Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

Introduction

One of my most precious possessions is only about 2 inches by 2 inches. It is a Christmas present from last year, made by my family. It is a picture of me and Gabriel from the very last day of hockey practice last year, with me standing with my arm around him, and us both looking out at the ice. It captures in time a reality that I hope that I will be able to remember until I am in glory.

Now, this wasn’t a particularly expensive gift, it isn’t constructed of precious materials, and I highly doubt it would be nearly as valuable to other people as it is to me. What makes it valuable to me is what it represents, not what it is made of. But because of what it represents, it is a treasure to me.

If you have heard a sermon from Romans 6:1-4, it is likely it has been on the value and importance of baptism. In fact, I actually preached a sermon on believers baptism in 2021, and this is the exact text I used! That is definitely a viable way to preach this text, but today I want to dig a little deeper, and look at what lies behind the act of baptism, and what it truly represents.

Remember, Romans 5-8 is all intended to help us to have security in our faith, and to trust that we are saved indeed. In Romans 5, that is accomplished through giving us the objective facts of our justification. In Romans 6, we are going to learn that justification is doing something! Justification is the work of God by grace alone, but that work of God does work in us that produces works! Romans 6 is really structured around two questions that sound very similar to one another, but the really help us to answer the question of what happens TO US and IN US when we are justified. Paul does this by answering what he knows will be opposition to this audacious gospel of grace. Let’s read these four verses and then we will dig in.

Romans 6:1–4 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

The Question:

“shall we continue to sin so that grace may abound?”

Now let me say this first: when people start asking this question, they are beginning to get their head around the gospel of God. We are getting the Gospel right if, when we present it in all its fullness, it seems almost too good to be true. Think about what Paul has taught us so far in the book of Romans:

we are under wrath, and all sinners from birth. Adam’s choice was our choice, and the whole of humanity stood guilty before God, both Gentile and Jew

God gave the law, and the trespass increased, and sin abounded even more than it had.

But God revealed his righteousness and showed himself to be both just and justifier of the one who has faith in Christ Jesus!

This righteousness is given not through obedience, or through birth, but through faith. We are justified, declared righteous, by faith in Jesus Christ, who was the second Adam, and now all of humanity is either in Adam, or in Christ. Why? Grace. Not works. And there is no, and I mean no, outsinning God’s grace

It doesn’t matter how wretched we were, or how far from God, we cannot and will not outsin God’s grace. And that justification? It is the final word about us. We are declared righteous, in an eternal and final declaration of grace. Forever and onward, we will be clothed in Christ’s righteousness.

when you think about what Paul is saying here, it’s almost absurd! In fact, it is so unbelievable that it stands alone as the only message of salvation among the religions of the world that rejects the concept that human effort can assist us in any way. We can do nothing to earn a salvation that we can do nothing to lose! So, Paul as a good teacher anticipates a question that grants him the opportunity to spend some time exploring what it truly means to be In Christ. And that question? “Should we continue to sin so that grace may abound?”

Now, this is likely better translated “should we continue IN sin.” What Paul is getting at here is more than simply committing a sin. The question here is “if grace is free to us, why not simply continue on in the same sins committed, since now we don’t have to worry about the penalty of those sins?”

If sin abounded, and then grace abounded all the more, then doesn’t it make sense in our story for us to increase our sinning in order that God may increase His forgiving?

In other words, does the gospel of grace encourage people to not change? More sin=more grace=more gratefulness, right? To put a positive spin on it: how on earth does a gospel of grace lead us to change sinful patterns in our life? Paul’s answer is really all of the next 13 verses, but these first four serve as a summary of sort, and begin by touching on the driving principle behind Paul’s belief: we who have been justified have a new life in Christ! In a very practical way, this passage in Romans is a more thorough explanation of what Paul will say in 2 Cor. 5:17.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

As we examine how Paul answers this question, I want us to explore three aspects of being a new creation. that lead us to forsake sin, not embrace it

1. The old man is dead to sin.

Romans 6:2 ESV

By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

By No means!

The new man cannot even think this way! Explain “by no means” - this is in essence Paul’s way of saying “if you ask this question, then you likely do not understand what I am saying.”

Now, as we said earlier, the next few verses mark an important transition in the book of Romans, from the “what” of justification to the “how” of Christian living. How does this justification change our lives? What difference does Christ’s work make? But as Paul is helping us think through the living out of justification, he goes back again to a simple fact statement: we died to sin.

When Paul says this, he expects this to be a complete and satisfactory answer to the question. In fact, you can think of verses 3-14 as an explanation of exactly what he means here!

How can we who died to sin

Paul begins talking about the new man by helping to explain what happened to the old one; namely, he died. Now, the word “death” occurs 14 times in this chapter, so we need to latch onto this idea early, which means we need to spend a little time just thinking through what Paul is teaching us here.

Paul says it very plainly, and states it as a fact that we are to simply accept - we are dead to sin. Great. Now, what does that mean again?

