1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
The first verse of this new chapter looks back to 5:20, where Paul said, “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” In that context, Paul was speaking of the giving of the Law. When the Law was given, peoples’ personal transgressions of that law began to be counted against them. Thus, the number of sins being taken into account by God increased. But with that increase came a surpassing abundance of grace, bringing those people also to receive justification from God by faith.
In verse one of chapter 6, Paul asks, “If more sin brought more grace, do we keep sinning so that more grace may come?” It seems likely that Paul asks this question both as an introduction to his explanation and because he and those with him were being accused of speaking like this (see 3:8). In his rejection of this thought, Paul says, “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” In this rebuttal question, he asserts that we who believe have died to sin. This death is different from the death he talked about in the previous chapter, in which all of Adam’s descendants died spiritually because of Adam’s sin (5:15). In 6:2, Paul says that we who believe have died to sin. He says that if that is so, then for us to now stay in sin is impossible.
To explain how we died to sin, Paul asks, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” This is the first use of the word “baptize” in the book of Romans. What was Paul talking about? What baptism can make it impossible for a person to continue to live in sin? What did Paul mean when he said that believers have been baptized into Jesus Christ?
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea... (I Corinthians 10:1-2). Paul said that when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea after coming out of Egypt, they were “baptized unto Moses.” Exodus 14 tells that as the Israelites were about to cross the sea, ...the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them....And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left (Exodus 14:19,22). Behind the Israelites was a pillar of cloud, on their right and left were walls of water, and Moses was in the front. The people were in a box. The Israelites had not believed God to save them, but Moses did believe, so God made a “Moses box.” He “baptized them into Moses.” He identified them with Moses, who had faith, and thus saved them, too.
Being baptized into Jesus Christ means that God has identified us with Him. I Corinthians 12:13 says, For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. At the moment that a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, the Spirit of God identifies that person with Christ. Christ is righteous, but we are not, so God unites us with Him like the Israelites were united with Moses in the Red Sea. God sees His Son who is righteous, and He accepts us because we are with Him. Even more, we are in Him. Paul will talk more about how this baptism takes place in chapter 8 of this book.
Paul is not talking about water baptism. He is talking about a baptism that is the property of every believer in Christ, starting the split second that a person believes. That’s when we die to sin. Paul says that we were baptized into the death of Christ. Anyone who is reading or listening to this paragraph is still living and breathing. But the death Paul is talking about is Christ’s death, not ours. Just like God counts us righteous in Christ even though we’re not righteous in ourselves, so He counts us to have died in Christ even though we’re still living and breathing. In the coming verses, Paul will explain this more.
4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
In verse 4, Paul says that we were also buried with Christ when God spiritually identified us with Him. It seems significant that Paul stops short of saying that we have been raised from the dead as Christ was. Instead, he says, “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” The next verse says that our resurrection is as sure as our having been identified with Christ’s death, but that resurrection is in the future. Paul is coming to the main point of this part of chapter 6 – we don’t have our resurrection bodies yet, but we can still live like Christ lives in His resurrection. We can “walk in newness of life.” We can start living now like we will live then.
6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
What is “our old man”? In the context of Paul’s words in the previous chapter, we understand that our old man is the person that we used to be as descendants of Adam. That person was spiritually dead and was reigned over by sin. At the moment that we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, that old man was crucified with Christ. How does that happen? God does it. By His own decision, He spiritually baptizes every new believer into Christ. God accounts Christ’s death to us. The new believer isn’t even aware that it happened. In God’s records, the old you and the old me have been written as “deceased.” But God didn’t stop there. He also wrote us as “raised from the dead.” And because He decided it, we begin to experience the change.
What is “the body of sin”? In verse 13 of this chapter, Paul will say, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Before we believed in Christ, the members of our body were “instruments of unrighteousness” yielded to sin. The body of every unsaved descendant of Adam is a body of sin. But Paul says that our old man – the person we were in Adam – has died with Christ in order that our body may not be a body of sin anymore. The word translated “destroyed” in verse 6 means “rendered idle.” That is, the “body of sin” potential is still there but is taken out of gear. We don’t have to use our bodies to serve sin anymore.
In Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul says, that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Why must we “put off” the old man if the old man is deceased? Why must we “put on” the new man? Isn’t it automatic? The answer lies in the truth that God baptized us into Christ’s death. He wants us to take Him at His Word. He will make the body of sin stay out of gear if we trust Him to make us “walk in newness of life.”
7For he that is dead is freed from sin.
The word translated “freed” in this verse is the Greek word “justified.” We are “freed” in the sense of being freed from an account of guiltiness. Paul says that a person who has suffered the death penalty stands justified from sin. If the penalty has been paid, the account is closed. We died with Christ, so our account is closed. Since we are justified from sin, the penalty of death we deserved is also done away with. Sin only reigns in death (5:21). Thus, sin and its active agent Satan have no more power to reign over us. We are no longer enslaved to sin.
