As we now come to Romans 6 we find
that the apostle Paul continues a thought begun in Chapter 5. There we learned
something about the extensive consequences of the fall: In Adam’s fall we
sinned all! Adam’s one disobedience
affected us all.
To be human is to share in Adam’s fallen
nature. This constitutes the doctrine of original sin.
We also learned that the one act obedience of Jesus brought about a right standing with God (justification) for many – i.e. all who believe in Him.
And now we want to focus on the connecting thought which leads us into the 6th chapter. Paul has shown us the consequences of Adam’s fall as a result of one man’s disobedience. Adam trespassed against the only law given by His Creator in Genesis 2:17. The trespass of that law caused death and spiritual alienation from God. The breaking of that one law had devastating consequences for all of us.
That was long before Moses received the
law from God.
But now in 5:20 Paul adds this thought, “the law came in to increase the trespass“. This is the law of Moses which came afterwards and which was much more detailed and specific in terms of what God’s will for His people is. It makes us much more aware of the depth of sin, and in that sense, it increases the trespass – our sense of guilt.
And then Paul makes this astonishing statement:
“…but where sin increased grace abounded all the more” … etc. The light breaks through into our darkness!
Paul says that grace is greater than
all our sin.
The work of Christ is greater than that
which Adam and Adam’s race did.
Paul now imagines some people saying, What do you mean, Paul? You hear their minds ticking and you hear them saying in Romans 6:1, “If you say that where sin increases, grace will increase all the more … well then, let us continue in sin so that grace may increase! “The thought goes, “if what Paul says is true …surely the more sin there is, the more grace or forgiveness there is. The more sin there is, the greater the act of forgiveness will look like!” Do you see that line of reasoning? This would open the door to careless living and indifference to holiness! This is where grace teaching potentially opens the door to rampant sinning.
This is the conclusion that Paul
anticipates from some weak minds, and to this he now responds.
Paul immediately takes such a thought
captive: By no means! We cannot possibly
entertain the thought that we continue in sin so that grace might increase!”
Why not?
He
gives 3 answers in 6:1-7
To be a Christian means to be dead to
sin. That means that if you should
choose to continue in sin that would be a contradiction of who you are. Why did Christ die? He died because of sin! If this is true then we
cannot use sin to make God’s grace look greater. That is twisted thinking. So, put this thought out of your mind.
Baptism is a powerful illustration. In baptism we illustrate our identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Those three words are used in 6:3-4. In our baptism we tell the world that we have died with Christ, who died for sin. Our sin lies buried with Christ in the grave. His holy death broke the power of my sin, and not my sin only, but the sin of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what baptism signifies.
In my baptism I have declared that I have died with Christ to
sin! So then, how can I sin so that
grace may increase? I can’t! I am saved from
my former life of sin and I am saved to walk in the newness of life (6:4).
Here Paul reminds us that our lives do
not simply end with a death to the old things. There is more! Christ did not
only die. He rose! He did not only die
for our sins, but He rose to give us life!
He rose to give us present power to live victoriously. So, Paul is here not only speaking about the resurrection
to come. He is speaking about resurrection power NOW. This means that we are no
longer enslaved to sin. We have power to
overcome sin. And the question comes
back to us one more time: “Are we to
continue in sin that grace may be abound? “And again, the answer is NO! It
is contrary to your new nature.
Being a recipient of grace does not give us a license to sin. Paul makes it clear that we cannot make God’s grace more glorious by continuing to sin. In a nutshell: You can’t go on sinning because
(i) you have died to sin
(ii) Your baptism shows it
(iii) the power of the resurrection at work in you will refute that.
So that argument is dead!
In what sense then is God’s grace made abundant to us in a world where we are so very aware of sin around us and in us ?
We have seen that our union with Christ in His death is linked to a resurrection which gives us new life, not only in the future when He comes again, but right now. That is very encouraging!
Our resurrection in Christ begins at the
new birth, not only at the second coming. New life in Christ starts the
moment you have been born again. God is working His grace in us right now.
Paul’s strong point here is that our old nature has been crucified with Christ,
and not only crucified, but also raised with Christ (see also Col. 2:12-15).
The direct result is that we are no longer slaves to sin. We live in the
presence of sin, but we are no longer under the slavish power of sin. This does not mean that Christians cannot
sin, but it does mean that we have been set free from the power of sin; we now
have the power to say “no!” to ungodliness (Titus 2:12).
With
that in mind and with God’s power at work within us we now must take note of
the following in 6:11-13:
“So you also must consider
yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do
not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your
members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Here
are four commands (imperatives) which we are able to obey, because of Christ’s
resurrection power and grace are at work in us:
a. 6:11
Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Why does he say
this? He knows that Christians do struggle with sin (see Romans 7). But they also need to know that they are not
slaves to sin (6:6). We must remember whose children we are, and what
power is at work within us to overcome that sin.
b. 6:12 Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body. Here is the second imperative – this is
who you are (6:11) – now behave like who you claim to be! Take charge of
your thought life, and your emotions and your passions and rule over them in
the power that God has given you. Our
thoughts (which come out of the desires of our heart) ultimately determine our
actions. That is why Paul in 2 Cor. 10:5 speaks about taking our
thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ. Remember again - You
are not under the dominion of sin. Your life is not characterized by the
addictive, controlling bondage of the desires of sin. It does not mean that you
do not struggle with sin, but if you do, you have been given grace / power to overcome!
c. 6:13a
Do not present your members as
instruments of unrighteousness. This is an extension of the
last point. Don’t let any part of your
body be used as a tool for sin. Watch your body – your eyes, your ears, your
hands, your feet – these can lead you to all sorts of sins: jealousy,
covetousness, adultery, hate etc.
d. 6:13b Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to
life. Here is a positive
command. Give your body to God. The best
way to deal with negative habits is to substitute them with positive habits.
See Ephesians 5:22-29 as an example!
3. 6:14 AN ENCOURAGEMENT - LIVE BY GRACE
“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not
under law but under grace.”
Paul is saying this one more time: The law does not have the power to enable you
to do to be righteous and to live
righteously. That does not make the law bad. It remains God’s holy law. But the
problem is that you do not have the power to keep it. The law tells you what
you should do, but it doesn’t have the power to help you to do what you should
do.
But grace is
different. Grace is God’s gift to you.
And in every trial and temptation He says to you, Do not look to the law to
help you. Ask me to give you grace for your moments of trial. This is a strong invitation to trust God in every situation you encounter
This is the power
of your justification
This is the
resurrection power of Christ’s finished work in you
Rejoice and
believe. Trust Him to help you !
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