DRAWING NEAR
Think of an area in which you have struggled with sin in your life. How has God helped you overcome these struggles?
THE CONTEXT
Like a skillful lawyer building an airtight case, the apostle Paul has been laying out the remarkable facts of the gospel. After an extensive discussion of human beings’ sin and inability to please God, Paul announced the doctrine of justification, which is God’s declaration of believing sinners as righteous. Next he moves to the subject of the believer’s holiness—living in obedience to God’s Word through the power of His Spirit. In short, Paul sets out to demonstrate the practical ramifications of salvation for those who have been justified. He specifically begins a lengthy discussion on the doctrine of sanctification, which is the process of becoming holy.
Paul also addresses the logical conclusion of his readers: If the old self is dead, why is there continually a struggle with sin, and how can the new self become dominant? His exhortation is contained in two key words: reckon (vv. 11b–12) and present (vv. 13–14). The final section of chapter 6 continues Paul’s discussion of sanctification by reminding his readers of their past slavery to sin and their new slavery to righteousness. He wants them to live in submission to their new master, Jesus Christ, and not to be entangled again with the sins that characterized their old life, sins which no longer have any claim over them.
KEYS TO THE TEXT
To Reckon: While it literally means “to count or number something,” this phrase was often used metaphorically to refer to having an absolute, unreserved confidence in what one’s mind knows to be true—the kind of heartfelt confidence that affects his actions and decisions. Paul is not referring to mind games in which we trick ourselves into thinking a certain way. Rather he is urging us to embrace by faith what God has revealed to be true.
Dead to Sin: Not a reference to the believer’s ongoing daily struggle with sin, but to a one-time event completed in the past. Because we are “in Christ” (Rom. 6:11; 8:1) and He died in our place (5:6–8), we are counted dead with Him. This is the fundamental premise of chapter 6, and Paul spends the remainder of the chapter explaining and supporting it.
Not Under Law But Under Grace (6:14). This does not mean God has abrogated His moral law. The law is good, holy, and righteous; but it cannot be kept, so it curses. Since it cannot assist anyone to keep God’s moral standard (see Rom. 7:7–11), it can only show the standard and thus rebuke and condemn those who fail to keep it. But the believer is no longer under the law as a condition of acceptance with God—an impossible condition to meet and one designed only to show man his sinfulness—but under grace, which enables him to truly fulfill the law’s righteous requirements. See chapter 7 for Paul’s complete commentary on this crucial expression.
UNLEASHING THE TEXT
Read 6:1–23, noting the key words and definitions next to the passage.
Romans 6:1–23 (NKJV)
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Shall we continue in sin . . . (v. 1)—Paul anticipated that skeptics might reason, “If salvation is based entirely upon grace, won’t this encourage them to sin even more?”
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Certainly not! (v. 2)—literally, “may it never be, by no means”; a strong Greek idiom of repudiation
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
baptized into Christ Jesus (v. 3)—Not a literal water baptism, but a metaphorical immersion of a person into the work of Christ; that is, completely united and identified with Him, “so as to alter [a person’s] condition or relationship to [his or her] previous environment or condition” (Wuest).
4 Therefore 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.
newness of life (v. 4)—In the same way that we were united with Christ in His death and burial, so too in His resurrection; this speaks of regeneration.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing 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.
our old man (v. 6)—a believer’s unregenerate self, worn out and useless
crucified (v. 6)—not merely made to suffer but put to death
body of sin (v. 6)—essentially a synonym for the “old man”
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
freed from sin (v. 7)—no longer under sin’s domination
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
dominion (v. 9)—mastery, control, or domination
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11 Likewise 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.
mortal body (v. 12)—the only remaining repository where sin finds the believer vulnerable
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.
present (v. 13)—refers to a decision of the will
your members (v. 13)—the parts of the physical body from which sin operates in the life of a believer
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
16 Do 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?
17 But 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.
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
19 I 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.
weakness of your flesh (v. 19)—the human difficulty in grasping divine truth
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1) How would you summarize Paul’s response to the idea that believers in Christ will continue to live as they did when they were unbelievers?
2) What does Paul say happened to our old selves?
3) What things do believers need to “know”? How does this “knowing” differ from the “reckoning” (v. 11) that believers are commanded to do?
4) What three things are part of the process of sanctification (vv. 6, 11, 13)?
GOING DEEPER
Note the parallels in Colossians 3 with what you’ve been studying in chapter 6.
Colossians 3:1–11
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,
7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
EXPLORING THE MEANING
5) Why are Christians to “put off ” and “put on” certain things?
6) If Christians really are dead to sin and alive to God, why do we still struggle so with temptation?
7) These passages teach two truths: (1) God is the One who changes us—sanctification is by His grace; and (2) in the sanctification process we are to do certain things and not do certain things. How do you reconcile these facts?
TRUTH FOR TODAY
Jesus Christ is not looking for people who want to add Him to their life as an insurance against hell. He is not looking for people who want to apply His high moral principles to their unregenerate lives. He is not looking for those who want only to be outwardly reformed by having their old nature improved. Jesus Christ calls to Himself those who are willing to be inwardly transformed by Him, who desire an entirely new nature that is created in His own holy likeness. He calls to Himself those who are willing to die with Him in order to be raised with Him, who are willing to relinquish slavery to their sin for slavery to His righteousness. And when people come to Him on His terms, He changes their destiny from eternal death to eternal life.
REFLECTING ON THE TEXT
8) What do you think it means to come to Jesus “on His own terms”? Are you willing to relinquish your sinful inclinations and be transformed from the inside out?
9) The noble theologian Charles Hodge summarized: “There can be no participation in Christ’s life without a participation in his death, and we cannot enjoy the benefits of his death unless we are partakers of the power of his life. We must be reconciled to God in order to be holy, and we cannot be reconciled without thereby becoming holy.” What are some barriers in your life to becoming holy? What are some things in your life that contribute to becoming more holy?
10) In the three-part process of sanctification described in this passage (that is, “know,” “reckon,” and “present”), in what area do you struggle the most? Is it in understanding God’s salvation truths and really being convinced by them, or choosing to live them out? Explain.
PERSONAL RESPONSE
Write out additional reflections, questions you may have, or a prayer.
ADDITIONAL NOTES