Romans 5:19 says, “Through the disobedience of one man the many were constituted sinners.” You may think that because you are saved, you are no longer a sinner. In a sense, I agree with you. Nevertheless, we still have the sinful element of our old constitution. We are sinners constituted with sin. We are not sinners because we have sinned. No, we are sinners because we have been constituted with sin. Even before you were born, you were already a sinner. Whether we are good or evil, we have all been constituted sinners.
Romans 6:3 says that we “have been baptized into Christ Jesus.” This means that we have been put into Christ. We were born in Adam, but we have been put into Christ. We were born in the realm, sphere, and element of Adam, but we have been transferred into the realm, sphere, and element of Christ. This is a fact, and it does not depend upon our feelings. When I say that you were born in Adam, you may reply, “I don’t feel like I was born in Adam.” Whether you feel it or not, it is a fact nonetheless. For example, it is a fact that I am in the United States, although I may feel like I am in Taiwan. By this we can see that our feeling may be a lie. I may feel like I am a king, but I am actually a small man. I may feel that I am very good, but actually I may be very poor. Regarding the spiritual facts, we should not depend on our feelings.
In Romans 6 there is the fact that we have all been put into Christ. Are you now in Christ? Some may answer, “It may be that I am in Christ, but I don’t feel that I am in Christ. How can I say that I am in Christ when I lost my temper just an hour ago? If my behavior was that poor an hour ago, how can I be in Christ now?” But based upon the fact in Romans 6, we must declare, “Amen, I am in Christ!” In Romans 6 we have the fact that we have been put into Christ. Whether we like it or not, and whether we feel it or not, does not matter. The fact remains the fact. We are in Christ.
Romans 6:6 says, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him that the body of sin might be made of none effect, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves.” Through the death of Christ, our old man has been terminated. He has even had a funeral. Do you know that our old man was crucified with Christ and buried? If we believe that we are in Christ, then we must also believe that our old man has been crucified with Him. Whether or not we feel that this is so, it is a fact that our old man is dead and buried. Therefore, Paul says, “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him.” In Christ, our old man has been put away.
Since our old man has been crucified and buried, “the body of sin” has been “made of none effect” (6:6). Because of the fall, our body is a body of sin. As such a fallen body, it is good only for committing sins. In this body there is nothing but sin. Therefore, in 7:19 and 20 Paul says, “For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil I do not will, this I practice. But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwells in me.” The sin dwelling in our body makes it “the body of sin.” However tired we may be, our body is very active when there is opportunity for sinning. For example, some people may gamble for three days and nights without sleeping or eating properly. But not one employee could work for seventy-two hours without sleeping. On the contrary, an employee would complain if he were compelled to do this. But no one at a gambling table complains of tiredness, for everyone is full of energy because the body is a body of sin. I have never heard a gambler say that he was tired and wanted to go home. Even if a man’s wife would plead for him to come home, he would stay at the gambling table for several more hours. This indicates that the body is never tired of sinning, although it may easily tire of other things. When parents charge their children to do their homework, the children often say, “Oh, I’m too tired. Besides, I am not feeling well.” But when it comes to doing something sinful, the body is full of energy.
Because our old man has been buried with Christ, the body of sin has lost its job. It has become of none effect because the sinning person, the old man, has been crucified. The body is not the sinning person; it is the sinning instrument, the means by which a person does sinful things. But now that the person has been buried, the body of sin is unemployed. This means that we are freed from sin. Since our old man has been crucified and buried with Christ, we are freed from sin. This is the main point of Romans 6.