Positional Sanctification Series

2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Paul’s characteristic expression, “Certainly not” (God forbid in the KJV), shows how appalled he is at the mere suggestion of continuing in sin once we have experienced the grace of God.

We who died to sin refers to a definite occasion in our past, namely, when through faith in Christ we passed from death unto life.

Death to sin liberates a person from sin’s control, it brings him (or her) a new life, and it involves separation from sin and a desire to please God and to stop sinning. By asking this question, Paul makes it obvious that he understood justification to mean a declaration of righteousness; that it did not mean to make a person good, but to declare a person good. Justification means that the guilt and the penalty of sin is removed, not the power of sin in this life. However, we cannot continue in sin, that is, to continue to commit the same sin over and over again, because through our identification with Jesus Christ we are dead to sin. To die unto sin, means that we are dead to the guilt of sin. Sin can no longer make any legal claim on the believer because his sins have been covered by the blood of Christ.

When Jesus died to sin, He died as our Representative. He died not only as our Substitute—that is, for us or in our place—but He also died as our Representative—that is, as us. Therefore, when He died, we died. He died to the whole question of sin, settling it once and for all. All those who are in Christ are seen by God as having died to sin. This does not mean that the believer is sinless. It means that he is identified with Christ in His death, and in all that His death means.

The proper response to God’s grace is gratitude. Such an attitude, which would lead a person to ask, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” (v. 1) trifled with God’s grace and reflected a total lack of understanding of the New Birth. When an individual accepts Christ in faith, the sinful desires of the old nature are put to death and the believer receives a new nature through Christ’s resurrected life. God does not need more sins to reveal His grace; He desires more lives to reflect His righteousness and goodness.

Death, whether physical or spiritual, means separation, not extinction. Death to sin is a separation from sin’s power, not the extinction of sin. Being dead to sin means being set free from sin—“And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:18).

3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

Or do you not know. At this point Paul begins to relate the secret of living a holy and sanctified life, a life which is characterized by being dead to sin. The secret of sanctification (see Sanctification of the Saints) is not found in some sanctimonious formula or some deeper or mystical experience with the Lord. The secret is found in three words:

1. know (vs. 3) (See “Know” in box below.). Or do you not know---This phrase means “a lack of knowledge or perception.” Here it denotes “ignorance” on the part of the Jews regarding the ordinance of baptism and its significance and symbolism.