New Life in Christ

The last few years a number of my family members have passed away. With a couple of them, their relationship with the Lord was not evident; however, in death each one was freed from sin. Unfortunately, some people never understand that they can be freed from sin while they are still living. Paul said, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin” (Ro 6:1-7 NIV).