DEAD TO SIN, ALIVE TO GOD

Christ Meets Us in the Waters of Baptism, Pulling Us From Death Into Life; Recapitulated to God Under His Divine Headship

A Sermon for the Sixth Sunday After Trinity

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

“In that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”- Romans 6:10–11

INTRODUCTION

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather on this Sixth Sunday after Trinity, we come not only as individuals seeking grace, but as members of the great communion of saints, bound together in Christ across ages and nations. This past week, our church calendar has overflowed with holy remembrances: heroes of the faith who shine like stars in the firmament of the Church.

We gave thanks for the fiery witness of St. Elias the Prophet, who stood undaunted before kings and called Israel back to the living God. We rejoiced in the healing and apostolic love of St. Mary Magdalene, first witness of the Resurrection and apostle to the apostles. We heard the thunder of divine truth through St. Ezekiel the Prophet, who saw the glory of the Lord in visions and spoke of resurrection and restoration.

We walked in the footsteps of St. James the Greater, Apostle and martyr, and gave reverent honor to St. Anna, the grandmother of our Lord, whose quiet piety helped form the most holy Theotokos. We were stirred by the steadfast faith of St. Paraskeva of Rome, shining with miracles, and by the radiant courage of St. Christina of Persia, martyred for the Name of Christ. And in the stillness of the cloister, we pondered the ascetic wisdom of St. Cassian, who taught us of watchfulness, silence, and prayer.

These saints were not mere figures of the past: they are present with us now, invoked in our commemorations, remembered in our prayers, and mystically joined to us at this very altar. Their faith is not foreign to ours; their struggle is our struggle; their victory, our inheritance.

And so, today’s readings urge us to walk worthily of such a calling. As temples of the living God, as those buried with Christ in baptism and raised with Him in newness of life, let us hear the Gospel not as suggestion but summons. Let us become, like them, dead to sin, and alive unto God, full of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. 

Let us now open our hearts to the Word of the Lord.

SCRIPTURE

Romans 6:3–11

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

St. Matthew 5:20–26

Jesus said unto his disciples: Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

SERMON

Beloved in Christ, the Epistle today bids us to reckon ourselves dead. Not merely to imagine or suppose, but to “reckon” (that is, to count it a settled truth) that we are dead indeed unto sin. And more: we are alive unto God. This is not just moral exhortation. It is metaphysical reconstitution. The baptized are remade, not advised or ideologically persuaded. We are not merely inclined toward and abstract virtue, but mystically joined to Christ in his death and resurrection.

Here, St. Paul speaks in the bold language of transformation, echoing the baptismal font as a tomb and a womb, and where the old man is buried and a new creation is born. This, said St. John Chrysostom, is the “resurrection in this life,” before the general resurrection. Chrysostom asks, “If then we have died with Him, let us live with Him… and not only live, but live rightly.”

And to live rightly, says our Lord in the Gospel, means a righteousness that exceeds even the scribes and Pharisees. It is not enough to avoid murder because we must cast out wrath. Not enough to keep ritual purity because we must make peace with our brother. Not enough to bring our gift because we must bring a reconciled heart. The Ritual Law, fulfilled in Christ, is not annulled, but intensified. Its outer commands are now inner demands. The heart is summoned.

This brings us to the reading from Exodus, in which the holy Tabernacle is built with intricate skill, lavish gold, and profound reverence. Every beam, every veil, every vessel was constructed with painstaking devotion. It is not for show, but for the presence of God. And you, O Christian, are now that tabernacle. “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” cries St. Paul. This is no metaphor. The same Spirit who overshadowed the Ark now overshadows you. You are consecrated. You are anointed. You are not your own.

St. Maximos the Confessor taught that sin is not merely a moral failure, but a distortion of our nature. To be “alive to God,” then, is to be restored to our true form, and to be as we were meant to be. Not reformed, but transfigured. Not behaviorally modified, but set ablaze with divine life.

But how does this happen? Not by willpower alone. Not by gritting teeth and suppressing rage or lust or pride. No, the Fathers teach us that death to sin comes by union with Christ. And that union is sacramental, mystical, ascetical. In the words of St. Ephrem the Syrian: “Blessed is he who has died to himself, and lives in Christ. For him, the world is crucified.”

Here, then, is the paradox of the Christian life: the more we die, the more we live. The more we give, the more we receive. The more we forgive, the freer we become. Christ bids us bring not only our offerings, but our offenses. He will not receive our gift at the altar if our brother has been wounded by our hands. Go, says the Lord, and be reconciled. Not tomorrow. Not eventually. First.

This is not weakness. This is the power of the Kingdom. The world says: assert yourself. Christ says: deny yourself. The world says: make war. Christ says: make peace. The world says: keep grudges. Christ says: leave your gift and go.

But we must go further still. In 1 Corinthians, we are warned not to be deceived. The kingdom of God is not inherited by those who cling to vice and plead grace as excuse. “Such were some of you,” says St. Paul, “but now you are washed.” Baptism is not only a sign of belonging; it is a breaking of the old yoke. The sins we once excused must now be slain. The desires we once cherished must now be crucified.

And we are not alone. The liturgy leads us. The prayers train us. The Church, our Mother, feeds us with the Body and Blood of Christ. She puts the Psalms on our lips and the Saints at our side. In her rhythm we find healing. In her silence, wisdom.

The Caroline Divine, Fr. George Herbert once wrote, “Who goes to God with a half-heart, goes not at all.” And C.S. Lewis reminds us, “Christ says, ‘Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you.’” This is the reality that we struggle with: it is either all or nothing. 

So, dear brothers and sisters, let us give Him all. Let us die to sin with joy, as a man dies to a tyrant. Let us rise with Christ, walk in newness of life, and become temples not made with hands, but with grace, truth, and love.

Let us pray…

COLLECT

O Lord our God, who by holy Baptism hast buried us with Christ into death, that we should walk with him in newness of life: Mortify within us all pride, wrath, and uncleanness, and quicken us daily by thy Spirit; that being made living temples of thy presence, we may offer unto thee the sacrifice of a pure heart, and be found worthy in that Day to enter thy heavenly courts, through the merits of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.