Romans 6: Sin & Righteousness

[Preliminary Note: Because we believe it is important to follow the flow of Paul’s teaching, we continue to provide a brief summary of each previous chapter to provide present context:

• Ch.1 The sinfulness of the world
• Ch.2 All – Jew & Gentile – are under God’s judgment, background is irrelevant
• Ch.3 Jews are the same as Gentiles in that salvation only comes through faith in Christ
• Ch.4 Abraham illustrates how justification (being put right with God) only comes through faith – now, believing what God has said about Christ
• Ch.5 Peace with God is a natural outworking of justification, as well as his grace that enables fruit to grow in us even through tough times. How amazing that Christ died for us when we knew nothing of him. How incredible that Adam’s sin opened the door to bring about a sinful mankind and death, while Christ’s death opened the door for individuals within mankind to receive eternal life

NOW he, using the same style of human arguing as he used to teach in chapter 3, shows that sin now longer has a place in our lives; we consider our old sinful lives dead and buried and our new life in Christ has been raised by his power to be free from the power of sin]  

• v.1-14 Now we are Dead to Sin, but Alive in Christ
• v.15-23 Now we are Slaves to Righteousness

v.1-14 Now we are Dead to Sin, but Alive in Christ

v.1,2 Q&A no.1

v.1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

v.2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

[Note: Paul uses the teaching style of question and answer, what may appear silly questions but ones which open the way for truth to be revealed. So first, should we sin so God’s grace is seen more? No way! we’ve died to sin so we can’t do it any longer.]

v.3-5 Explanation: Sharing in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection

v.3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

v.4 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.

v.5 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.

[Note: Becoming part of Christ, God considers we experience what he experienced, such as his death, so figuratively speaking, the picture of our baptism is a picture of our ‘death’ [to the old life] and when we came up it was a picture of us being raised to a new life. If being ‘in Christ’ means heaven considers we died with him, it also means we were raised with him.]

v.6-9 A new (resurrected) life means a new freedom

v.6,7 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.

v.8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

v.9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

[Note: So if we consider our old life was put to death, the body that sinned died, so we have been set free from the power that used to rule us and make us sin. But if we ‘died’ with him, we will also live with him and also, Christ having been raised means death now has no hold on him – and similarly with us.]

v.10,11 Living with a God-focus

v.10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

v.11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

[Note: When he died he died to the world of sin but, being raised, he is now utterly God focused and so we are to view ourselves, dead to our old lives but alive to God through Christ.]

v.12-14 Fresh outlook, fresh focus, new freedom

v.12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

v.13 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.

v.14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

[Note: Our part now is not to let sin come back, i.e. we are not to let sin have a part in any aspect of our lives as we live God-focused lives. We need to realize sin has no hold over us because we’re not abiding by rules [which we might get wrong] but by God’s grace (just aware of His love)]

v.15-23 Now we are Slaves to Righteousness

v.15-18 The negative – freed FROM Sin

v.15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!

v.16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

v.17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.

v.18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

[Note: Back to human reasoning (Q&A no.2) – can we sin because we don’t have to obey God’s rules? No way! A slave is obedient to a master, and that’s true for us. We are no longer slaves to sin, we’ve been set free from it to live righteously.]

v.19-23 The positive – freed TO God

v.19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.

v.20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

v.21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

v.22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

v.23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[Note: Now we give ourselves to righteous and holy living. As a sinner we were free to do the wrong that we wanted. Did that benefit us? No, it just brought death. Now, slaves given to God we reap holiness and eternal life. Sin’s payment is death [physical and spiritual separation from God] but God’s gift through Christ is eternal life.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: