Romans 6:9-11

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

In the Christian life, the indicative precedes the imperative. We do not obey in order to be redeemed, but rather we are redeemed enabling us to obey. In other words, our identity as Christians is established prior to our ability to obey God. And this is emphasized not only by Paul, but we find it in the Old Testament as well. Remember Exodus 20:2-3, which I brought up when we were finishing up chapter 3. God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and then gave them the law.

Not once in Romans has Paul commanded his audience to do anything, until v11. Paul believed that it was more important for his audience to first understand who they were, then what God did for them, then what God did in them, and finally who God made them to be. Only then are they ready to hear and respond to His commands. And so Paul has to finish explaining justification, before he can set forth a command. In the Christian life, regardless of your soteriological theology (Calvinism / Arminianism), grace must be operative before obedience is a possibility. Christians agree on this, and Paul certainly teaches it. Paul knows that gospel obedience flows from the realization of God’s work of grace on our behalf. Paul says that in the Christian life, justification and sanctification are a package deal. As God grants forgiveness in salvation, so He breaks our bondage to sin. God’s plan of salvation is to deliver us from both sin’s penalty and its power. In justification, He forgives our sins and accepts us as righteous. And in sanctification He imparts new life to us through the resurrection power of Jesus Christ and enables us to become morally like Christ. As God calls us righteous though we are not, a one-time permanent judicial declaration known as justification, so He breaks our bondage to sin and makes us righteous, a process known as sanctification. He’s not only imputed righteousness to us, He is imparting righteousness to us by His sanctifying grace.

So now, the command is to know who you are as a Christian. “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ.” That’s Paul’s first imperative in all of Romans. And Paul is not saying, “Try real hard to be dead to sin.” He’s saying, “You are dead to sin. It’s done. And now you’re alive to God in Christ.” It’s like a young man who has been single for a long time, and he’s finally married a wonderful bride, but he’s having a hard time remembering that he’s not single any more. And he’s doing things like making major purchases and social plans without consulting his wife. An older, godly man pulls him aside and says, “Son, you need to consider that you are married.” He is already married; he just needs to live like he is.

Finally, note simply that the assurance of our future resurrection is in the invincibility of Christ to death. Justification is the foundation of sanctification, which is the certification that we are on our way to a resurrection with Christ in union with Him. Union with Christ secures our eternal resurrection life of joy.