From 6:1 to 8:39 the Apostle Paul moves from demonstrating the doctrine of justification which is God’s declaring the believing sinners righteous (3:20-5:21), to demonstrating the practical ramifications of salvation on those who have been justified. He specifically discusses the doctrine of sanctification which is God’s producing actual righteous in the believer in 6:1-8:39. He begins his discourse on sanctification by arguing that in spite of their past, all whom God has justified will experience personal holiness (1 Cor 6:9-11a; 1 Tim 1:12-13).
Romans 6:1, “1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”
Paul’s opening remarks here open the course for a discussion that will lead to verse 14 to saying that we are under grace. Paul’s use of rhetorical questions cut to the very heart of the issue. Having been justified by faith the believer then has to embark on a journey towards becoming like Him who has redeemed them.
Romans 6:2, “2Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”
Those who are in Yeshua are those who have died to sin, to be obedient to the Lord. Yet obedience is the benchmark which leads to victory, for our victory can only ever be measured by our level of obedience in Him which is increased as our awareness of His grace increases. Those to who are in Him are those who know that they don’t have to sin, but when they do know that they have to take personal responsibility for sinning. Those who have died to Yeshua are those who don’t align with the world’s ways, so therefore how shall we who died to sin live in it any longer? The answer is simple, through obedience to Him which leads to victory and freedom in His name.
Romans 6:3, “3Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”
Obedience leads to victory, but as Paul is trying to get across our baptism is merely an imagery of the resurrection of the Lord. By His resurrection we have the newness of life of which He paid for as verse 4 points out for. Paul is speaking of the exchange that occurs in our inward being at conversion. This exchange occurs deeply in our being for the exchange involves our invitation to new life. This new life involves an exchange which occurs spiritually. This baptism that Paul is speaking of here is the baptism of every believer who comes to saving faith through repentance which leads to the new life. Baptism is in two senses, one in the baptism of immersion which places the believer publically in the community by identifying them with the global community of faith, but this is not the baptism that Paul is here referring to. The baptism that Paul is speaking of here is the baptism into the faith which is spiritual. It involves identification with Christ through justification to engage sanctification. The whole process of obedience begins at the point of conversion leading to complete sanctification.
Romans 6:4, “4Therefore 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 is the offer of the resurrection hope that was bred through our spiritual identification into the family fold of the Body. We can only ever grow when together; we purpose to grow in our identification with who Messiah is, and what He did for us on the Cross, but also during the Resurrection leading to the Ascension. We often like to think of dirty clothes, but the new clothes and new life that we have is only as a result of the Father’s approval of the Son’s resurrection leading to victory over death, which lead to the Ascension. Therefore, our victory is because of His victory, and our obedience is directly related to His absolute obedience.
Each one is engaged in the story of redemption which leads to newness of life. Our hearts awaken to the reality of the resurrection when we come to the place where we seek to be obedient as He was obedient. Victory is not a one way street for victory is directly correlated by our desire to be obedient, which ties into the level of our victory, which leads to our level of freedom and worship of His name in our lives. Each part is interconnected into the newness of life which we have received through Him who gave us this new life in Him.
Romans 6:5-6, “5For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing 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.”
The resurrection is linked to our old man being shown for what it is. Oldness of life is not the promise, but newness is as, we looked at it in verse 4. The resurrection leads one to new life, but that’s only when one comes to the Cross for salvation; therefore, this verse is not speaking to a non believer, but to the believer. His resurrection leads that which is old to that which is new through the cruxification our passions or emotional center. Sin is not who we truly are, for sin as it is a lie to our hearts. This lie has been told to our hearts since the dawn of time, but it is not the truth of who we are presently as believers. Our engagement as believers is not with sin, but with growing in the awareness and reality, of the work of grace presently at work within our lives, which will lead us to further growth in obedience, which causes victory and greater freedom in our lives. As believers we have been lied into agreements which lead us back into the old man not into the development of the new man.
Romans 6:7, “7For he who has died has been freed from sin.”
