Romans 6

Romans 6:1-14 (NKJV) 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing 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. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What shall we say then? “A transition-expression and a debater's phrase” (Morison). The use of this phrase points to Paul's training in the Rabbinical schools, where questions were propounded and the students encouraged to debate, objections being suddenly interposed and answered. VWS

Imagine yourself sitting at the feet of Paul listening as he conducts a bible study. He throws out a questions, waits for input, then gives his answer. Healthy debate ( a friendly discussion) leads to fuller insights and deeper truths. Arguments lead to headaches! Rom 6:1 Shall we continue in sin - It is very likely that these were the words of a believing Gentile, who - having as yet received but little instruction, for he is but just brought out of his heathen state to believe in Christ Jesus - might imagine, from the manner in which God had magnified his mercy, in blotting out his sin on his simply believing on Christ, that, supposing he even gave way to the evil propensities of his own heart, his transgressions could do him no hurt now that he was in the favor of God. And we need not wonder that a Gentile, just emerging from the deepest darkness, might entertain such thoughts as these; when we find that eighteen centuries after this, persons have appeared in the most Christian countries of Europe, not merely asking such a question, but defending the doctrine with all their might; and asserting in the most unqualified manner, “that believers were under no obligation to keep the moral law of God; that Christ had kept it for them; that his keeping it was imputed to them; and that God, who had exacted it from Him, who was their surety and representative, would not exact it from them, forasmuch as it would be injustice to require two payments for one debt.” These are the Antinomians who once flourished in this land, and whose race is not yet utterly extinct. Adam Clarke Nothing much has changed since the days of Adam Clarke has it? We still have people today who think the moral law doesn’t apply to them.

shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? that is, shall we persist in a vicious way of living with this view, that the grace of God may be magnified hereby? is it right to commit sin on such an account? or is this a fair inference, a just consequence, drawn from the doctrine of grace? To be sure it was not, the objection is without any ground and foundation; sin is not "per se", the cause of the glorifying God's grace, but "per accidens": sin of itself is the cause of wrath, and not of grace; but God has been pleased to take an occasion of magnifying his grace, in the forgiveness of sin: for it is not by the commission of sin, but by the pardon of it, that the grace of God is glorified, or made to abound. Gill

This is the same manner that God gets glory out of sickness. Not that the sickness gives God any glory, but that when the person is healed – people glorify God. I included this quote because I find this per se vs per accidens reasoning illuminating. 6:2. God forbid (Gr. mē genoito): Perish the thought; may it never be; don’t even think that way. This expression of unthinkable horror occurs in Paul’s epistles more than 60 times. He uses it whenever the thought suggested is too repugnant to entertain. Sin is singular in this verse and throughout this chapter. It refers to the sin nature. King James Version study Bible Paul uses the same expression when asked the question “Has God forgotten the Jews?” Selah. 6–8. Paul is still expounding the first principle of true sanctification. Hence, as in verse 3, he repeats the word that is characteristic of this first principle. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him. The old man referred to here is our old self, the man we once were before we were crucified with Christ. This crucifixion is not a present, daily experience but is rather a past event, expressed by the aorist tense in Greek. I Corinthians 15:31 was spoken by Paul in the context of physical not spiritual death. Our old man is not constantly being crucified, day by day, but has been crucified at the cross of Calvary. The reason is that the body of sin might be destroyed. A better rendering of might be destroyed (Gr katargeō ), is “might be rendered inoperative.” At the cross of Calvary a victory was won which provided the believer with the power not to live as he once did, serving his old master, i.e., sin, but to live eternally serving his new master, i.e., Christ. KJV Bible commentary How many of us have struggled with “crucifying ourselves daily” only to struggle more? It makes so much more sense to reckon the work as having been done and then walking in that truth, just like salvation, healing and other works of God. 11–12. Knowing what has been accomplished on our behalf at Calvary is not in itself sanctification. It is but the first principle in the process of sanctification. Paul couples to that principle a second one. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. The word reckon (Gr logizomai) means that we know something is true and then, moment by moment, day by day, consider it to be true. We take as a solid reality that which God has promised. Therefore, not only do we know what has been accomplished in our justification, but we continue to live as though we had

already entered into the resurrection presence of our Lord. We do not die daily, we live daily unto the glory of God. KJV Bible commentary 6:14 Though we can never say in this life that we are free from all sin (James 3:2; 1 John 1:8, 10), we also should never say, “This one sin has defeated me—I give up.” The power of Christ’s resurrection at work within us (vv. 4, 5, 11) is greater than the power of any sin, no matter how long established in our lives. To be under law is to be under a system of trying to earn salvation in our own strength by obeying the law, but to be under grace is to be justified and to live by the indwelling resurrection power of Christ. We can die to sin, not because of the law forbidding it, but through all the resources that grace provides. Some erroneously interpret this verse to mean that it does not matter if Christians disobey God’s moral commands, because they are no longer “under law.” Such an interpretation (antinomianism) is contrary to Paul’s whole discussion of sin and to Jesus’ own words about the law (Matt. 5:17-20). Spirit filled life study Bible

For we are not under law - We who are Christians are not subject to that law where sin is excited, and where it rages unsubdued. But it may be asked here, What is meant by this declaration? Does it mean that Christians are absolved from all the obligations of the law? I answer, (1) The apostle does not affirm that Christians are not bound to obey the moral law. The whole scope of his reasoning shows that he maintains that they are. The whole structure of Christianity supposes the same thing; compare Mat_5:17-19. (2) The apostle means to say that Christians are not under the law as legalists, or as attempting to be justified by it. They seek a different plan of justification altogether: and they do not attempt to be justified by their own obedience. The Jews did; they do not. (3) It is implied here that the effect of an attempt to be justified by the Law was not to subdue sins, but to excite them and to lead to indulgence in them. Justification by works would destroy no sin, would check no evil propensity, but would leave a man to all the ravages and riotings of unsubdued passion. If, therefore, the apostle had maintained that people were justified by works, he could not have consistently exhorted them to abandon their sins. He would have had no powerful motives by which to urge it; for the scheme would not lead to it. But he here says that the Christian was seeking justification on a plan which contemplated and which accomplished the destruction of sin; and he therefore infers that sin should not have dominion over them. Barnes Excellent discussion of antinomianism. Some have quoted Paul here as saying that we don’t have to obey anything written in the OT. The answer is a resounding NO. What we have been delivered from is the method of salvation contained in the Law – that of works producing righteousness. Thou shalt not kill – still applies.

Romans 6:15-23 (NKJV) 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16Do 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? 17But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. 20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.