Romans 6:5-11 Alive to God in Christ Jesus!
Observation questions are in plain type. Interpretation questions are in italics. Application questions are in bold. (For a further explanation of how to do this Bible study, see here.)
Pray for the Holy Spirit to impress the truth of Scripture on your heart so you will consider yourself “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Read Romans 5:20 – 6:14.
Romans 6:5-11
1. “[I]f we have been united with [Christ] in a death like his,” what shall we certainly be?
2. Verse 5 begins with “For.” How is verse 5 connected to verse 4?
3. How does this verse correspond with the previous verses in chapter 5 about Adam and Christ?
4. What do we know?
5. Jesus told his followers “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). The cross was not just an instrument of suffering; it was an instrument of death. When Paul says, “our old self was crucified with [Christ],” what does he mean?
6. Why did our old self have to be crucified with Christ?
7. “Our old self” corresponds with “the body of sin.” What does it mean for that body to “be brought to nothing”? (The Christian Standard Bible translates this phrase as “rendered powerless.”) And how does this relate to “no longer [being] enslaved to sin”?
8. Why are we no longer enslaved to sin?
9. If we have died with Christ, what is also true?
10. What do we know?
11. Why is it that “death no longer has dominion over [Christ]”? What is true about Christ’s death and his life?
12. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. In what sense did he die to sin, and what is the significance of that death being “once for all”? See Romans 3:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Hebrews 9:11-14.
13. What does it mean that the life Jesus lives “he lives to God”?
14. In light of Jesus’ life, what must we consider ourselves?
15. Taking into account verses 5-11, what does it mean to consider oneself dead to sin?
16. What does it mean to be “alive to God in Christ Jesus,” and how does this phrase correspond to “[walking] in newness of life”?
17. Romans 6:1-11 describes what it is to be “in Christ” (no longer “in Adam”). If you are in Christ, you are “dead to sin and alive to God.” How can this knowledge help you in your daily fight against sin? Think particularly about the sin you’re praying about this week.
18. Take some time to pray that being dead to sin and alive to God would be a reality that you experience in your daily life.
*Questions for Romans 6:1-4 can be found here. New questions will be posted each Monday, Lord willing. Look for devotionals on Wednesdays.
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