Romans 6:6
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Truth to Learn
We are no longer slaves to sin. We don’t have to submit to it.
Behind the Words
The word translated “old” is palaios, which is an adjective of time, meaning “in the past, long ago, or that which is old.”
Meaning Explained
Paul starts off this verse talking about “the old man.” What he is talking about is our sin nature, which we have inherited from Adam. You may recall what he said back in verse 19 of the previous chapter: ”For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” The reason we were made sinners is because we inherited the sin nature from our father Adam. Paul refers to this sin nature as “the old man,” and he tells us here that our sin nature was crucified with Christ.
He talks about this old man in a couple of other places in the New Testament as well, and in each case admonishes us to put off the old man.
that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (Ephesians 4:22-23)
Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, (Colossians 3:9-10)
From these passages it is clear that Paul uses the expression “the old man” to indicate our sin nature, which was corrupted by the lusts and inclinations toward evil that existed in each one of us before we were saved.
Paul tells us that this sin nature was crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be destroyed. There has been much debate over what exactly is being referred to by the expression “body of sin” but I believe that it is simply a personification of our sin nature just as “the old man” is. And, if our old man was crucified with Christ, then he died just as Christ died. If our old man is dead then we can no longer be a slave to him. We are free from him!
Before we were saved, we were slaves to sin because of our sin nature. As slaves to sin we did not have a choice of whether we sinned or not. Now that we are saved, however, we are no longer slaves to the old man and we are free to live without being controlled by sin. In other words, before we were saved we had no choice but to sin. Now that we are saved we can choose to sin or not to sin. And even though we do continue to sin, we have that choice and Paul tells that we should not serve sin any more.
Application
If you are a Christian you have the choice to either serve your sin nature (the old man) or God. You cannot serve two masters. You must choose one or the other.
So … who are you serving today?
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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