Romans 6 - Printer Friendly

In Romans 6, Paul tackles the question of why Christians should not continue to sin once we have been declared righteous by God because of our faith in Christ. It's a good question. After all, Paul's recent teaching declared that we are no longer under the law of Moses, and God's grace will always increase to cover our sinfulness. Knowing nothing but that, it's reasonable to ask why Christians shouldn't indulge in our desire to sin.

Paul's first answer is that we don't have to do what sin tells us to do any longer, so why would we keep doing it? He then reveals more information about what happens when a person comes to faith in Christ on a spiritual level. We experience a spiritual death—to sin, rather than to God—and rebirth that parallels Jesus' own physical death and resurrection. We are raised to a new spiritual life. In fact, by faith in Christ, we become so closely connected to Him that this particular spiritual death is a death to sin itself. The reason we are not slaves to sin any longer is because our old self was crucified. Dead men are freed from their old masters. Sin can't tell us what to do any more. We are literally dead to sin in Christ (Romans 6:1–11).

Paul seems to say that we still have a daily choice to make, however. We have been freed from the penalty of sin. We are forgiven. We have also been freed from the authority and power of sin. What we haven't fully lost is our desire to sin. Sin still attracts us. The old habits and ways of thinking still come naturally to us. That's why Paul tells us to stop giving our bodies over to be used by sin and to give them over, instead, to be used by God for righteousness. We're alive now. Why live like sin still owns us (Romans 6:12–14)?

Paul gives another reason we should not continue freely sinning once we are in Christ. That leads to a lifestyle of volunteer slavery. Instead, we should live as if we were slaves to righteousness, because in a sense, we are. Serving righteousness is who we are now. We used to be free from slavery to righteousness, but where did that get us, Paul asks. Sin always leads to sin and death, remember? Let it go and serve righteousness. The result of righteousness, given freely to us in Jesus Christ, is to become like Christ and experience eternal life. Live for that, Paul urges us, instead of for the things of death that sin brings (Romans 6:15–23).

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.

Romans 6:15–23 asks why we should not keep sinning once we have come to faith in Christ and are no longer under the law of Moses. Paul answers that we can continue to lead lives of volunteer slavery to sin if we don't resist it. Instead, we should live as if righteousness was our master, which, in a sense, it is. We should obey righteousness instead of our sinful desires, in part, because we now understand the consequences of sin. Instead of shame and death, we should serve God who gives eternal life as a gift.

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.