Romans 6:1-14

Our New Life

The Westminster Larger Catechism Question 77

Question 77

Wherein do justification and sanctification differ?

Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, (1 Cor. 6:11, 1 Cor. 1:30) yet they differ, in that God in justification impureth the righteousness of Christ; (Rom. 4:6 ,8) in sanctification of his Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof; (Ezek. 36:27) in the former, sin is pardoned; (Rom. 3:24–25) in the other, it is subdued: (Rom. 6:6,14) the one doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation (Rom. 8:33–34) the other is neither equal in all, (1 John 2:12–14, Heb. 5:12–14) nor in this life perfect in any, (1 John 1:8,10) but growing up to perfection. (2 Cor. 7:1, Phil. 3:12–14)

The question and answer from the Westminster Catechism - which was used extensively as a teaching tool in previous centuries - helps us as we turn to Romans 6 - 8. This next section of the letter is Paul’s attempt to explain what it means to live a ‘Christian’ life.

Romans 6:1 HCSB

What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?

Paul often carries on an internal debate - imagining the kind of questions non-believers (particularly Jews) might ask. This is such a qeustion.

If obedience the law only brings death, and disobedience leads to grace, then why would one want to obey? Isn’t experiencing grace is a wonderful promise.

W.H. Auden, a noted English author of the early - mid 20th century, captured this dilemma when he wrote:

I like committing crimes. God likes forgiving them. Really the world is admirably arranged.

Quoted by Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans; The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Gen. Ed.’s: Ned B. Stonehouse, F.F. Bruce, Gordon D. Fee (Grand Rapids, MI.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1996), 356.

Obviously Paul’s point is not to encourage us to sin so we can experience more grace!

Romans 6:2 HCSB

Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Romans (1) Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ (6:1–14)

The text does not say that sin dies to the believer; it is the believer who has died to sin.

This is not a plea to stop sinning. Rather, as the next few phrases will demonstrate it is a promise that believer have truly died to sin.

Romans 6:3–5 HCSB

Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life. For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection.

First: baptism in the NT always refers to total immersion. By the time Paul penned Romans, baptism by immersion was the typical expression of one who had professed Jesus as Lord and Savior. At this point in the NT infants were not being baptized, only consenting adults (and perhaps children who were old enough to recognize their sin and need of a Savior).

So, do we ‘die’ in our baptism? Are we ‘buried’ when we are ‘under’ the water?

Paul understood that the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus was all of one piece.

In Jesus, God literally invaded the world of Adam (through whom sin and death entered the world) with a new Adam (Jesus Christ) who completely changes everything.

In Jesus, through His life, death, burial, and resurrection, God gives a way for those enslaved to sin to be freed from the old life of sin.

When we are baptized - upon a confession of our faith - we are re-enacting the life of Jesus. He died (we choose to die to sin - more in a moment); His body was entombed - He really died - and He was raised (in a physical body) to a radically new life.

Our baptism is a picture of our being united to, or being incorporated into Jesus.

We don’t die and receive new life at baptism. The new life we receive comes at the point of our confession of Jesus as Lord.

Our baptism is an acting out of the drastic change signified by all that Jesus did for us on the cross.

Romans 6:6–7 HCSB

For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims.

This ‘death’ which is pictured in our baptism means…what?

Old self/man…new self/man...

First, the body is not evil in and of itself. Our bodies are remarkable creations of God, wonderfully made and designed.

Our physical body (GR: soma) is not just the physical exterior. The body is all that we are - mind, emotions, soul, spirit, and whatever other ways you might choose to describe.

Our old self/man was crucified:

Obviously we didn’t die with Jesus on the cross. When we professed Him as Savior and Lord and were ‘united’ to Him (made visible by our baptism) our old self did experience death.

The old self is simply Paul’s way of defining our relationship to God prior to Christ (see also Col 3:9-11; Eph 4:22-24).

The new self, then, is the expression of the new life which is ours because of our union with Jesus in His resurrection life.

Death is a graphic and bold way of telling us that once we are united to Christ, the sin that ruled our hearts and minds is dead - sin no longer has power over us.

It does not mean that Christians never sin! Rather it means that sin - the power which leads men and women to commit specific acts of wrong - s(ee Rom 5:12-19) no longer has power/control/authority over us!

Sin no longer has any claim on us.

Romans 6:8–10 HCSB

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God.

Just as Jesus experienced death but was raised to a new and different quality of life, so those who are united to Him (visualized in baptism) are empowered to experience a new and different quality of life.

This new quality of life will not be fully realized till Jesus returns and restores creation to God’s original purpose.

Jesus resurrection was, as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15, the first-fruits. His resurrection is not the end of all but the beginning of resurrections, the promise that what has begun will be completed.

Romans 6:11–14 HCSB

So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

This ‘new’ life, then has some very practical applications for us:

a). we are to choose (daily, hourly, moment by moment) to realize that our old self is free from the power of sin and we can choose to obey God.

b). We have the power through the indwelling Holy Spirit to say NO to sin.

c). Sin has lost all power over us.

d). We can choose to present ourselves - our minds, our bodies, our emotions, our soul, our spirit, our strength to God for His exclusive use.