This death speaks to the very foundations of our lives. This death is in reference to our spiritual identification with Yeshua. This identification is not with physical death, but with spiritual rebirth. Spiritually speaking we often think from our minds about our faith but somehow miss our hearts in the whole equation. Yeshua came to set our hearts free from the power of sin itself, for we have died to sin too arise from our hearts to newness of life. He came to awaken in us the deep houses of restoration in us so that we could be lead to freedom through Him whose life breathes new life within us.
Romans 6:8-9, “8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.”
We all know the truth, but few exercise the truth of the verse stated here. Yeshua was resurrected from the grave as a result of the Father’s approval because of His actions on the Cross. It is the Resurrection hope that is central to the believers growth, for the Cross leads us into salvation, but the Resurrection leads us to obedience to that very action. Obedience leads us to victory, and victory over sin leads us to freedom in Him which is all central to the message of Paul. Paul moves from one remark to another in the same sentence through comparing the oldness of life to the newness of life so as too give us a full picture of what being free is all about. Being free is about the heart becoming fully alive so that it can see as it always was meant to see, which was the full plethora of beauty that He created the heart to bear by experiencing His beauty.
Death doesn’t have dominion over Him because He defeated death in the spiritual and physical realms. Yeshua defeated the laws of our physical nature because He was dead, yet He arose again from the grave which proved who He was. This was not a swan story for this was what really happened. The causal relation of this event means that our hearts are now presently truly alive, for the very first time. This means that they can be captured in, and captivated in the motivation of His love, so as too be motioned forth in His love. Death cannot touch that which was spiritually ransomed and redeemed, because the door once entered is now secured through His love not condemned but held firmly in the palm of His hand. Death spiritually isn’t the hope of the believer, but newness of life is. Growth occurs as obedience beckons, for victory is through obedience, which leads to greater freedom in indwelling in the presence of the Great I am.
Romans 6: 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Paul is merely expanding upon his message already established on the resurrection and the newness of life. Paul is once looking again at the eschatological hope that we have by comparing the life He had to the life He now has. He died to sin although He never sinned, but the life He now lives He lives to God. This comparison is meant to awaken parts of us that we often don’t like to speak of. Think of it in terms of this: Often times we would rather like to hide behind some sort of façade rather than to face the reality, of who and what we have done in our lives. Instead of facing our problems we run from them. Yeshua never committed any sins yet He paid for all of our sins, and now lives with God the Father as He always has from eternity past. When He died to sin this was our sin that He was taking personal responsibility for, and it is our sin also that leads us to death spiritually, but it is the hope we have in Him who paid our sin that leads us to freedom in Him but also to new life in Him.
When Paul says reckon yourselves dead to sin Paul is making the argument that we are to actually change our lives. Many know the Gospel truth, but won’t let it pierce the inwardness of their lives. We live in what may be considered an downside-up faith. Our heads are in it, but our hearts are not. The Lord said that we are to love Him with all of our hearts, minds and souls (Matthew 22:39-40). This sounds more like an upside down faith, for our hearts are the first thing He mentions, for Paul also tells us that we must confess with our hearts that He is Lord (Romans 10:9). This being true then, our spirituality needs a radical awakening. For far to long we as believers lied to by far too many well meaning preachers and teachers of the Word.
Our spirituality is only ever alive when we come to the place of personal responsibility, which leads to new life and an awakening of the work of grace inside of us. We cannot ever grow in freedom till we come to the place where we desire the work of grace to capulte us into the desire to actually be free through identification with Himself. Our spiritual union with Him requires that we take responsibility for our mistakes when we make them, and then turn from them, so that we can grow in greater obedience, which leads to greater victory and freedom in His name. Only then can we consider ourselves truly alive when we come to the place where we have reckoned ourselves dead to sin and alive unto the Lord Yeshua through identification with His name in our inward man.
Romans 6: 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”
Formerly through slavery we were bound by our slavery, but this cannot be anymore as we are adopted through His blood sacrifice. Our slavery mentality was exchanged when we came to faith and now called sons and daughters of the living God. We are no longer required to obey the addiction of sin itself, because that former part of us is no longer part of us. Freedom is the call of the day, not slavery, for our lives formerly with regard to that are no longer yet as believers we are still engaged in a process of continually becoming like Him. Paul’s argument is building against the former way of life because we have been justified now as believers. Yet now, we are called to actually be obedient because of the work of grace, which leads to not allowing sin to be our master by putting ourselves in slavery again.
