| 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? |
We died to sin. Someone who is dead does not sin
anymore. You have never seen anyone in their casket continue to sin. |
| 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? |
Baptism is the perfect picture of both death and resurrection.
The candidate goes down into the water but comes up out of the water. |
| 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. |
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| 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. |
united with him. There are two important aspect
of redemption: "substitution" and "identification." It
is a mistake to only know one of these facts of redemption. Christianity has
emphasized God’s generosity—his willingness to pay for our sins
(substitution). Unfortunately it has not done the same job is showing our
identity with Christ (identification). Not only did Jesus die FOR me, but
also I died WITH him.
- Substitution shows us God’s Grace—his payment.
- Identification shows us God’s Righteousness—our standing.
Redemption should tell us who God is and who we are in Him.
What made the original sin universal was the fact that the human race was
identified or united with Adam. The cross also unites Christ with us, so
that we might be united with him. |
| 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- |
our old self was crucified. We do not need to crucify
ourselves. We have already been crucified. Why execute a person twice? There
is no need for you to crucify yourself. See verse 11. |
| 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. |
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| 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. |
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| 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. |
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| 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. |
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| 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. |
count yourselves dead. Literally the word
"count" means "to take inventory". For example, an
accountant does not add or take away from the accounts of his clients. He
simply counts what is there. Victory over sin and the devil comes when we
simply take a proper inventory of redemption. We do not add to the
crucifixion by crucifying self; we only conclude that we are already dead to
sin and alive to God. We do not crucify the flesh or crucify self; we can’t
do that since we have already been crucified; we simply count ourselves
dead. |
| 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. |
Therefore. Paul is about to introduce the subject of
holiness. You must understand what he has said before, so that you
don't become bound by holiness. Holiness does not bound; it liberates.
Holiness unfortunately has been used in a legalistic way by the Church. You
will be trapped by legalism if you try to live sin free without
understanding redemption.
do not let sin reign. It is our responsibility to keep sin out of
our lives. We must get rid of the "victim mentality." Many blame
various things for the way they behave. "I was abused", "I
have been mistreated", "I have been deprived", ect. These and
many other excuses have been made to justify one's sinful action. However,
when we come into Christ, we have dominion over sin. |
| 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. |
Body is an instrument. An instrument such as a knife,
can be used to cut out cancer or kill someone. A guitar can be used to play
worship songs or songs that entice the flesh. Money can be used to help
people or bribe officials. Flesh is not sinful, evil or disgusting. It is
neutral. |
| 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under
law, but under grace. |
your master. A master gives orders to the slave. Since
the flesh is neutral it should not tell us what to do like a master does.
Sin is when you listen to the flesh. Listen to grace. Grace is our master.
Grace will teach us to overcome sin. |
| 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! |
Shall we sin. This is the second time Paul mentions
this (see ch 6, v 1). It is obvious that this is what his critics were
claiming that he was teaching.
under grace. Some feel that Grace is inadequate to help us
overcome sin, but it is sufficient.
|
| 16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-- whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? |
you are slaves to the one whom you obey. Even a Master if he
should listen to his slave is in actuality a slave to his own slave. So if
we listen to sin, instead of rightouesness, |
| 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. |
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| 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. |
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| 19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. |
Rom 6:19 Amplified, "I am speaking in familiar human
terms because of your natural limitations…" Paul is using human
illustrations, although they may be somewhat inadequate to express
completely spiritual realities. All human illustrations are by their nature
limited in understanding spiritual truths.
righteousness leading to holiness. Holiness is the offspring of
righteousness. Many confuse righteousness with holiness. Righteousness is
your standing with God, holiness is your walk with God. Even a
criminal has rights under our constitution, but his lawbreaking has caused
him to lose many of his freedoms. The same is true with the believer: he has
rights with God but if he should walk not in holiness he deprives himself of
his freedoms. |
| 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. |
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| 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! |
What benefit did you reap. Not "What pleasure
or fun" but "benefit". Sin has no benefits. A benefit
is that which is good or advantageous for you. Sin has pleasure, but in the
long term it has no benefits, in fact, just the opposite; it has detrimental
effects. |
| 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. |
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| 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. |
Paul makes sure that holiness is not treated as works that
earn our salvation. Holiness is God’s gift to us to live 'wholly' to the
Lord. |
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