Romans 6:6-7 - Our Flesh? That Silly Old Thing? Pt. 3 (Conciliation Series, Part XVIII)

 Part IV: God’s Conciliation, Confirmed

…we shall be of the resurrection also, knowing this, that our old humanity was crucified together with Him, that the body of Sin may be nullified…

Hold up, Romans 6:6, I ain’t finished with you yet!

In the last couple writings, I’ve talked about how our old humanity was crucified together with Him. Our flesh as it stands now has already died. It has been considered “crucified” to God. This phrase is the cause of the next statement.

The next phrase is, “that the body of Sin may be nullified.” It follows that if the “body of Sin being made inert” is the effect of the “old humanity being crucified,” then the “old humanity” and the “body of Sin” must be referencing two different things. The body of Sin is the thing that God is attacking by crucifying the old humanity. Sin is His opponent, and it is the only reason that we were considered enemies to Him. Notice how “sin” is capitalized in English? This is not because A.E. Knoch was feeling fruity one morning. The word “sin” here has a definite article in front of it. In ancient Greek, the definite article can be placed in front of abstract nouns (such as “wisdom,”) or in front of proper names (such as “Stephen” or “Fred.”) As such, the “body of-the Sin,” as we would read in broken English, can be capitalized, to just read, “body of Sin,” giving a proper name to this concept.

It follows: what the hell is this concept? The answer is fascinating. God has been contrasting Himself through the lie, the impermanent, starting in Romans 3. Here, we read of the “old humanity,” the impermanent. The contrast for the “old humanity” would naturally be the “new humanity.” One good thing contrasts the bad. It follows that the contrast with the “body of Sin” would be the “body of Christ,” which Paul states elsewhere to describe what the saints are a part of (1 Cor. 12:27.)

This isn’t a hard conclusion to derive, either. Paul stated everything Christ has done for us in the first few verses of this chapter, but the chapter itself began with an objection – “Why don’t we sin more, then, that more grace will be given?” Paul’s response is that sin doesn’t own you anymore, so there’s no logical or rational reason to live to it. Instead of dwelling on your sin, dwell on Christ, because you are owned by Him, now, not Sin.

It follows, then, that a contrast is established between being in the body of Sin and the body of Christ. This phrase recontextualizes our understanding of Romans 5:21 as well, as “Sin’s reign” is also capitalized, having a definite article in front of it. Sin reigns, then Christ reigns in contrast. This “Sin’s reign” doesn’t so much concern your literal flesh, but it did own your flesh, having taken control of humanity since Adam in the garden. Sin reigned over its body (Rom. 6:12,) its law operated in this body (Rom. 7:23,) and it is a body that leads to death (Rom. 7:24.)

See, sin was not inherent in the body of Adam. It was absent, and became present (Rom. 5:12.) Sin’s body here is all-inclusive, and covers the entirety of mankind, as the old humanity did, but differs in dominance. The old humanity is just that – your flesh. The body of Sin defines sin’s mastery over said flesh. We must be a part of the body of Sin first, in order to fully appreciate being a part of the body of Christ.

Here’s another reality check: the body of Sin is being nullified. It’s being rendered inoperative, slowly but surely. Since our old humanity was crucified, so also has the body of Sin been delivered a death blow. Our bodies, therefore, need not act as though possessed by sin. We already died to sin! Our bodies, being made alive by Christ, allow us to walk in newness of life, presenting a living body to God.

…for us by no means to be still slaving for Sin…

What’s the goal, here? There’s a process to God’s work on the cross. We have:

-       Old humanity crucified, so that

-       Body of Sin is nullified, so that

-       We need not be slaves to sin

This final statement in this verse fully exposes the first half of Paul’s response to the objection laid out in Romans 6:1. The cross led to the crucifixion of the old humanity. Paul’s scope here concerns believers, but we know that the old humanity is not limited to believers alone. Moreover, we know that the body of Sin certainly concerns the entire scope of humanity. That said, the we here is where, once again, Paul zones in on the believer who is coming into a realization of this truth.

The word we in Greek is hemas. The word “we” here is in the accusative case. Here, I will give you a brief breakdown of the cases in Scripture:

There are five cases in Scripture. These are not crucial to understand the truth, nor are they usually the first thing you should point to when looking for the meaning of a sentence. But for a deeper understanding, they are indeed grammatical functions that assist in helping understand the point and direction of a sentence, particularly in these doctrinal areas. The five cases are:

1)    Nominative. This case usually refers to the subject of a sentence, but can sometimes relate to the object of a sentence.

