Audio commentary on this verse

Note 7 at Rom. 6:6: As explained in note 6 at Romans 6:4, p. 777, our spirit has already died with Christ unto sin and is already resurrected unto newness of life. Yet, this newness of life which is a reality in our spirit does not automatically manifest itself in our flesh. Verse six makes it very clear that we have to know some things before this resurrection life flows from our spirit into our flesh.

Facts, whether spiritual or natural, don't govern our lives. It's our knowledge or perception of truths that control our physical emotions and experiences (Prov. 23:7). If someone lied to you about a family member having just died, you would experience sorrow or other negative emotions even though there was no factual basis to feel that way. In the same way, if you were told that a family member had died and it was true, but you didn't believe the report, you would be spared those emotions.

Likewise, we have had the power of sin broken in our lives by our death to sin (see note 8 at this verse, below) and we have the resurrection power of Christ's life in our spirit. But these facts won't change our experiences until we know them and begin to act accordingly. All Christians are already blessed with all spiritual blessings (Eph. 1:3) but few Christians know that, and even fewer understand it to a degree that it impacts their life. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6).

Note 8 at Rom. 6:6: Walking in resurrection power in our physical life is dependent on knowing (see ref. u at this verse) that our old man (NIV-old self) is crucified. If we don't believe that, then there won't be newness of life (v. 4) or victory for us (see note 7 at this verse, above).

As explained in note 6 at verse 4, our old self is already crucified. Yet some people have effectively voided the power of that truth (Mk. 7:13) by teaching that we still have an old self or sin nature which is constantly being resurrected from the dead. There is no scripture that mentions a daily or even periodical resurrection of our old man. Only Jesus has that power. Satan has no power to accomplish resurrection of any kind.

This common belief that we still have an old man or sin nature does not come from scripture but through observation. People observe a drive to sin and they assume that it is their old sin nature that drives them to it.

The scripture does teach that sin produced death (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:12,15,17; 6:23; Eph. 2:1) and therefore everyone was born with a spirit that was dead to (or separated from) God. This is the part of us that the Bible calls sin (see note 9 at Rom. 5:21, p. 775), or the old man (this verse). Therefore, the scriptures do teach that everyone was born with a sin nature or old man (see note at Rom. 7:9). But Paul is making a very clear presentation in these verses that for the Christian, the old man is dead. We do not have a nature that is driving us to sin (see note 2 at v. 2, p. 776).

If that be so, then why do we seem so bound to sin even after we experience the new birth? The reason is that our old man left behind what this verse calls a body. Just as a person's spirit and soul leave behind a physical body at death, so our old man left behind habits and strongholds in our thoughts and emotions. The reason a Christian tends to sin is because of an unrenewed mind, not because of a sin nature.

God made the mental part of us similar to a computer. We can program our minds so that certain actions and attitudes become automatic. For instance, when we were children, it was a major effort to tie our shoelaces or button our shirts, but as adults, we can now perform those duties without even thinking about what we are doing. It's like it is just a part of us, but in actuality it was an acquired trait.

Likewise, our old man ruled our thinking before we were born again. He taught us such things as selfishness, hatred, and fear as well as placed within us the desire for sin. The old man is now gone, but these negative parts of his body remain. Just as a computer will continue to perform according to its programming until reprogrammed, so our minds continue to lead us on the course that our old man charted until renewed (Rom. 12:2).

Therefore, a Christian does not have a part of them that is still of the devil and is driving them to sin. Instead, the Christian has been liberated from the part of them that was dead in sin (i.e. old man-Eph. 2:1) and the rest of the Christian life is a renewing of the mind that results in the resurrection life of Jesus being manifest in our physical bodies (2 Cor. 4:11).

Someone might say, "What's the difference? Whether it's my old man or an unrenewed mind, I still struggle with the desire to sin." The difference is enormous! If we still have a sin nature, then we are doomed to a life of schizophrenia (lit.-split mind), but if it is just our unrenewed minds that cause the problem, then we can see the situation improve as we renew our minds.

If we retained a sin nature, even after the new birth, then a person who was bound by a particular sin before salvation would still be bound to it after salvation. They would just have to refrain from the physical act but in their heart they would continue to be guilty of committing that sin in thought (see note 12 at Mt. 5:22, p. 128). Yet, there are millions of examples of people who experience the new birth and are so changed, that the very sins that used to enslave them before salvation are now so repulsive to them that they have no desire to commit those acts. They can't even relate to the old self that did those things because they are a new person (2 Cor. 5:17) with a renewed mind.

It is truly liberating to learn that I don't have to commit sins, I chose to do so. Therefore, I can change through the renewing of my mind (Rom. 12:2) because there is no longer a part of me that is a sinner by nature. This is the point that Paul is making in this verse. To experience the resurrection life of Jesus, we have to know that our old man is dead, then through the renewing of our mind we destroy the body that the old man left behind, with the end result being that we will not serve sin any longer.