Romans6

Romans 6 emphatically refutes the idea of continuing in sin for grace to abound, stating that believers are dead to sin through their identification with Christ's death and resurrection. Through baptism, they are united with Christ to walk in newness of life, having crucified the old sinful self. Therefore, believers are exhorted to reckon themselves dead to sin but alive to God, yielding their members as instruments of righteousness rather than unrighteousness.

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

So then, are we to say, “Let’s keep on sinning, so that there can be more grace”?

Heaven forbid! How can we, who have died to sin, still live in it?

Don’t you know that those of us who have been immersed into the Messiah Yeshua have been immersed into his death?

Through immersion into his death we were buried with him; so that just as, through the glory of the Father, the Messiah was raised from the dead, likewise we too might live a new life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was put to death on the execution-stake with him, so that the entire body of our sinful propensities might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.

For someone who has died has been cleared from sin.

Now since we died with the Messiah, we trust that we will also live with him.

We know that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, never to die again; death has no authority over him.

For his death was a unique event that need not be repeated; but his life, he keeps on living for God.

In the same way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God, by your union with the Messiah Yeshua.

Yielding Our Members to God

Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal bodies, so that it makes you obey its desires;

and do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument for wickedness. On the contrary, offer yourselves to God as people alive from the dead, and your various parts to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will not have authority over you; because you are not under legalism but under grace.

Slavery to Righteousness

Therefore, what conclusion should we reach? “Let’s go on sinning, because we’re not under legalism but under grace”? Heaven forbid!

Don’t you know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, then, of the one whom you are obeying, you are slaves — whether of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to being made righteous?

By God’s grace, you, who were once slaves to sin, obeyed from your heart the pattern of teaching to which you were exposed;

and after you had been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

(I am using popular language because your human nature is so weak.) For just as you used to offer your various parts as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led to more lawlessness; so now offer your various parts as slaves to righteousness, which leads to being made holy, set apart for God.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relationship to righteousness;

but what benefit did you derive from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end result of those things was death.

However, now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you do get the benefit — it consists in being made holy, set apart for God, and its end result is eternal life.

For what one earns from sin is death; but eternal life is what one receives as a free gift from God, in union with the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.

Study Notes for Romans 6

Verse 1

Paul anticipates the logical, but erroneous, conclusion that his teaching on abundant grace (from Rom 5) leads to moral license (antinomianism). This chapter answers that charge emphatically.

Verse 2

God forbid (KJV: Mē genoito) is Paul’s strongest expression of denial, meaning “May it never be!” The believer has undergone a fundamental transformation, rendering continued life in sin impossible.

Verse 3

Baptism is here understood as the symbolic identification with Christ's death. It signifies the believer's spiritual participation in the death and burial of the 'old self,' breaking the power of sin.

Verse 4

Just as Christ’s resurrection guarantees eternal life, the believer’s death to sin signifies an immediate call to live a radically transformed life now—walking in newness of life.

Verse 6

The 'old man' refers to the unredeemed self, controlled by sin. This former self was executed legally and spiritually with Christ, so that the 'body of sin' (the power structure of sin) is rendered ineffective.

Verse 7

This is a legal concept: just as a slave is freed from his master upon death, the justified believer is legally released from the obligation and mastery of Sin.

Verse 11

Reckon (logizomai) is an accounting term, meaning 'to calculate' or 'consider as fact.' Believers are commanded to consciously accept and act upon the reality of their spiritual death to sin and life in Christ.

Verse 12

The theological reality (Vv. 1-11) requires a moral response. Since sin's power is broken, believers must actively refuse to allow sin to rule their physical bodies, which are the instruments of action.

Verse 13

The body members (hands, eyes, mind, etc.) must be intentionally presented (paristēmi) to God as tools for righteousness, rather than being surrendered as weapons for unrighteousness.

Verse 14

This promise provides assurance that the believer will not ultimately be mastered by sin, because their relationship is based on grace (God's empowering favor), not the restrictive external demands of the Law.

Verse 15

Paul addresses a second objection: Can we exploit grace as an excuse for individual acts of sin? The answer is an immediate and strong denial (God forbid).

Verse 16

Paul uses the analogy of slavery to emphasize that everyone serves a master. Obedience reveals the true master: sin, which leads to death, or righteousness, which leads to life.

Verse 19

I speak after the manner of men: Paul acknowledges that the analogy of human slavery may be crude, but he uses it because it clearly illustrates the nature of submission and servitude required in the spiritual life.

Verse 22

The fruit of servitude to God is holiness (sanctification), which leads to the final destination of everlasting life.

Verse 23

This famous summary contrasts wages (something earned, referring to death) with gift (something freely given, referring to eternal life). Death is deserved; life is a gift of God's grace through Christ.

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Romans6

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

Yielding Our Members to God

Slavery to Righteousness

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