Chapter Four: We Died to Sin
CHAPTER FOUR
WE DIED TO SIN
What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
ROMANS 6:1-2
We have seen that the gospel is the good news that Christ died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. As a result, we are declared “not guilty” in the court of heaven. Not only that, we are also declared “righteous” in God’s sight because the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ has been credited to all who have trusted in Him.
There is still more good news. The death of Christ secured for us not only freedom from the penalty of sin, but also deliverance from the dominion of sin in our lives. I realize that statement may sound unbelievable to some who are struggling with one or more sinful habits, but it is indeed true. In this chapter, we will see how that is true; that is, in what way God has delivered us from the dominion of sin, and how we work out that truth in our daily lives.
Just as Romans 3:19-26 is the classic passage of Scripture about salvation from the penalty of sin, so Romans 6:1-14 is the primary passage of Scripture about freedom from the dominion of sin. In this section of Scripture, we learn what God has done for us through Christ to enable us to deal with sin, even persistent sin, in our lives. We will see in Romans 6 that the gospel is far more than “fire insurance” from eternal punishment in hell. We will learn that through Christ’s death on the cross, we are given the ability to live lives that are both pleasing to God and fulfilling for ourselves.
I must warn you beforehand, however, that in learning how God has delivered us from the dominion of sin, we are going to wrestle with some of the apostle Paul’s most difficult-to-understand teaching. Don’t think of this section of Scripture, however, as “just doctrine,” as a mere theoretical or intellectual exercise. Romans 6:1-14 has some very practical applications for us that are essential to the pursuit of holiness. So as you read this chapter, be prepared to think, and try to stay with me as we explore these wonderful truths together.
SHALL WE GO ON SINNING?
Romans 6:1-2, the epigraph for this chapter, is an introduction to the subject of sanctification. Paul had in Romans 5:20 asserted that “where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” In making such an almost grandiose statement about God’s grace, Paul anticipated the objection expressed in Romans 6:1: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?”
This question can arise from either of two sources. It can arise from people who see God’s grace and the total forgiveness of our sins as an open door to irresponsible, sinful behavior based on the notion that “If God loves me unconditionally regardless of my behavior, then I’m free to live as I please.” Or the question can arise from concerned Christians who are fearful that a strong emphasis on God’s grace will indeed lead people to live such irresponsible lives. It seems that whenever the gospel is preached in all its fullness, the objection is inevitably raised that such a message of free and total forgiveness through Christ will cause Christians to treat sin lightly.
Paul deals with this issue and answers the objection. In doing so, however, he moves into the more positive teaching of the believer’s freedom from the dominion of sin. The reason he can do this so easily is that both the answer to the objection and our freedom from sin’s dominion are bound up in one great New Testament truth —the believer’s union with Christ. We are going to explore this concept more in this chapter, but for now let’s look at Paul’s response to the question of believers continuing in sin.
To do this, let us notice, first, the context of the question. The greater context is Paul’s exposition of the gospel beginning in Romans 3:21 and culminating in that glorious statement in 5:20, “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” As I have already indicated, it is that seemingly unguarded statement that gives rise to the troublesome thought, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?”
The more immediate context is Paul’s explanation of the representative character of both Adam and Christ and the results of their respective actions on their peoples (Romans 5:12-21). The proper understanding of Paul’s response in Romans 6 must be based on what he taught in 5:12-21. So we will return to this passage a little later. But for now, let’s see how Paul handled the objection that overflowing grace in the presence of sin might well lead to more sin.
First, note that Paul did not back down. He didn’t say, “Oh, you misunderstood what I meant. I didn’t intend to say that God’s grace was so unqualified.” Neither did he say, as we will see in studying his response, “How could you possibly think such a thing or act in that way? That would be the height of ingratitude to God for His grace.”
Paul’s response was, “By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2). Paul’s answer to the objection is not, “How could you think such a thing?” but rather, it is impossible by the nature of the case for such to happen.
What is the nature of the case that makes continuing in a life of sin impossible? The answer is, we died to sin. Paul’s “we died to sin” has been a difficult and often misunderstood expression. We must, however, determine Paul’s meaning if we are to properly understand his response to the objection that the preaching of grace may well lead to increased sinful behavior.
