Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Our opening Scripture tells us that the old life was buried with Christ, which baptism visibly reflects, and that we (the new life or self) were raised with Him through the operation of God who raised Christ from the dead. Understand that the operation of God referred to earlier speaks of the power of God at work in us through faith in our identification with Christ. There is a narrative of how the old man or old life was destroyed by Jesus’ substitutionary work. It tells us that after the old man had died with Jesus, he was buried with Him; there was a burial ceremony conducted for him, and a seal of termination and end placed on the old man – he is buried. “Buried” means final, an end, a termination. The old man was buried with Christ with all its lusts and all its desires, and failures. So, as far as God is concerned and the finished work of Christ stands forever, the old man is no longer in existence and active in the believer who has identified with Christ in this regard.
In our identification with Christ in His substitutionary work, we make bold to declare by faith that the old man was crucified with Him, died with Him, and was buried with Him. You take your position with Christ by faith and He takes His position with you. You must confess boldly your position with Him without vacillating, and the power of God’s Spirit will work in you attesting to your bold confession of faith, which is your identification with Christ in this regard. You baffle and stagger time when you say, “I died and was raised together with Christ.” Romans 6:3-4 further reveals that, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with Christ 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.” Now by our identification with Christ in His death and burial by faith, we are enabled by the Spirit of God to walk in newness of life. Listen beloved, the old “you” died with Christ, and a new “you” was raised from the dead. That you were buried with Christ is a spiritual reality that your entire being must capture and align with in order that you might live a triumphant life over sin and all its consequences. Every trace of the old man died with Christ. You no longer take your reference point from the old life but from the new. Hallelujah!
SOLID FRONT (YOUR CONFESSION):
In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I declare that I am crucified with Christ, and I died with Him, and was buried with Him, and was raised from the dead with Him; therefore, I live in victory over sin and all its consequences forever. Amen!
Further Meditation:
Romans 4:23-25; Ephesians 2:1-6.