Weekly Bible Study

Sunday Nov. 14

Jared's worship dongs

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This week Romans chapter 6:

We who died to sin

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

We who died to sin. Paul’s point is that believers have been really united with Jesus Christ in both His death and His resurrection, and that this has so altered their condition that for them to continue sinning as before is not only inappropriate but actually impossible.

Baptism, the sign and seal of initial union with Christ, is the burial service for the “old self” (v. 6) as well as the inauguration ceremony for the new person in Christ (v. 4). As such, it proclaims that those united to Christ have died to sin.

Our old self was crucified with him. While the “old self” includes pre-conversion life, it includes much more, and should be interpreted in the light of 5:12–21 to mean all that we were through our union with Adam. We are to think of all this as having been nailed to the cross to die.

Might be brought to nothing. Union with Christ in His death does not destroy the body as such, but it does end the Flesh’s role as the inescapable tool of sin by destroying the reign of sin in the body. Christians’ bodies are now dedicated to Christ and bear holy fruit in His service.

We will also live with him. This includes the idea of resurrection, but also implies present participation in the risen life of Christ as one who is “alive to God” (v. 11). Recognize that what has been said in vv. 1–10 is already the truth about yourself.

Let not sin therefore reign. Since the reign of sin has been broken, all attempts on sin’s part to recover dominion can and must be resisted. The body (v. 13), once ruled by sinful desires, must no longer be yielded to them.

Act of the new creation brought from death to life. All this is to be done in conscious awareness, and as a deliberate expression, of our new identity in Christ.

Not under law but under grace. The controlling principle in the life of the believer is the reign of grace that sets free from the reign of sin (5:21) and transforms into the likeness of Christ. That the Christian is not under law but under grace might appear to provide license for moral carelessness. This Paul denies, since under the reign of grace Christians have become slaves of God. The freedom of grace is therefore freedom for obedience and service, not for license to sin.

The triple contrast of wages, sin, and death, with gift, God, and eternal life, brings Paul’s argument to a memorable focus.