Reflections on Violent Unification

In the ever-present fight against sin, Romans 6 has always been key to my sanity. There are times when I'm in the thick of the fights, and the last thing I feel is godly, or in anyway sanctified. Discouragement, hopelessness, and condemnation all conspire to derail me from the path toward becoming more like Jesus.

In versus 2-3, Paul makes the declaration that Christians are no longer subject to power of sin. He uses the image of baptism to communicate our radical association with Jesus. Now, we need to get out of our heads the modern image of sprinkling water on a baby's forehead. The word in the Greek carries the connotation of violence and radical transformation. It is used in other ancient literature to describe ships sinking or a flood. So, when Paul writes that we've been baptized with Jesus, he means we've been violently ripped away from our former identifications with sin and death and united with Jesus in his death and resurrection.

It's a mystery how we are spiritually united with Jesus in his crucifixion (Gal. 2:20), but Paul makes it clear that this fact is a spiritual reality. Therefore, we are no longer associated with sin. But, we all know that this spiritual reality many times seems very unreal in our daily existence. But, Paul says that in light of this new identification, we are to make this spiritual reality a physical reality. "Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." (v. 11-13) The Christian life is the process by which the Holy Spirit works out in us the spiritual reality of our unity with the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

It simply amazes me that at ever level Jesus chooses to bind us to everything good and beautiful he is and has done. We are united with him. Our tattered rags have been violently ripped off us and have been replaced with the royal robes of the Son of God. Paul says then that if this is true, let's act like it! But, not by our own power, but by the Spirit working out these realities in us.