The Life in ROMANS 6

By Michael Griego on April 12, 2024 • ( 0 )

How does one go from old to new, sin to grace, death to life? It doesn’t make sense, until one becomes a slave to righteousness. ◊

If you look at the final verses of ROMANS Chapter 5, there’s the notion that sin is brought to our attention because of the law. And that God’s grace overcomes that sin.

As mentioned before, there’s no speeding (sin) if there’s no legally declared speed limit (law).

And, as bad as sin gets, God obliterates it through grace; that is, grace via the gift of Jesus’ substitute death for all of mankind.

Pretty good deal for the sinner.

Life in Death?
Now in Romans Chapter 6, the Apostle Paul extends the thought to a hedonist conclusion and then smashes it on the rocks of life in death logic:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!

We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 5:1-4)

Paul points out that, like Christ, we too have died. Through the identity act of baptism, we have symbolically been buried as if dead, and then raised from the dead to live a new life.

How can we live in sin any longer?

I suspect it’s easy, if one doesn’t allow oneself to think about it much. Or simply thinks that God will keep forgiving.

Or doesn’t fully grasp the significance of what has transpired.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:5-7)

It’s as if our old self, our old body, infused with sin, has been killed/crucified, and the sin is done away with. As we have been like slaves to sin, we have now been set free from sin.

This is a very big deal for the sinner.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:8-11)

Since Jesus died and was raised to life, we too died to sin and now are alive to God via our full identification with Christ.

Slaves to Righteousness?
So no more allowing sin to reign internally and succumbing to evil desires. Rather, submit yourself as an offering to God, your new Master.

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:12-14)

Again, as we are not under the tenets of the law, this does not give us license to sin. Don’t be silly. In fact, we are like obedient slaves, slaves to righteousness.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:15-18)

Paul sums up the transition from the old (impurity and wickedness) to the new (righteousness and holiness). From slaves to sin to slaves to God and righteousness, we’ve moved from things that lead to death, to benefits that lead to holiness and eternal life.

I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:19-22)

An Unbelievable Exchange
Yes, it’s an unbelievable bargain or exchange. From a life earning wages of death, to a free gift of eternal life:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

One can only wonder why one would pass on the offer.

But as we’ll find next in ROMANS Chapter 7, the path of God is not without human tension and struggle.

Have you transitioned from old to new, death to life?
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We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. – Romans 6:4