Gazza

Hi Cheryl
I would have thought the usage of the present text in Romans 6:11 is exactly in line with what I was saying about Eph 2:5. In the Romans passage Paul tells the believers to “count themselves dead to sin” what does this mean – they should not let sin reign in their body, they should not offer parts of their body to sin and sin should not be their master. Thus the believers in Romans are to be dead to sin in just the same way the Eph were dead to life in Christ through their transgressions before God made them alive.

So yes we are dead in transgressions when God made us alive in Christ. I do not have the benefit of a greek dictionary at hand but It would seem to me that the word translated as “even” divides this verse and that is what the translators of the NIV have been getting at with their usage of the Term “we were dead” . The present tense is referring to the current nature of being dead in transgressions when we were made alive in Christ by God in His mercy. This is also consistent with the juxtaposition of the life/death imagery. For if while alive in Christ we are still presently dead in our transgressions then it would be saying that Christs sacrifice in itself was not sufficient would it not?