Shall We Continue To Sin?

Shall we Continue to Sin?

Romans 6:1-14

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

The essence of our salvation lies in both grace and faith. Grace means we did not get what we deserve, condemnation and death, because a sinless Christ got what He did not deserve, God’s righteous wrath! He who holds the “keys of heaven, earth and hell” died once and for all and in doing so “His grace delivered us not merely from punishment but from sin’s power.” In his letter to the church of Rome Apostle Paul states that the law was brought in so that trespass might increase, when sin increases, grace increases even more (Romans 5:20). While it would be “foolish” to place oneself under the works of the law (Galatians 3) does this mean that Paul is suggesting that the believer is now free to go on sinning so that grace might increase and further display the glory of God? Also, if the law and its righteous decrees are not to be followed what then is to be the Christian’s benchmark on how to live a holy life, pleasing unto God? In Romans 6:1-14 Paul states the answer to these questions are to be found in knowing what it means to have union with Christ in His death, resurrection and walk.

Not Under the Law

Imagine for a moment what it must have been like to be a Gentile believer during the time of Apostle Paul. How would one feel hearing Paul and Barnabas at Syrian Antioch argued with the “Judaizers” over their teaching that grace and faith were not enough to become saved, one must also be “circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses” (Acts 15:1)? Wouldn’t one be worried that if this one command could be added what would stop some of those Pharisee believers (15:5) from enforcing the full 613 commands of the Old Testament? What a glorious day it would have been for the Gentiles to hear the results of the Jerusalem council that only required them to follow four commands: “to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality” (15:29). Any Gentile that tried to place themselves back under the works of the Law for Paul was cursed for it was by faith that Abraham was credited as righteous in God’s sight (Galatians 3:6) long before he was circumcised and under the law (Romans 4:11).

License to Sin?

This brings us to the crux and main question Apostle Paul is trying to answer in today’s passage: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase (6:1)”? While union with sinful Adam brought us condemnation and death, union with a sinless, resurrected Christ brings us justification to be eternally adopted into God’s family (1 Corinthians 15:21). God does not reckon us “righteous” or acceptable as a member of His family based on our deeds (Titus 3:5) but on Christ’s (Romans 5:18) who has never sinned and fallen short of His glory! Critics, who considered Paul to be an antinomian (3:8; Acts 2:21), feared that his view of grace would lead to rampant sin and an utter disregard for holiness! After all, if the basis of our forgiveness, salvation and acceptance into God’s family is solely based on the deeds of Christ then why not indulge in the short term pleasures of sin and in doing so let the grace of God shine even brighter? To keep Christians from distorting grace and making it a license to sin, Paul reminded believers that their union with Christ in death and resurrection means they are obligated to walk as He did!

Union with Christ in His Death (verses 6:2-3, 6-7)

2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Grace is not a license to sin because of our union with Christ in His death. “When Christ died, believers in some crucial sense died in and with Him.” Even though baptism is not the means of obtaining union with Christ it symbolically attests to our “old self” being crucified on the cross with Jesus. Those who are united with Christ are no longer condemned and have been freed from the entanglement and power of sin. Even though the old self has been crucified it is a “slow and agonizing death” that leaves the believer open to being influenced by their old nature. While it is possible for believers to still sin they are to rejoice that in their union with Christ in His death the claim of sin to rule over our lives has been eternally broken. Since those who are part of this new creation order (2 Corinthians 5:17) have died to sin they are not to go on living in it because the “I” of the life of Adam no lives inside the believer, only Christ (Galatians 2:20)! The reason why we do not sin so that grace might increase is because when Christ died, we died and therefore are not justified to continue living sinful lives.