Romans 6:1-11
Source of Fire
A used car may have thousands of useful miles left in it. But try as you might, you’ll have difficulty coming up with a useful function for a used match.
Lighting a new fire demands a new source of fire.
In a similar way, the Christian life is more than a “warmed over” existence. It is life anew, a rebirth, a fresh source of life released in someone who was formerly dead.
And the best way to live that life is not by going back to the old life of sin. Matthew Henry explores the dynamic difference in the life of the Christian:
Newness of life supposes newness of heart, for out of the heart are the issues of life.
Walking in Scripture stands for the course and tenor of one’s life, which must be new. Walk by new rules, towards new ends, from new principles. Make new choices of direction. Choose new paths to walk in, new leaders to walk after, new companions to walk with.
Old things should pass away, and all things become new. Such a person is something he formerly was not, does things he did not.
And this newness is to be alive to God through Christ. To converse with God, to have a regard for Him, a delight in Him, a concern for Him; this is to be alive to God.
The love of God reigning in the heart is the life of the soul towards God. It is to have the affections and desires alive toward God.
Christ is our spiritual life; there is no living to God but through Him. Through Christ as the Head from whom we receive vital influence, through Christ as the Root by which we derive sap and nourishment, and so life. In living to God, Christ is all in all.