Romans 6:1-7

Rachel Workman: 6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.

5 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. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

To be a slave to sin is to be controlled by it. You would find yourself looking for ways to sin. Or way to continue in a particular sin. Seems like that would take too much effort for me. It must be exhausting really. Maybe this is why Christ said bring your burden to me for my yolk is light.

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John Burnett:  ¹⁸ So then as through one transgression ^[a]there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness ^[b]there resulted justification of life to all men. ¹⁹ For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. ^20 [c]The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Some great theology in these verses here and one of the reasons I attend a church that preaches grace and is named Grace Bible Church.  Verse 20 is often misused as a justification for sin.  More sin means more grace is how they justify their living in sin.  People who do this, I suspect would fall in the LORD, LORD crowd that He says never knew Him.  Chapter 6 confirms this thinking.

6 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 ^[d]united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be ^[e]in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old ^[f]self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be ^[g]done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷ for he who has died is ^[h]freed from sin.  One that will say and do anything to justify their sin, loves their sin more than they love their Savior.  Repentance is a quality of someone whose eyes have been opened and realize that they are a wretched sinner and need Jesus Christ as their Savior.  Those who still seek sin are subject to wrath because they have not repented.  Christians will still sin but they are not slaves to and it does not drive what they do from day to day.

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Allen Michaels:  6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ 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.

If we think our old sinful life as dead and buried, we have a powerful motive to resist sin. We can consciously choose to treat the desires and temptations of the old nature as if they were dead. Then we can continue to enjoy our wonderful new life with Jesus.

⁵ 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. ⁶ 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— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Here Paul emphasizes that we need no longer live under sin’s power. God does not take us out of the world or turn us into mindless robots—we will still feel like sinning, and we will probably continue to sin. The difference is that before we were saved we were slaves to our sinful nature, but now we can choose to live for Christ.

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Tomorrow’s reading for Romans 6:8-14

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves 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 evil desires. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.