Introduction: If I Am Dead, When Did I Die, and How Did I Die?
The apostle Paul makes a remarkable declaration concerning those who belong to Jesus Christ. He tells believers that they have died, although they are still living in their natural bodies.
Colossians 3:3 declares:
"For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." (KJV)This statement raises an important spiritual question: If I am dead, when did I die, and how did I die?
A person may look alive, walk, speak, work, and continue in the ordinary affairs of this world, yet the Scriptures declare that the believer has died.
What kind of death is Paul describing?
He is not speaking of the physical death of the body. Neither is he teaching that believers cease to exist as individuals. He is revealing the spiritual significance of our identification with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
When Jesus died upon the cross, He died for our sins. Through faith in Him, believers are united with His death so that they might no longer live under the dominion of sin.
This is why Paul declares that our old man was crucified with Christ.
The death of Jesus Christ was an actual historical event, but our participation in His death is a spiritual reality established through union with Him.
We are called to understand what Christ accomplished and to live according to the new life we have received.
When Did I Die? When Christ Died for Sin
Romans 6:6
"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."
Paul identifies the one who has been crucified as our old man.
The old man represents our former identity in Adam, characterized by bondage to sin.
Before coming to Christ, we lived under the power of sin and were unable to deliver ourselves from its dominion.
But through Jesus Christ, a change has taken place.
Paul does not declare that the physical body has been crucified. He declares that the old man has been crucified with Christ.
The purpose of this crucifixion is revealed in the latter part of the verse: "that henceforth we should not serve sin."
The word serve reveals the relationship between sin and bondage.
Sin is presented as a master exercising dominion over those who obey it.
Romans 6:16 declares:
"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"
The death of the old man signifies a decisive break with sin's former mastery.
Therefore, when we ask, "When did I die?" we must distinguish between the historical death of Christ and our personal participation in His death.
Christ died upon the cross once for all. The believer becomes united with Him through faith, and baptism signifies that participation in His death.
The Christian life is therefore not an attempt to crucify Christ again, but a life lived in the power of what He has already accomplished.
How Did I Die? Through Baptism Into His Death
Romans 6:3
"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?"
Paul reveals that baptism is connected to the believer's identification with the death of Jesus Christ.
The Greek word baptizō means to immerse, dip, or baptize.
In Romans 6, Paul uses baptism to explain the believer's union with Christ.
To be baptized into His death is to be identified with the death that He died.
This does not mean that the believer physically died upon the cross beside Jesus. Rather, His death becomes the foundation of our deliverance from sin.
The old life is brought under the judgment of the cross, and the believer is called to walk in the newness of life.
The death of Christ is not merely something that happened for us; it is also something with which we are spiritually identified.
Buried With Him by Baptism Into Death
Romans 6:4
"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."
Paul continues the illustration by connecting baptism with burial. Burial follows death.
When a person is buried, the former life has come to an end.
In the spiritual meaning of baptism, the believer identifies with Christ's burial, signifying separation from the former life under sin.
But Paul does not stop at burial. He immediately directs our attention to the resurrection.
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so that believers might walk in newness of life.
The purpose of our identification with His death is not that we remain in death. It is that we might live unto God.
We are identified with His death so that we may participate in His resurrection life.
Planted Together in the Likeness of His Death
Romans 6:5
"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."
The expression "planted together" comes from the Greek symphytos, conveying the idea of being united or grown together.
Paul is describing the believer's union with Jesus Christ.
The death and resurrection of Christ cannot be separated in the experience of salvation.
If we are united with Him in His death, we also share in the life that proceeds from His resurrection.
This spiritual union establishes the foundation for our present transformation and our future bodily resurrection.
The believer does not simply imitate the outward conduct of Jesus.
The believer receives new life through union with Him.
This is why Paul can declare that the old man has been crucified and that the believer is now called to walk in righteousness.
Jesus Bore Our Sins Upon the Cross
1 Peter 2:24
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
Peter reveals both the sacrifice of Christ and the purpose of that sacrifice.
Jesus bore our sins in His own body upon the tree.
The expression "tree" refers to the cross upon which He was crucified.
He did not die because He had committed sin.
