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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Chapter 6 Dead
To
Do
you remember back in chapter 3 verse 8 Paul mentioned that he was being
slandered? Some were reporting
that he was teaching that we should “do evil that good may abound”.
You can easily see why Paul had his critics.
He has just said that one reason for the Law was to increase sin in
people. The more people sinned, the more God could show His grace.
The same question can be asked today, that is, if the gospel is
really being preached as it should be, which often it's not.
Much of the Evangelical gospel today is works orientated.
Thus, there is no criticism.
Here
in Romans 6:1 Paul asks the question that everyone else was asking,
“shall we go on sinning that grace may increase?" This is a logical
question in light of the last few verses of chapter 5.
Paul’s answer was a resounding, “by no means”. Why
should we not sin? Verse 2
tells us that if we have really been declared righteous by trusting Jesus,
we have died to sin. The
question should now be asked. What
does "death to sin mean?" Well,
it is clear that it does not mean we are sinless.
We have only been declared sinless by God.
We are still fallen people, prone to sin.
If you read Paul's letters, the churches had many sin problems that
he addressed. So Christians
still sin. Death to sin does
not mean we are without sin. I
believe "death to sin" means that we have decided to follow
Jesus, not our sinful ways. We
have put sin behind us. That
being said, we still struggle with sin.
Sin still nips at our ankles and sometimes we give into sin, but
that is not what we really want to do.
We want to serve Jesus, not sin. In our hearts and in our minds,
sin has now become our enemy, when once it was our friend.
Our relationship with sin has died, even though at times, it tries
to be resurrected. Paul
introduces baptism for the first time here in verses 3 and 4.
When we are baptized, we die to our old sinful life.
As Christ was raised to a new life, so we are raised to a new life
in Christ when we come up out of the waters of baptism.
If we have been raised to a new life, then the old life of sin
should be left behind. Another
question could be asked at this point. Is baptism symbolic, and if
so, what is it symbolic of? I use the word "symbolic"
because that word is often used, but I tend not to use the word any more.
I think baptism is more than symbolic, but on the other hand, as some
might suggest, we don't really die to self or sin when we are baptized
into the water. I see water baptism as acknowledging the fact that
we died in one real sense of the word when Jesus died on the cross.
Paul states this fact in Galatians 2:20. This is hard for many to
understand since we are obviously still alive. Jesus died in our
place. Our sings have been forgiven because Jesus took the
punishment for them. In this respect, because Jesus replaced us on
the cross, we have died. Water baptism is simply recognizing this
fact. So, I do see it is more than symbolic, and I personally don't
use that word any more.
Again, verse 5 says that we have been united with
Jesus in death. This may be
hard to understand as I've stated above, but the fact remains that Jesus
died instead of us. He was
substituted on our behalf. So,
in that sense we died on the cross, but in another sense, we live because
Jesus died in our place. When
Paul says that we died with Christ here and elsewhere, he is simply saying
that Jesus took our place on the cross, and in the eyes of God, He see us
as having died to sin, and law. Both
sin and law have nothing to do
with us any longer. Another
way to understand our death with Christ is this way.
Christ took our sin to the cross.
He was not only punished for our sin, but He actually became our
sin when He was hanging on the cross. (2 Cor. 5:21)
Therefore, the sinful part of us did die when Jesus hung on the
cross. We
see that Paul says in verse 5 that "we will" be united with
Jesus in His resurrection, if we've been united with Jesus in His death.
I think the words 'we will" is future tense speaking of the
future resurrection. There is
a certain association that we have with the death of Jesus that is found
in true repentance. If we've
gone through the process of repentance and death, we will go through the
process of resurrection. That
begins with the reception of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but will
culminate when the dead in Christ rise at the end of this age.
In
verse 6 Paul makes two statements. He
says that our old self was crucified with Christ.
That's past tense. In
one real sense of the word, our life was killed with Jesus.
Our old self was killed with Jesus because Jesus became our sin,
became our old self on the cross. He
was so filled with our sin and ourselves that He no longer was
recognizable, as Isaiah 52:14 states.
The next statement that Paul makes is that because our old self
also died when Jesus died, the hope is that our "body of sin might be
done away with." That is
future tense. That tells me
that Christians still struggle with sin.
Even if we are water baptized, we are now in the process of doing
away with sin. It has not been totally done away with as yet.
Paul
goes on to say in verse 7 that those who have really died are free from
sin. That sounds a little like
John when he says that “anyone who is born of God does not sin.”
What John means in 1 John 5:18
is that Christians do not continue to live a sinful lifestyle.
