Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin.
that our.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
that the.
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Romans 8:3,13 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: …
Colossians 2:11,12 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: …
that henceforth.
Romans 6:12,22 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof…
Romans 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless
The "body of sin" refers to the human nature inclined towards sin, often described as the flesh. The rendering of it powerless indicates a decisive break from sin's dominion. This does not imply sinless perfection but a significant shift in the believer's relationship with sin. The Greek term used here can be understood as "nullified" or "made ineffective," suggesting that sin's control is broken. This aligns with Colossians 3:9-10, which speaks of putting off the old self and putting on the new self, renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.
that we should no longer be slaves to sin
This phrase highlights the liberation from sin's bondage, a central theme in Paul's writings. In the Roman context, slavery was a familiar institution, and Paul uses it metaphorically to describe the believer's former state under sin's control. The imagery of slavery underscores the totality of sin's dominion before conversion. However, through Christ's redemptive work, believers are set free, as stated in John 8:36, "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." This freedom is not an autonomy to sin but a call to live in righteousness, as further elaborated in Romans 6:18, where believers become "slaves to righteousness."
Paul begins with confidence. This isn’t hopeful language; it’s settled fact.
• Romans 6:3-4 reminds us that in baptism we were “baptized into His death,” so our certainty rests on what Christ has already done.
• 2 Corinthians 5:14 says, “One died for all, therefore all died,” echoing the same shared knowledge.
• 1 John 5:20 assures believers, “We know that the Son of God has come,” tying knowledge to the finished work of Jesus.
Because Scripture is true and Christ’s work is complete, believers can anchor their identity in this revealed reality rather than in feelings or circumstances.
The “old self” is the person we were in Adam—defined by sin and separation from God.
• Galatians 2:20 declares, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me,” showing the personal dimension of this shared crucifixion.
• Ephesians 4:22 urges us to “put off your former way of life, your old self,” not as a goal we strive for, but as something already rendered obsolete by the cross.
• Colossians 3:9-10 says we have “taken off the old self with its practices and put on the new self,” highlighting the decisive break that has occurred.
Because our old self died with Jesus, its legal claim on us ended; we are not renovating the old but living from the new.
“Body of sin” refers to sin’s organizing center—its authority over our physical members. The crucifixion of the old self had a purpose: to strip sin of dominion.
• Romans 8:3 explains that God “condemned sin in the flesh” through Christ, dealing a death-blow to its reign.
• Colossians 2:11 speaks of being circumcised “by the circumcision of Christ,” a picture of removing the control of the flesh.
• 1 Peter 2:24 adds, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”
The result is not sinlessness yet, but sin’s power has been broken; it can bark, but it no longer owns the leash.
Freedom is the practical outcome.
• Romans 6:17-18 celebrates, “You were slaves to sin, but you have obeyed from the heart…having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
• John 8:36 promises, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
• Galatians 5:1 urges, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand firm, then.”
Living free means:
– Rejecting the lie that sin is irresistible.
– Presenting our bodies to God (Romans 6:13) instead of to sin.
– Walking daily in the Spirit’s power (Galatians 5:16).
Our new Master empowers obedience; slavery to sin is no longer our identity or destiny.
Romans 6:6 teaches a finished, liberating fact: believers know that their old self died with Christ, breaking sin’s authority, so they now live free from its slavery. The cross didn’t merely forgive; it dismantled sin’s rule, enabling a new life of willing, Spirit-empowered obedience.
(6-11) Further description of this process. The Christian's union with the crucified Christ binds him also to crucify or mortify (ascetically) the sinful desires of his body. Thus he is released from the dominion of those desires. But this is not all. Just as Christ passed from the cross to the resurrection, and overcame death once for all, exchanging for it a life wholly dependent upon God; so, too, His followers must consider themselves cut off irrevocably--as if by death itself--from sin, and living with a new life dedicated and devoted to God, through their participation in the death and life of Jesus Christ their Lord.(6) Our old man.--"Our old self" (Vaughan), as in Ephesians 4:22; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:9-10.
The old self, or that congeries of evil habits acquired in the state of heathenism, was, ideally if not actually, mortified and killed in our baptism. This change was wrought by a power brought to bear upon the will through the contemplation of the crucifixion of Christ. Hence, instead of saying simply "mortified," the Apostle writes rather "crucified," i.e. put to death, not in any way, but specially through the cross.
That the body of sin might be destroyed.--The "body of sin" is the body subject to sin, or that supplies sin with the material on which it works. This substratum of carnal and fleshly desire, the Apostle tells us, is to be ascetically chastened and disciplined until it ceases to be a source of sin.
Verses 6, 7. - Knowing this (cf. η} ἀγνοεῖτε, ver. 3), that our old man was (not is, as in the Authorized Version) crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed (or abolished, or done away, καταργήθῃ), that henceforth we should not serve (δουλεύειν, expressing bondage, or slavery; and so throughout the chapter in the word δοῦλοι, translated "servants") sin. For he that hath died is freed from sin. The word "crucified" has, of course, reference to the mode of Christ's death into which we were baptized. It does not imply anything further (as some have supposed) as to the manner of our own spiritual dying, such as painfulness or lingering; it merely means that in his death our old man died (cf. Colossians 2:14, προφηλώσας αὐτὸ τῷ σταυρῷ). The term "old man" (παλαὶος ἄνθρωπος) occurs also Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9. It denotes man's unregenerate self, when under sin and condemnation; the καινός or νεος ἄνθρωπος being his regenerate self. It is, of course, a different conception from that of ὁ ἐξω and ὁ ἔσωθεν ἄνθωππος of 2 Corinthians 4:16. In Ephesians and Colossians the old man is said to be put away, or put off, and the new one put on, as though they were two clothings, or investments, of his personality, determining its character. Here, by a bolder figure, they are viewed as an old self that had died and a new one that had come to life in its place (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17, Αἴ τις ἐν Ξριστῷ καινὴ κτίσις τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν). The idea of a new man being born into a new life in baptism was already familiar to the Jews in their baptism of proselytes (see Lightfoot, on John 3.); and our Lord, discoursing to Nicodemus of the new birth, supposes him to understand the figure; but he teaches him that the change thus expressed should be no mere change of profession and habits of life, but a radical inward change, which could only be wrought by the regenerating Spirit. Such a change St. Paul teaches to be signified by Christian baptism; not only deliverance from condemnation through participation in the benefits of the death of Christ, but also the birth or creation of a new self corresponding to his risen body, which will not be, like the old self, under the thraldom of sin. "The body of sin" may be taken as meaning much the same as "our old man;" sin being conceived as embodied in our former selves, and so possessing them and keeping them in bondage. It certainly does not mean simply our bodies as distinct from our souls, so as to imply the idea that the former must be macerated that the latter may live. The asceticism inculcated elsewhere in the New Testament is in no contradiction to the ideal of mens sana in corpore sano. Our former sin-possessed and sin-dominated personality being now crucified with Christ, dead, and done away with, we are no longer, in our new personality, in slavery to sin, and are both bound and able to renounce it; "for he that hath died is freed [δεδικαίωται, literally, 'is justified'] from sin." In Scotland, one who is executed is said to be justified, the idea apparently being that he has satisfied the claims of law. So here ' δεδικαίωται. The word δουλεύειν, be it observed, in ver. 6 introduces by the way the second figure under which, as above said, the apostle regards his subject, though it is not taken up till ver. 16.