To have died to sin means that, when God declares us righteous through the finished work of Jesus Christ, the reign and power of sin is broken in my life! This does not mean that we are sinless, or even that we will not sin. What it means is this: But it does mean that I can resist sin.

when we were under the reign of sin, we were so ruled by our own sinful desires that either a. we could not see them or b. we could not resist them. We were blinded to the things of God. Because of the reign of sin, I was subject to, as Hebrews teaches us, lifelong slavery. I was in Adam, and acted like Adam. Adam’s choices were my choices. Adam’s sin was my sin. and then, because I was a slave to sin, I sinned even more as I acted according to my nature, and obeyed my master. But when we were moved to the reign of grace, we now have the Holy Spirit, and because of the Spirit that has been poured into our hearts, we can resist sin!

In the reign of grace, we have a new ruler! This is exactly Colossians 1:13

Colossians 1:13 ESV

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

When we were under the power of sin, sin was our only choice. Our righteousness was like filthy rags before the Lord. We didn’t have any affection for the things of God. We rebelled against Him, and had no power to resist sin. We might could hit some white knuckled obedience from time to time, and maybe even for a long time, but there was no power in our lives to break the slavery of sin. We were powerless to live under our master. But when we are justified, the power of sin is broken. We no longer HAVE TO sin. We have a totally different power that rules over our life - instead of being ruled by the power of sin, we reign in life because of the righteousness of Christ, given to us through our new head, Christ!

And yet, we still sin! Why? Because even though we died to sin, we are still warned that we not only might sin, but we will sin! But sin can no longer tell you what to do - you no longer HAVE to sin. Since you have died to sin, sin can be dead to you.

Now all this work, of giving us a new ruler, of putting us under a new power, of giving us a new life, it requires the death of the old. In a spiritual sense, the old me, the one who was ruled by these things, has to die. When justification happens, the old man dies. His heart of stone is torn out. That reign, that power of death? Broken. Victory? Guaranteed.

Hence the second part of Paul’s question - if this is true, if sin is dead to me, because I am dead to sin, why on earth would I still live in it? house story - what happens if I go back to that old house, open the door, go to the fridge, grab a snack, sit on the couch and watch TV? I’m trespassing! It is an absurd idea. And that is Paul’s point.

The challenge of spiritual realities is that they don’t always exactly translate to physical truths. Let’s think of this another way, that may help. Martin Lloyd-Jones used this illustration that I found to be pretty helpful: imagine that there are two fields, with a narrow, but uncrossable chasm between the two. My life in Adam is in the left field. I am a sinner, wretched, poor, blind and naked. Satan lives in that field with me, and serves as my ruler, my master, and I am subject to his power.

But when God justifies me, I am transported by His grace to the right side field. I have a new place to live, a new, but very young, set of desires and affections. I am under a whole new power, and I have a new master, who lives in this field with me, whose yoke is easy and burden is light - Jesus. But, from time to time, I wander to the edge of the right field, and from the edge of that field, I can hear my old master calling to me, lying to me, flattering me and making me long to go back and live in the old field. Sometimes, the things he tells me to do, and the ways in which he tempts me cause me to stumble, and even to fall, in my new field. But there is no going back to the left field. And, because of where I am now living, I will eventually see my new Master, and I will respond to him, and get my rear end away from the edge of the field and hear His voice.

This is about as close as I could get to figuring how to explain this reality, of being justified, of being dead to sin and alive in Christ, and yet still sinning. I may, and I will sin. But I don’t live there anymore!

Our eyes have been opened. We have seen how awful sin is. We have seen how wretched, vile and undeserving we are of grace. And then, we see His marvelous light, and we respond through faith. And when we do, we receive life! Why would we move into the morgue when grace has rescued us to a mansion in glory? We are dead to sin! We simply won’t live in it! When justification happens in our lives, we are not simply declared righteous; we also begin to see Christ’s righteousness developed in us! This is the process we typically refer to as sanctification.

Barnhouse: “holiness starts where justification finishes, and if holiness does not start, we have the right to suspect that justification never started either.”

We derive benefits from that death because we are united with Him in that death. Christ died to break the power of sin, and in a real, spiritual way, when he died, our old man died too. And dead men are no longer subject to the rule and power of sin. For new life to happen, death must first take place. For us to be in Christ, is to be in all of Christ. To be clothed in His righteousness, we must also be united in His death.

And, when that death happens, what follows is exactly what happens when there is a death in any other situation: the old man must be buried.

2. The old man was buried with Jesus!

Romans 6:3 ESV

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

now, Paul begins to explain how this is true. Now, for just a second, if you would allow me to explain the history of the word “baptize,” that may help us a little. The word “Baptize” didn’t really exist at all in the english language until translators starting translating the Bible. The word “baptize” in the greek language sounds almost exactly like our English word, and it means “to immerse” or “to plunge.” In every instance the New Testament, the word carries the meaning of immersing someone. Period. So, why did we end up with the word “baptize?” Because the Kings of that time were either Catholic or Anglican, and both practiced sprinkling, not immersion. So, out of fear of offending the king, the translators just carried the greek word over instead of actually translating it.

