Rom 6:2-11 gives us one of the clearest, yet most profound, revelations in all of Scripture:
That when Christ died 2000 years ago, you literally died with Him on that cross, yes!
“May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 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; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
This isn’t metaphorical. Paul is describing a real mystical union: when Christ was crucified 2,000 years ago, we were included in His death.
How Can That Be?
At first glance, this sounds impossible. How can we die with Christ if we weren’t there?
But the Bible already gives us a category for this kind of solidarity. In Romans 5:12, Paul says:
“Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
Adam sinned long before we were born, and yet Scripture says we sinned in him. That is why all are born into sin and death. If that is true in Adam, it is not strange to say that in Christ’s death we also died with Him.
Which Part of Us Died?
People often ask: Was it our spirit, soul, or body that died with Christ? But perhaps that’s the wrong question.
Think of this: why were we born sinners? Not because of something we personally did, but because of who we were born from. We were born of Adam, and therefore everything Adam did, we share in.
This is why Augustine spoke of realist (or seminal) headship. He taught that when Adam sinned, all humanity literally sinned in him because we were in his loins:
“All men at that time sinned in Adam, because all were in Adam when he sinned.”
— Contra Julianum
This became the basis of the doctrine of original sin. We are guilty, not only because Adam’s sin was credited to us, but because in a very real sense, we were there in him.
Solidarity: Natural and Covenantal
The Bible shows two kinds of solidarity:
- Natural solidarity — whatever your ancestor does, you share in it (e.g., Levi “paid tithes” while still in Abraham’s loins, Hebrews 7:9–10).
- Covenantal solidarity — whatever your covenant head does, you are treated as though you did it (Romans 5:18–19).
In Adam, we sinned. In Christ, we died and rose again.
The End of Adam, the Beginning of Christ
The union with Christ means that my old life, my Adamic identity, ended at the cross. I was buried with Him. And just as Christ was raised, I too was raised with Him into a new life that flows from the New Covenant.
- Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
- Colossians 3:3: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
The cross didn’t just forgive my sins; it ended my old self. Resurrection didn’t just give me a second chance; it gave me an entirely new life in union with Jesus.
Conclusion
To be a Christian is not simply to believe in Christ, but to be united with Him in death and resurrection. My Adam-life is gone. My Christ-life has begun.
This is the mystery of the gospel:
- In Adam, I sinned.
- In Christ, I was crucified.
- In Christ, I was buried.
- In Christ, I was raised.
That is why Paul can boldly say: “Consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
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