The first thing we note about Paul’s statement that we died to sin is that this death has already occurred in the past. It is not something we should do but something we have already done. Every person in this world who is a true believer has died to sin. We are not to “die more and more unto sin.” We cannot possibly die to sin any more than we have. In chapter 11 we will talk about putting sin to death (Romans 8:13), but that action is altogether different from the death to sin Paul was talking about here.
A second observation on the fact that all believers have died to sin is that this death occurred even though the believer may not be aware of it. Our awareness or understanding of a fact like this does not make it any more true, but it does determine how we respond to and apply the fact. It is important that we understand in what sense we died to sin, because, as we will see beginning in verse 11, Paul did intend that we apply the truth to our lives. But again, our death to sin is an objective fact, not dependent on our awareness or understanding to make it true.
The third thing to note is that we died to sin through our union with Christ. Observe how Paul kept repeating that idea in the following verses: We were baptized into His death (verse 3); we were buried with Him (verse 4); we have been united with Him in His death (verse 5); our old self was crucified with Him (verse 6); and we died with Christ (verse 8). Note that in verse 10 Paul said Christ died to sin, whereas in verse 8 he said we died with Christ. That is why Paul could say in verse 2 that we died to sin. When Christ died to sin, we died to sin also.
We still have not answered the question, “What does it mean to die to sin?” To arrive at the answer, we must first pursue what the expression “union with Christ” means. In exploring this term we will discover that union with Christ involves far more than dying to sin, but that death to sin is one of its more fundamental results.
UNION WITH CHRIST
The New Testament concept of the believer’s union with Christ is one of the most important truths of Scripture. Scottish theologian Sinclair Ferguson says it is “a doctrine which lies at the heart of the Christian life” and “the truth to which the New Testament constantly returns.”[20] As I indicated in chapter 3, it is the basis of our justification and, as we will see in this chapter, also the basis of our sanctification.
The concept of the believer’s union with Christ is especially important in the teaching of Paul. His usual “shorthand” expressions for union with Christ are “in Christ,” “in Him,” and “in the Lord.” British author John Stott says those three expressions occur no less than 164 times in Paul’s letters.[21] For our purposes of answering the concern that too much emphasis on God’s grace may lead to irresponsible, sinful behavior, the doctrine of the believer’s union with Christ is the basis upon which Paul refuted that charge in Romans 6.
Historically, Bible commentators and expositors have considered the believer’s union with Christ as having two different aspects, bringing about two different results. The first is called a representative union, or what some theologians and commentators call a federal union. The second is called a vital or spiritual union.[22]
REPRESENTATIVE UNION
The classic passage of Scripture on the representative union of Christ and His people is Romans 5:12-21. Though Paul’s presentation is somewhat difficult to follow, it can be summed up in what he said in 1 Corinthians 15:22: “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” Even this Scripture can be misunderstood unless we realize that the two “alls” in the verse are not equal in meaning. Evangelical Bible commentators agree that the two “alls” mean, respectively, all who are in Adam, and all who are in Christ, in both cases by virtue of this representative or federal union. This union may be depicted by two circles representing, respectively, Adam and Christ, as seen in the following illustration.
Every human being (except Christ) was born into the circle of Adam. Every person who trusts in Jesus Christ as Savior is born into the circle of Christ. Note that the circle representing Christ is smaller than the one representing Adam, because only those who trust in Christ are in Him.
What Paul taught in Romans 5:12-21 is first, that all human beings (except Jesus) sinned in Adam as their federal representative. As a result, all of us experience death, which is the consequence of sin (verse 12). Because of Adam’s representative capacity, his sin was as truly our sin as if it had been committed by each one of us. It is only in this way that all of us could be involved in its consequences. This concept is called the federal headship of Adam.
This federal headship or representative capacity is somewhat illustrated by the concept of power of attorney. A friend of mine wanted to refinance the mortgage on his house to take advantage of lower interest rates. When the date for the closing was finally set, he realized he and his wife would be out of the country at that time. He asked if I would represent them at the closing, and I agreed, so he and his wife executed a power of attorney authorizing me to act on their behalf.
