Q096_061226 Rom. 6:4,5 Believers In Christ Agree With Him That This Life Must GoQ096_061226 Rom. 6:4,5 Believers In Christ Agree With Him That This Life Must Go
How it Happens with Colin Cook
Colin Cook reflects on Romans 6:4–5 to question self-improvement religion and explain a Christian view of dying to sin and living a new life. He links this to addiction, identity and daily faith-training for those who no longer want to be defined by their past.
14:50•12 Jun 2026
Dying to Sin, Walking in New Life: Faith, Identity and Addiction
Episode Overview
- Christian faith, as Colin explains it, is not a self-improvement system but a trust in Christ’s death on behalf of broken humanity.
- Baptism symbolises agreeing with God that the old, selfish, addicted humanity must go and that this life cannot continue into eternity as it is.
- Focusing on your own effort to die to sin can create an unhealthy obsession; instead, the emphasis is shifted to Christ’s resurrection and newness of life.
- By faith, a person with addiction can refuse to be defined by labels like alcoholic or drug addict, and instead see themselves in light of Christ’s work.
- Recovery is described as a daily training of faith, choosing new reactions to losses, temptations and cravings based on a new identity in Christ.
“I am no longer identified as an alcoholic or a drug addict or a sex addict. I am no longer identified as a sinner.”
How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober? Colin Cook takes that question straight into the heart of Romans 6:4–5, linking Christian faith with real-life struggles like alcohol, drugs, sex, food and obsessive worry. Speaking calmly and plainly, he challenges the idea that Christianity is a self-improvement project.
Many, he says, are disappointed because they expect techniques and step-by-step methods: “Christianity does not show you a method of self-amelioration.” Instead, he explains that the Bible talks about dying to sin by sharing in Christ’s death, not by grinding away at personal perfection. Colin walks through the symbolism of baptism, where believers agree with God that “this humanity must go” – all the selfishness, cruelty and addiction that feel so permanent.
Rather than trying to become superhuman through rituals, books or spiritual tricks, he stresses a shift of focus: from obsessing over sin and death to living in “newness of life” through Christ’s resurrection. For anyone wrestling with addiction, his words can feel surprisingly freeing. He suggests you can say by faith, “I am no longer identified as an alcoholic or a drug addict or a sex addict.
I am no longer identified as a sinner.” He describes this as a daily training of the mind and heart, learning to react differently to “sorrows, disappointments, sicknesses, the loss of job, the loss of finances, the lusts of the flesh, the addictions.” Colin’s style is warm, slightly humorous at times, and very direct, especially when he warns against turning spiritual life into a never-ending project of dying to sin.
Instead, he points to faith in Christ’s finished work as the basis for a new identity and a new way of living. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re doomed to be defined by your addiction, this message raises a brave question: what if that old life really doesn’t get the last word?
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