Romans 6:1-14

The Old & New

In chapter 6 of Romans, which is split into two major sections each dealing with the subject of God’s grace, the Apostle Paul juxtaposes “death to sin” and “death by sin” (6:1-14). He also shows the contrasting qualities of being enslaved to sin versus being enslaved to righteousness (6:15-23).

The first section addresses the idea that More Sin Equals More Grace (6:1-14). The second section covers the idea that Grace Equals a Freedom to Sin (6:15-23). And this is where folks wrongfully interpret the gentleness; the graciousness of God as a form of passivity believing that there is no consequence for their sinful behavior.

True story, I can remember that as a young boy, newly baptized, I thought that since I had professed a belief in Jesus and having been baptized that under this new grace, I could live however I chose and God had to accept me. So I lived my life in total defiance toward my mother and God. I was so bad that I even stole money out of the offering plates at church. I thought that my baptism and claim to Christianity meant that no matter what I did I'd be forgiven for it. It wasn't until much later in life, once I had truly surrendered my will to the will of the Father, that I understood just how wrong I was about the power, purpose and application of the grace of God in my life.

Here, in , the Apostle Paul asks a series of rhetorical questions: 1) Are we free to sin so that we get more grace (v1)? 2) How can we keep living in sin if we’re actually dead to it (v2)? 3) Do we not understand that being baptized into Jesus means we are joined with Him in death (v3)? 4) Shall we sin because we are not under law (v15)? To each of these questions Paul anticipates that his audience will take issue with and thereby misunderstand the true meaning of the grace of God. This is the place that so many in our world have found themselves. Even many within the church. Just like I did. If God will forgive me when I sin, then why should I be concerned with living a sinless life? If grace abounds where sin is present, then I’m free to sin because I’ll get more grace. And Paul says, ‘Absolutely not!’

Dead to Sin ()

Question #1 - Should we sin more so that we get more grace? Well, that’s an illogical question. And Paul is opposed to this idea because he understands the significance of our baptism into Christ.

First, Paul understands that baptism symbolizes the dying of our old sinful selves. Through baptism we died - much like when Jesus hung on the cross and was buried in the tomb. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death…” (v. 4).

In we see a great picture of death and life and the awesome power of God to make new what once was old in Ezekiel's prophecy of the Valley of Dry Bones. Death, as we see in these verses, renders us powerless. Powerless to do anything on or own. So, in much the same way, what Paul is saying to his audience is that being baptized into the death of Christ leaves Believers in a spiritually unresponsive state in regards to sin. So this brings us to Paul’s second question.

Question #2 - How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? According to theologians Greathouse and Dunning “baptism was in anticipation of death in the sense that it was a declaration of intent to put to death those marks of the old life contrary to Christ” (Intro to Wesleyan Theology, p. 109).

When someone, professing faith in Jesus Christ, is baptized, what they are saying/what they are declaring to us and even to the world, is that they intend to live their lives in full submission to their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; that they have no intention to live their lives according to the pattern of their old life (). “If we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him” (v8). Not only shall we live with Him, but we shall live like Him.

The important thing to note here is that this is not a mastering of the wills. Going back to , twice the Word of the Lord was prophesied to the dry bones, “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live” (vv5-6). It's about the Breath of God, in the Person and presence of His Holy Spirit, coming into our lifeless spirits and making us capable of responding to the voice and the word of God. This is also known as prevenient grace. Isn’t that what happened to Adam and Eve? “...the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (). Adam and Eve were “dead” to this life before their awakening by the Breath/the Holy Spirit of God. The Dry Bones were dead without the Breath of God entering their lifeless bodies. We too, through our baptism into Christ, are dead to our old, sinful passions and “By the glory of the Father” “...just as Christ was raised from the dead...even so we should walk in newness of life” (v4). So again, Paul understands that our baptism symbolizes the dying of our old sinful selves.

Alive in Christ ()

Question #3 - Second, Paul understands that baptism also symbolizes our resurrection from death to life. states that every born again Christian is a completely new, first –time creation with no residue of the old life. Paul’s third question asks, has it not sunk in that our baptism into Jesus is a baptism into His death? Paul goes on to provide the answer to this question by stating that going into the waters of baptism are somehow similar to entering into the tomb with Jesus and that coming out of the watery grave is similar to that great and awesome Easter morning with Jesus, on the third day, by the Holy Spirit of God, rose from the dead with all power in His hands!

Does our dying to sin somehow mean that Christians cannot sin?

In the book Across the Spectrum, p153 it is stated this way,

“‘Death to sin’ does not mean that believers have died to the enticements and allurements of sin, nor does it mean that they cannot sin (; ).Rather, it means that the reign or dictatorial control of sin has been broken for those who are united with Christ. It teaches that a once-and-for-all definitive and irreversible break with the realm in which sin reigns has occurred. Having been transferred from the realm of sin and incorporated into Christ’s death, believers now reside in a household in which sin no longer has the right to dictate () and where condemnation no longer exists ().”

Where sin doesn’t have the right to run your life (EXPOUND ON THIS) and where “condemnation no longer exists” because if anyone sins while in the pursuit of righteousness, “we have an Advocate with the Father - Jesus Christ the Righteous One” ().

We can resist the devil and his temptations by drawing ever closer to God (; ). It’s like the old saying goes, you can’t stop a bird from flying over your head, but that doesn’t mean that you let them build a nest in your hair. (I’ve already done my part.) But seriously, this is not a mastering of the wills, but a constant surrender to the Breath of God within us. We create an atmosphere, through prayer, fasting, serving, studying God’s Word, receiving Godly counsel, through humility and repentance, where the Holy Spirit of God can work in us and break the bondage of sin and give us power over the temptations in our lives.

“The design of [Christ’s] death was to destroy sin” Albert Barnes says. “To make an atonement for it, and thus to put it away. Christians, being baptized into his death, and having it as their object to destroy sin, should not indulge in it.The whole force of the motive, therefore, drawn from the death of Christ, is to induce Christians to forsake sin” (Barnes Notes on the New Testament, 592).