6:7
The Greek doesn’t actually say “has been set free from sin”, but “has been justified from sin”. In the previous verse Paul has said that Christ died so that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Now he says this is because we have been justified from sin. Our justification in Christ means that sin no longer has any claim on us. A master can tell his slave what to do and can beat him up if he refuses to do it. But if the slave has died then the master can do nothing.
But why does being “justified from sin” make us free from sin? Part of the judgement on sin is that we are made slaves to it. In earlier chapters Paul has spoken of God giving people over to sinful desires. We are no longer under that judgement, for we have been declared righteous. We have no longer been given over to sin.
6:8
But being set free is not the whole story, dying to sin is only part of it. We have also been raised with Christ so we will also live with Him. The cross is central to the gospel, but we need to realise that it is not the goal, rather it is the means to the goal, or the gateway through which we must pass. The goal is that we become like Christ, that we live a new life, a resurrection life. Christ died so that we could live. Being forgiven and set free from sin was a necessary part of it, without which nothing else could happen. But it is not the end, rather it is the beginning. We are set free for a reason.
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