I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And that which I now live in flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, the One who loved me and gave Himself on my behalf (Galatians 2:20).
When a person believes that Christ died on behalf of our sins and was raised on the third day, it is upon the basis of this faith that salvation comes (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). This salvation involves a new birth—God’s seed is placed in the believer, who then becomes alive to God in his spirit—along with immersion into the Christ, the new creation God made when He raised Christ from the dead, who is now the head of the Church, which is His body (1 John 3:9; 1 Corinthians 6:17; Ephesians 1:22–23; 2 Corinthians 5:17). Since we have been immersed into Christ, His death and resurrection are imputed to us (Romans 6:3–5). This means God imputes His crucifixion to us, thereby freeing us from slavery to our sin nature (Romans 6:6). We are now able to yield our members to righteousness, no longer allowing sin to reign as king (Romans 6:13).
This is a great deal to take in—for when we believed, life did not visibly change, yet the archaic things passed away, and all things became new. God no longer sees us as condemned, because by taking Him at His word, He has promised to completely redeem us. However, He did not leave us with nothing until that time; rather, He gave us eternal life and the Holy Spirit, so that we may now walk in newness of life—life which He has imputed to us in Christ, who now lives in us.