For those like me who were born in the first half of the last century may remember a TV show in the 1950’s called, ‘This is Your Life’. A celebrity would be convinced into attending the show and would then be selected as the surprise guest. Next, people who were significant in the celebrity’s life would be brought out on stage to offer anecdotes. What kind of reflections would those who know us best share about our life?


Those of us who are believers really have two lives on which to reflect. When we see the cross of Christ, what do we see? In today’s passage, Romans 6, the apostle Paul explains what it means to have been crucified with Christ. In v.4 we read, “Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” The day we put our faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross our ‘old life’ was buried. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are able to live and enjoy a ‘new life’.


After our conversion we believers experience a new freedom. But Paul cautions new believers in vv. 1-2 of Romans 6, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” How can we who have been so radically changed still live in sin? Paul uses all three tenses of salvation to explain this seemingly paradox:


-We have been saved from the penalty of sin (past tense). Paul explains in vv. 6-7 that, because ‘our old self’ was crucified with Christ through his death on the cross, our past is totally forgiven. We have been freed because the penalty for all our sin – past, present and future – has been paid.


-We will be saved from the presence of sin (future tense). Our salvation will be made totally complete when we are united with Christ in his resurrection at which time we will be freed from the presence of sin for all eternity.


-We are being saved from the power of sin (present tense). As Paul succinctly states in v.12, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Jesus has set us free, not only from the guilt of sin but also from its addictive power.


Words of praise and thanksgiving should be lifted up to God each day for providing the way for us to be reconciled to Him through Christ’s shed blood and resurrection. Our desire should be to share with unbelievers the radical changes (the difference between life and death) we experienced when we entered our ‘new life’ in Christ Jesus. A familiar truth for Christians: ‘We are born twice but only die once.’