We may still commit sin, but our way of living is not sinful as it
once was. Paul says that
"if we are dead to sin, we are freed from sin,"
meaning, sin does not have the same power over us as it once did.
Through the Holy Spirit, we can be victorious over sin.
Paul will speak to this issue in chapters 7 and 8.
We
may find these words hard to understand since we still sin. We still live
in our fallen nature and in this fallen world.
We have not yet reach perfection of righteousness.
Yet as I say this, the idea of not "continuing" in sin as
John puts it, as I stated above, is attainable.
Living in sin, and committing sin, in my opinion are two different
things. If we have given our lives to Jesus, and if we trust Him with our
lives, we will be in the process of leaving the life of sin behind.
In
verse 8 Paul says that "if we died with Christ (past tense), we
believe we will (future with some hint of present tense) live with
Him." It is true
that we have died with Christ, if we have repented.
Therefore, we "believe" that we will live with Him.
I see that as in the future at the resurrection of the dead.
The words "we believe we will .." suggest that. We have
to look seriously at verb tenses when we study the Bible.
In
verse 9 we note that “death
no longer has mastery over Jesus”. Christ
overcame death. This is why we
have a new life in Jesus. This
is why we can have new life without sin.
The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of our faith.
Read 1 Cor. 15 and you will see Paul’s classic discourse
concerning the resurrection. In
verse 10 Paul tells us that Jesus died to sin.
Jesus was tempted by sin every day of His life, but never gave into
it. By dying, and being made
sin for us, He conquered sin in all aspects.
Thus, Jesus can live a new life, a resurrected life, which we will
also live. Jesus' death
was all about our sin. He was
punished on our behalf, because of our sin.
He experienced the wrath of God due us because of our sin.
He became sin, that is, our sin, in order for us to be free from
sin. I
believe verse 11 sheds much light on the confusion over whether we are
really dead to sin. Paul
tells us "to count" ourselves dead to sin.
That clearly means that we still sin from time to time.
Yet even though we do still sin, we are to count ourselves as being
dead to sin. The mere fact of
counting ourselves dead to sin will help us to sin less.
The process of counting ourselves dead to sin gives us the mental
foundation we need to fight against sin. Without that mental awareness of
sin, we cannot over come it.
Paul
gives a command in verses 12 and 13. It
is a strange command because of what he has just said.
He has just told us that we who are in Christ are dead to sin.
Now he tells us not to let sin reign in our bodies.
Why would he suggest that there is a possibility of letting sin be
our master when we have died to it? I
think the answer is clear, as I've just stated.
In one sense of the word we have died to sin, because Jesus became
our sin on the cross. That
being said, we are still sinful. We
need to count ourselves as dead to sin, as Paul just said.
We are not so dead to sin that we do not sin.
Therefore, we must fight against sin.
We must fight hard because Jesus went through an awful lot because
of our sin. Therefore,
when it comes to water baptism, it is symbolic.
Being buried under the water does not mean we have actually killed
every aspect of sin within us. It
is symbolic of the fact that our sin became part of Jesus, and now that we
know that, we do not want to live a life of sin.
In
verse 14 Paul speaks of the Law to help clarify things.
He says, “because we are not under the Law, but under grace”.
Remember the Law caused us to sin even more.
The Law now has nothing to do with us any longer.
We do not live by Law, but “by God’s grace”.
There
are two definitions of grace found in the Bible.
That is, the word grace is used in two different ways.
Way one is defined by “God’s unmerited favour towards us”.
He loves us without us
having to do anything to earn His love.
Way two is, “God gives us the ability to do what we need to
do”. God helps us live the
righteous life without sin, as He would like us to live.
Paul could be saying that we are under God’s unmerited favour.
As a result of such love, He gives us the ability to overcome sin.
In
short, we have died to sin. We
do live for Jesus. Sin still
tries to snap at our feet to take control of us again, yet Paul says that
God’s enabling grace has been given to us so that sin will not master
us, even though it will try. The
whole idea of us being dead to sin is important.
When we come to Christ in true repentance and faith there is an
evident change in our life. We
have already mentioned this before.
If our life does not reflect this new life, and we continue to live
in sinful disobedience, then we can question
whether we have really come to true faith.
We have seen Paul, James and John, all three men, tell us that sin
should not have a hold on those who really come to Christ. The
modern church is following in the way of the world these days by not
talking much about sin because the subject is too negative.
Both the world and the church wants to promote positive thinking
and good self esteem so any
talk about sin is discarded as too negative, and only inhibits our self
esteem. This is not Biblical
thinking. We must
acknowledge the presence of sin in our life and deal with it accordingly.
