Romans 6 part 1

How God deals with the power of sin:
(click the arrow to listen)

Dead to sin, alive in Christ
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

In the same way, count 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 evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:1-14)

In this chapter, Paul moves us along to the practical ways in which we should live as Christians. The key principle involved is expressed in this way:
we too may live a new life
Living (or some versions have walking) is a ‘faith’ activity. It means we have to choose how we live. ‘Faith’ is not a passive activity but a divine motivation. The opposite of faith is unbelief. The chief characteristic of unbelief is fear. Unbelief probably explains why there can be so much difference in the spiritual quality of the lives of different Christians. In fact, I’m convinced growth is primarily connected to faith and not just enthusiasm or duty. We should not forget that unbelief was one of the things which most upset Jesus, as in this instance in the Gospels:
‘You unbelieving generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?’ (Mark 9:19)
This is one of the tough comments which Jesus made regularly; but they can be easily ignored or overlooked by bible readers.

grace

In an earlier chapter (3:8) Paul wrote about the way in which he was slandered and misunderstood regarding grace. And now in this chapter he begins by putting grace in context:
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2)
The real meaning of grace was subtly twisted in order to justify a lower standard of Christian life. It was this that Paul was disputing. This is also a trend which can be seen in Christianity today. Even the most popular leaders can go down this path. Jesus did not promise the blessings of grace without the challenge of getting to grips with our sin.

Through the gift of undeserved grace, God is able to work to free us from the practice of sin: mercy forgives sin; grace overcomes sin. God gives us grace to achieve something, not simply to make us feel better. It is wrong to think that sins do not matter to God anymore, since He only now views us through the lens of grace. This is not what this chapter teaches, nor in fact the whole New Testament. This is ‘convenience Christianity’ or ‘cheap grace’. It is as though no effort is required, as grace does it all – but, in reality, grace is the enemy of sin. Grace and faith are being confused: faith does not come by exerting effort; but grace is only effective where effort is applied. This is how the Puritan, Thomas Watson, put it:
“a man may as well expect a crop without sowing, as grace without labour.”
(more on grace in the interlude on Sin, Law and Grace)

dead and buried

Paul’s answer to this misunderstanding is to create the context in which the Christian truly lives:
We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
When Jesus took our sin and died on the cross, we too were dying with Him. This is all part of the miraculous work of God in us – we were in Christ as He died on the cross. He rose from the dead to a new quality of life in which sin had no access to Him. In the same way, as Paul explains shortly, we have been raised to a new quality of life in Christ. Before we became Christians, sin was natural to us. This is not just because we are born in original sin, but also can include how we might have been taught to sin by others. This is especially true where false teaching suggests that certain sins are ‘allowable’. In contrast, for the Christian, sin becomes a contamination which is foreign to our new nature. ‘Contamination’ is the best way I can express what it means to have a genuinely changed heart and nature: we hate sin, not ourselves.

Paul explains this new reality for the Christian in this way:
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)
He shows that baptism in water is an outward demonstration of the inward change. Baptism represents the inward change. In the same way that marriage is a public declaration of a lifetime commitment to one's spouse, so baptism should demonstrate a lifetime commitment to Christ. Baptism does not of itself produce inward change, but speaks of what has happened within the believer. It is a full character change: in the heart, will and motivation of the Christian – we died (as Christ died); we were buried (as Christ was buried); and we were raised to a new quality of life (as Christ was raised). And this new quality of life is practical and observable – ‘we too may live a new life’. Conversion changes our choices – it does not, of course, make us instantly perfect.

freed

The question is often asked whether or not baptism is just a sign of grace or an actual working of grace. The urgency with which Paul writes about this, suggests there is in baptism an actual working of grace which should change our lives. Grace is activated by serious commitment – it is not some kind of hypnotic control over a passive person. Paul’s baptism implies that this was what happened to him:
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” (Acts 22:16)
The debate about whether or not children should be baptised, or whether they should wait until they can make a choice to leave sin, is an important one if we believe in Christian conversion.
[We won’t get hung up on this question here though!]

