Romans 6 - Set Free from Sin!

In the previous chapter of Romans, Paul ended by comparing sin and death through Adam with the grace of God and eternal life through Jesus Christ. He said that where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. God’s unearned favor is limitless to those who come to Him by faith.

So far, Paul has clearly laid out the Gospel in the first five chapters of Romans, ultimately concluding that a person must be justified by faith. However, that’s not the end of the story. If we recall, he said in chapter 1, “The just shall live by faith.” There’s more to the Christian life than just getting our fire insurance. Many Churches and ministries get the Gospel message down solid, but fail to disciple believers on how to walk a victorious Christian life. If the devil cannot keep us from salvation, he will try to side-line us as believers by getting us caught up in sin. In the next three chapters Paul is going to explain that our faith in the Lord and what He did on the cross for us is also key in our walking in victory over sin.

Picking up on this idea of grace abounding much more than sin from chapter 5, Paul writes, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” The temptation for some is to say that since we are saved by grace through faith, apart from works, we can just live it up because God’s grace will cover it even more so. The tense of the verb “continue” means to habitually practice sin. To the professing believer who thinks they can practice sin, you have to question whether or not they have received the real Gospel? Only the Lord truly knows, but this demonstrates there has not been a real heart change. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Co 6:9-10) So important is this idea that Paul repeats it three times, here in 1 Corinthians, in Galatians 5, and in Ephesians 5. Those who habitually practice sin will not inherit the kingdom of God. In contrast, true believers have been given a new nature, and will no longer want to practice sin.

This is where repentance comes in. Implicit in the Gospel message is the understanding that we have been living in a way that is not pleasing to the Lord, and that He wants us to turn from our sins. There is a tendency in the church to shy away from the topic of repentance, but Jesus did not. After His temptation in the wilderness, He went to Galilee, and began preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mat 4:17) “That was just for Jesus,” some might say, “He is the Son of God.” However, the apostles also preached repentance. On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the people, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38) And again after the healing of the lame man, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19) So, repentance is something we should be preaching as well.

To help illustrate the idea of repentance, suppose my wife and I adopted a child, at a certain point after bringing them into our home, we would have a conversation with them about what our expectations for them are as a member of the family. We would also at some point have a conversation with them about what the consequences might be if they do not meet those expectations. Nothing they do or don’t do will affect their status as a member of our family, but it can affect what type of relationship they have with us. When we get saved, we are adopted into the family of God. Nothing we do or don’t do will affect our status as a child of God, but the Lord has a different way for us to live.

Paul’s answer to his original question of whether or not we should continue in sin is, “Certainly not,” or some of your translations say “God forbid!” As believers, there has been a permanent change in our relationship to sin. Before we were saved, we were dead in our sin, but now we are dead to it. If we have died to sin, why would we want to live in it any longer?

Paul says , “Do you not know,” implying what he was about to say should be common knowledge for the believer. At salvation, we are baptized (immersed) into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit (1 Co 12:13), and are baptized into His death. We were buried with Him through baptism into death, and just as He was raised to life by the glory of the Father, we are also raised to walk in newness of life. We are united together with Him in the likeness of His death, as well as in the likeness of His resurrection. “United together” is a close union, and is used to explain the process by which a graft becomes united with the life of the tree. We are united with Christ, and receive our life from Him.

This re-birth into the life of the Spirit is one in which the old you and the old me dies, and we are raised a new creation in Christ. Water baptism, where we are immersed in water, signifies what has already taken place on the inside. Much like circumcision for the Old Testament believer, it is an outward sign of an inward faith.

So far, Paul has shown how we have been freed from the guilt and punishment of sin, and now he will explain how we are also free from its power. Most of us as Bible-believing Christians are not using the grace of God as a license to sin, but so often we walk in defeat because we do not believe we are really free. We all have those sins that we struggle with in which it feels like that sin has power over us, but the battle over sin is not primarily a power encounter. Rather, it is a truth encounter. Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Jn 8:32)

Next, Paul directly addresses the old man. He says, “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Our old man represents who we were before coming to Christ, like Adam who was in rebellion to God. It is part of man’s nature to try to reform himself, but the Lord says he’s got to die. He died on the cross with Jesus. Crucifixion was an automatic death sentence, and was a death of the worst kind. The body of sin, also called the flesh or sin nature, is that part of us that is still affected by sin. It is why we are still tempted and feel the pull toward sinful behavior. Paul stated it has been done away with (rendered powerless). I’ve heard it said that it is like a quadriplegic, he can yell, scream, and sound intimidating to you or me, but he cannot make us do anything because he has been stripped of his power. Since we died with Christ, we are freed (justified) from sin.

Paul restates this to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” I have been crucified with Jesus on the cross, therefore, my old self is dead. However, Jesus now lives in me, and the life I live in the body I live by faith in Him who died for me.

Now, if we (our old man) died with Christ, we believe we will also live with Him. Christ has been raised from the dead, and does not need to die anymore. Death no longer has dominion over Him. He has died to sin once for us all, and He now lives to God. The sacrifice of Himself for our sins is sufficient.