He died as the sinless Saviour, bearing the sins of others.
Second Corinthians 5:21 declares:
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
This does not mean that Jesus became personally sinful. It means that He bore the judgment associated with sin on behalf of sinners.
Peter declares that the purpose of His sacrifice was that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.
The cross therefore reveals both forgiveness and transformation.
Christ did not die merely so that people could continue serving sin without consequence.
He died to redeem them from sin and bring them into a new life of righteousness.
The Handwriting of Ordinances Nailed to the Cross
Colossians 2:13–14
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross."
Paul first describes the former condition of believers as being dead in sins.
This is different from being dead to sin.
To be dead in sins describes the condition of spiritual alienation from God.
To be dead to sin describes the believer's changed relationship to sin through Jesus Christ.
Paul then declares that God has made believers alive together with Christ, having forgiven their trespasses.
The handwriting of ordinances that stood against us has been removed through the cross.
The imagery concerns the cancellation of what stood against sinners, including the condemning record of indebtedness associated with transgression.
It should not be reduced to the idea that Jesus personally committed our sins, nor does it mean that every moral commandment has become meaningless.
Rather, Christ has dealt with the guilt and condemnation that stood against us.
The cross is the place where the debt was cancelled through His sacrificial death.
The believer is no longer required to seek justification through the works of the law.
Righteousness is received through faith in Jesus Christ.
I Am Crucified With Christ, Nevertheless I Live
Galatians 2:20
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me..."
Here Paul explains the mystery of being dead while still living.
He declares that he has been crucified with Christ, yet he continues to live in his natural body.
The life that he now lives is governed by faith in the Son of God.
Paul's former identity, centered upon righteousness through the law, has been transformed through his relationship with Jesus Christ.
He no longer seeks to establish his own righteousness as the foundation of acceptance before God.
Christ has become the source of his life.
The believer can therefore say, "I died with Christ," because the old life under the mastery of sin has been decisively confronted through His death.
But the believer must also declare, "I live through Christ," because salvation includes the gift of new life.
Ye Are Dead, and Your Life Is Hid With Christ in God
Colossians 3:3–5
Paul declares that believers are dead and that their life is hidden with Christ in God.
He then commands them to mortify, or put to death, the sinful practices associated with their former way of life.
This reveals an important distinction.
Our old identity has been crucified with Christ, but we must continually refuse the desires and conduct that belong to our former life.
Being dead to sin does not mean that temptation can no longer arise.
Neither does it mean that a believer has become incapable of sinning.
It means that sin no longer possesses the rightful authority to rule over someone who belongs to Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:11 declares:
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The word reckon means to consider or account something as true.
Paul commands believers to live according to the spiritual reality established through their union with Christ.
We must no longer present ourselves as servants of sin, but as servants of righteousness.
Personal Application: A Woman Who Has Died to Her Former Life
A woman who belongs to Jesus Christ must understand that her spiritual identity is no longer determined by the person she was before coming to Him.
Her past sins, former conduct, and previous bondage do not possess the authority to define her new life in Christ.
She may still remember the things she once did, but she is no longer commanded to live according to those former desires.
The old man has been crucified with Christ.
She must therefore learn to distinguish between her former life and the new life she has received through the Spirit of God.
This transformation must become evident in her conduct, her relationships, her speech, and the desires of her heart.
A woman cannot declare that she is dead to sin while deliberately continuing to surrender herself to its authority.
The apostle Paul asks in Romans 6:2:
"God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
The grace of God does not provide permission to remain in bondage.
It provides the foundation for freedom.
Through Jesus Christ, she has been called to walk in newness of life.
Conclusion: Dead to Sin, but Alive Unto God
The question, "If I am dead, when did I die, and how did I die?" is answered through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Christ died for our sins upon the cross.
Through faith, believers are united with Him in His death, and baptism signifies their burial with Him.
The old man has been crucified so that sin should no longer exercise dominion over the believer.
But our spiritual identification with Christ does not end in death.
We are raised to walk in newness of life.
Second Corinthians 5:17 declares:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
I died to sin through my union with Jesus Christ. My old man was crucified with Him, and now I live unto God through the power of His resurrection.
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