Romans 6:5, 6 ESV
We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

The Cross of Christ is eternal and unending. It is so dynamic that is has never ceased its power or presence. Yet for me the cross has two aspects and two points in time:  Then and Now.

That I am dead to self is a fact, historical and actual. I can count on that fact as faith to live. I may walk through all difficult times and all simple living as one who is removed and gone: “reckon yourself dead to sin.”

The cross is also a current-present-ongoing encounter with God’s knowledge of me. The cross finds the pockets of my old self and the zeal of God brings pressure to end the Adamic nature that the Second Adam may rise anew.