Romans 6:6

But we must still go back and consider more carefully in what sense he said "the body of sin." Here a twofold understanding seems possible: either he called our body the body of sin, or he means that sin itself has some body of its own, which must be destroyed by those who ought no longer to serve sin. Since, then, both senses can be admitted in this passage, we shall set forth our view on each. For if we posit that sin has a body of its own, it will appear that, just as it was said of those who have been restored into the new man that "you are the body of Christ, and members in part," so also of those who have not yet crucified the old man it may be said that they are the body of sin and its members, of which body the head is the devil, just as Christ is head of the body of the Church, which has neither spot nor wrinkle. And the members of which this body of sin consists may be seen to be those which the Apostle above enumerated as members upon the earth, that is, fornication, uncleanness, shamelessness, avarice, contentions, wrath, deceits, quarrels, dissensions, heresies, envy, revellings, and the like: of all which members it may fittingly be said that the body of sin consists, and that this body is called the old man. And if anyone should destroy it through the cross of Christ, and be changed into the new man who is created according to God, he will no longer be said to serve sin — to which without doubt he does serve so long as he lies under any of those things which we have expounded above to be the members of sin. […]

Now because John was to be worthy of the knowledge of the Apostles before the dissolution of the curse, and the abrogation of sin, and the matter of the Cross, he rightly received the Spirit in the womb, and he had the growth which was …

This refers not to our body structure but to our moral behavior.… It is not our bodily frame which has been transformed, nor has our flesh endured the cross of Christ. The sinful body is destroyed by amendment of life, not by the destruction of our fleshly substance.

For that must be living after the world, which, as the old man, he declares to be "crucified with Christ," not as a bodily structure, but as moral behaviour.

Besides, if we do not understand it in this sense, it is not our bodily frame which has been transfixed (at all events), nor has our flesh endured the cross of Christ; but the sense is that which he has subjoined, "that the body of sin might be made void, " by an amendment of life, not by a destruction of the substance, as he goes on to say, "that henceforth we should not serve sin; " and that we should believe ourselves to be "dead with Christ," in such a manner as that "we shall also live with Him.

The "old man" does not refer to our nature but to our evil mind. It is this which has been put to death in baptism, so that the body would not continue to serve sin.

"Our old self" refers to our perishable and passible bodies.

Perhaps some people will think that "the body of sin" is meant to refer to our earthly flesh, which has been joined to the soul as a kind of punishment, in that the soul sinned before bodies were created. Some people think and talk like this, but as it is a pagan idea we must reject it as being incompatible with the truth. Therefore, Paul says that our earthly body is the body of sin and our old man, because it has inherited the necessity of corruption from the old Adam.… Moreover, because of its weakness it has contracted a love for wickedness, and thus sin appears in the flesh as a congenital defect.We were crucified with Christ at the moment when his flesh was crucified, because it somehow included universal human nature in itself, just as universal human nature contracted the sickness of the curse in Adam at the same time that he incurred the curse.

Get for yourself none of the things that are on earth, and do not be active in the affairs of the present life. For your life is hidden now and unseen by those who do not believe, but the time will come when it will be seen. But now is not your time. Since you have died once for all, refuse to mind the things that are on earth. The greatness of your virtue is seen especially when you have prevailed over the arrogance of the flesh and act toward the good things of the world just as if you were dead to this life.

So putting together both the cause and the demonstration of the Resurrection which is to come. And he does not say is crucified, but is crucified with Him, so bringing baptism near to the Cross. And on this score also it was that he said above, "We have been planted together in the likeness of His Death that the body of sin might be destroyed," not giving that name to this body of ours, but to all iniquity. For as he calls the whole sum of wickedness the old man, thus again the wickedness which is made up of the different parts of iniquity he calls the body of that man. And that what I am saying is not mere guesswork, hearken to Paul's own interpretation of this very thing in what comes next. For after saying, "that the body of sin might be destroyed," he adds, "that henceforth we should not serve sin." For the way in which I would have it dead is not so that ye should be destroyed and die, but so that ye sin not. And as he goes on he makes this still clearer.

But to us the apostle says, "Now we know 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 "to bring themselves into captivity "and to slay themselves, putting to death "the old man, who is through lusts corrupt "and raising the new man from death, "from the old conversation "by abandoning the passions, and becoming free of sin, both the Gospel and the apostle enjoin.

