resurrects us from our baptismal death by putting His Spirit in us, just as He raised Christ from the dead by the power of His Spirit. We are then not to live in sin in the same way that we lived before, but to allow ourselves to live by the Holy Spirit, which is the Power of God that causes us live by His law - the same law by which we were condemned and put to death for our inability to follow. Herein we see the awesome power of our God: that He is able to make us into what we ought to be rather than what we are  - and not by our own effort, but by His Spirit.