Romans Verse five
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (Romans 6:5)
If we would be resurrected with the Lord Jesus, if we would attain the out-resurrection from the dead that will take place when the Lord appears, we must come to know the Lord, the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.
Sometimes it is taught that we are "identified" with the death of the Lord and with His resurrection. While this is true it can lead to a false conclusion. The term identified can lead to the idea that our relationship to the death and resurrection of the Lord is conceptual, mental, theological. We can subscribe to the idea that we have died and been raised with the Lord and then continue in our adamic, animal existence.
We prefer the term union. We enter into a living, tangible union with the death of the Lord and with His resurrection. In so doing we are released from four bondages.
We are released from the authority of the Law of Moses.
We are released from the guilt of sin.
We are released from the power of sin.
We are released from slavery to our self-will.
We are released from the authority of the Law of Moses because we have died with Christ, and the Law does not govern the dead.
We are released from the guilt of sin because the blood of the Lord Jesus paid the price for our transgressions. The blood satisfied the justice of God. The soul that sins must die. Jesus died in our place and we escape the penalty.
We are released from the power of sin when we confess our sins and repent of them. As we do, the power of the Holy Spirit overcomes the power of the indwelling sin and we are able to keep from practicing it.
Deliverance from the compulsions of sin is a major aspect of the Christian redemption. However it is the fourth area of redemption, release from slavery to our self-will, that is the crucial aspect of our salvation as sons of God.
The original sin was not adultery or bearing false witness or stealing or profanity or murder. None of these had as yet entered the new creation, although they may have been active in the heavens among the followers of Satan.
The original sin was self-willed disobedience. Adam and Eve obeyed their self-will in place of the will of the Father. Through their disobedience, sin was able to enter their personalities, in particular their bodies, and bring them into slavery to sin.
Sin resides in the members of our body because we are descendants of Adam and Eve. Before we come to Jesus our spirit, soul, and body are cut off from God because of the sin that dwells in them.
When we receive the Lord Jesus all of our sins are completely forgiven. Also, we no longer are under the authority of the Law of Moses. Now we are authorized to begin the process of removing the sin from our personality.
Our inner nature is alive because of the righteousness given to the inner man by the Holy Spirit. Eternal life always is the result of righteousness.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit (spirit-inner man) is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10)
"Life because of righteousness"-the righteousness ascribed to us because of our faith in the Lord Jesus.
Righteousness always is the basis for eternal life.
Our spirit, our inner man, is righteous. But our body remains dead, separated from God, because of the sin that dwells in it.
Little by little, through the Holy Spirit, we are able to put to death the sin that dwells in us. At the same time the Life of Jesus is increasing in us.
For if ye live in the appetites of the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify (put to death) the deeds of the body, ye shall live. (Romans 8:13)
But deliverance from sin is only part of the Divine redemption. The most important aspect of our salvation is deliverance from our self-will so that we are free to obey God sternly and totally.
The solution to freedom from the authority of the Law of Moses, freedom from the guilt of sin, freedom from the power of sin, and freedom from self-will and disobedience, is our union with the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
It is more than identification, it is union. It is an active, vigorous entering into the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus. We enter death and resurrection each day as the Spirit of God guides and enables us, and the result is freedom from sin and disobedience and joyous participation in the will of God in every aspect of personality and behavior.
Toward the end of his life the Apostle Paul told how he had found the supreme goal and joy of life to be the possession of Christ, the knowledge of His resurrection and change into the likeness of His death.
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win (gain) Christ, (Philippians 3:8)
Notice that we are not dealing here with an abstract theological position, a philosophy, an assent to a concept. As a result of his union with Christ, Paul had experienced the loss of all things. Furthermore, his joy was so great because of what he was experiencing in Christ that he regarded every other accomplishment of his life as garbage.
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Philippians 3:9)
The "righteousness which is of God by faith" has little to do with belief in theological facts of redemption. It is not mere belief in the death and resurrection of Christ. The righteousness that is of God by faith is our continual entering into the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ accompanied by our evaluation of all else as trash.
To Paul, the fundamental Jew steeped in the traditions of the Law of Moses, letting go of the Levitical traditions and embracing the Lord Jesus was a stupendous undertaking. To be assured that God was receiving him even though his mind was not on the Law but on the living Christ was a daily challenge.
Day by day Paul's faith laid hold upon Christ. Day by day the assurance, the joy, the peace increased. The most profound of human problems was being dealt with-Paul's will was being converted to the will of God. Because Christ's Life was increasing in Paul, Paul was delighting to do God's will.
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (Psalms 40:8)
The most peaceful, joyous experience possible to a human being is attained when our will is identical with the will of God. Then we are free. Then we are God's bondslaves. Then we are in the rest of God. Then we are united with Him in His death and resurrection.
As long as any part of our will is not found in God we are in partial slavery to our own self-will, which is equivalent to slavery to Satan. If we persevere in following Christ we remain free from the Law of Moses, free from the guilt of sin, free from the compulsions of sin, and finally, free from self-will.
To obtain all these freedoms is to attain to the resurrection that is out from among the dead.
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection (Greek, out-resurrection) of the dead. (Philippians 3:11)
For those who have attained the inner resurrection, that which is available now-in this life, there remains only the filling of our mortal body with the Spirit of God. The filling of our mortal body with incorruptible resurrection life marks our adoption as a son of God.
And not only they (the material creation), but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:23)
"Waiting for the adoption."
Our inner nature must be born of God but our body is to be adopted.
Deliverance from sin is not the goal. Deliverance is a means to the goal. The goal is to be in the image of Christ and to be in union with Christ. In order to attain the goal and thus be made available to God for the fulfillment of His purposes, we must be delivered from moral impurity, and especially from self-will.