Die To Be Alive

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Rom. 6:4)

Easter  is often celebrated with great joy, and that is proper since it is the day we celebrate the victory of Christ over death to bring us the hope of eternal life.  Nonetheless, we must also remember that before Easter, there is Good Friday where we remember the suffering and death of Christ on the cross.  Victory  came with a great price—the death of the Son of God, who sacrificed himself for us.  By his death, Christ redeemed us from our sins.  By his resurrection, Christ gave us the hope of everlasting life.  Through faith in Christ, we are assured of God’s grace and mercy for reconciliation, redemption, and eternal salvation.  We were spiritually dead in sins but Christ led us to life through his death and resurrection.

However, Paul saw beyond that.  In his letters, Paul reflected on the great significance of the death and resurrection of Christ in the new life of Christians.  Romans 6:4 is a reflection of how we have journeyed from death to life through faith in Christ.  Paul described the moment when we commit our lives to Christ (baptism) as being buried with Christ.  When we give our lives to him, our sinful past is dead.  In fact, our sins and sinful nature should have been buried with Christ’s death.  The new life that we live in Christ should be the life that the resurrected Christ will grant to us.

Christ has died and Christ has risen.  Through faith in Christ, we should continuously die to our sins and sinful nature and live the spiritually risen new life that Christ brought for us.  “Die to sin and live in Christ”—let this be our personal realization of the meaning of Easter.

/Dr. Chong Siaw Fung