Michael's Abbey Bible Study - Romans Chapter 6

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Paul knew people would misuse and twist 5:20 to try to rationalize continuing to sin. We love our sin and find absurd ways to try to justify it. The rhetorical question of verse 1 starts a response to the twisting Paul knew would come.
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? May it never be could also be translated as "by no means!" In other words deliberately sinning under the excuse that it would increase grace is ridiculous. Then he asserted that Christians have died to sin. Therefore we cannot live in what we have died to. What it means to have died to sin is covered in the following verses. In this Paul explained the right relationship Christians should have to sin, righteousness, our old selves, Jesus the Son, and the Father.
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? In verses 3-5 Paul explained the meaning of baptism.
"Do you not know" is how Paul often worded a rebuke. It was to foot-stomp something that Christians should already be aware of. In being baptized we are representing what should be happening on the inside. As we enter the water the old self is symbolically dead and being buried like Jesus died on the cross and was buried in the tomb.
4 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. Our old sinful self is symbolically buried as we enter the water in baptism, identifying with the death and burial of Jesus. As as we emerge from the water we identify with the resurrection of Jesus from the grave as the new righteous self is resurrected from the water. Thus we can walk in a new life as Jesus did.
To be clear, baptism is not a magic spell. It is symbolic of the transformation that occurs within someone who has put their faith in Jesus the Christ. But it does not do the changing. And we must remind ourselves and guard ourselves daily against going back to the old self.
5 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, Likeness is homoiomati in Greek, which means in the form of. This is saying we are symbolically but not literally identified with Christ's death in baptism. But more importantly as Paul argued later in this chapter and in other epistles, we identify with the death and resurrection of Christ in how we live.
Some dispute this interpretation. These are typically those who hold that baptism is a salvation requirement. In other words, they say that if you are not baptized you cannot go to heaven. However, this is directly contradicted by Luke 23. Matthew 27:38-40 tells us of how at the beginning of the crucifixion the two thieves on the crosses to either side of Jesus mocked him. Luke 23:39-43 details later in the day when they have been on the cross for some time, and one of the thieves has realized Jesus really is the Messiah. He asked Jesus to remember him. To which Jesus replied that the thief would be with Him in paradise. Clearly, no baptism was possible, and therefore cannot be required.
Christians should be baptized because scripture tells us to. And also because it is our way of identifying with Jesus. Plus the memory of being baptized has a positive effect on us. It is not required for salvation. But I wouldn't want to explain to Jesus why I didn't take the time to follow His command.
6 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; While baptism is symbolically like the crucifixion of Jesus, inside us our sinful nature is crucified with Jesus when we choose to be His disciples and put our faith in Him. This is so our sin nature is ended and we are freed from the bondage of sin. This does not mean we never sin again. We will still slip into our old ways. But the point is we don't have to. God provides an escape from temptation. We just have to choose it.
7 for he who has died is freed from sin. This is a truism that is hard to argue with. The dead don't sin. And for those who are disciples of Jesus we are dead to sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, Our sin nature lies to us and tries to tell us we can't resist. And before we belonged to Jesus that was true. But more than that, we really like our sin and think we can't live without it. Our sin nature dying with Jesus sounds awful, boring, and a drag. But our sin nature is really bondage, slavery, and death. The truth is when we die with Jesus we also live with him. Obviously this refers to the eternal life we gain. But the freedom from the bondage of sin is so much better than the slavery to sin. This literally is a better life here and now, but not in the sense of a prosperity gospel. Those are a fraud and lie. It has nothing to do with prosperity or an easier life. It is the better life of being able to look ourselves in the mirror. It's being able to sleep with a clear conscience. It's knowing that no matter what happens in this life, we win and will have an eternity that is so great any suffering in this life is nothing by comparison.
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. Jesus defeated death itself. Not just raising others like Lazarus, but coming back Himself by His own power. Death can never touch Him again. Those who put their faith in Him have the same privilege. Our bodies will perish. But our souls will live forever. And we will be given new glorified bodies.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Jesus was the only sinless human who ever lived. He took our place and the punishment we deserved for our sins to satisfy God's perfect justice. His death was the perfect sacrifice that ended the need for repeated sacrifice by humanity. And because He lives, He lives to the Father just like He did before He was crucified. Thus we can live to the Father like Jesus.