8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God has spiritually baptized every believer into Christ, identifying us with Him both in His death and in His resurrection. That means that God has counted the person that we were in Adam as deceased and will one day raise us from physical death to live forever, as Christ lives forever. Verse 10 says that Christ “died unto sin once.” When He died, He was facing the consequences of sin for us. He finished that work. Death will never have dominion over Him again. Because God has identified us with His death, death will not have lasting dominion over us again either. Christ now “liveth unto God.” He does not face the consequences of sin again. The title “Christ,” which means “Anointed One,” is the title of the human Jesus. God the Son entered our world as a Man. Jesus is God’s anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. Now in His resurrection, the human Christ continues to fulfill the Father’s plan. He will one day return to our world to reign as King. He is still a Man today, but He also remains, as He ever was, the eternal Son of God. Because He took on humanity, Paul can say to us, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The preposition translated “through” in this verse is the Greek preposition “in.” We have been baptized by God into Jesus Christ our Lord. We are in Christ. God’s design, which cannot fail, is that we become like Jesus. We will not face the consequences of sin because Christ did that for us. We can “live unto God” as He does, living to fulfill God’s plan for us. These words go beyond our strength. They depend on the fact that God has identified us with Christ. He will make us like Him. Thus, we are to “reckon” ourselves to be so. This means that we are to believe that He will make it happen in us.
12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
These verses tell us that the work of God in identifying us with the death and resurrection of Christ expects a response on our part. The right response is faith, but this faith is not passive. Paul says, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” The form of the Greek pronouns tells us that “obey it” means “obey sin,” and “in the lusts thereof” means “in the lusts of the body.” Paul will make clear in the next chapter that if we try in our own strength to stop sin from reigning in our mortal bodies, we will fail. Part of the answer to success is in verse 13. He says that rather than our presenting the members of our body as instruments of unrighteousness, we should present ourselves and the members of our body to God. Paul will use similar language in 12:1. Presenting ourselves as alive from the dead requires that we embrace as true what God says He has done. Presenting ourselves as spiritually alive and the members of our body as instruments of righteousness does not mean that we claim any strength to change ourselves. Presenting ourselves and our bodies to God does require a decision, though, a non-passive faith that expresses a willingness to be changed by Him.
14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
All of us are descendants of Adam, and we have a history of sin. To present ourselves to God as Paul said in verse 13 may seem like taking a step in which we would fail. Verse 14 tells us that God has opened a path for success for us. Sin will not win in us because our relationship with God is not based on our keeping an external law. If it were, we could break that law, which would bring death and the reign of sin over us. But instead, our relationship with God is based on His grace, the grace which gave us justification (5:15-16), the grace that reigns through the righteousness that God gave us, the grace which gives us eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ (5:21). Taking the step of presenting ourselves to God for service is like a child who wants to walk reaching out his hand for his father to hold.
15What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
In follow-up to his statement in verse 14 that we are not under law but under grace, Paul answers the question that may come to the minds of his readers then and now. In the first verse and division of this chapter he addressed the question of continuing in sin. Now he asks whether our freedom from the penalty of law gives us freedom to commit occasional acts of sin. Again, as in the case of his question in verse 1, this question is probably asked both to open the way for explanation and because his critics were accusing him of thinking this way (3:8).
In response to his question, Paul uses the illustration of slavery. He says in verse 19 that he is using this illustration because it communicates to our tendency to waver in service. Paul’s answer to his question is that slavery is a full-time job. Whoever we choose to be our master gets our full-time service. If we present ourselves to God for service as Paul said in verse 13, we don't claim time off for occasional acts of sin. He says in verse 16 that everyone is either a full-time slave to sin, which brings death, or a full-time slave of obedience, which brings righteousness.
17But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
In these two verses there is an ocean-breadth and depth of truth. For a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the issue of whose servants we are is already settled. God settled it the moment we believed. Before we believed, we were slaves of sin. That doesn’t mean that we were as bad as we could be. It means that everything we thought, said, and did was stained and put off-course by our distance from God. Paul then makes a blanket statement to all the believers in Rome: mature or immature, mostly faithful or often stumbling, knowledgeable in the Scriptures or brand new in the faith. Paul says, “ye have obeyed from the heart.” Paul says that all of the believers in Rome had obeyed from the heart the kind of teaching to which they were delivered (the Greek verb “delivered” is a second-person plural passive form: “you were delivered”). God gave them over to His Word of truth. This universal obedience of heart to the Word of God is the work of God in all believers.
In verse 18, Paul summarizes: “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” He is not complimenting the Roman believers. In the Greek text, both “being made free” and “became servants” are passive verb forms. We were made free from sin by God and we were made servants to righteousness by God. God does this work in the salvation of every believer. This is why the prodigal son could not be happy in the pigpen; he had the heart of a son (Luke 15:11-32). The heart of every true believer has been changed.
In the Old Testament, God said concerning Israel, O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! (Deuteronomy 5:29). In the New Testament, God has given us that new heart. Paul’s outburst of thanksgiving to God in verses 17-18 is a statement of rejoicing that the issue of whose servants we are is an issue that was settled by God at the moment we believed.
19I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In verses 20-22, Paul speaks of two different standings and two different results. Anyone who has not yet put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior is still a slave of sin. That person is “free” to do unrighteousness but with consequences. Paul tells the Roman believers to look back to that time in their lives. He says, “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.” The test of whether something is worth it or not lies in the aftermath. Anyone who has trusted Christ as Savior has been set free by God from slavery to sin and has been given a heart and mindset of servitude to God. That person has potential for good fruit in what they do. That life progressively becomes one characterized by holiness, and the end of it is eternal life. Thus, in verse 19, Paul exhorts the believers in Rome to make choices in accord with their new standing.
Sin is a hard paymaster. Verse 23 makes a sharp contrast between the two life results in the previous verses. One life result is death – not just physical death; everyone experiences that. It is a death that brings God’s wrath, as Paul spoke of in 1:18. The other result is eternal life. One is a wage; the other is a gift. Sin pays death. God gives life. The preposition translated “through” in verse 23 is the Greek preposition “in.” Eternal life is found in Christ Jesus our Lord. God gives the gift of eternal life by spiritually baptizing people into Him.
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.