Being Dead to Sin

Paul's letter to the Romans concerning the explanation of sin and grace is one of my favorite of his letters. I first had this chapter told to me by a pastor during an evangelistic seminar and it was great. He starts off by making a question statement. Since through Christs victory on the cross over sin, where sin abounds, grace much more abounds for us.

20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

Romans 5:20 (ESV)

Now this can have a false sense of security for a Christian if not fully understood. Some would say that because of this state of abundant grace, we are are now living under grace and can freely sin. That is what I always heard but never understood. But Paul clarifies this for us. By accepting Jesus Christ's free gift of salvation which came through his death on the cross, we are baptized into his death. (vs.3) Likewise as his resurrection to life, then we are also born again to new life in Christ Jesus. So then the question now stands. If we are dead to sin then how much sin can a dead man commit? None. This ties in with baptism and the symbolism it portrays. We are batpized. We go into the water, symbolized as the death of our old sinful bodies. And we come up out of the water, we are raised up into our new bodies, that is the body of Christ to a sense that we are now free from the bondage of sin. (vs 6,7) Oh what a wonderful life it is to be a Christian.