We as believers know that Christ died for us at the cross of Calvary and that He died for our sins. We know that Christ had to die on the cross because His death was necessary for our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins. But many of us are unaware of the fact that what happened at the cross is more profound than what we are taught in churches these days. It was not just that Christ died for our sins as an atonement for our sins, but also that we were set free. We were liberated in Christ Jesus.
The Original Sin and its consequences
Now, how did it all start? When God created Adam and Eve, He created them righteous or in right standing with God. That’s what righteousness is actually- right standing with God. We know that God gave one command, and we know about this in Genesis 2:17. He said, “But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you shall eat from it, you shall surely die.”
That was one law that was given. And the law had a consequence—that they would die. The Hebrew, when you read it, you see that the word “surely die” is “die die” or “mut mut.” It’s understood that it says “dying you shall die.” You can see there are two parts to it. One part was the dying, and the second part was the death. God was saying that the day you shall eat of it, “dying you shall die.” The “dying” part refers to the physical death because you know that Adam did not die that day. Adam died 900 years later, and one day for God is like a thousand years. So technically, he died on the same day. Now, there was also a spiritual death, which happened instantly because the moment they sinned, they died spiritually—they lost their connection with God.
When Adam was born of God, he was born as a son of God. But now, everyone who was born of sinful Adam became sinful because they were born after their own kind. Hence, Adam multiplied after his own kind, and sin multiplied.
God outsmarts the devil
As you know, there were two trees in the garden. And this is written in Genesis 2:9. One tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And there was another tree, which is the tree of life, that meant anyone who ate of that tree would live on forever. As soon as Adam sinned, he could still eat of the fruit of the tree of life and live forever. God prevented man from doing that, and we might think, why would God do such a thing?
The reason why God did it was out of love because if man would have eaten of the tree of life and lived on forever, that would mean they would be lost forever because there needed to be death in order to have an atonement. So if death was removed and there was no death, they would be lost forever in their sinful state and in the physical realm.
That’s why God drove Adam out. He was preparing to use death, which was the enemy’s tool or what the enemy brought in. He was going to use it for good.
God’s Masterstroke
By putting us in Christ, one of the many things that happened was that we were in Him when Christ was crucified. Making us part of the whole process of Jesus walking on earth, when Jesus was crucified, beaten, everything, we were in Him. That’s what makes us say, “I have been crucified with Christ,” because if we were not in Him, we would not be able to say that.
Romans 6:4 says that you were baptized into Christ Jesus. Why did God go through all the trouble to place us in Christ before the foundations of the earth, or that we were baptized into Christ Jesus? Why did God go to such lengths? Now, there were two things that happened at the cross.
Marriage to Mr. Law
We were married to the law, and you can see the same thing mentioned in Romans 7:1-4.
A lot of people think this chapter is Paul’s advice on good Christian marriage, but rather it is about the law and how we were married to the law and how God delivered us from the law. In Romans 7:1-4, it says,
“Or do you not know, brethren? For I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives. For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brethren, you were also made to die to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”
Now in this picture in Romans 7:1-4, Paul is showing our deliverance from the law, and he’s making the point that there is only one woman and there are two husbands. So this is not about marriage, first of all, because Paul itself makes it very clear in verse 4.
Now, the woman is in a very difficult position, for she can only be the wife of one of the two, and she is married to Mr. Law. Now, make no mistake, Mr. Law is a very good guy. And he is awesome, amazing, he is holy.
But that’s where the problem lies—that the husband and wife are totally not suited to one another. He is an astute man, very particular, accurate to every degree, and she, on the other hand, is pretty easygoing. He’s very precise about everything, very meticulous about everything. Mr. Law wants things to be done perfectly, and if things are not done perfectly, he gets super mad.
There’s punishment for it, and he’s always making demands, and he’s doing it for the right reasons, mind you. It’s not that he is a bad person, but he is making her do things for the right reasons. He wants things to be perfect, and if she does things well, he will shower her with things. And if she does something wrong, he will punish her in some way or the other.
This is what Mr. Law was doing—such a nice guy, but his demands are totally difficult for his wife to do. And his demands are perfectly legitimate. There’s nothing wrong with what he’s asking. So the poor woman is in great distress. She is fully aware that she makes mistakes, but living with such a husband is very, very difficult.