I went to the closing and, as my friends’ legal representative, signed all kinds of papers. When I signed those documents, it was just as if they had signed them. When I signed the promissory note to pay a certain amount each month, that act was as legally binding on them as if they had signed the note, because I was acting as their legal representative. In like manner, Adam was our legal representative in the garden, and when he sinned, his action was as binding on us as if we had sinned personally.
We may object that we did not appoint Adam as our representative in the garden. To do so is futile, however, for in our objection, we are actually complaining against God. It should be enough for us to know that God, the Sovereign Creator of the universe and the One in whom we live, and move, and have our being, appointed him.
The really good news, however, and the main point Paul was driving home, is that just as Adam was our federal representative in his sin, so Jesus Christ was our federal representative in His sinless life and atoning death. Therefore, just as Adam’s sin brought condemnation and death to all his race —that is, all human beings except Christ —so our Lord’s act of righteousness brought justification and life to all His race, that is, all who trust in Him (verses 18-19).
Because of this representative union between Christ and His people, all of our responsibilities before God rest upon Him, and all of His merit accrues to us. Jesus, as our representative, assumed all the obligations in which Adam failed, and fulfilled them on our behalf. So, just as Adam’s sin was as truly our sin as if we had committed it, so Christ’s perfect obedience to God’s law and His death to pay the penalty of a broken law are just as much our obedience and death as if we had perfectly obeyed God’s law and died on that cross.
As George Smeaton so helpfully wrote, “We have but one public representative, corporate act performed by the Son of God, in which we share as truly as if we had accomplished that atonement ourselves.”[23] So, as Dr. Smeaton again wrote, “Thus we may either say, Christ died for us; or say, we died in Him. We may equally affirm He was crucified for us, or we were co-crucified with Him.”[24] The latter expression is in fact what Paul essentially said when he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20).
All this discussion of Christ’s federal representation on behalf of His people may seem like needless theological fine print to some people, but in reality, it is one of the most exciting teachings of Scripture. I have been asserting from the very beginning of this book that our day-to-day standing before God, as well as our eternal destiny, is based not on our performance but upon our Lord’s performance. The only truth that makes that argument valid is that Jesus “performed” as our legal representative.
Therefore, when our consciences condemn us for our sins or our failures to fulfill the disciplines of the Christian life, we must go back to the fact that Jesus is our legal representative and that in that capacity He perfectly obeyed the will of His Father. He could rightfully say, “I always do what pleases him” (John 8:29), and when He pleased the Father, we pleased the Father. Our entire confidence in our acceptance before God is based solely upon the fact that Jesus was our legal representative in His sinless life and obedient death.
When I think deeply on this truth and its implications on my relationship with a holy God, I get very excited. On several occasions when Paul had written on some profound truth, he spontaneously broke out into a doxology of praise to God. Words flowed from his heart, such as,
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
ROMANS 11:33
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.
1 TIMOTHY 1:17
That is the way I feel in my heart right now as I write about the wonderful truth that through our union with Him, Jesus represented us before God in His life and death.
SIN’S REIGN AND DOMINION
All I have said about our union with Christ in His death may seem like a digression, but it is necessary in order for us to finally address what Paul meant when he said we died to sin. To answer the question, we need to go back to his statement in Romans 5:21, that “sin reigned in death.” Sin is personified by Paul and viewed by him as reigning over us in a kingdom of death. Why did sin reign? The answer is because of our guilt in Adam. The penal consequence of our guilt was to be delivered over unto sin as a legal reign, and the result of that was to be brought under the dominion of sin. The penal reign of sin and its corrupting dominion in our lives are inseparable and equal in extent.
David spoke of this legal reign and consequent dominion of sin in our lives when he said,
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
PSALM 51:5
The only reason David would say he was sinful at birth, before he had actually committed any sin, was because he realized he was born under Adam’s guilt and so experienced the dominion of sin in his life.
