“Romans 6:1-14”

Friday, February 23, 2018

“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.”

---End of Scripture Verses---

Okay so Paul spilled a lot of ink writing about the futility of keeping law as a means of salvation. Does this mean then that we are free to do as we please under our covenant with God in Christ Jesus? Does law play no part at all? Paul had just written that, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (5:20). Does that mean that we should go on sinning “that grace may abound” (6:1)? The answer is, “Of course not!” “May it never be!” (verse 2) We learn in chapter six that our covenant of grace with God in Christ obligates us all the more to live righteous, godly, holy lives in obedience to the laws of our Creator.

The reason we should not go on sinning is that Christians have “died to sin” (verse 2). Before we give our lives to Christ we are dead IN sin (Ephesians 2:1). But after we allow God to crucify the old sinful self (verse 6), and bury that old dead guy (or gal) in the grave of water baptism (verse 3), we die TO sin. This does not mean that our allurement to sin dies within us, but that, as God’s new creation in Christ, we walk in “newness of life” (verse 4). Having been freed from sin, we must make the determination to resist sin’s temptation, with the help of God’s grace, the teaching of His word and the strength of a good conscience.

When we are baptized for the right reasons (because we comprehend the atrociousness of our sins, and we are sorry for them and are ready to turn from them and have them forgiven), we are “baptized into Christ” (verse 3). Into a special relationship with Him that we do not experience before we are baptized into Him. And, we are actually buried into Christ’s DEATH as well (verse 3) and thereby buried into our own death to sin (verse 4).

But just when does this death to sin take place? Is the old person of sin killed first and then the water burial takes place? Of course not! Paul tells us clearly that we are buried with Christ “through baptism into death” (verse 4). The death and the burial take place at the same time, on the same occasion—In baptism. This is perfectly consistent with other clearly written passages of Scripture. The Apostle Peter tells us in Acts 2:38 that we are baptized, “for the forgiveness of sins.” He also wrote in 1 Peter 3:21 that, “baptism also now saves you.” Baptism is not the “what” that saves you but the “where” and the “when”. The Bible teaches us that Christ’s blood saves us, God’s grace saves us, our faith saves us, baptism saves us. The initial act of salvation takes place in the waters of baptism, where we contact that saving blood of Jesus and the saving grace of God by our obedient faith, calling on His name (Acts 22:16).

Also of great significance here is the “method” of baptism. This passage clearly teaches us that baptism is a burial. You don’t bury someone in the ground by sprinkling dirt on them, and you don’t bury somebody in baptism by sprinkling water on them. It is just as important to be baptized in the right MANNER as it is to be baptized for the right REASONS.

And after we have shared in the likeness of Christ’s death and burial, we also arise in the likeness of His resurrection (verse 5). We are born again of water and spirit (John 3:5) and arise a new, spiritual creation in Christ. No longer to live for sin or be controlled by sin, but to do away with “the body of sin” (verse 6). Once the spirit has been renewed, the body must be subdued. The term “done away with” in verse 6 literally means “to render powerless.” We must try to impose the will of our spirit upon the weakness of our flesh.

Paul expands upon this idea in verses 12-14, where he tells us to “not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts;” and to “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.”

He emphasizes in verse 14 that we cannot allow sin to be “master over” us. This takes great effort friends and brethren because Satan’s temptations can be very powerful! But our all-powerful God, by His amazing grace, will equip us to defeat Satan and sin, if we will only exert the energy and effort required to do our part. To “present” our bodies as instruments of sin means to give them over to the disposal of Satan to be used for his purposes. Instead, we should present our bodies to God and offer them as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to Him (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Please read Romans 6:15-23 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!!!

- Louie Taylor

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