a study of Romans 6

After Paul explained in chapter 5 that Christ saved us even while we were sinners, that we are saved by grace, not by keeping the law, he deals with a possible objection: "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" (Rom. 6:1).

If God's grace is always larger than our sin, should we go through the hard work of changing our ways? If our salvation doesn't depend on our work, and if we don't want to look like legalists, should we simply remain the way we were?

It is not clear here whether the question is simply a rhetorical question, or a real one. Earlier in the book Paul wrote that some people slanderously said that Paul was preaching for people to do evil so that good would result. It is quite possible that these same people accused Paul of saying that we should sin so that grace would abound.

But whether the question was real or not, it has to be addressed. Any time the gospel of grace is clearly presented, the question is going to come up. Jesus had to answer it, Paul had to answer it, James had to answer it. If all our sins are forgiven, if all our future sins can be forgiven, too, well, then, why worry about sin? Is it OK for us to continue to sin?

"By no means!" Paul exclaims. We should quit sin, even though our salvation does not depend on our success in quitting sin. Obedience cannot earn us salvation, but that doesn't mean that obedience has no purpose. Rather, it has a different purpose. We have a different reason to quit sin.

Death of the sinful self

"We died to sin," Paul says. "How can we live in it any longer?" (v. 2). What's that? Just what do you mean, died to sin? I am very much alive, and sin is alive too, and I find it tempting, otherwise I wouldn't ask the question. If faith in Christ leads to automatic victory over all sin, then I wouldn't even be concerned about sin, and Paul wouldn't bother with the question. But sin continues to be a reality we must deal with in our lives.

Paul is saying that sin makes no sense in our lives. There's something basically incongruous about seeking salvation, about seeking to escape a death that sin caused, and yet wanting to continue in sin. People who think that way are confused, Paul is saying. Hopefully this will become a bit more clear as we go through this chapter.

"Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" (v. 3). This question comes from ignorance, Paul says. You would know the answer to the question if you knew the basics about Christian baptism. A person who has been baptized into Christ has been baptized into his death.

But what does it mean to be baptized into Christ's death? Baptism isn't painful; it doesn't feel like death; it doesn't make all our sinful desires suddenly disappear. So what has died?

In his death, Jesus paid in full the penalty for our sins. His death counts as ours—but that brings us back to grace again. If in Christ the penalty for sin is already fully paid, should we bother trying to quit? Yes, says Paul. There is more to our death in Christ than just getting the penalty paid in full.

In baptism, we were baptized into Christ's death. Paul then draws this conclusion: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death..." (v. 4). Baptism pictures not only a sharing in Jesus' death, but also a sharing in his burial. Why is that significant?

Paul explains the purpose: "...in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (v. 4). We were buried with Christ for this purpose: that we might live a new life, that we might change the way we live. We do not continue life the way it was—we do not go on sinning, but we change.

Not only does baptism unite us with Jesus in his death and burial, it also unites us with his resurrection and his life. Just as going under the water is a picture of burial, rising from the water is a picture of new life. We were symbolically buried so that we might also symbolize rising to a new way of life. Paul explains more as he goes along:

"If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection" (v. 5). Our union with Christ comes through faith in him, through acceptance that he died for us, and it is expressed in baptism. But our union with him brings not only justification, the benefit of sharing in his death, it also brings the benefit of life, of sharing in his resurrection. We can be confident that we will be resurrected after we die. But this is relevant not just in the distant future—it affects the way we live now.

Paul seems to be saying something like this: Why would anyone want to be joined to sin on the one hand, and joined to Christ on the other hand? It does not make sense to combine these ideas. Why would anybody want to live forever with righteousness, if they want to live in sin right now?

"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with" (v. 6). We died with Christ, we were buried with Christ, and we were crucified with Christ. Paul makes the same point in several ways. Our old person was a body of sin, a body under the power of sin, and that is what was killed on the cross.

But wait! We still have the same body. We are still we, and we are alive. But Paul is saying that there is something about the old us that died in our baptism, and there is something new that should live after baptism.

Why is Paul making this point? Here's his conclusion: "...that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin" (vs. 6-7). In baptism, our former selves are pictured as being crucified, for the purpose that we should escape the penalty and bondage of sin. A person who died has paid the penalty of sin, and sin therefore has no more authority over it. We are freed from the penalty because the penalty has been paid.

But being saved by grace does not give us permission to continue in sin. Quite the opposite: When we join ourselves to Christ, we terminate the old life so that we leave sin behind and live a new life.