To die to sin then means, first of all, to die to its legal or penal reign and, secondly, as a necessary result, to die to its dominion over us. We speak of the total depravity of a person who is outside of Christ. We do not mean the person is as wicked as he or she can possibly be, but that sin has corrupted the person’s entire being. Guilt, and its penal consequence, is the source and ongoing cause of this depravity. Therefore, deliverance from guilt and its penal consequences brings deliverance from sin’s dominion. In God’s plan of salvation, these two deliverances are necessarily connected. There is no such thing as salvation from sin’s penalty without an accompanying deliverance from sin’s dominion. This obviously does not mean we no longer sin, but that sin no longer reigns in our lives.
How did we die to sin? We have already noted that we died to sin through our union with Christ. Paul said in Romans 6:10 that Christ died to sin, and in verse 8 he said we died with Christ. That Christ died to sin is a rather startling but wonderful statement. Christ did not die to the dominion of sin, as He was never under it. However, when He was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) —that is, when He was charged with our sin —He did come under its legal reign and was made subject to its penalty.
When Jesus died, He died to the legal reign of sin. Through our federal union with Him in His death, we, too, died to the legal reign of sin. But because the legal reign and the practical dominion of sin in our lives are inseparable, we died not only to its legal reign but also to its corrupting dominion over us. Hallelujah! What a Savior we have, who was able to not only free us from sin’s penalty but also from its dominion.
The question arises, however, “If we died to sin’s dominion, why do we still struggle with sin in our daily lives?” When Paul wrote, “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” he was referring not to the activity of committing sins, but to continuing to live under the dominion of sin. The word live means to continue in or abide in. It connotes a settled course of life. To use Paul’s words from Romans 8:7, “The sinful mind [one under sin’s dominion] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” But the believer who has died to sin’s reign and dominion delights in God’s law. The believer approves of it as holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), even though he or she may struggle to obey it.
We must distinguish between the activity of sin, which is true in all believers, and the dominion of sin, which is true of all unbelievers. Sinclair Ferguson has written,
Sin is not primarily an activity of man’s will so much as a captivity which man suffers, as an alien power grips his soul. It is an axiom for [John] Owen [whose teaching Ferguson is summarizing] that while the presence of sin can never be abolished in this life, nor the influence of sin altered (its tendency is always the same), its dominion can, indeed, must be destroyed if a man is to be a Christian.[25]
Therefore, a believer cannot continue in sin. We no longer live in the realm of sin, under its reign and practical dominion. We have, to use Paul’s words, died to sin. We indeed do sin and even our best deeds are stained with sin, but our attitude toward it is essentially different from that of an unbeliever. We succumb to temptations, either from our own evil desires (James 1:13) or from the world or the Devil (Ephesians 2:1-3), but this is different from a settled disposition. Further, to paraphrase from Ferguson on John Owen, our sin is a burden that afflicts us rather than a pleasure that delights us.
The late Scottish theologian John Murray wrote on Romans 6:2, “What the apostle has in view is the once-for-all definitive breach with sin which constitutes the identity of the believer. A believer cannot therefore live in sin; if a man lives in sin he is not a believer. If we view sin as a realm or sphere then the believer no longer lives in that realm or sphere.”[26]
My perception of present-day Christendom is that most believers have little understanding of what Dr. Murray calls the “once-for-all definitive breach with sin.” But it is this decisive deliverance from the dominion of sin through union with Christ in His death that ensures that a true believer will not have the cavalier attitude, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” If a person does have such an attitude, it is a likely indication that the person is not a true believer, however much he or she professes to have trusted in Christ for salvation.
ALIVE TO GOD
There is yet another reason why Paul is confident that the preaching of the gospel of grace will not result in irresponsible living. Not only are we dead to sin, we are also alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11). Not only does sin no longer reign in death over us, now grace reigns through righteousness (Romans 5:21). Not only have we been rescued from the dominion of darkness, we have been brought into the kingdom of God’s dear Son (Colossians 1:13).
What does it mean to be alive unto God? Earlier in this chapter, I mentioned the two different aspects of our union with Christ: the federal or legal union, and the vital or spiritual union. So far, we have looked at our legal union with Christ in His death and how that has freed us from the legal reign and consequent corrupting dominion of sin. But as we consider what it means to be alive unto God, we enter into the sphere of the vital or spiritual union.
