The book of Romans is divided into two parts. The first part deals with man’s justification (Romans 3:24-26; 4:5,25), while the second part deals with man’s sanctification (Rom. 6:19,22).
The foundation for the normal Christian life is justification, and forgiveness of sins, which is now made possible by the blood of Jesus.
The foundation of anything is just the beginning. Since justification is the entrance into the normal Christian life, on what ground should we continuously live the normal Christian life.
The Blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my `old man’. It needs the Cross to crucify me. The Blood deals with the sins, but the Cross must deal with the sinner.
We must understand the sin principle within us is the outworking of the old man.
Who is a sinner?
- A sinner is not someone that commits sin; He is one that is born a sinner.
- We became sinners by the reason of the disobedience of Adam. All the human race was in the loins of Adam when he disobeyed, and sinned against God. You and I were in him at that time, that is why the sin passed upon us by the law of inheritance. All the human race are offsprings of Adam.
The Blood of Jesus secures our forgiveness, while the Cross of Jesus secures our deliverance of what we are
The issue that man needs deliverance on is an issue of who he is (i.e., his nature). Man’s nature comes from Adam by the reason of inheritance. The only route to our deliverance from this nature is by changing our parentage.
Glory be to God, for Christ has wrought our deliverance.
In Adam, we receive everything that is of Adam; in Christ we receive everything that is of Christ. Romans 5:12-21
Since we were born sinners, how then can we cut off our sinful heredity? The way out is by death, because we came in by birth. Hence, the only exit is by death. (Romans 6:2). Does it mean we have to physically kill ourselves? No, God has already done it through Christ. We were in Christ when he was crucified, died, buried, and resurrected. God himself put us in Christ, so that we inherit whatever Christ accomplished for our salvation.
When the Lord Jesus was on the Cross all of us died — not individually, for we had not yet been born — but, being in Him, we died in Him. “One died for all, therefore all died” (2 Cor. 5:14). When He was crucified all of us were crucified.
As the last Adam, Christ is the sum total of humanity; as the second Man He is the Head of a new race. So we have here two unions, the one relating to His death and the other to His resurrection.
Therefore, the Cross is the power of God for deliverance from sin; It translates us from Adam to Christ, for Christ did away everything that relates to Adam by his crucifixion and death on the cross.