Slaves
To Righteousness (ch. 6:15-23) In
chapter 6 verse 1 Paul asks, “shall we go on sinning so that grace may
increase?” Here in verse 15
he asks a similar question to that in verse 1.
The question here is, “shall we sin because we are not under the
Law but under grace?” He is
asking this question because of what he as just said in verse 14.
It is another natural question that someone would ask him because
of what he just said. Paul, as
in verse 1 answers by saying, “by no means”.
He has just stated the reason why we should not sin in verse 14,
which says, “sin shall not
be your master because you are not under the Law, but under grace”. In
verses 14 to 16 Paul introduces the idea here that we are no longer slaves
to sin, but we have become slaves to God and to His righteousness.
This is one way of viewing our lives as Christians that isn't very
popular these days. When one
becomes a Christian, one is in fact giving his life to Jesus, and if you
give your life to Jesus, that means you belong to Him.
You belong to Jesus as a slave belongs to his master.
Paul
is also saying that all men are slaves.
We are all slaves to sin or slaves to Jesus.
It's one or the other. No
man is really free. In verse
17 Paul gives thanks to God that these Roman Christians are no longer
slaves to sin. They aren't
slaves to sin because they gave themselves to the teaching Paul entrusted
them with. This shows us the
importance of good teaching. Teaching
is something that we are actually entrusted with.
It is our responsibility to act accordingly to that which has been
given to us. These Roman
Christians did act accordingly, and so should we.
It is very important in this day in age when Bible teaching is
taking a back seat to other things, to know that God has given us a
certain teachings and truths, and beyond that, He has trusted it with us.
Now, what will we do with that which He has given us.
We need to be good stewards.
In
verse 18 Paul makes it clear. We
are slaves, but we are slaves to righteousness, not sin.
To date Paul has told us that we are declared righteous by simply
trusting Jesus. He mentioned
one time that we have eternal life. He
has hinted to us about receiving God’s Spirit.
Now he is telling us that we are slaves to God.
Is this something we want to hear?
I thought salvation was free? Salvation
is free to us, yet when we come to Christ we “repent” of our old way
of life. That is, we leave our
old way of sin in which we were enslaved.
Jesus has purchased our freedom from our sin.
We then become slaves to God. We
will be slaves, either slaves to sin, or slaves to God.
There is no other choice.
Being
slaves is another thing the modern church has left behind.
We like to soften this concept by using less offensive words.
The fact of the matter is that Jesus is Lord.
He is the final authority over all there is. So if He is Lord, then
in one real sense of the word, we who have given our lives to Him are
slaves. That being said,
Scripture also says that we are His brother as well. In
verse 19 Paul says that because the Roman Christians were
weak in their natural selves, they once offered their body parts to
sin, but now they should offer them to God “as slaves” to God.
So as these people were
passionate in their sin, they
should be just as passionate to be righteous.
You might well imagine that one of the body parts used for sin were
the sex organs of both men and women.
As a man is passionate about sex, and in this case, adultery, he
should be just as passionate for living right before God. In
verse 20 Paul says that when the Roman Christians, and us too were slaves
to sin, we were free from God's righteousness.
That really puts it down to our choice.
How do we want to live? Who
or what do we want to serve? As
a Bob Dylan song puts it, "you've got to serve someone."
We will serve someone or something.
It's either God or the devil. In
verse 21 Paul asks the Romans how they benefited from their past life of
sin. That's a good question to
ask anyone. One can just list
a number of sins. Then they
can list the results of those sins. It
is obvious that sin leads to problems.
Paul says that sin leads to death.
For example, the sin of adultery leads to death of a marriage.
In
verses 22 and 23 Paul tells his readers that when they were slaves to sin,
the natural result was death. At
that point righteousness had no benefit to them.
Now we are slaves to righteousness and there are lots of results,
including “holiness and eternal life”.)
This is the first mention of the word holiness and the second
mention of the words eternal life in the book of Romans.
We can therefore conclude that holiness is a part of the Christian
life. We need to understand
that holiness is not simply obeying rules.
It is obeying God. It
is living out the righteousness that God has pronounced on us, out of a
loving and thankful heart. Holiness
is a state of being just as righteousness is a state of being.
Holiness is more than doing holy things.
It's being holey. Paul
closes this chapter in verse 23 with the famous verse we all learned in
Sunday School. “For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God
is eternal life” through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
This is a Biblical truth. Christians cannot compromise this truth
away. Sin leads to death in
many ways, and the most important way is the death of the relationship we
have with our God.
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