“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
(Romans 6:6)
When we make our own decisions, we cannot naturally live righteously and sinlessly. Our will has been affected by sin, and therefore “there is none who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:3, 53:3). We are enslaved to sin, and we need Jesus to free us from its power.
Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. The apostle Paul uses the same vocabulary to explain what happens when we come to faith: our “old self” is crucified with Jesus, and we are raised with Him to walk in newness of life.
The power of sin has thus been broken the moment we come to faith. However, it can take a lifetime to completely disengage from it. Paul knew this by experience and wrote about his struggles: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:15-19).
However, the situation is not hopeless. We will finally be delivered from sin completely. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25).