2)    Genitive. This case expresses the relationship between nouns. An example would be in Romans 6:6, with the word “our old humanity was crucified together with Him.” In this case, it shows our ownership of the old humanity, while connecting the old humanity with Christ’s sacrifice.

3)    Dative. This case can serve a few different functions. Most often, it expresses the indirect object of a verb in relation to the direct object. It can also be used in defining how something is done.

4)    Accusative. This case reflects the direct object of a sentence. An example of this is John 1:1’s “the word [nominative] was toward God [accusative.]”

5)    Vocative. This case expresses emphasis or exclamation.

With this in mind, hopefully the accusative case becomes clearer. We are the direct object of the sentence. It is us. I stress this because both “old humanity” and “body of sin” are not the same as you, the person, in God’s sight. This is contextualized by the different cases (‘old humanity’ and ‘body of Sin’ are in the nominative case, while ‘us’ is in the accusative.) This is because we are impacted by these things, per the process above. We have been a part of these things, but you are you, your own individual person. The old humanity is a vessel – not your person. The body of Sin has dominated your vessel, thus impacting your old humanity, thus impacting your person – but you are still you, with your own unique identity.

Now, things are even better. You’re free, so you are no longer bound by your old humanity, stuck slaving away for the body of Sin, which is rooted in death. We share the likeness of His death and resurrection. He has, literally, purchased ‘we.’ You have been bought by another Master. You are now alive from among the dead.

…for one who dies has been justified from Sin.

This verse cannot be read apart from anything other than the verses surrounding it. This is not “justification by faith.” If it were, then Paul would have said, “for one who dies has been justified by faith from Sin.” Simple enough?

Justification is a word. It is a word with a definition. Attaching “by faith” and including Paul’s entire theology from chapter 3 here won’t do us any good. The word “justified” is, literally, “constitute righteous.” You are called “not guilty,” or “vindicated” from Sin. You are not associated with the guilty party. We, having died to Sin, by being baptized into Christ’s death, thus partaking of His resurrection, are justified from Sin. There’s no agreement between your spirit and Sin’s spirit. It doesn’t matter, simply, whether or not you sinned. Because you have been baptized into Christ’s death, and He never sinned, so you, in being imbibed into one spirit and considered a part of Christ’s body, with Him being the Head, you are automatically correlated in the same manner.

This reveals something intensely important about the cross; it is Christ’s cross to bear, not your own. It was Sin on that cross, not you personally. To presume you would have to take His place if He did not descend is supremely fallacious, self-absorbed, and foolhardy. We weren’t delivered from the death of the cross. We were delivered through the death of the cross. We have been correlated with Christ so closely that God operates with us as though we had been there on the cross. But there is not one verse that says, “If Christ had not descended, you would have had to bear this.” It’s a sad state of affairs that most in Christianity today believe that Christ’s death was “substitutionary,” as it creates a conditionality, as though Christ performed one side of a business transaction, and now you are required to fulfill the other side. Is He not the Image of the invisible God? Does God require anything of you?? Why would Christ require anything of you, then??

Challenging my previous statement with a morality argument, that we should “try to do the right thing” is fallacious as well. Falls flat when you consider every point Paul has responded with. Your job is not to do the right thing. The moment you start to dwell on “doing the right thing,” you begin to worry about “what the right thing is.” You begin to doubt your previous ability, or even your intent, to “do the right thing.” You become anxious about your inevitable failure to “do the right thing.” Notice that this is all “you, you, you?” It focuses on the “self,” not the “Christ.” You, in being called out, can begin to dwell and rest in the facts – Christ’s accomplishment. Christ’s death. Christ’s entombment. Christ’s resurrection. By grace are you saved. This is not out of you. This is God’s decision. God is at peace with all. These things you dwell on, and you don’t ever have to worry about “doing the right thing,” because you’ll know that the Creator of the universe has you.

The truth is that these verses are requiring you to be a sinner. You are stuck in sin, as the old humanity is corrupted already. It’s happened. You’ll never change it on your own. It is Christ Who reveals things to you, who is part of the ‘we.’ You, your spirit, your living self, are not defined by ‘old humanity,’ ‘Sin,’ ‘death.’ These are terms of the past. Dwelling on them is about as effective as trying to remember what the inner walls of your mother’s womb looked like. The more you recognize the depths of your failure, the more you can appreciate the phrase for what it truly is saying; missing the mark is not you. It’s not the summary of your character. It’s not all you amount to. You are His, not yours. So stop worrying about what you do, and enjoy what He is.

- GerudoKing