Romans 6:6 - Our “Old Self”

 

•       Romans 6:6-7 - For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

 

•        In this passage, the phrase “old self” refers to who we were in Adam - condemned sinners.

 

•        Paul pictures our “old self” as a body (of sin) that was crucified (and therefore died) just as the physical body of Jesus Christ was crucified and died.

 

•        This is an appropriate analogy, since it was through Christ’s crucifixion and subsequent death that we were freed from the condemnation of our former state in Adam! 

 

•        Because our “old self” was crucified with Christ, we are now under obligation to put off the deeds that accompanied that former sinful state and to walk according to who we are in Christ, our “new self”:

–      Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

–      Ephesians 4:22,24 - Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires . . . and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

–      Colossians 3:9-10 -  You have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.