Romans 6.15-We Are Not To Sin Because We Are Not Under Law But Under Grace
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday July 15, 2008
Romans: Romans 6:15-We Are Not To Sin Because We Are Not Under Law But Under Grace
Lesson # 196
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 6:1.
This evening we will study of Romans 6:15, in which Paul teaches the believers in Rome in emphatic terms that they are not to sin because they are no longer under the Law but under grace.
Romans 6:1-14, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be 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 lusts and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
In Romans 6:15-23, Paul responds to any possible misconceptions concerning his teaching in Romans 6:14 that the believer is under grace and not under the authority of the Law.
He argues in these verses that Christ died to free the believer from the Law so that the believer could be a slave to God and His righteousness since the Law was designed to reveal to sinners the infinite gulf between them and a holy God and to lead them to the Savior.
In response to any possible objections to and misconceptions regarding his teaching in Romans 6:14 by those Jews who insist that the Law is necessary to restrain sin and those Christians who might erroneously conclude that grace is a license to sin, Paul teaches that the release of Christians from the Law was a necessary step in dethroning the sin nature’s reign in the Christian’s life.
Romans 6:15-23, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed. And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Now, let’s concentrate on Romans 6:15.
Romans 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!”
Paul opens Romans 6:15-23 in a similar manner to which he opened Romans 6:1-14.
“What” is the interrogative pronoun tis (tiv$) (tis), which is asking a rhetorical question.
“Then” is the “inferential” use of the conjunction oun (ou@n) (oon), which denotes that what is introduced at this point is the result of an inference from Paul’s teaching contained in Romans 6:14.
In Romans 6:14, Paul teaches the believers in Rome that the sin nature is not to be their master since they were no longer under law, but under God’s grace.
In Romans 6:15, the conjunction oun denotes that what is introduced at this point is the result of a possible erroneous inference drawn from Paul’s teaching in Romans 6:14.
Paul’s rhetorical question in Romans 6:15 addresses a possible false inference from his teaching in Romans 6:14 that if the Christian is no longer under the authority of the Law, then it does not really matter if the Christian sins.
His answer to this question is emphatic.
The Christian was set free to love and serve and obey God rather than live under the sin nature’s tyranny by possessing a sinful lifestyle.
The Christian’s freedom consists of freedom from the sin nature and not freedom to sin.
Sin does have consequences for the Christian even though he is under grace.
First of all, he loses fellowship with God, which is restored through the confession of sin (1 John 1:9; Psalm 32:1-5) and this fellowship is maintained by obedience to the Word of God (1 John 2:3-6; 2 Corinthians 10:5-7).
Secondly, if he habitually lives in obedience to the desires of the sin nature or in other words, maintains a sinful lifestyle, then he will be disciplined by the Lord (Hebrews 12:4-13; Revelation 3:19).
The teaching that contends the Christian is free to sin because he is no longer under the Law and that grace gives one a license to sin is called “antinomianism.”
In Romans 3:8, Paul indirectly addresses the Judaizers’ charge that his gospel of grace was “antinomianism,” which comes from the Greek anti, “against” and the noun nomos, “law,” thus the expression literally means, “against the law.”
In Romans 6:1-2, Paul confronts those who might misconstrue his teaching in Romans 5:20 that the Law was added to increase the transgression of Adam but where sin increased, God’s grace abounded all the more.
Romans 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!”
“Shall we sin” is the verb hamartano (a(martavnw) (ham-ar-tan-o), which is used intransitively (without a direct object) and refers to any mental, verbal or overt act of sin that is contrary to the will and law of God.
The first person plural form of the verb is an “inclusive we” referring to Paul and his readers, who like himself, are sinners who have been declared justified by God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Based upon Paul’s emphatic negation of this rhetorical question, the first person plural form of the verb hamartano emphasizes that no Christian is free to commit sin because he is no longer under the Law but under grace.
In Romans 6:15, the subjunctive mood of the verb hamartano is a “deliberative rhetorical subjunctive” meaning that Paul is asking the question of his fellow Christians as to whether it is morally acceptable for them to not commit sin because they are no longer under the Law but under grace.
“We are not” is composed of the emphatic negative adverb ou (ou)) (oo), “not” and the verb eimi (ei)miv) (i-mee), which means, “to belong to a particular class of individuals.”
The verb eimi and the emphatic negative adverb ou denote that Paul and his Christian readers belong to a particular class of individuals who are not under law but under God’s grace.
Romans 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!”
“Under Law” means that the justified sinner, i.e. the Christian is no longer under the law in the sense that the law has no authority or sovereign power over him since he is now under God’s grace policy.
“Under grace” means that the justified sinner, i.e. the Christian is now “under the dominion or authority” of God’s grace policy.
This expression me genoito, “may it never be” is the strongest negative Greek expression emphatically denying any possibility or thought of Christians being free to commit sin because they are no longer under the Law but under grace.
This expression indicates repudiation or in other words, the refusal to accept and implies a casting off or disowning as untrue, unauthorized, or unworthy of acceptance.
It conveys the idea of outraged indignation. God didn’t give the Christian grace in order that he might commit sin.
Rather, He gave the Christian grace in order that the Christian might love, serve and obey Him.
The mood of the verb ginomai is a “voluntative optative,” which expresses Paul’s abhorrence of an inference which he fears might be falsely drawn from his teaching in Romans 6:14 that the Christian is no longer under the Law but under grace.
It indicates his repulsion at the thought that someone might infer this erroneous conclusion from his teaching in Romans 6:14.
The optative appeals to the volition of his audience expressing the idea that they should never conclude such a thing.