Romans 6 – Page 3 – Ministry of Grace Church

Category: Romans 6

Romans 6:3 – Baptized to Death

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Will

Or do you not know that all who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

Truth to Learn

We don’t have to let sin control us. We can have the victory!

Behind the Words

The word “baptized” is translated from baptidzo. It’s easy to see that the Greek word and the English word are nearly identical. This is what is known as a transliteration. A transliteration is when a word in one language is carried over directly into another language. This Greek word means “to immerse, to place into, to dunk, or to wet completely.” For this reason alone, it is reasonable to believe that immersion is the form of baptism that was followed by the early church.

Meaning Explained

This verse and the following are an amplification of what was said in the previous verse. Paul just told us that we died to sin. What does he mean by that? When we were baptized into Jesus Christ we were baptized into his death.

Some people interpret this as saying that we were “placed into the body of Christ.” The only problem with this is that this verse doesn’t say we were baptized into the body of Christ, rather that we were baptized into Christ.

I believe that Paul is talking about “believers’ baptism,” that act in which we were immersed in water (or sprinkled with water, or had water poured on us). This believers’ baptism does not in any way save us. As Paul has told us in the earlier chapters of this book, we are saved by believing in God’s promise and by God subsequently declaring us righteous; not because we did something (like get baptized) but because we believed his message. Well, if this baptism doesn’t save us, then what does it do? It is a public proclamation of our identification with Jesus Christ. It is a proclamation that we have died to sin, and it no longer rules over us, He does.

By identifying with Jesus through baptism, we identify with both his death and his resurrection. The current verse talks about the first half of this. When we were baptized, we were baptized into (identified with) his death; therefore, with Christ we have died to sin and do not have to let it control us.

There is some comfort to be taken in this passage of scripture. The mere fact that Paul is arguing so strongly regarding sinfulness after salvation is proof in itself that we do not stop sinning when we get saved. If that were the case, Paul would simply tell these Roman Christians (and us) that the presence of sin indicates the lack of salvation. But he does not say that!

You will recall that Paul started this line of reasoning because there were some who claimed that we could sin all we want because it only makes the grace of God appear greater. It is clear from Paul’s argument that we have a choice to live a life characterized by sin or not. We will always sin because we have a sin nature, but we don’t have to let sin run our lives. We can control it through the power of the Holy Spirit. What Paul is teaching us through this section of the book of Romans is how to control our sin nature instead of letting it control us.

Application

We all battle the lusts of our sin nature, which are inflamed by this world system we live in. But, we don’t have to let sin control us. Let us all pray that the Holy Spirit of God will give us victory over our sin nature, and in return let’s give God the glory and praise that He deserves.

In God's service, for His glory,

Romans 6:2 – Sin? No Way!

Posted on January 5, 2018 by Will

Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

Truth to Learn

Our lives should no longer be characterized by sinfulness.

Behind the Words

“Certainly not!” is a familiar expression with Paul. It is translated from the Greek words mē genoito. Mē is a particle of negation, meaning “not.” Genoito is a form of ginomai, meaning “to begin to be” or “to cause to come into existence.” In this expression it is used in the very rare optative mood (there are fewer than 70 examples of the optative mood in the entire New Testament). A literal translation of these two words is “May it not be!” In today’s vernacular we might say “No way!”

“Died” is from the verb apothnēskō, which is made up of apo, meaning “from” or “away from” and thnēskō, meaning “to die.” Hence, apothnēskō means “to die away from” or “to die off.”

We have talked before about the fact that Greek is an inflected language. That is, the form of a word indicates how it is used in a sentence. We see some of this in English. For instance “I” is a subject and “me” is an indirect object. The word translated “sin” is in the form of an indirect object. Hence, it could be interpreted as “in sin,” “to sin,” or “by sin.” Paul has already taught us that we are dead “in sin” and “by sin.” Now he is teaching us that we are also dead “to” or “with respect to” sin.

Meaning Explained

This verse is a direct response to the previous one: “Should we continue in sin so that grace may abound?” Paul’s response is, “No way!” He is proclaiming that we should never even consider continuing our sinful ways just so that God’s grace will increase. Paul carries this even further by asking, “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” In other words, if we have, indeed, died with respect to sin, how can we possibly live with respect to sin any longer?

In order to understand this better, it might be helpful to understand what the concept of death really means. We think of death simply as “absence of life,” whereas in reality it means, “separation from life.” By looking at it this way, perhaps you can understand what Paul is saying. We who have been separated from sin (because God has cast our sins as far from us as the east is from the west) cannot possibly be continually in its presence anymore.

Before we were saved, we had no choice but to continually live in a sinful manner. After all, we were controlled by our sin nature. But, because our sins have been paid for and our sin nature has been crucified with Christ, we now have a choice as to how we live.

Application

Paul says we have an obligation to stay away from a life of sinfulness because God has declared us righteous. We also should be motivated by an intense sense of gratitude to God for wiping out our sin debt, which should cause us to want to live an obedient life that will testify to God’s grace!

So I ask you, “How do you want to live; in sinful selfishness or in grateful obedience?

In God's service, for His glory,

Romans 6:1 – Don’t Stay in Sin

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Will

What shall we say then? Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Truth to Learn

Salvation does not mean we have a free pass to sin all we want.

Behind the Words

The expression “What shall we say then?” is called a debater’s phrase. This is a Rabbinical way of teaching which Paul no doubt learned under the teaching of Gamaliel (see Acts 22:3). The process involves the teacher asking a question like this, then encouraging debate before the giving the answer.

The word here translated “continue” is the Greek word epimenō which is a compound word made up of epi, meaning “upon, over, in, or at” and meno, which means “to stay or remain.” Hence, this word means “to remain or stay longer in or at something.”

Meaning Explained

Paul has, at length, just demonstrated that as a result of Adam’s sin, we are all sinners condemned to death and we are not justified by performing any works of obedience. He also said that the presence of the Law does not serve to make us more righteous; instead, it brings our sinfulness more into the light of revelation, making us appear even more sinful. Also, he has shown us that when we believe God’s promises (in our case, that Jesus Christ died to pay for our sins and rose again from the dead), God chooses, by His grace, to declare us righteous (wiping out any and all of our sins past, present, and future).

Do you remember the point he made back in Romans 5:11?

And not only that, but we also are rejoicing in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

We rejoice and God is glorified when we are declared righteous by His grace. And in Romans 5:20 he said:

And law entered that the offense might increase. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much much more,

A quite natural reaction for a Jewish Christian living in Rome would be, “Well, if all of my sins have been paid for and that glorifies God, and the more I sin the more that grace is demonstrated, then I can sin all I want. Then, God receives even more glory for it, and I will still be found righteous!” This is the point that Paul is now going to argue against.

As is typical of Paul, he states the anticipated objection very plainly, “Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

What Paul is really asking is, “Should we continue to live a sinful, ungodly life like we did before we were saved so that God will receive even more glory for forgiving us as an even worse sinner than we already are?”

As you will see in the next verse, his response is an emphatic, “No way!”

Application

One of the misconceptions of believing in eternal security (once you are saved you can’t ever lose your salvation) is this notion that we can now sin all we want without repercussion. Eternal security is clearly taught in the Bible, especially by Paul. But he just as clearly argues against giving sin a free reign because we have died to sin.

In God's service, for His glory,