Why does this matter? Well, it helps us understand a little bit more of what Paul is saying here. Listen to it this way: “all of us who have been immersed into Christ Jesus were immersed into his death.” Now it is really important to understand that the idea of an unbaptized Christian simply didn’t exist in Paul’s day. We have no record of believers in the first two centuries of church history who were not baptized.

So, when Paul says “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus,” what he is doing is saying “don’t you know that all Christians have been immersed into the death of Christ?” And if the old man has died, just as Christ died, and so is dead to sin, then the old man was also buried, just as Jesus was buried.

This passage, and this concept, is why I prefer to talk about people being “in Christ” than I do to talk about them being “Christian.” When we are justified, the old man dies. Old me, who was of the first Adam, is no longer under the rule and power of sin. Baptism is a glorious funeral service, where we celebrate the reality that the old me has died, and we are symbolizing the burial of the old me. I am “in Christ,” fully immersed in His life, and I can only be clothed in life if the old man first dies.

Now, a little about baptism, since this is the popular use of this passage. In fact, I myself quote from this passage when I baptize someone. Water baptism is a visual and symbolic representation of what has happened as a spiritual reality! We were united with Christ in death. We were in Adam, and that man was put to death. And so, a proper burial was performed. We are put under the water to represent that the old man was buried, just like Jesus was.

But why does it happen this way? Why is it important to “bury,” if you will, the old man. That’s where the good news comes in, friends. You see, and we are all relieved by this, I don’t keep you in the water - I bring you up! And that raising is a picture of the spiritual reality that I have been raised from the dead, and the power of sin is defeated!

4. The new man has new life!

Romans 6:4 ESV

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Why must we die with Christ? Why must we be buried with Christ? This is why! David will spend more time on this concept next week, but we simply could not stop this passage with us being dead!

we died when Christ died, and dead people are freed from sin, so we are freed from sin. BUT, the glorious good news of the Gospel is that Jesus didn’t stay dead! And guess what? We don’t either. We are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life

Just as the person is immersed into Christ by being justified by faith, they then make a public profession of what has happened spiritually by being baptized! This is why I say that baptism is our true public profession of faith - if this is what has happened on the inside, we are compelled to display this to the world, not just by standing in front of the church and saying “I have decided to follow Jesus,” but by following Jesus in obedience and saying “I have died to sin, and have been buried with Christ”

In essence, Paul is asking the folks in Rome “do you not know what your own baptism means? Look to the work of baptism, and see the grace of Christ! You died to sin. The old man is a corpse, and so was buried.”

Paul has given us an absolutely mind-boggling truth here. To be in Christ means that what is true of Christ is true of us! - we who were under the reign of death, and were in Adam, are now in Christ, and are reigning in life!

In other words, when we are justified, the power of sin, and the reign of sin is broken and we are now a new creation, with new life! In a spiritual sense, it is like we are a totally different person.

Now we can understand the incredulity of Paul when he answers this question. This is why he says “I don’t think you understand what I’m saying here!” When we are justified, we are set apart for the pursuit of holiness. The old us, the one who was a slave to sin, who had no choice but to continue in sin, and to continue to sin, died, just as Christ died. He was buried, just as Christ was buried. And then, because Christ arose, we have risen to new life! And this new life is not a promise just for later on, we have new life now!

The fruit of this new life is a pursuit of holiness. This is why Jesus could say a tree is told by its fruit - we will certainly bear fruit if we are in Christ!

And so - no, of course not! No one who has been justified by faith will continue in sin. It is just unthinkable. And the inverse is also true - a person who has been justified by faith will pursue holiness. They will treasure Christ. There will be a new will, one that can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, resist the power of sin. There will be a new set of loves, and we will find the things of this earth to grow strangely dim. There will be a new master, and we can now serve Jesus, Christ, as a slave to righteousness, just as Paul describes himself in Romans 1:1

Romans 1:1 ESV

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,

Justification brings new life. And those who have new life will not continue in sin. This is precisely what baptism symbolizes, and why it is so important, and why we are so careful with it. It is a precious picture of what Christ has done, not just to give us new life, but to kill and bury the old man. It’s value, just like that little two by two picture in my office, is based in what it represents, and what it brings to mind.

What is Romans 6:1-4 telling me to do?

Today, this passage is calling us to do something very basic. Go back to that field illustration I gave us earlier. Those who are of Adam live in that left field, slaves to their master Satan. The right field is only for those who are declared righteous, for those who have heard the voice of King Jesus and have responded through repentance and faith. They have been justified, died to sin, buried with Christ and raised to walk in new life. Now, let me ask you a serious, and simple question:

which field are you in, friend? No man can serve two masters. You are either of your father the Devil, or you are a servant of King Jesus. It’s either Adam or Christ. Sheep or goats. There is no middle. There is no “carnal Christian;” that is a made-up word that we cling to when we are uncertain about whether we, or someone we love, is truly in Christ. Listen to me: stop being uncertain. Today, turn from sin. Trust in Christ. Put your hope in Him, and let Him kill and bury the old you, so you can walk in newness of life. And from that newness of life, you can have the hope of eternity.

Benediction: 2 Cor. 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.