与基督联合
罗马书六章1至11节
1这样，怎么说呢？我们可以仍在罪中、叫恩典显多么？
2断乎不可！我们在罪上死了的人岂可仍在罪中活着呢？
3岂不知我们这受洗归入基督耶稣的人是受洗归入他的死么？
4所以，我们借着洗礼归入死，和他一同埋葬，原是叫我们一举一动有新生的样式，像基督借着父的荣耀从死里复活一样。
5我们若在他死的形状上与他联合，也要在他复活的形状上与他联合；
6因为知道我们的旧人和他同钉十字架，使罪身灭绝，叫我们不再作罪的奴仆；
7因为已死的人是脱离了罪。
8我们若是与基督同死，就信必与他同活。
9因为知道基督既从死里复活，就不再死，死也不再作他的主了。
10他死是向罪死了，只有一次；他活是向神活着。
11这样，你们向罪也当看自己是死的；向神在基督耶稣里，却当看自己是活的。
信息分享
这章开头的几节，便直接指出我们在基督里的其中一个结果──那就是：我们不能再继续犯罪，像未得救前一样。任何基督徒都不可以说，基督徒的行为表现是无关重要的；反之，基督徒的生命必须彰显基督。
我们各人都有犯罪和自私的「旧本性」。这种本性是与生俱来的；当我们还活在世上的一日，我们都无法完全摆脱它。
然而，这并非说我们无法克胜这旧本性，以及从它而来的犯罪欲望。在神的眼中，我们的旧人已经与基督同钉十字架，圣灵也住在我们里面，使我们脱离旧本性的辖制。
与此同时，当我们来到基督面前的时候，神便赐给我们新的性情；而圣灵也加力给我们，使我活出新人的样式。
我们可以把保罗所说的重点分列如下：
我们的旧人已经与基督同死。
在神的眼中，我们不再受旧人的辖制。
我们已经与基督一同复活，我们就像复活了的新人一样，有着新的性情。
我们要凭着信心来接受这些真理。
住在我们里面的圣灵，会帮助我们明白及经历这一切事情。
洗礼象征了我们已经从死里复活。
经文反思：
「罪必不能作你们的主。」
UNITED WITH CHRIST
Romans 6:1-11
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
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.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Message
The opening verses of the chapter plainly teach one of the results of our being in Christ that we can no longer go on sinning as if we had never been saved. No-one can ever say that behaviour as a Christian doesn't matter. It is very important that our lives show forth Christ.
We all have an 'old nature' which wants to be sinful and selfish. We were born with it and it will be with us until we die. Only then will we be finally completely released from it.
But that does not mean we cannot have victory over that old nature and over the sinful desires that come from it. In God's sight, that old nature died when Christ died on the cross and the Holy Spirit is living within us to help us break the power of our old nature.
At the same time, when we came to Christ we were given a new nature, which comes to us for God himself. The Spirit of God wants to help us live in the area of that new nature.
Put these thoughts alongside what Paul has said here and this is what we have:
1. We died (our old nature) when Christ died.
2. In God's sight, that old nature is no longer reigning over us.
3. We rose again with Christ and our new nature is like a resurrection life for us.
4. We are to accept these truths by faith.
5. The Holy Spirit is within us to help us both understand and experience these things.
6. Baptism by immersion is a picture of these truths.
A VERSE FOR TODAY: 'Sin shall not have dominion over you.'