Romans 6:1–14 - No Way!

It might be surprising to hear that you've already died and been buried.

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CONTEXT: For the past five chapters, Paul has been unpacking the glorious details of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, and not based on our efforts.

Romans 6:1–14 (NASB95)

¹ What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? ² May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

⁴ Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷ for he who has died is freed from sin.

⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

¹¹ Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, ¹³ and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 88

Q. What is involved in genuine repentance or conversion?

A. Two things:

the dying-away of the old self,

and the coming-to-life of the new.

Q&A 89

Q. What is the dying-away of the old self?

A. It is to be genuinely sorry for sin,

to hate it more and more,

and to run away from it.

Q&A 90

Q. What is the coming-to-life of the new self?

A. It is wholehearted joy in God through Christ

and a delight to do every kind of good

as God wants us to.

Summary

Paul begins using a literary method that he's become famous for here in the book of Romans called the diatribe. He begins with a rhetorical question, like what shall we say then?, and then goes on to shoot down the suggestion with spectacular theology.

He wants to get ahead of the fallacious conclusion that our not yet fully healed minds naturally come to: if we're saved by grace alone and not by our own righteousness, why not continue in sin so that grace may increase? After all, as some have concluded, God loves to forgive, and I love to sin. Seems like a match made in heaven, right?

Paul responds to his own question with words that were far more forceful in the language he wrote in than the way it appears when translated may it never be! The old KJV captures it a bit more with the paraphrase God forbid! This sort of reasoning ought to be unthinkable for anybody who's been baptized into Christ Jesus.

We often equate baptism with the beginning of new life, and in many ways it is, both for newborns who so often receive it, as well as older converts who've embraced the truth of the gospel. But here we get reminded that we've also been baptized into Christ's death and burial.

  Dig Deeper  

This requires a massive shift in our thinking (which you may remember, is exactly what the word repent means). First of all, it might be quite surprising to hear that you've already died and been buried - that is, our old self was crucified with Christ, and we have been buried with Him through baptism into death.

But this seemingly morbid reality gives way to the beautiful new life we crave, for since we have become united with Christ in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be [united] in the likeness of His resurrection.

This new reality sets the stage for the first set of imperatives (commands) that flow out of the gospel of grace:

• Consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus;

• Do not let sin reign in your mortal body... or presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness;

• Instead, present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God;

And remember, sin shall not be master over you!

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose glory raised Christ from the dead;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the insight and ability to continually die to sin and come to new life in Christ;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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