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. There is an important qualifier in this verse that sets the context for the previous verses. The word is consider, logizesthe in Greek. We are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, which means alive to righteousness. It does not say that we are absolutely and permanently made dead to sin so we never sin again. That is a possible interpretation of the previous verses if this verse is left out. But this makes it clear that this is an attitude, a proper view, a way of life for a Christian. We are to go about our lives as if our death to sin and living to righteousness are our reality. The reality is it is a choice. Jesus made it possible for us to resist sin.
Sin is death. Righteousness is life. As Moses said to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 30:19, you have set before you life and death. So choose life.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, There are two key points in this command from Paul. The first is not to let sin reign over our bodies. Reign is basileueto in Greek, which means to be king, rule, or exercise royal authority. Obeying the lusts of the body is to put them on the throne of our lives. Lusts, epithumiais in Greek, is a lot more than just sexual desire. It is anything greatly craved, desired or longed for. It could be food, entertainment, material things, people, or anything that can take the place of God in our lives. The second point is that this means we have a choice. We are not powerless to sin unless we choose to give it control. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13, God will provide a way of escape from temptation. We just have to take it. We should all memorize that verse and recite it to ourselves when we are tempted.
13 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. This verse continues the command from verse 12. It refers to many members, not one. This means to all parts of the body, and not just limbs and appendages. This includes the lips, the ears, the eyes, and so on. What is clear by the command not to present them to sin is that this is a choice. We are not meat-robots. We have a brain and a will. We can choose what we do with our bodies.
In other words, don't use your body to sin, but use it to serve God with righteousness. Sin is the path to death. Acting righteously is the path to eternal life. While our acts do nothing to earn salvation in the slightest, it is evidence we belong to God.
14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Sin can only be our master if we put it on the throne of our lives. It cannot rule our lives on its own. It is a lie of Satan that we are powerless to refuse sin. Over and over scripture tells us we have a choice. Are we going to believe the word of God or the father of lies?
That we are not under the Law of Moses means we are no longer convicted of sin, but are under the grace of God that Jesus made possible.
The question is why does Paul address the body in these commands when the mind is perfectly capable of sinning without the involvement of the body? While Paul did not specify the reason, is almost certain that this is due to the ease of forming habits with physical action. Thus submitting to sin becomes a habit incredibly quickly. And to make sin a habit is to put it on the throne of our life. That leads us away from God.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Like verse 1, Paul anticipated the silly arguments that would follow verse 14 with a rhetorical question answered by a very emphatic no. While verse 1 was about sinning to get more grace, verse 15 is about allowing sin because we already have grace. People will grasp at any straw to try to hold onto their sin. A Christian turns away from sin. A fake Christian embraces sin. And some even make sin a part of their fake version of Christianity. The Israelites made and worshiped the golden calf because it gave them the excuse to sin their brains out.
16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? This verse totally contradicts the false narrative Satan, the secular culture, and fake Christians try to sell us. They try to convince us we can't help but sin. It's just who we are. Some even pervert reality so bad as to claim sin is our identity. Paul made it absolutely clear that is all a lie. We choose which we will follow. Everyone serves either sin or Jesus. The one we choose to present ourselves to of our free will is our master. Choosing sin is choosing death. Choosing obedience to the commands of Jesus brings righteousness which is choosing life.
17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, All Christians were slaves to sin before we heard the gospel, let it inside us, and chose to follow Jesus as His disciple. The grace of God was given and we were able to repent, literally turn away 180 degrees from sin and towards Jesus. Starting with being taught the gospel we got Jesus in our hearts.
18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Christians don't just repent on our own. We invite Jesus to enter in which frees us from the slavery to sin. We trade it for slavery to righteousness. We do as Jesus the Christ commanded because we are free.
The secular/pagan world lies and tells us that serving God is slavery and a drag. And it lies that the sins it offers are fun and freedom. It is not. It is the worst form of slavery. If you look at someone addicted to crystal meth you can see it plainly. They started because someone told them it was fun. And at the end they are living on the street doing anything and everything to get more meth, no matter how disgusting or wrong they would have thought it to be before they started using drugs. Their appearance is terrible, hygiene nonexistent, and health is barely hanging on. These things are easy to see. Yet people still choose to go down that path. The truth is, all sin does that to us. It is death, tearing us down and destroying us. Even if we can't see it with most other sins, that is what is happening to us. Don't listen to the lies of the world. Believe Jesus and follow him. His slavery is the real freedom.