But in making this point, Paul introduces some new imagery: slavery and freedom. Sin is not just something we do—it is a power that works against us, a power that enslaves us, a power we must be freed from. And Paul is saying that when we die with Christ, we are liberated from this evil slavemaster. We do not go on serving it, but we live a new life, a new way of life.

Paul is not saying that we do this perfectly, but he is saying that this is what the Christian life is for. This is why we go on living even after we die with Christ in baptism. We are to live a new life.

Paul stresses life. "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him" (v. 8). Yes, we will live with him in the resurrection, in the future, but the real question in this chapter is not about the future, but about life right now. Do we continue in sin, or do we try to stop?

Paul makes this point about Jesus: "For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him" (v. 9). Jesus was not brought back to mortal life, as Lazarus was. Rather, Jesus was raised to immortal, imperishable life. Death once had mastery over him, just as sin once had mastery over us. But Jesus has been freed from that power, and as we are united with Christ, we will be freed from those powers, too.

"The death he died, he died to sin once for all" (v. 10). In his death, Jesus paid the penalty of all sin, once and for all. That is taken care of. If we believe that we will live with Christ in the future, we should also believe that he has conquered the power of sin and death, and that he liberates us from the power of sin and death.

Yes, we still die, and yes, we still sin, but those powers do not have the final authority in our lives. Sin no longer has mastery over us. It may attract us at times, but it cannot force us to do its will. We are no longer slaves of sin.

What is the example of Jesus? It's in the last part of verse 10: "but the life he lives, he lives to God." This is the alternative, the other choice set before us. On one side, we have sin, and we can serve sin. The other choice is to live to God, to serve God, and this is the new life that we are to live. If we are joined to the life of Jesus Christ, then this is the kind of life we are to live—a life to God, a life given to him, given in service to him.

So in the next verse, Paul tells us to model our lives after Christ: "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (v. 11). Sin cannot force us to do its will, but it can tempt us. And when it does, we are to count ourselves dead. Dead people don't sin, and can't be tempted to sin. When sin offers us something tempting, we are to answer: No, my desire for that is dead.

Now, if we didn't in actual fact find sin to be tempting, we wouldn't have to bother with this. It certainly isn't automatic, or else Paul wouldn't have to tell us to do it. We may be tempted, our bodies may still have some life in them for sin, but we are to count ourselves as dead to sin. That means that we must remind ourselves that the real situation is in Christ. Our old selves died with Christ, our old desires died with Christ. We are to count ourselves as belonging to a different way of life.

Earlier, Paul was telling us what Christ did for us, and we share in by virtue of our faith and baptism. Now, he is telling us what we are supposed to do. Just as Christ died to sin way back then, we are to resist sin day by day.

But the Christian life does not stop with self-denial. It is not simply a matter of refusing sin, of having no desires, of playing dead. We are supposed to be alive—alive to God, alive to him because we are in Christ Jesus. Our desires to live for him are to be vigorously alive!

"Therefore," Paul writes, "do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires" (v. 12). Even if you can't follow Paul's logic, his conclusion is clear: Christians should not continue in sin. We should obey God, not sin.

Of course, we do sin, but we can be confident that Christ has already paid the penalty for our sins. Our salvation is not in jeopardy, but we are still commanded to obey God and to quit sinning. There is a battle going on for control of our bodies. The old slavemaster, sin, has been defeated by Christ, but sin continues to attack us nevertheless. It tries to reign in us, and it will take over as much of us as we allow. So we must resist it—not let it rule in our mortal bodies.

Sin continues to attack us and beset us as long as we are alive. But Paul says, Don't give up. Don't let it win. Fight against it. "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness" (v. 13).

There's a battle going on for control of your body, and who will you let win? Will you let sin have its way, or will you let God have his way? Let God win, Paul says, because you have been brought from death to life. That is what baptism pictures. You have been redeemed, ransomed out of slavery to sin. You don't have to let sin rule. Instead, let God rule.

How do we do that? By giving him our bodies as tools he can use for righteousness. What the NIV translates as instruments, can also be translated as weapons, and that fits well in the battle analogy. We shouldn't let sin use our body parts as weapons of wickedness, as tools to make us more wicked. Instead, we need to let God use our bodies as weapons of righteousness, as people who work for his kingdom. As we let him rule in us, then righteousness reigns in us, in our new life.

"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace" (v. 14). If we were under law, if we were under its authority, then we would be condemned as sinners, and sin would have the final say in our lives. We would die.

