The phrase simply means the sinner, the person he used to be before conversion, the way he lived formerly. (The term has exactly the same meaning in its two only other occurrences in Ephesians 4:22 and Colossians 3:9.) That person, that sinful way of life, died when Christ died.

The Greek word translated “destroyed” means to render powerless, ineffective, to sever relations with, break the hold of.

This sinful body he regards as having been the master of the old man. But that hold was broken at conversion; the sinful body was removed from the throne. (Which does not mean the pull of the flesh is no longer felt; only that this force no longer is in control.)

The idea here is quite similar to that of the previous clause: Sin was a slave master that held the old man in a helpless bondage. That bond of servitude was broken.

“Is freed” means “has been freed”; and the Greek word for freedom here is one that refers to judicial freedom, legal freedom, freedom from the penalty and guilt of a crime with which charged.

After all, a man executed for his crime has made full payment. We were “executed” for our sins with Christ.

If it is true, as it is, that we died with Christ, then we believe (are confident) that we will live with Him too. Just as in verse 5, the remote future is probably not the time Paul is referring to: We shall, in our present Christian lives, “live” with Christ; we shall not continue in sin (cf., verse 1).

To “live” with Christ means to experience the effects of His resurrection-power, thus to be new persons, to “walk in newness of life” (verse 4).

First it means justification, standing right and righteous before God.

Second, to be “alive unto God” means not only legal “life,” but also practical life.

It means to be under His dominion instead of the old dominion of sin, to be conscious of His control in our day-to-day living. This is the outworking, in practice, of the righteous standing we possess before Him.

Paul has been telling them what is true of a Christian. The believer did die with Christ and is alive with Him. The assumption of verse 2, that “we are dead to sin,” is a fact. Consequently, Paul says, count on this as truth every day and live that way.

“Keep on regarding yourselves as dead men, in so far as sin is concerned, but as living men in so far as God is concerned. Because this is true in Christ!”