ARE YOU DEAD TO SIN OR DEAD IN SIN

To be dead to sin means reckoning or seeing ourselves as being dead with Christ, thereby having our sins buried with Him and being raised with Him, without our sins anymore, without our old,sinful personality anymore,but as new creatures.

"For in that He died, He died unto sin once:but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye yourselves(see yourselves) to be DEAD UNTO(TO) SIN,but ALIVE UNTO GOD
through Jesus Christ our Lord"(rom6:10-11).

Under the dispensation of
the Old covenant(The Old testament age),the Priest,after killing a bullock and a goat,would lay his hands on the scapegoat,confessing the sins of the congregation over it,thus making the scapegoat bear the sins of the whole congregation[lev.16].

Also, whenever we confess our
sins,we make Jesus bear our sins ["...whom His own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,that we being DEAD TO SIN,should LIVE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS"(1Peter2:24)] since Christ is the "Lamb of the God,which
taketh away the sins of the world"(John1:29).

After bearing our sins,
He gets crucified,dead and buried with it,after which He rises up
without our sins,making us justified,righteous and translating us into a new life,in which we are expected to live unto Him and not unto ourselves[seeing ourselves also as ascended with Him into heaven,('And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus'. Ephesians2:6)thus living a heavenly life while on
earth].

This routine happens spiritually,each time we go back to sin
and try to come back to God by confessing our sins.

Heb6:6 reads: 'If
they shall fall away(backslide), to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame'

Whenever we confess our sins(before salvation or after
backsliding), we make the Lamb of God(JESUS) bear those sins,get
crucified,dead,buried and rise,so that we might become new creatures.
When all these happens, we say, we are ' DEAD TO SIN'. This is actually what is demonstrated during Baptism. We identify with Christ's death
by immersion(dying to sin) and we identify with His resurrection when we are pulled out of water(risen as new creatures).

The Question now is: '... how shall we that are DEAD TO SIN,live any longer therein?'[rom6:2]. You are not DEAD TO SIN, if you still LIVE IN SIN. If your old,sinful personality has been crucified and buried with Christ(dead to sin), it simply means you are a new creature, a changed person and a transformed person who is suppose to churn out good works.

DEAD IN SIN

"And you hath He quickened,who were DEAD IN TRESPASSES and sins"(eph2:1),

"Even when we were DEAD IN SIN, hath quickened us together with Christ,(by grace ye are saved)[eph2:5],

'And you,being DEAD IN YOUR SINS and the uncircumcision of your flesh,hath he quickened together with him,having forgiven you all trespasses'[col2:13].

To be dead in sin simply means to be spiritually dead and disconnected from God as a result of sin. It is a state, whereby one is held captive by sin and has no strength to free himself/herself. An individual who is dead in sin,is spiritually weak,hence does not have the strength to live a Holy Life[he/she needs to be quickened; which was why Christ came].

A sinner who is dead in sin needs to die to sin(by confessing his/her sins, thereby making Christ bear them,get crucified,dead and
buried with them) so that he/she can be quickened,made lively,renewed,regenerated and get revived for good works and holy living.