He wants things to be perfect. Now, by the law, she is married to Mr. Law, right? And the thing is that Mr. Law lives forever, right? And it says in Matthew 5:18, “Nothing of the law shall pass away.” That means it is always going to be there. So, death was required in order to save from the law.
What happened? She died. That’s what happened. So, we are the wife in this case, and the law was our first husband.
Now, what happened is that we died with Christ because we were crucified with Christ. And as a result, we died. And what is the significance of that death? The significance of that death is that through our death in Christ Jesus, we were released from our obligation to be married to Mr. Law. We are no longer married to Mr. Law because—how? We have died.
This is a significant point which Paul is trying to make. On one side, you see that we have been forgiven of our sins, and there’s atonement and everything, but on the other side, there’s liberation. Why? We were under the law, and by being crucified in Christ, we died, and by the death we have in Him, we have been freed from the law.
You can see that this was the grand plan, which God put into place by placing us in Christ Jesus. Now, also, there is another thing which is happening here. The second thing which happened to us was that the crucifixion delivered us from sin.
We are dead to sin
Sin had dominion in our body, and we were slaves to sin. Now by dying, by being crucified with Christ at the cross, we have been delivered from the slavery of sin. You see this in
Romans 6:5-11, “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.”
What does this mean? It says that we were united with Him in the likeness of His death, and that our old self was crucified with Him so that our body of sin might be done away with. Why? So that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. This is significant.
A lot of people teach that we are saved by grace but still sinners, and that we have a sinful flesh. However, the Bible clearly teaches in Romans 6 that our old self was crucified with Him. We have died with Christ. As Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ.” In order that the body of sin might be done away with, our body of sin has been done away with so that we are no longer slaves to sin. Sin has no jurisdiction over us. That’s the point here.
So when we were crucified with Christ, our body of sin was done away with. Our body is no longer sinful. We don’t have a sinful body anymore. We have a crucified body in Christ Jesus. Our body is dead to sin.
So that means we are no longer slaves to sin. We have been freed from sin. Now, I understand that many people may have questions at this point: “If I’m freed from sin, why do I still sin?” We will address those questions in upcoming blogs.
The Bible also says in Romans 6:14,
“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
This is vital to understand. If you are under the law, sin would have some mastery over you. Why? Because you wouldn’t be able to keep the law, and transgressions would keep on increasing. Paul makes this point in Romans 7, where he says that when he got to know about the law, “You shall not covet,” every sort of covetousness increased in him. That’s the point he was making.
Your Union With Christ
What happens through this new union with Christ? Romans 7:4 says, “So that we may bear fruit for God.” That’s the purpose—bearing fruit for God. By the body of Christ, the old sinful man, that old slave to sin, has died. And what happened? Two things happened. First, our marriage with Mr. Law was annulled. We are no longer under the law. Second, the principle of sin, which enslaved us, no longer has dominion over us. We are now free to live as slaves to righteousness.
This is profound. We are now able to live a life of holiness, not by striving or external performance, but by living inside-out. This is the love of God, beyond words. Even at the time of our deepest darkness, He made a way. He pulled off a masterstroke just when the devil thought he had won. God defeated the devil with his own weapon—death.
By including us in Christ Jesus, God played a masterstroke. He chose us in Him before the foundations of the world. He baptized us in Christ Jesus. We were crucified with Him, We were buried with Him, We were raised with Him. And now we are seated with Him at the right hand of God. We are free!
We know that when Adam was created, he was created in the likeness of God. He was created with a connection to God. But then came the second Adam—Jesus. When Jesus came to earth, He came as the second Adam, born under the law. As mentioned in Galatians 4:4-5,
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
Jesus was born under the law. He was born so that He would keep the righteous requirements of the law. He did the law perfectly. In that sense, He was “married to the law.” He fulfilled the law perfectly.
What happened after His crucifixion? Just like we were freed from the law, He, too, was no longer bound to the law. He became a new creation, just as we are. Jesus is no longer the second Adam. He is now the head of a new creation. We are His brothers and sisters—a divine generation, a generation of new creation.
The old has gone, and the new has come. We are free in Christ Jesus.
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