Dead with Christ; Freed from
Sin?
Romans 6:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
He wishes to teach us by this the duty laid on Christians of pursuing this new
way of life as long as they live. If they ought to represent in themselves the
image of Christ, both by mortifying the flesh and by the life of the Spirit,
the mortifying of the flesh must be done once and for ever, while the life of
the Spirit must never cease. This is not, as we have already stated, because
our flesh is mortified in us in a single moment, but because we must not shrink
form putting it to death. If we return to our own filthiness, we deny Christ,
for we can have communion with Him only by newness of life, even as He Himself
lives an incorruptible life. --John Calvin on Romans 6:8. --Commentary on
Romans. [Mackenzie]