The vital union is a spiritually organic union of the believer with Jesus Christ. By organic I refer to a living union. Jesus Himself gave us the best illustration of this organic union when He gave us the vine-and-branches illustration in John 15:1-5. It is quite obvious that the branches are joined to the vine by an organic or living union as opposed to simply being attached to the vine in some dead, mechanical fashion. In the same way, believers are united to Christ in such a way that, in the words of the apostle Peter, we “participate in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). That is, just as the branches share in the life of the vine, so we share in the very life of Christ Himself. That is why being “in Christ” was so important to Paul. It was not just a theological concept to him. It was the very essence of his Christian life. It was much more than a close relationship such as two friends might have. It was his very life. Paul lived as a branch participating in the life of the vine. He lived every day as a person “in Christ.”
Not only are we in Christ, He is also in us (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 3:17). Christ enters into our humanity through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit to renew us and to transform us more and more into His likeness. This presence of Christ within us to make us holy is another assurance that we as believers cannot continue in a life of sin or have a continued cavalier attitude toward sin. We will study our dependence on Christ in chapter 8. This dependence, however, is not like the dependence of a child on his or her father for support. The child is not “in” the father. Our dependence is like the dependence of the branches on the vine for both life and nourishment.
Our union with Christ is not only organic or living; it is a spiritual as opposed to a physical union. We need to keep in mind, however, that the spiritual dimension is just as real as the physical dimension. The fact that the spiritual dimension of our lives cannot be seen does not make it any less real. We really are participants in the very life of Christ. He really does dwell in us by His Spirit.
We should also note that the legal union discussed earlier in this chapter secures for us the vital union. Christ’s death to sin and His satisfaction of God’s justice opened the way for the reign of grace in our lives.
Paul opened Romans 6 with a resounding refutation of the notion that the gospel promotes irresponsible, sinful behavior. He showed not only that it does not, but that it is the very nature of the gospel to ensure that such a thing cannot happen. In addressing this issue, Paul very naturally transitioned from justification to sanctification, or the pursuit of holiness. We will begin to address the practical aspects of sanctification in the next chapter, but for now, I want to call our attention to the grace of God in sanctification.
All Christians believe that we are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8). But we have seen in this chapter that salvation includes both deliverance from the penalty of sin and freedom from the dominion of sin. We have seen that our legal union with Christ in His death and resurrection secures our vital union with Him by which we participate in His divine nature. It is through this vital union that we receive the enabling power to live the Christian life.
Please note that all this is from God. Deliverance from both the penalty and the dominion of sin is by His grace. We could not take one step in the pursuit of holiness if God in His grace had not first delivered us from the dominion of sin and brought us into union with His risen Son. Salvation is by grace and sanctification is by grace.
DO NOT LET SIN REIGN
Paul sometimes uses the same expression in both the indicative (a statement of fact) and imperative (a statement of command) moods.[27] For example, in Galatians 3:27 he said, “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (an indicative statement). However, in Romans 13:14, he exhorted us to “clothe [ourselves] with the Lord Jesus Christ” (an imperative command). Similarly, on many occasions he spoke of us as being “in Christ Jesus” (for example, 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:17), all of these being indicative statements. Yet in Colossians 2:6, he exhorted us to “continue to live in him,” an imperative exhortation.
We find another illustration of this in Romans 6:11-13. Paul had just explained in rather elaborate fashion that believers have died to the reign of sin. But in verse 12, he exhorted us not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies. “Why,” we may ask, “if we died to the reign of sin, do we need to be exhorted not to let sin reign in our bodies?” Basically, Paul was saying in this and the above instances, “Live out in your lives the reality of the gospel. Take advantage of and put to use all the provisions of grace God has given you in Christ.”
John Murray has given us an excellent illustration of the relationship of the imperative to the indicative. He wrote, “To say to the slave who has not been emancipated, ‘Do not behave as a slave’ is to mock his enslavement. But to say the same to the slave who has been set free is the necessary appeal to put into effect the privileges and rights of his liberation.”[28]
We will consider the imperatives of Romans 6:12-13 in later chapters. For now, however, we want to look at verse 11, which says, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Actually, verse 11 is an imperative, but it is an exhortation to believe something, not to do something. We are to count on or believe the fact that we actually did die to the guilt and consequent dominion of sin. To borrow from Professor Murray’s slave illustration, we are to believe that we truly have been set free. Not only are we to believe we have died to sin; we are also to believe we are alive unto God, united to the risen Christ, and partakers of His divine nature. It is the belief of this truth that will give us the courage not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies. And it is through reliance upon this truth that we will experience the power of His Spirit, who dwells within us to enable us to resist the motions of sin so that it is not able to reign in us.
