By Grace living a new life
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
Ro 6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
Ro 6:2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Ro 6:3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
Ro 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Ro 6:5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
Ro 6:6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—
Ro 6:7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Ro 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
Ro 6:9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
Ro 6:10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
Ro 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Ro 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Ro 6:13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
Ro 6:14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.(Nrsv)
Ro 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Ro 6:5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
Introduction
A man went on vacation to the Holy Land with his wife and her mother. While in Israel, the mother-in-law died from a heart attack. The couple went to a local undertaker, who explained that they could either ship the body home which would cost more than $1500, or they could bury her right there in the Holy Land for only $150. The man said, "We’ll ship her home. "Surprised, the undertaker responded, "Are you sure? That’s an awfully big expense, and we can do a very nice burial here. "The man said, "Look, 2000 years ago they buried a guy here and three days later He rose from the dead. I just can’t take that chance."
St Paul tells us:
Ro 6:5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
What does “united with him in his resurrection mean?”
Ro 6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
Ro 6:2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
• Having accepted the Grace of God – undeserved favor – that brings Salvation
• Certain Christians began to say “in order to give divine grace as much opportunity as possible to display itself - The more we sin, the more God’s grace will appear
• Paul says “By no means” - Why not? Because of 2 reasons!!
1. Our Participation in Christ’s death
• When Paul mentions our participation in Christ’s death, he uses the past tense (vv. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).
• V.2. “we died to sin” ; v.3 “baptized into his death” ; v.4 “We were therefore buried with him” v.6 “our old self was crucified with him” ; v.7 “anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” ; v.8 “Now if we died with Christ”
• Our participation / friendship with sin is over /broken
2. Our participation in Christ’s resurrection
• When Paul talks about our participation in Christ’s resurrection, he uses the future tense (vv. 5, 8).
• V.5 “we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.” ; v.8 “we believe that we will also live with him.”
3. Therefore, if we have experienced the grace of God, it is inconsistent for us to go on sinning
• We are no longer members of Adam’s race.
• However, some effect of that race still remains with us.
• Therefore v. 12 calls our body a mortal body, a body destined to death.
• Ro 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
• Ro 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
4. Our participation in the effects of Christ’s resurrection
• Now – that is until our mortal body is no more (Physical death) we partially participated in the effect of Christ’s resurrection.
• This is manifested in our living a new life (v. 4). Ro 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
• we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life (Amplified)
Illustration
A legend from India tells about a mouse that was terrified of cats until a magician agreed to transform him into a cat. That resolved his fear…until he met a dog, so the magician changed him into a dog. The mouse-turned-cat-turned-dog was content until he met a tiger-so, once again; the magician changed him into what he feared. But when the tiger came complaining that he had met a hunter, the magician refused to help.
“I will make you into a mouse again, for though you have the body of a tiger, you still have the heart of a mouse.”
