Introduction to Romans 6: part 2

As stated in my last post, Romans 6:1-11 is a very easy passage for new Christians to relate to, and even for seasoned Christians who need to be reminded of what their life in Christ means and how they should be living. Making it even easier for the new Christian, the Apostle Paul begins with what we already should know starting in verse 3:

3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be [done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (our main theme; underlined words and bold text added for emphasis).

Almost as if meant to be written in a pattern easy to follow, every third verse repeats a form of the root word “know.” Similarly, the verses that come in between these selected ones reiterate what we should know as born-again Christians. Paul also uses a lot of contrast between death and life to drive the point (illustrated by the bolded lines in verse 9): dead to sin, alive in Christ.

Next we'll break down the passage by clauses to see that Paul is trying to cement the relationship that believers have with Christ.