Co-Crucifixion! Romans 6:1-14

Text: “Knowing this, that our old man (i.e. old nature) is crucified with Him (i.e. Christ), that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

Romans 6:6.

Good morning, co-crucified Christian!  You experience much victory over daily urges to sin, because you have indeed reckoned yourself, your old naturally sinful nature, to be dead unto sin but alive unto God (i.e. or Godliness) through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Praise God it is so!   (Romans 6:11)

This doctrine of co-crucifixion is a great help to Christians who desire to be as sincerely committed to Christ as one can possibly be.  Paul was thus inspired to cry out elsewhere in his epistles: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life I now live in the flesh (i.e. his then present daily life) I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave His life for me.”  (Galatians 2:20)

Paul’s old sinful nature was therefore being denied life, because Paul was reckoning it to be already dead; co-crucified as it were with his Lord at a place called Calvary. We latter day Christians can also experience the freedom from sin’s power if we will but reckon ourselves as dead unto it.  This then is the concept of co-crucifixion.

Imagine going to a city mortuary and being left in a room with many corpses.  Not a pleasant prospect, I know, but imagine it is so.  You have brought with you some items, including a large bottle of whiskey, some cigarettes, and a bankroll of spendable currency.  Now the experiment begins:

Going to the first corpse, you break the seal on the whiskey bottle, pour out a generous glass of the alcoholic beverage, and offer it to the corpse.  What happens?  Yes - NOTHING!  The dead body does not respond to the temptation.  (Proverbs 20:1)

Not easily discouraged, you then move to the next corpse, lighting a cigarette and offering it to the body.  Again, NOTHING happens!  The dead body does not respond to the enticement.

You quickly move to the next corpse - surely a large wad of banknotes will get a response?  But, no.  The dead do not respond to temptations of any kind.  They are unmoved by temptation.

Now perhaps we can more fully understand the doctrine of co-crucifixion.  If we can believe that our old carnal natures have, as Paul states, been crucified with Christ upon the Cross - then we can ‘reckon ourselves...’, the old carnal nature and the natural lusts and desires we each have, to be dead unto sin - just like the corpses we tempted in our illustration above. 

Being thus, dead to sin’s temptations, we can be more alive unto Godliness in Christ Jesus our Redeemer King. (Romans 6:12)

Isn’t that quite a thought to ponder over until our next Sunday Bible Exposition?  Amen, it is so.  Praise and glory to God!

Thought:  The old nature is DEAD – Co-Crucified with Christ - let us make it lie down.