One writer puts it this way;
“Never does Paul challenge us to "die to self." We are never told to seek crucifixion or to crucify ourselves. We are crucified with Christ, a present reality, not an inducement to apprehend. Crucifixion with Christ is not the goal, but the very historical event on which we originally entered a relationship with Christ.”
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Colossians 3
1. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Romans 6
1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2. God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3. Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4. 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.
5. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6. 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.
7. For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
When a person gets saved they are baptized into Christ which includes being baptized into His death, burial, and resurrection. We are now “in Christ” and He lives in us.
Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Being in Christ we are new creatures.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
In Christ we are dead to and freed from sin.
Romans 6:7-8 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:
You don’t die to sin or crucify yourself. It is an accomplished fact, not something you do.
Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We are to know what God says and believe it. The Christian life is a life of faith.
Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
2 Corinthians 5: 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight
Being dead to sin is not sinless perfection. We still live in bodies of flesh and are capable of sinning, but based on our position in Christ (crucified, buried, and risen with Him) and His indwelling us by His Holy Spirit, sin is no longer our master.
Romans 6
6. ......that henceforth we should not serve sin
12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
In spite of being well past their child bearing years, God told Abraham that he and Sarah would have a child. God told Abraham a great nation would come from him, promised him a tract of land and told him in him all of the nations would be blessed. What was Abraham’s response? He believed it. It had nothing to do with whether he felt like these were so or if could figure it out. God said it and Abraham believed it. Abraham might be the father of the Jews, but he his the father of faith to us.
Galatian 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
God says you are dead to sin. Do you believe what God said? He didn’t ask you if you felt like you were dead to sin. He said you are now, present tense, dead to sin. I’ve read behind Miles Stanford and have learned from him, but he will correct the KJV in his “Green Letters” series
Being dead to sin is the basis for a walk over the power of sin. Having said that we still live in bodies of flesh :
Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Now if you were a drunkard before you got saved don’t go to the bars exposing yourself to alcohol. If you have problems with lust, you might not want to hang out at the beach and you’d better be careful what those eyes look at. Being dead to sin is an accomplished fact, but there is still a growing process we must go through.
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.