Romans 6:20 - 7:6
Recognizing Life and Death
Paul is leading us readers/believers to reflect on a deep level what has happened to us in the event of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. We might say, 'Nothing happened to me personally. I wasn't there.' Paul responds, 'But you were!' Because of who Jesus is, as both God and us and Israel's Messiah, he calls into himself every person who trusts/ believes in him to share in his death and resurrection/eternal life and in his Spirit.
But its hard to get our minds around this experience. We're still living very ordinary life.
We are like Israel after the Exodus, idealizing Egypt compared with hardships faced in freedom. We romanticize the 'freedom' of the destructive life called 'sin.'