During the long years of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, a Russian air force pilot flew his fighter plane from a base in Russia to an American air force base in Japan and asked for asylum. He was flown to the United States, where he was duly debriefed, given a new identity, and set up as a bona fide resident of the United States. In due time, he became an American citizen.
The Russian pilot’s experience illustrates to some degree what happened to us when we died to sin and were made alive to God. He changed kingdoms; he was given a new identity and a new status. He was no longer a Russian; he was now an American. He was no longer under the rule of what was then an oppressive and totalitarian government. Now he was free to experience all of the advantages and resources of living in a free and prosperous country.
This former Russian pilot, however, was still the same person. He had the same personality, the same habits, and the same cultural patterns as he did before he flew out of Russia. But he did have a new identity and a new status. As a result of his new identity and status as a citizen in a free country, he now had the opportunity to grow as a free person, to discard the mind-set of someone living under bondage, and to put off the habit patterns of a person living under the heel of a despotic regime. Furthermore, as a benefactor of our government’s intelligence establishment, he was furnished all the resources needed to make a successful transition to an American citizen.
In effect, this Russian pilot “died” to his old identity as a Russian citizen and was “made alive” in a new identity as an American citizen. As an American, all the resources of our government were at his disposal to become in fact what he had become in status. But this could not have happened without first changing his status.
When we as believers died to sin, we died to a status wherein we were under bondage to the tyrannical reign of sin. At the same time, we were granted citizenship in the Kingdom of God and, through our vital union with Jesus Christ, were furnished all the resources we need to become in fact what we have become in status. We have been given all we need to bring the imperative —“do not let sin reign in your mortal body” —into line with the indicative —“we died to sin.” But this could not have happened without a change in our status. And it is through our legal union with Christ in His death and resurrection that our status has been forever changed.
We must count on this and believe it. We must by faith in God’s Word lay hold of the fact that we have died to the reign of sin and are now alive to God, under His reign of grace. Unless we do this, we will find ourselves seeking to pursue holiness by the strength of our own wills, not by the grace of God. So the imperative to pursue holiness —to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies —is based on the fact of grace. That is, through our union with Christ in His death to sin and life to God, God has given us all the resources we need to pursue holiness.
Therefore, we can say the truth that “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20), far from being an occasion to sin all the more, is actually the only provision from God whereby we can deal with sin and make any progress in the pursuit of holiness. That is why I said early in chapter 1 that the pursuit of holiness, while requiring all-out effort on our part, must be firmly anchored in the grace of God.
[20] Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction (Edinburgh, Scotland: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), 104.
[21] John Stott, Life in Christ (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 1991), 38. Union with Christ was also taught by Jesus Himself in the vine and branches analogy (John 15:1-8) and by the apostles Peter and John (see 2 Peter 1:4 and 1 John 2:5-6; 3:6).
[22] Sinclair Ferguson, in his chapter on “Union with Christ” in The Christian Life, lists six different “categories” of our union with Christ. These are indeed very helpful ways of viewing our union with Him, but all of them can be fitted into, or made to coordinate with, the traditional aspects of federal union and vital union.
[23] George Smeaton, The Apostles’ Doctrine of the Atonement (Edinburgh, Scotland: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1991; originally published 1870), 162.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Sinclair B. Ferguson, John Owen on the Christian Life (Edinburgh, Scotland: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1987), 125, emphasis in original.
[26] John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, New International Commentary on the New Testament, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1968), 213.
[27] For those whose high school grammar may be a bit rusty, the indicative mood of a verb is used to state a fact, such as: “The dog sat.” The imperative mood is used to give a command, such as: “Bowser, sit.” It is also used to give an exhortation, or even to make a request.
[28] Murray, Epistle to the Romans, 227.