ROMANS: RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH FROM START TO FINISH

VI. God’s Righteousness Transferred: Practical Sanctification, Romans 6:1-8:39

A. Why Believers Should Cease Living In Sin

(Romans 6:1-14)

I. Introduction

A. The theme of the epistle to the Romans is that God’s righteousness is available to man by faith from start to finish (Romans 1:16-17; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 441).

B. This belief is often not accepted in Christendom: Some claim that one must have faith plus works to be justified, and others say that though we are justified by faith, we cannot righteously live a godly life by faith.

C. After discussing the doctrine of justification, Paul taught on its practical implications in living, addressing first in Romans 6:1-14 the practical sanctification that justification should produce in the believer’s life.

D. We view the passage for our insight, application, and edification (as follows):

II. Why Believers Should Cease Living In Sin, Romans 6:1-14.

A. Paul’s claim in Romans 5:20 that where sin abounded, God’s grace did much more abound could lead some readers to think that we should continue in sinful living after we have been justified that God’s grace might abound all the more. (Ibid., p. 461) Anticipating this errant and unedifying response, Paul rhetorically asked, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1 KJV)

B. Paul strongly denied this idea, answering his question by using the Greek expression me genoito, “By no means!” (Ibid.) He explained that if we are positionally dead to sin, we should no longer live in it, Rom. 6:2.

C. The apostle then explained this positional “dead” status that believers in Christ possess, Romans 6:3-4a:

1. Some interpreters view Romans 6:3 as referring to water baptism, teaching that one is saved through being baptized by water, Ibid. However, passages such as 1 Corinthians 1:17; Acts 10:44-48 and 16:29-33 show that water baptism is only a “public attestation to an accomplished spiritual work” performed by God when one trusts in Christ, Ibid.; Ephesians 2:8-9.

2. Rather, Romans 6:3 refers to spiritual baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13), for a believer is spiritually “baptized” (placed into) Christ [Romans 6:3] and also into the body of Christ [1 Corinthians 12:13], and both actions are performed by the Holy Spirit when one believes in Christ as His Savior, Ibid.

3. Consequently, every believer at the moment he is justified by faith is positionally buried with Christ by spiritual baptism into the death that Christ died on the cross, Romans 6:4a.

D. Since we believers are spiritually identified with Christ in His death, we are also spiritually identified with Him in His resurrection, Romans 6:4b-5. This implies our duty to live a new life without sin, Romans 6:6-14:

1. Our “old man,” Paul’s term here that refers to the sin nature, was positionally crucified with Christ Who bore our sin in His body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24) that the sin nature might be positionally destroyed that we should no longer serve sin as believers, Romans 6:6. The person who has positionally died in Christ is positionally dead to sin and thus positionally and spiritually freed from the dominion of sin, Romans 6:7.

2. If we are positionally dead with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him (Rom. 6:8), knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more as death no more has dominion over Him, Rom. 6:9.

3. Christ died unto sin “once for all” (ephapax, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 330), so He now forever lives unto God, Romans 6:10.

4. Accordingly, we believers are obliged to consider ourselves as dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans 6:11. That implies that we should not let sin reign in our mortal body that we should obey it in its lusts (Romans 6:12) nor that we should yield the members of our mortal body as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but rather yield ourselves unto God as those who are alive from the dead and the members of our physical bodies as instruments of righteousness unto God, Romans 6:13.

5. Sin is not to have dominion over us, for we are not under the Mosaic Law, but under grace, Romans 6:14. “If believers were still under the Law, it would be impossible to keep sin from exercising mastery. But since believers are ‘under grace,’ this can be done by following Paul’s instructions,” Ibid., p. 464. [Paul provides the instructions on how this is accomplished in Romans chapter 8 yet to come!]

Lesson: We must not continue in sin that grace might abound, for our spiritual identification with Christ in His death to sin and resurrection to newness of life obligates us to live beyond sin and death in a new, righteous life.

Application: May we consider ourselves to be dead to sin and alive in newness of life to live righteously unto God.