But sin does not have its way, because we are not under the authority of the law. The penalty of sin has been conquered, the power of sin has been broken, the captives of sin have been freed. We are covered by God's grace. When we are under grace, we are dependent on his work, not our own. His mercy has triumphed over the penalty prescribed by the law.

And because we are under grace, then sin is not our master. Going back to sin makes no more sense than running back to our old slavemaster, or for a prisoner who has been pardoned running back to his old jail cell. No, in grace and in salvation, sin is what we are getting away from.

So the truth is actually the opposite of what Paul was accused of doing. Instead of grace encouraging sin, it is the very opposite: grace gives us reason to get away from sin. If it weren't for grace, we would be condemned whether we tried to do right or not. If there were no grace, we might as well continue in sin, because without grace our efforts wouldn't make any difference. So grace gives us the freedom to escape from sin. The whole reason that we need salvation is sin, it is makes no sense to seek salvation at the same time as seeking sin. Either we want to get away from it, or not. Grace makes it possible for us to get away from it.

Slaves of righteousness

"What then?" Paul asks. "Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" (v. 15). Some things that Paul writes are hard to understand. This one is crystal clear. Christians are not supposed to think that sin is OK. God does not want us to sin. We are supposed to obey God, and not sin.

Paul then develops the analogy of slavery a bit further to make his point: "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (v. 16).

Paul asks, Are you a little thick-headed? If you choose sin, you are enslaving yourself to a master who will beat you, will make your life miserable, and will work you to death. We are stupid if choose to obey sin. (All of us are at times a little stupid. Well, maybe often. That's why we groan for the redemption of our bodies—8:23.)

It's your choice, Paul says. Why not choose to be a slave of obedience, a slave of doing right? The rewards are much better, not only in the next life but in this one, too.

We are going to be slaves of one power or the other. We have no choice about that, but we do have a choice as who will be our master. We can choose sin, or we can choose God.

The Romans had already made the right choice, Paul said. "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" (vs. 17-18).

The Roman Christians were obedient to the gospel, firmly committed to right behavior. This does not specify which commands apply to Christians, nor does it pinpoint the place of obedience in the salvation process. It simply states that obedience is a normal result of faith (1:5).

"I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness" (v. 19). The Romans were obedient, and yet they were weak. Paul hadn't been to Rome, so how did he know that they were weak? Because all Christians are weak, in their natural selves.

Paul is saying that the Romans were slaves of righteousness, and yet they needed to be exhorted to continue. Christians fight against sin as long as we live in our mortal bodies. We do not give up and let sin win—we struggle against it, recognizing it as an enemy that should be resisted. If we don't resist, it gets worse and worse—ever-increasing wickedness. We become trapped, enslaved by the sin.

We do not want to be enslaved to evil, but we want to be enslaved to doing good. That is because we are already saved, not because we are trying to earn our salvation. We do good works simply because they are good, because that is what our Savior wants us to do. And when we do that, it gets better and better—righteousness leading to holiness.

"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!" (vs. 20-21). Each slavery has a form of freedom. When we sin, we might look like we are free from outside control, but we are really in slavery. Sin produces death, and we do not want to serve that kind of master.

"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life" (v. 22). Now, as symbolized in baptism, Christ has set us free from sin. We are no longer under its authority or power. We are freed, but we are also under obligation. Now, we are slaves to God, and his benefits are infinitely better: holiness and eternal life. Perhaps slavery isn't the best word for this kind of situation, but it is useful as an analogy in one respect, and that is that we should obey God.

In what sense is eternal life the "result" of obeying God? Paul would vigorously deny that our obedience causes or earns our salvation—he clearly says that salvation is a gift, based on faith rather than works. Here, Paul is simply making a contrast: sin leads to shame and death; obedience leads to holiness instead of shame and eternal life instead of death.

When we are set free from sin (that is, justified through faith in Christ), we receive a benefit that leads us to holiness, to obedience. Being set free from sin also results in the gift of eternal life. We are forgiven, aquitted, counted as righteous, exempt from condemnation on the day of judgment. As Paul makes clear earlier in his letter, the basis of this salvation is faith, not the works that result from faith.

Why should we deny sin and obey God? Paul summarizes his response: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (v. 23). It is stupid to choose sin, because sin has bad results. It is a miserable life now, and a miserable end in the future. It gives us what we deserve.

The new life in Christ, in contrast, has wonderful results, both in this life and the future. It is not a miserly payout, giving us only what we deserve. Instead, it is a gift, given in advance, and it is up to us how to respond to it. Choose life, Paul says. Let righteousness reign! Be alive in Christ, not dead.