Romans 6:1b-11 (NRSV)
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Chapter 6What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? Verse 2By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Verse 3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Verse 4Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Verse 5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Verse 6We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. Verse 7For whoever has died is freed from sin. Verse 8But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. Verse 9We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. Verse 10The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. Verse 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Devotion
Searching for “newness of life” leads people to extremes. Adrenaline junkies take remarkable risks for a few moments of feeling alive. Yet for all the desperate searching, many suffer today from depression, addictions, and anxieties. So-called “deaths of despair” affect children as well as adults. We long for greater peace, justice, and equality. Can we find new life in Christ?
New life begins with a new identity. Baptism cleanses us from the past, but it goes farther. Participating in the death of Christ we can rise to new life, living not as we have but as we ought, not captive to our fears, but by the power of faith, not in slavery to our base instincts but serving the Savior who has freed us we become alive as God intends. It’s been said, “Nothing glorifies God more than a human being fully alive.” Faith is freedom “from” the past, but also “for” living in “newness of life.” What’s lifegiving to you?
Prayer
Renewing Lord, who died that we might live, who carried our brokenness to the cross so we might be made whole, help us to walk in newness of life today. Amen.