Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father,
so we too might walk in newness of life. –Romans 6:4B
Image Courtesy: St. Paul Street Evangelization
Adam & Christ
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death came through sin and so
death spread to all because all have sinned — sin was indeed in the world before the Law but sin
is not reckoned when there is no Law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even
over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the One who
was to come.
The Free Gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through one man’s trespass, much
more sure have the grace of God and the Free Gift in the grace of the One Man, Jesus Christ,
abounded for the many and the Free Gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the
judgment following one trespass brought condemnation but the Free Gift following many
trespasses brings justification. If because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion
through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the
Free Gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the One Man, Jesus Christ!
Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so One Man’s righteousness
leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were
made sinners, so by the One Man’s obedience the many will be made righteous but Law came
in, with the result that the trespass multiplied; where sin increased, grace abounded all the
more, so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion
through justification leading to eternal life through Christ Jesus Our Lord!
Dying & Rising With Christ
What then are we to say? Should we continue to sin in order that grace may abound? By no
means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have
been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized in His death? Therefore 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.
For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly be united with Him in
a resurrection like His. We 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. For whoever has died is freed
from sin but if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know
that Christ, being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over
Him. The death He died, He died to sin, once for all; the life He lives, He lives to God. So you
must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus!
Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their
passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness but present
yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and present your
members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you,
since you are not under Law but under grace!
Slaves of Righteousness
What then? Should we sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? By no means! Do
you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the
one whom you obey, either of sin which leads to death or of obedience which leads to
righteousness? Thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves to sin, have become
obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted and that you
having been set free from sin, have become slaves to righteousness. I am speaking in human
terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as
slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves
to righteousness for sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did
you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death
but now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is
sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death but the Free Gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus Our Lord! –Romans 5:12-21; 6:1-23
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