Paul is realistic and recognizes that sin has not yet been eliminated from the world; that is why he describes inclusion in Christ through baptism as a process that has already started. With bold metaphors, in which he vividly expresses his passion as an apostle, Paul views the baptized as part of the same redemptive act of Christ: consecrated to the Messiah and buried with him in his death (4), grafted into his resurrection (5), with their old human nature crucified and their status as slaves abolished (6), ending with the final exhortation: “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (11).