ACC ~ Romans 6 v5

RISING IN THE REALITY OF OUR FLESH. TERTULLIAN: We die figuratively in our baptism, but we shall rise again in reality in our flesh, even as Christ did. ON RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 47.

PLANTED TOGETHER WITH CHRIST. ORIGEN: In saying that we have been united (i.e., planted together) with Christ, Paul compares the death of Christ to a plant to which we have been joined, so that drawing on the sap of his root our root may bring forth branches of righteousness and bear the fruits of life. If you want to know what plant it is that Scripture says we ought to be planted together with and what type of tree it is, listen to what is said about wisdom: “She is a tree of life to those who hope in her and who trust in her as in the Lord.” Therefore it is Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, who is the tree of life with whom we must be planted, for by some new and lovely gift of God his death has become for us the tree of life. . . .

Therefore Paul wants us to be planted together in the likeness of Christ’s death, so that we may also be planted together in his resurrection. For “planted together” (i.e., united) must be understood of both. Consider how necessary it was for him to adopt the image of planting. For every plant, after the death of winter, awaits the resurrection of spring. Therefore, if we have been planted in Christ’s death in the winter of this world and this present life, so too we shall be found in the coming spring bearing the fruits of righteousness from his root. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

UNITED TO HIM BY FAITH. DIODORE: Those who have been validly baptized into Christ’s death have been united to him by faith. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

UNITED WITH HIM IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH. AMBROSIASTER: Happily Paul says that we can rise again if we have been united with Christ in the likeness of his death, i.e., if we have laid aside all our wickedness in baptism and, having been transferred into a new life, no longer sin. In this way we shall be like him in his resurrection, because the likeness of his death presupposes a similar resurrection. … The likeness does not mean that there will be no difference at all between us, of course. We will be like him in the glory of his body, not in the nature of his divinity. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

REMAINING DEAD TO SIN AFTER BAPTISM. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul says that there are two mortifyings and two deaths. One of them is accomplished by Christ in baptism, and the other it is our duty to effect by earnestness afterwards. For it was Christ’s gift that our former sins were buried, but remaining dead to sin after baptism must be the work of our own earnestness, however much we find that God gives us enormous help here as well. For baptism does not just have the power to obliterate our former transgressions; it also protects us against subsequent ones. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 11.

A DEATH LIKE HIS. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul did not say “in death” but “in a death like his.” For both the first and the second are death but not the death of the same thing. The first is the death of the body, the second is the death of sin. BAPTISMAL INSTRUCTIONS 10.10.

PELAGIUS: If we are buried with Christ now, we shall be united with him in his resurrection then, and if we have already become new and been changed in our way of life now, we shall likewise be new and changed in glory then. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

UNITED WITH HIM IN A RESURRECTION LIKE HIS. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Emmanuel gave up his soul for us; he died in the flesh. We also were buried together with him when we were baptized. Does this mean that our flesh died in the same way as his did? Hardly. Come, let me explain in what sense we were buried with him in a death like his. Christ died in the flesh in order to remove the sin of the world, but we do not die to the flesh so much as to guilt, as it is written. Thus now we have to break down the power of sin within us by mortifying our earthly members. … As we have died a death like his, so we shall also be conformed to his resurrection, because we shall live in Christ. It is true that the flesh will come to life again, but still we shall live in another way, by dedicating our souls to him and by being transformed into holiness and a kind of glorious life in the Holy Spirit. EXPLANATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS.

GENNADIUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE: Christ’s baptism in the Jordan was a type of the mystery of his resurrection. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

METAPHOR OR REALITY? OECUMENIUS: See the goodness of God. We have died Christ’s death metaphorically, but we shall share his resurrection truly. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

Rom