‘Christ has brought us to faith, righteousness, and reigning in (eternal) Life, giving us a hope that runs eternally deep in a sinful reality doomed to death and oblivion.
I’m pretty sure we’re going to see another perspective to the goodness of God next time we go through this wonderful chapter of Romans, but this is what we have for now. ‘
In Romans 5 we’ve talked about how the hope we have is a sure hope because of the finished work of Christ. Our hope for the future and beyond is as tall as a great tree, only because its roots run just as deep into the earth.
We continue with Romans 6:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
We’re reminded here, as we always have been reminding ourselves ever since we ‘got into grace’… that there is no reason for us to sin or to seek sinning… that to sin for grace to ‘abound’ is not natural for us, simply because we are dead to sin.
And for most of us that’s enough to say that we are dead to sin, but I also like to state the seemingly obvious other side of the coin, which states that we are not alive to sin. Looking at it from a slightly different angle, we find no more life in sin – only death.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Paul continues to remind us that we are dead to sin, only because Christ died to sin. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been baptized into Christ and baptized into His death – meaning, when He died, so we died as well.
And because we have been baptized into Christ, not only are we dead to (and find no life in) sin, but as Christ was raised from the dead, so we also walk “in newness of life”.
Putting what we’ve been talking about together here: Once we were dead in sin and found no life.. but because we have been baptized into Christ, now we are alive in Christ, and find no death in Him – and I say it’s important for us to say we ‘find no death’ because no matter how we seek sin, we’ll never find it in Christ… if that makes sense. I think it’s another way of us saying that in Christ we find no pleasure in sin… Just as in sin, we found no pleasure in righteousness.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.
So if it’s not been made clear already: By NO means shall we continue in sin… because in Christ, that was never an option. How can I make this claim? Well, Paul reminds us here that not only have we died to sin, but ‘our old self was crucified with Him’.
I’ve always loved Galatians 2:20, also loving Philips, Craig and Dean’s song, ‘Crucified with Christ’… however, we’re reminded here by Paul, not as to HOW we were crucified (or, God forbid, how to crucify ourselves, which is impossible) – We’re reminded of WHY we were crucified on top of our dying: ‘that the body of sin might be brought to nothing’.
I’d say that not only do we find pleasure in sinning, just as we used to before Christ – but because we have been crucified with Him, we are ultimately powerless to sin. We understand and preach a lot about how sin no longer has any power over us (as we WILL be spotting later in this chapter), but, lest we forget, we no longer have the desire AND the power to sin.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
It’s important for us to acknowledge how we have died to sin – also equally important for us to see more into it, and understand that this means that we no longer desire to sin, nor do we have the power to sin, or to sin continually… Because it allows us to appreciate what we DO have in Christ:
We have been made alive to God, and it is now our desire to live Christ and live righteous, just as we certainly have the power to do so.
I think this is something we ought to know, just so that we’re brought from thinking that ministry and righteousness is a chore, to appreciating how it’s not a mere privilege (as if it was an option) – no, we’ve been rebuilt, repurposed for life and righteousness.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
I’d like to say that, through all this discussion, is that what we ought to present to sin is our old self -crucified, bound, and ultimately brought to nothing. We present ourselves to God, fully aware of our dying to sin, and being raised from death to life, as Christ has…
…yet, while we are in this reality where sin is still the default, it is still possible for us to stumble into it, even if we do say that we no longer have the desire or the power to sin. With this in mind we ought to remember that while we may still sin, we’re not going to stay there long – Sin will NOT have dominion over us, because the Holy Spirit CONTINUALLY reminds us of our righteousness.
Basically, even when we do sin, even then we’re convicted by the Holy Spirit of our nature, our righteousness (John 16:8) – which, gathering from all we’ve been discussing here, entails for ALL of us in the Body of Christ, that:
- We no longer have the desire or the power to sin
- We not only have the power, but also the innate desire to righteousness.
Take note that we don’t ‘do’ sin, nor do we ‘do’ righteousness. It’s either we’re sinners who only sin, or made righteous in Christ, therefore willing and able to move in righteousness – or, righteously, naturally.
Furthermore, I believe that the Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness, which means that we ARE righteous, not through works or obedience of the Law, but by grace.
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
Paul repeats the question he started this chapter off with, from another angle – Should we sin, for grace to about? Should we sin, because we are not under law but under grace?
To this, he responds with a consistent, ‘By no means!’; I think he said this instead of a flat out ‘no’ simply to state that we no longer HAVE the means to sin. If it hasn’t been made clear by stating that we have no less than the Holy Spirit HIMSELF reminding us of how we are willing and able to be righteous, and no longer willing and able to sin… Here, from the perspective of slaves and servants, we are reminded that we are ‘slaves’, not ‘of sin’, but ‘of obedience, which leads to righteousness’:
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
Dr. Andrew Farley always makes it a point to share and stress this, whenever he includes Romans 6 in his messages – that, on top of our being willing and able to righteousness… we have BECOME obedient TO righteousness; and not by our actions, from FROM THE HEART.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
At the beginning of this article we remembered how, in Romans 5, we have a very solid hope, through Christ’s finished work as its foundation. Here, however, we see and appreciate the power of the Holy Spirit, for it is through Him that we not only have a hope, but an entire LIFE of righteousness to enjoy, and not ONLY in the future, but here in the present as well.
We have died to sin. We no longer have the desire and the power to sin, because we are no longer slaves to sin.
We have been made new creations. What does this mean? The Holy Spirit convicts us now, that we have the desire and the power to righteousness – we are willing and able to do righteousness, as a natural result of our being made obedient from the heart.
Christ took the wages of sin, so we would have eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. More than a hope, we have life. Amen.
‘Cause the enemy has been defeated
Death couldn’t hold You down
We’re gonna lift our voice in victory
We’re gonna make Your praises loud
Shout unto God with a voice of triumph
Shout unto God with a voice of praise
Shout unto God with a voice of triumph
We lift Your name up,
We lift Your name up!’
God bless us all.
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