Paul is keen to assure us that we do not live the Christian life simply by our own efforts (which would be doomed to failure), but we live because of what God does in us as we respond through faith:
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:5-7)
Being a Christian means identification with Christ in his death and resurrection. Identification is living in the day by day freshness of what Jesus has done for us. But it has a practical fruit in nullifying the power of sin. Sin's power comes from ‘our old self’. This is another expression Paul uses to describe the complex relationship between sin and our human character. It is not easy to tease out why we have such a desire to sin. Conversion changes our character balance so that living to please God becomes our priority. In the same way that there is ‘old Adam’ and ‘new Adam’, so there can be ‘old self' and ‘new self'.

mastery

It is wrong to think that we have two personalities – a Christian one and a sinful one: we are one complex person. Paul also alludes to the connection between our mortal body – the body ruled by sin - and our predilection to sin – what he describes as ‘slaves of sin’.
[I am trying to avoid the use of the term 'slave': see my comments under Rule 6: Serving, for more details].
So many sins are from the body including ones such as pride. Christians know they are more than just their bodies. When we eventually physically die, we stop sinning:
because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
The point he is about to explain is how we can live in these present bodies which are disposed to sin without being under sin’s mastery anymore. We become obedient to God’s will as it is revealed to us: it is a change of master.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:8)
The key to the rest of the chapter is ‘believe’: our walk is by faith in what Christ has done for us which is the most powerful force in the universe and it cannot be overcome. Our effectiveness in escaping the mastery of sin is proportional to our faith. This is a biblical principle of proportionality as per Romans 12.6 for instance:
let us prophesy in proportion to our faith

choice

If we recognise that we need to grow in faith then we shall recognise too that living free from the mastery of sin is something we must grow into. The power of the resurrection was not a one off. The glory of the Father which resurrected Christ is always present. It is that same power into which we tap, by faith living the Christian life, walking in the Spirit.

But this new life only works after recognising the effect of Christ’s death upon us.
The death he died, he died to sin once for all (Romans 6:10)
Being dead to something means you have no reaction to it. This is an achievable goal. We can feed the remnants of sin or we can die to them – we have a choice. If you have lost your feelings for something, it weakens its control over you. The work of love and conversion in the heart makes us dead to the things we once loved, worshipped, adored, lived for, envied, coveted, lied for, manipulated for, threatened for, were passionate for, etc. This is the secret – the disposition of the heart – we must be revived every day through spiritual exercises: bible reading, prayer, praise, books, conversations, friendship, etc:
but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Romans 6:10)
The old cravings are replaced by new passions inspired in us by the Spirit of God. Christian maturity is the replacement of worldly and fleshly passions with godly ones.

accounting

Paul now uses a word to express this attitude of faith regarding the work of Jesus and how we implement it practically:
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)
The word ‘count’ (or ‘reckon’ in other versions) is actually a word used in financial accounting. Paul is expressing the non-emotional, thoughtful, considered part of walking in the Spirit. Before calculators and computers we used to have ‘ready reckoners’ to help us work out costs, etc. Counting or reckoning is a statement of fact – “1+1=2, I am dead to sin and alive to God”. This is not measuring effort but the confession of a converted heart. Counting is stating our spiritual position in Christ – dead to sin and alive to God. The expression, in Christ, is referencing the most powerful force in the universe.

Our position in Christ is reinforced by the fresh, new passions which now motivate us. We are motivated by passion (emotion) and counting (mind) both charged by faith (proportionally). And so, Paul writes:
but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. (Romans 6:13)
His words here emphasise choice, planning and the teaching of right and wrong. There is choice: we can now walk away from situations where sin always used to capture our passions and actions. This may prove easier to do physically than mentally. Our minds must be trained by ‘taking thoughts captive to Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5) in the same way that our bodies can be trained by exercise to perform at new levels.

under grace

Being a Christian means making changes in one’s priorities, friendships, haunts, habits, etc:
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)
There needs to be a clear understanding: grace means being relaxed in what Christ has done for us knowing that we receive mercy and forgiveness through faith. Being under law is by comparison a stressful way of living. It means you are trying to impress God (and other people) with how good you are. There is no relaxation in this because if you fail you will be condemned for not achieving the expected standard. In fact, it is pointless and impossible – 'all fall short of the glory of God' – it produces condemnation.

What God expects of us is unpicked in the next section. It is a standard of holiness relating to our faith, to our knowledge and to our spiritual maturity. It should also be a growing and more demanding standard. As a weightlifter begins with light weights then with practice takes on heavier ones, so, the Christian matures in holy living. The higher standards are revealed by the Holy Spirit as one grows in grace as we shall now see. These standards can be helpfully understood as being bespoke. This is a reflection of how we are growing according to our faith, and according to our openness to the Holy Spirit.