6:6 our old self was crucified with him. While the “old self” includes pre-conversion life, it includes much more, and should be interpreted in the light of 5:12–21 to mean all that we were through our union with Adam. We are to think of all this as having been nailed to the cross to die.

body of sin. Perhaps in the sense of sin as a mass, or body, but probably the physical body seen as the sphere in which sin reigned (cf. “body of death” in 7:24).

might be brought to nothing. Union with Christ in His death does not destroy the body as such, but it does end the body’s role as the inescapable tool of sin by destroying the reign of sin in the body. Christians’ bodies are now dedicated to Christ and bear holy fruit in His service (6:13, 22; 7:4; 12:1). We are no longer “enslaved to sin,” since bodily existence dominated by the cravings of sin has given way to bodily existence dominated by a passion for righteousness and holiness (v. 18).