Yet many believers here fall flat on their faces in hopes of achieving victory. Before we continue we must realize that we do not have a Lord who condemns us and beats us over the head. Our Lord calls us to repentance in His name to confess and repent of our sins because He is faithful and just He will forgive those who repent of their sins, because He does not desire that those who are called by His name be in darkness, but live in the light of His Word. When we mess up we repent and confess our sins by doing so we are putting ourselves under the blood of His sacrifice. When we mess up we have a Lord who has searched the hearts of all mankind who further knows the depths of their original sin; yet who still calls them to bear witness to original glory that He created them to bear in the Garden.
We do not have to allow sin to dominate the house of our personality any longer, but allow Him through the reckoning of His righteousness to transform the inward man into the image of His Son. Take a few moments now to let your heart soak in the truths of what has been said. Take time to confess your sins to Him, and allow Him to change your heart in the inward places. Change can only ever occur in our hearts when we allow Him to continually come into the broken places of our hearts which results in us allowing Him to transform us continually to reflect His image, so that we can reflect His image to the world. Bearing His image means going to Him and growing in the stillness of His voice.
Romans 6:13-14, “13And 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. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Often times what appears to be so, is not how it really is. We have seen today the lie that pervades us is what has captivated us into sin. We have seen sin, for what it is, yet righteousness of God through the Cross still is the offer of what salvation really is. The work of the Cross leads to the resurrection which leads to obedience. Obedience leads to victory and victory to freedom. Grace is the work of salvation but this grace also exposes our greatest weakness, but also our greatest strengths for what it truly are. We can only ever grow in intimacy with Messiah when we have reckoned ourselves true heirs of faith in Him. Spirituality cannot ever be truly in Him if it is downside up, for the downside up mentality is what has our congregations in trouble. It is the downside up mentality of our pulpits that has our people in bondaged to pornography and other such ills. Intimacy with the Lord means taking time to cultivate the inward life of prayer, solitude and nurturing in the Word.
The spirituality He calls us to is the spirituality of the upside-down not downside-up. He calls us to our hearts because that is the place that He came to dwell, and this is the place where our hearts need to experience freedom. It is unrighteousness that does dwell in our hearts through remembering our pasts and the list of our former sins that most often captivates holds our attentions, but that is also a lie that Satan wants to keep believers in. Yeshua came to set the captives free and to restore the broken aspects of your life. At the beginning of His ministry He read off Isaiah 61 that His whole ministry was too come to proclaim freedom to the captives. He came to set your heart free, for freedom, because He loves you. He came to open the eyes of your heart so that your spirituality would be vibrant and true in a world that is dark and ill. He came to show you the path of life that leads to the Bread of life so that you’re Spirit would be nurtured living water that will stream forth from your heart so that you can represent His name as you live life in the Spirit.
Take time today to realize you are not under the Old Covenant law that it in fact lead you to Him, but now you are under the New Covenant promise, which is grace. Yet grace cannot ever be an excuse for you to not take responsibility for your actions or your sins, because you are called to be obedient to Him as a result of your decision to present yourself unto the Master. Give yourself wholly today to awaken inside through confession, meditation, and contemplation on the truth of what is said today. Open your heart to the realities of His divine workings in you for the spirituality that He has called you too is one that is radical. This work of grace is the upside down way-the way into your mind and soul is through your heart, for it is your heart that is the true jewel of eternity, for it is the true treasure of your Father’s heart.
Let His grace touch you in the depths of your heart so that you can awaken to the reality of His Work in you right now. Open the eyes of your heart today and come to the place where your heart can be nurtured in growth in understanding the everlasting freedom that He has offered to you in relationship with Himself. Let the hurts, the struggles and all of it come, for His shoulders are big enough to handle your greatest questions, fears, doubts, and pains. He offers you healing for your brokenness to be replaced with restoration for your greatest struggle. Grace is the active cure for your brokenness but this grace is also the grace you must experience in your own heart so that you can be restored. May you open the eyes of your heart to experience His radical invitation for you-a life found in the upside down spirituality He’s offered to you in Himself.
I leave you with 1st John 1:5-10, “5This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
Pastor David Jenkins
