Romans Chapter 6 Vs. 6

 

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

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. Rom 6:6

our old man... This is none other than Satan himself, "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:9; John 8:44; 1Jhn. 3:8; 5:18). To call this the old Adamic nature is erroneous, for nothing happened to Adam other than his submission to Satan and a moral fall. Adam had the same body, soul, and spirit after the fall as before. The only difference was a change of masters. There is no such thing as an old nature other than man’s own body, soul, and spirit dominated by satanic powers, as in the above passages. Speaks of the believer’s unregenerate self. Not old in number of years, but something which is worn out and useless. Our old self died with Christ, and the life we now enjoy is a new divinely given life that is the life of Christ Himself.

Paul uses the terms “body” and “flesh” to refer to sinful propensities that are intertwined with physical weaknesses and pleasures. Although the old self is dead, sin retains a foothold in our temporal flesh or our unredeemed humanness, with its corrupted desires. The believer does not have two competing natures, the old and the new; but one new nature that is still incarcerated in unredeemed flesh.

We see a parallel Scripture to this (in Colossians 3).

Colossians 3:5 “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:”

Mortify means to deaden. We are to do away with all sin in the flesh and live to the Spirit of God.

crucified with him... Being "dead to sin" (Rom. 6:2), "crucified with him" (Rom. 6:6), "dead with Christ" (Rom. 6:8), "dead to the law" (Rom. 7:4), and like expressions are common among Hebrews, Greeks, Latins, and other people. To die to a thing or person, is to have nothing to do with and to be totally separated from it or him. To live to a person or a thing is to be wholly given up to and to have intimate connection with that person or thing. Having the old man crucified means that one has no further dealings with him. In fact, 1Jhn. 5:18 says the wicked one does not touch the one who is born again.

might be destroyed... Greek: katargeo, annulled. See, Rom. 3:31. Meaning rendered powerless or inoperative.

As a result we know (ginōskontes suggests experimental or reflective knowing, not intuitive knowledge as in eidotes in Rom. 6:9) that our old self was crucified with Him. Literally, the last portion of this sentence is, “our old man was crucified together,” obviously with Christ. A believer’s “old man” is the person as he was spiritually before he trusted Christ, when he was still under sin (Rom. 3:9), powerless and ungodly (Rom. 5:6), a sinner (Rom. 5:8), and an enemy of God (Rom. 5:10). (“Old self” or “old man” does not refer to the sin nature as such. The Bible does not teach that the sin nature was eradicated at salvation or is ever eradicated in this life.)