AM June 30th Rom 6

June 30th Romans, 6

1: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2: God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3: Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4: Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5: For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7: For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8: Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10: For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13: Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

In this passage Paul talks about the union that believers have in Christ. This passage is not about christian baptism, its about baptism into Jesus Christ in which the believer becomes united to Christ. First, Paul suggests an objection to his teaching. Some might say, If Gods grace abounds more and more to cover all sin then we might as well sin more so that Grace might abound. His response to this idea is God forbid. Then he explains why. He asks a question, How shall we christians who are dead to sin live any longer in it? Don’t you know, he says, that we who believe have been baptised into Jesus Christ’s death. We are buried with him in baptism into death that in Christ we might be raised up from the dead by the Glory of God. Therefore we should walk in a new life. If we Christians have been planted into the same death as Christ then we will also live in the same resurrection power. Our old man is crucified in Christ so that the body of our sin might be destroyed and so that we might be free from the ruling power of sin. The person who is dead is free from sin. If we are dead in Christ we will also live in him. We know that Christ is not subject to death any more, death has lost its rule over him. Christ died once but he now lives in resurrection power to God. In a similar way we are to believe that we are also dead to sin but alive to God. We must not let sin rule our lives in the flesh to obey its lusts. Nor must we submit the parts of our body to unrighteous deeds but we are to submit ourselves unto God, as those that are living in a resurrection life. If we walk in the Spirit sin will not dominate our lives. Sin dominated our lives under law but this will not happen under Grace.

Steve