Scripture Reading: Rom. 6:3-6, 10; 7:2-4, 6
Ⅰ
We may experience and enjoy Christ in His death and resurrection— Rom. 6:3-6:
A
The believers have been baptized into Christ and into His death—v. 3:
１
Baptism signifies our identification with Christ; through baptism we are immersed into Christ, taking Him as our realm, that we may be united with Him as one in His death and resurrection—Matt. 28:19; Gal. 3:27.
２
Romans 6:3 is the strongest support for the thought of the organic union that we have with Christ; by being baptized into Christ, we entered into Christ and became a part of Him.
３
Christ is a realm, a sphere, into which we have been baptized; now we are in Him, He is the One whom we can experience, and He is our enjoyment.
B
When we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into His death—v. 3:
１
Christ and His death are one; the resurrection of Christ carries the element of His effective death—Phil. 3:10.
２
The Christian life is a life of baptism; we may daily experience the effectiveness of Christ's death, which is an element in the all-inclusive Spirit— 1:19; John 7:39.
３
We have been buried with Christ through baptism into His death—Rom. 6:4a.
C
The believers, having been resurrected as Christ has, should walk in newness of life—v. 4b:
１
Newness of life is intrinsically related to the life-giving Spirit, who is Christ Himself in resurrection—John 11:25; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
２
Resurrection here is a present process; to walk in newness of life is to live in the realm of resurrection and to reign in life—Rom. 6:4; 5:17.
３
The newness of life mentioned in 6:4 is the likeness of Christ's resurrection mentioned in verse 5.
D
The believers, having grown together with Christ in the likeness of His death, will grow together with Him in the likeness of His resurrection—v. 5:
１
The likeness of His death refers to the baptism mentioned in verse 4, for baptism is the likeness of the death of Christ.
２
The believers grow together with Christ also in the likeness of His resurrection; this refers to the present process of growth—v. 5.
３
The growth revealed in Romans 6:5 is related to grafting—11:17, 19:
ａ
Having become one with Christ through grafting, we now partake of the life and characteristics of Him as the all-inclusive One, and in this way we grow in Him—John 15:4-5; Rom. 6:5.
ｂ
In the organic union with Christ, whatever Christ passed through has become our history; His death and resurrection are now ours because we are in Him and are organically joined to Him—Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:5-6.
E
The believers' old man has been crucified with Christ; by being buried into the death of Christ, we died and our body of sin is annulled—Rom. 6:6, 18-22.
F
The believers, having died to sin in Christ, should live, as Christ lives, to God; to live to God means that we are under His direction and control and that we desire to fulfill His requirements, satisfy His desires, and complete what He intends—v. 10.
Ⅱ
We may experience and enjoy Christ as the new Husband—7:2-4, 6:
A
As regenerated beings, both male and female believers have Christ as their Husband and are a part of His wife—2 Cor. 11:2.
B
Since our old man, who was the old husband, has been crucified with Christ, we are freed from his law and are joined to the new Husband, Christ, the everliving One—Rom. 6:6; 7:4.
C
As believers, we have two statuses:
１
The first is our old status as the fallen old man, who left the original position of a wife dependent on God and took the self-assuming position of a husband and head, independent of God—6:6.
２
The second is our new status as the regenerated new man, restored to our original and proper position as the genuine wife to God, depending on Him and taking Him as our Head—Isa. 54:5; 1 Cor. 11:3.
D
Our old man has been crucified to the law through the body of Christ so that we might marry Christ, who has been raised from the dead; in our new status as a wife, we have an organic union in person, name, life, and existence with Christ in His resurrection, and now, as the wife, we bear fruit to God, bringing forth God as an overflow of God—Rom. 7:4; 2 Cor. 11:2.
E
As the wife, we serve in newness of spirit, not in oldness of letter—Rom. 7:6:
１
Newness of life for our living issues from our being identified with Christ's resurrection and is for our walk in our daily life—6:4.
２
Newness of spirit issues from our being discharged from the law and being joined to the resurrected Christ and is for our service to God—7:6.
３
Both newness of life and newness of spirit are related to the Spirit:
ａ
Newness of life is related to Christ Himself in His resurrection, who is the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b.
ｂ
Spirit in the phrase newness of spirit refers to our regenerated human spirit, in which the Lord as the Spirit dwells—2 Tim. 4:22.
ｃ
We have been married to the resurrected Christ so that we might bear fruit to God and serve in newness of spirit—Rom. 7:4, 6.