19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. Paul was teaching about spiritual matters using terms we can understand from the physical world. To be clear, for both sin and righteousness Paul used doulos in Greek which can be translated as slave or servant. But even in the servant meaning the doulos has no choice but to do what their master tells them. It is be totally in service with no right to object. This is an analogy that it is very, very close to our actual situation. We are in bondage. The difference between actual slavery and our situation is that because of Jesus we can choose what we will be in bondage to. And bondage to Jesus is in reality the only real freedom that exists.
This verse uses members just like verse 13, meaning any part of the body. What is absolutely clear is this is our choice in our free will. Before we were Christians we presented ourselves to sin as slaves to sin. Now that we are saved we can and should choose to present ourselves to righteousness which results in our sanctification. Sanctification is hagiasmos in Greek, which is personal dedication to God and the process of being made holy.
A major point in this verse is that sin leads to more sinning. Every time we sin it increases our tendency to sin more. In other words, sin is habit-forming and addictive. Like any addiction, it takes repeated effort to overcome. What is implied is that choosing to behave righteously is also habit-forming. The more we choose right over wrong the easier it becomes.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. The pagan/secular world thinks they are free when they are the most enslaved human beings that exist. What they are free from is righteousness, which is justice, fairness, truth, and decency. These are things they think they are in favor of, but it is a lie from the father of lies. While it's easy to see the bondage and destruction of sin in someone who is abusing their body and mind, all sin has the same effect. It is just easier to ignore and pretend it's not happening when there aren't obvious physical effects.
21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. Before we were Christians we were in sin that the pagan/secular world tried to tell us was good. Now that we are Christians we know the truth that sin is the path to death and destruction. The key point in this verse is that once we have become Christians we are ashamed of our previous sin, and rightly so. Those that have no shame, and those that teach we shouldn't have shame are not Christians. They cannot be. Real disciples of the real Jesus are ashamed of and turn away from sin. But that's a problem for the wolves in sheep's clothing who dare to argue that what scripture tells us is sin and shameful is good and something to be proud of. They call good evil and evil good. Lying to justify sin in the eyes of man does not change that it is sin in the eyes of God. Relabeling sin as good does not change the fact that it leads to death.
22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. We are all slaves to something. That is the nature of existence as human beings. Because of Christ we can choose whether we will be slaves to sin or slaves to God. The end result of being a slave to God and freed from sin is eternal life with Him. But the benefit is not just after Judgement day. The benefit is righteousness that results in our sanctification, which is the process of being made holy. Doing right begets more doing right. This means we can look at ourselves in the mirror with gladness instead of regret, pride instead of shame. It means we can sleep well without the guilty conscience. The benefit is here and now. Being in heaven with God will be better than we can possibly imagine. But there is benefit in this life that is tangible and real.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. This verse summaries the chapter and is a basic tenant of the gospel. It is a good verse to memorize. God does not send people to Hell. We send our selves there by our choices. Thank God He didn't leave us hell-bound, but provided a way out of what we deserve and have earned. The grace of God is ours if we just put our faith in Jesus.
Paul rightly told us that sin leads to death here and throughout his other epistles. These do not support a doctrine of annihilationism. One of the most basic tenants of Christianity is that death in this life is not final for anyone. All are resurrected on Judgement Day.
Those that put their faith in God have their sins forgiven and will only be judged for the good they did to determine their reward in heaven. This is called eternal life, which it is. But it is not the life we have now made eternal. This is an analogy for that life which is better than we can imagine. Those that rejected God will not be forced to stay in the presence of God. They will go where they chose to go, which is Hell. Even there they will continue being mad at God, gnashing their teeth in anger. This is called eternal death or the second death. This is using death in this life as an analogy for another place we cannot imagine.
Matthew 25:41 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Both endings use the word eternal. If eternal punishment doesn't mean eternal, neither does eternal life mean eternal. Trying to argue that the analogy of death for those who choose to go to hell means annihilation denies the basic truth that death is not final in this life, let alone in the next. But why even worry about the nature of Hell? It is a useless waste of time and effort. What we should do is learn what Jesus actually taught and obey His commandments so we won't end up in Hell. And we should do our best to lead others away from it as well.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB © The Lockman Foundation.

If you have a question, you can find the email address to write to on the FAQ Page under the Questions FAQ.

Rom. 5   -   Romans   -   Rom. 7

Bible Study Page   -   Michael's Abbey