Paul continues, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The word reckon does not mean “I guess,” as if to say, “I reckon I’ll have Texas barbecue for lunch.” It is the same word Paul used in chapter 4 when speaking of God’s imputed righteousness. Again, it is an accounting term that, in this context, means to count it as so. The Strong’s dictionary states the following: “This word deals with reality. If I ‘logizomai’ or reckon that my bank book has $25 in it, it has $25 in it. Otherwise, I am deceiving myself. This word refers to facts not suppositions.” In other words, it’s just math, folks! God says we’re dead to sin and alive unto God, we are to believe it, and that settles it.

For this reason we are to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies, to obey its lusts. We are not to present our members as instruments of unrighteousness, but rather as instruments of righteousness unto God. We are alive from the dead, so we should act like it by presenting ourselves before God in obedience.

Next, Paul states that sin shall not have dominion over us, for we are not under law, but under grace. Part of God’s divine unearned favor is that we have been set free from sin. The law could not free us, but only condemn us. The grace of God on the other hand, has truly set us free. We are free not to sin. At any given point that I am tempted to sin, I can say, no, through the power of Christ working in me. This may sound like the power of positive thinking, hoping to become something we are not. However, as Chuck Missler writes, “The Christian life is not trying to become what you are not. The Christian life is experiencing what you are—in Christ.”

Similar to his question at the beginning of the chapter, Paul asks if we should sin since we are not under the law but under grace? If you have ever had to confront someone on sin, one of the classic lines people use is that grace covers it (or something to that effect). With that mindset, we can justify anything we want. However, as we have already seen, grace is not the freedom to sin, but the freedom from sin.

Paul answers his own question the same way, “Certainly not!” Again, as if it should be common knowledge for the believer, he asks, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” It’s worth noting at this point, since Christ has set us free, it is a willing servitude (I sin because I want to). If we obey our appetites, we will become slaves to it. It’s amazing how quickly we can become enslaved to things, and how strong those addictions can become. Although we are technically still free, it certainly doesn’t feel like it. There are the physical and psychological addictions, as well as the spiritual forces that keep trying to pull us back to that particular sin(s). If we continue to serve sin, it will lead to death. However, if we are slaves to obedience, it leads to righteousness. It comes down to a choice: who are we gonna serve? The instant we choose the Lord and His ways; the freedom is there available to us if we reckon it so by faith.

Paul thanked the Lord that though they were (past tense) slaves to sin, they obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which they were entrusted. They responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the call of God and believed the Gospel message. As a result, they were set free from sin, and became slaves to righteousness. I’m reminded of the words of Jesus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, “if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Jesus has made us free, folks!

Paul was using the imagery of slavery because it would have been common to the reader, and painted an accurate picture of either our relationship to sin or to Christ. Just as they had presented their members as instruments of uncleanness and lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, now they were to present their members as slaves for holiness (sanctification). They had been counted righteous by faith, now God wanted to make them righteous practically. When they were slaves to sin, they were free from the concerns of being righteous. However, Paul asked them what fruit did they have in those things for which they were now ashamed? The obvious answer is, none. There is never good fruit that comes out of sin. It only leads to death. In Galatians it states, “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” (Gal 6:8) But, since they had been set free from sin and become slaves to God, they had their fruit to holiness which leads to everlasting life. If we work for sin we will be paid with death, but on the contrary, God’s free gift to us is eternal life In Jesus Christ our Lord.

So, we have established that we are free from sin, but are we so free that we have arrived and no longer sin at all? Theologians call this sinless perfection, the belief that we can reach a point in our Christian Walk where we never sin anymore. A passage that immediately comes to mind in relation to this topic is in 1 John where it states, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 Jn 1:8-10) Because we have been set free from sin, we can, day-by-day, moment-by-moment, say no to sin because of what the Lord has done for us on the cross. Not only can we say no, we are called to do so. However, in the grand picture, God knows we won’t do this perfectly this side of Heaven, and later in Romans, Paul will describe his own struggles with sin.

In summary, we have been baptized into the body of Christ, and are united with Him in His death and resurrection, receiving our life from Him. Our old self is dead, and our sin nature no longer has power over us. We are to count ourselves dead to sin, but alive in Jesus Christ. Sin no longer has control over us because we are under grace. We have been set free from our slavery to sin, and are now slaves to righteousness. We have been given the free gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. These are quite simple concepts that are really revolutionary for us as believers. As I stated earlier, it’s just math. We take God at His word and stand on it. However, there are times when we lack the faith to walk this out. We shouldn’t, but for whatever reason, we do. Paul will speak to this in the following chapter.

Reader, are you habitually practicing sin today? The Scriptures are clear, those who practice sin will not inherit the kingdom of Heaven. This is the evidence you have not had a true heart change; you are not born again. The Scriptures say to examine ourselves to see whether or not we are in the faith. Are you trusting in the Jesus of the Bible, and are you coming to Him on the basis of faith alone? If not, you need to do so today. Then the Lord will give you a new heart, you will be born again, and you will want to serve and obey Him.

In what ways are we allowing ourselves to be slaves to sin? Remember, the just shall live by faith, and its our faith in the Lord that we reckon ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to Him. It’s our faith in Him that places us under His grace rather than the law’s dominion. It’s our faith in Jesus that has made us free from sin. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed! Let’s walk in that freedom!