"Our old man," that is, wickedness, "is crucified with Him," that is, like the body of Christ, is buried in baptism; "that the body of sin might be destroyed," that is, the wickedness composed of various kinds, or our body inclined to sin, which is …

After showing that we should not continue to sin after baptism has made us dead to sin, the Apostle now shows that we have the means to do this. Concerning this he does two things. First, he indicates the benefit we have received; second, the …

This in a believer is crucified with Christ, mortified, gradually killed, by virtue of our union with him. That the body of sin - All evil tempers, words, and actions, which are the "members" of the "old man," Colossians iii, 5, might be destroyed.

The actual transgression is certainly in a great measure prevented by the crucifying and killing of the original corruption. Destroy the body of sin, and then, though there should be Canaanites remaining in the land, yet the Israelites will not be slaves to them. It is the body of sin that sways the sceptre, wields the iron rod; destroy this, and the yoke is broken.

The death of the cross was a slow death; the body, after it was nailed to the cross, gave many a throe and many a struggle: but it was a sure death, long in expiring, but expired at last; such is the mortification of sin in believers. It was a cursed death, Gal. iii. Sin dies as a malefactor, devoted to destruction; it is an accursed thing.

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,....

Our old man is crucified with him - This seems to be a farther extension of the same metaphor. When a seed is planted in the earth, it appears as if the whole body of it perished.

EVERY new man is two men—every Believer in Christ is what he was and not what he was—the old nature and the new nature exist at the same time in each regenerate individual. That old nature the Apostle calls a man, because it is a complete manhood after the image of fallen Adam. It has the desires, the judgment, the mind, the thoughts, the language and the action of man as he is in his rebellious estate. He calls it the "old man," because it is as old as Eden's first transgression. It is as old as we are.

EVERY new man is two men—every Believer in Christ is what he was and not what he was—the old nature and the new nature exist at the same time in each regenerate individual. That old nature the Apostle calls a man, because it is a complete manhood after the image of fallen Adam. It has the desires, the judgment, the mind, the thoughts, the language and the action of man as he is in his rebellious estate. He calls it the "old man," because it is as old as Eden's first transgression. It is as old as we are. It is the nature born with us, the natural depravity, the fleshly mind which we inherited from our parents. It is tainted by the old serpent and bears within it a dread propensity to his old sin. When Adam first plucked the forbidden fruit, sin polluted our race and the original stain abides in all mankind—it is manifest in the most ancient history and continues to reveal itself all along the pages of the story of this blighted world. The old nature, then, is what the Apostle means. The lusts of the flesh, the carnal desires, the affections of our estranged hearts—these he calls the old man. I am much mistaken if every Christian does not find this old man still troubling him. He has a new nature which was implanted in him, as through the Spirit's sacred working he was led to hate sin and believe in Jesus to his soul's salvation. It is the heavenly offspring of the new birth, the pure and holy result of regeneration. That new nature cannot sin—it is as pure as the God from whom it came and like the spark which seeks the sun, it aspires always after the holy God from whom it came.

Knowing this - We all knowing this. All Christians are supposed to know this. This is a new illustration drawn from the fact that by his crucifixion our corrupt nature has been crucified also, or put to death; and that thus we should be free from the servitude of sin. Our old man - This expression occurs also in Eph 4:22, “That ye put off ...the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” Col 3:9, “lie not to one another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.” From these passages it is evident that Paul uses the expression to denote our sinful and corrupt nature; the passions and evil propensities that exist before the heart is renewed. It refers to the love of sin, the indulgence of sinful propensities, in opposition to the new disposition which exists after the soul is converted, and which is called “the new man.” Is crucified - Is put to death, as if on a cross. In this expression there is a personification of the corrupt propensities of our nature represented as “our old man,” our native disposition, etc. The figure is here carried out, and this old man, this corrupt nature, is represented as having been put to death in an agonizing and torturing manner. The pains of crucifixion were perhaps the most torturing of any that the human frame could bear. Death in this manner was most lingering and distressing. And the apostle here by the expression “is crucified” doubtless refers to the painful and protracted struggle which everyone goes through when his evil propensities are subdued; when his corrupt nature is slain; and when, a converted sinner, he gives himself up to God. Sin dies within him, and he becomes dead to the world, and to sin; “for as by the cross death is most lingering and severe, so that corrupt nature is not subdued but by anguish.” (Grotius.) All who have been born again can enter into this description. […]