Romans 6:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

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

NASB: For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

CSB: For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

NLT: When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.

KJV: For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

NKJV: For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Christ is both our Savior and our role model. Paul has revealed in this chapter that when we put our faith in Him for our salvation from sin, we experienced a spiritual death with Him. Spiritually speaking, we died, were buried, and were then resurrected to a new spiritual life. The same will eventually happen for those who are in Christ physically, as well.

Now Paul is showing, in Christ's example, what will happen for us. Christ died to sin. Of course, He did not die to His own sin, for Christ never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). He died to pay for the sins of all those who trust in Him. He died once for all (Hebrews 9:26). It was a one-time payment for the sins of others, including past, present, and future sins. Christ does not need to go back to the cross every time someone sins again. He has finished the job of dying for the sins of humanity. It's over.

Now that Christ is resurrected, He lives again "to God." In other words, Christ's continued purpose is to live, to keep living, as God and for God's glory forever. He has no other agenda. Our new lives in Christ, with Christ, therefore, are headed in the same direction.

Romans 6:1–14 explores how Christians should think about and respond to sin now that we are in Christ and our sins are forgiven. In explaining this, Paul reveals new information about what happened when we put our faith in Christ. In a spiritual sense, we died with Him, and to our sin. We were then resurrected to a new spiritual life. Now Paul instructs us to continue remembering that we are no longer slaves to sin. We must not offer our bodies to be used for sin, but we must offer ourselves as instruments of righteousness, instead.

In Romans 6, Paul answers the question of whether Christians should continue to sin. His answer is emphatic: we absolutely should not. First, when we came to God by faith in Jesus, we died to sin. We are not slaves to it any more. Second, what did living for sin ever get us? It led to shame and death. The righteousness given to us for free by God in Christ Jesus leads to becoming like Jesus and to eternal life. We should serve righteousness instead of sin.

After comparing Adam and Christ and what their choices brought into the world, Paul now turns to ask if Christians should continue in sin once they have been saved. He gives several reasons why we must not: we died to sin's power over us; we are now servants to righteousness; and what good did sin ever bring to you, anyway? Paul will transition in Romans 7 to a discussion of what it means to be released from the law of Moses.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.