Romans 6:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

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

NASB: So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

CSB: So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

NLT: So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

KJV: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

NKJV: Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul has described Jesus' death on the cross for the sins of humanity as a one-time, once-for-all event. He submitted to death in that moment, but once He was resurrected, death was defeated. It no longer had any hold over Him. Jesus was free from death forever. Since, spiritually speaking, those who trust in Christ for their salvation also died, were buried, and then were resurrected to new spiritual life, we are on the same path that Jesus is. We are so closely identified with Christ now that God gives us credit for Christ's righteousness and takes the payment of His death for our sin. Christ literally "is our life" (Colossians 3:4).

Paul now writes that we must change the way we think about ourselves. We must no longer think of ourselves as self-reliant, self-serving, independent operators. Instead, as people in Christ, we must think of ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.

What does it mean that we are dead to sin? Paul explained it in verse 6. Our old self was crucified with Christ and the "body of sin" that held us as slaves was done away with. We have been freed from sin's power. In that sense, we are dead to sin. It can't compel us to do wrong (1 Corinthians 10:13), though we have not lost the desire to sin (1 John 1:9–10). That's why we must keep reminding ourselves that we are dead to sin, as Paul will show in the following verses.

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.