Location Location Location
Opening Prayer
Open my eyes, Lord. Help me to see the full implications of my place in Christ. May I see my life through Your eyes and act accordingly.
Read Romans 6:1–7
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Freedom is a precious commodity. In secular affairs freedom from governmental tyranny is a luxury few have enjoyed over the centuries. But freedom from the chains of sin exceeds all other forms of freedom.
Does God’s grace mean that ultimately it doesn’t matter how we live because God will forgive us anyway? That is the wishful thinking Paul is countering in these verses. He replies that to think like this is to drastically misunderstand, if not totally distort, our salvation in Christ. We are not merely forgiven (justified) through Christ, but from the moment of our entry into Christ (for Paul, being “in Christ” includes repentance, faith, baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit as one unified event) we undergo a fundamental change of spiritual location. We used to be in Adam (Rom. 5:12–21), where sin was not so much individual acts of wrongdoing but a virtual slave master, controlling what we did with our bodies (6). In that location, sin was inevitable, but now we have been “baptized into Christ” (3). We are “united with him” (5) in his death and resurrection. What is true of Christ has now become true for us.
His death for us caused the death of the old us with him (2 Cor. 5:14). His resurrection began a new creation in which we share, making a new life possible.
Christian discipleship is first a matter of location. When the first humans sinned, God walked in the garden calling “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9) because they were hiding from his presence. In Christ, we live in God’s presence. When we are tempted, God says, “Remember where you are!” When Martin Luther experienced temptation and spiritual conflict, his response was, “I am baptized.” He knew that he was not in that old location anymore.
To be in Christ means not only a change of status before God, but also the possibility of a transformed life in him. Grace not only forgives but also moves us into a different position, a special standing (Rom. 5:2). Our physical location, with all of its pressures, may not have changed, but in another sense we are not where we used to be.
Apply
Whatever our daily circumstances may be, how can we live as people whose true location is in Christ? What difference does our freedom in him make?
Closing prayer
O Lord, cause me to walk in the freedom and victory that You purchased for me on the cross because You have eliminated my old slave master and enabled me to serve You instead.
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