6:1-23
- Sam Storms
- Nov 2, 2006
- Series: Romans
All people sustain a 3-fold relationship
to sin. We are, first of all, under
the penalty of sin. We are guilty of
having transgressed the law of God and are thus liable to the punishment it
imposes. But sin also exercises a power
over every individual. We are born spiritually dead and morally corrupt, under
the influence and mastery of sin, and thus subject to its power. Finally, there
is the presence of sin within us.
The principle of sin resides within our hearts and minds.
That sin is a power can be seen from the way Paul describes it in Romans 5-6. In
5:12-19 he portrayed sin as entering the world through Adam and exercising its
sway over all people. Sin “reigns” in death (5:21). Non-believers are “slaves”
to sin (6:6). Believers must not let sin “reign” (6:12) over them. They are not
to pressent their bodies “to sin” (6:13). And sin no longer “rules” or
“exercises lordship” over their lives (6:14).
Salvation from sin, therefore, consists
in deliverance from this 3-fold bondage. Jesus saves us from sin's penalty by
suffering the wrath of God which our transgressions provoked. Jesus saves us
from the power of sin by providing the Holy Spirit through whom we experience
victory over sin's influence in our lives. And Jesus saves us from the presence
of sin when at the end of the age he returns to transform and glorify us in
body, soul, and spirit.
Thus a Christian has been saved from the penalty of sin, is being saved from the power of sin, and will be saved from the presence of sin. Each of these tenses
of salvation has a theological name: salvation in the past from the penalty of
sin is Justification, salvation in
the present from the power of sin is Sanctification,
and salvation in the future from the presence of sin is Glorification. Justification is past and positional. Sanctification
is present and progressive. Glorification is prospective and permanent.
Justification is how God sees us in Christ. Sanctification is what we are in
daily experience. Glorification is what we shall be in heaven. Justification is
something done for us. Sanctification
is something done in us.
Glorification is something done to
us.
These basic truths are important because
many Christians think of salvation exclusively in terms of justification. But
Titus 2:11-14 (and numerous other texts) indicates that salvation from sin's
penalty is only the beginning. Justification is the foundation of a life-time
struggle with sin's power and presence. Said Calvin, "We are not cleansed by
Christ so that we can immerse ourselves continually in fresh dirt, but in order
that our purity may serve the glory of God" (Comm. on Hebrews, 122).
It is with chp. 6 that Paul leaves the
doctrine of justification and takes up the doctrine of sanctification.
I. Epistolary Introduction - 1:1-17
II. The Way of Salvation - 1:18-5:21
III. The Way of Sanctification - 6:1-8:39
A. Freedom from Bondage to Sin - 6:1-23
1. Free
from sin - 6:1-14
a. introduction
- vv. 1-2
1) an
improper deduction - v. 1
The basis for this objection is found in
5:20-21. It goes like this:
"I have been justified freely by the
grace of God. If I sin again, I shall be forgiven again, by grace. And the more
I sin the more opportunity grace will have to express and exhibit itself in my
forgiveness. So shall I continue in sin that grace may abound?" (Stott,
32-33).
Or again, "If God delights in
justifying the ungodly, why be godly? If our acceptance with God
depends wholly upon what He does,
then it doesn't matter what we do. So
let's sin all the more!" This objection is based on a misunderstanding of
what Paul said in 3:20,24,28; 4:5; 5:9-10,20-21. In fact, had Paul not made
those statements, no such objection would be forthcoming. It is only when one
preaches salvation by grace through faith that the accusation of Antinomianism
is heard. Indeed, as Stott has said, “if we are proclaiming Paul’s gospel, with
its emphasis on the freeness of grace and the impossibility of self-salvation,
we are sure to provoke the charge of antinomianism. If we do not arouse this
criticism, the likelihood is that we are not preaching Paul’s gospel” (167).
2) an
indignant denial - v. 2
Paul is outraged by such a charge. He is
appalled. "GOD FORBID! MAY IT NEVER BE! FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, NO!' Note well: Paul does not retract his emphasis
on grace. He does not deny what he has been teaching. He does not correct,
modify, or soften what he said in Romans 1-5. He simply proceeds to demonstrate
the absurdity of the objection.
His response is simple: Christians are people who have died to sin. He doesn't mean they
are insensitive to sin, far less that they are unable to sin. The translation
of the RSV and
b. what
God has done for us (doctrine) - vv. 3-11
1) the
principle of our solidarity with the
Savior - vv. 3-4a,5a,6a,8a,9-10,11a
By virtue of our covenant solidarity or representative union with Christ, when he
died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried. When he rose from the dead
to a new and glorious life, we were reckoned to have risen as well.
Our baptism
serves to symbolize and illustrate this identity between Christ and the
Christian. He cannot mean that our baptism is the cause or reason for this
identity, having just spent 5 chapters arguing that we enter into a saving
relationship with Christ by grace alone through faith alone. Baptism,
therefore, is the outward sign and seal of what God does for us inwardly
through faith.
Paul’s
emphasis on unity, corporate solidarity, and identity with Christ, is seen in
his repeated use in this paragraph of words that begin with the Greek term syn = “with” – We were “buried together
with” Christ (v. 4), we were “united together with” him (v. 5), we were
“crucified together with” him (v. 6), we “died with Christ” (v. 8), and we
shall “live together with” him (v. 8).
Two verses in particular call for
comment:
(1) v.
6a - Many believe that before conversion Christians have an old man and after conversion they add to
this a new man. The Christian is thus
both an old man and a new man, a religious Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, so to speak. At times the old man or old self is in control and we sin.
At other times the new man or new self is in control and we obey.
NO! The old man is simply what you were before you became a Christian. It
is the unregenerate self. John Stott explains:
"Our biography is written in two
volumes. Volume one is the story of the old man, the old self, of me before my
conversion. Volume two is the story of the new man, the new self, of me after I
was made a new creation in Christ. Volume one of my biography ended with the
judicial death of the old self. I was a sinner. I deserved to die. I did die. I
received my deserts in my Substitute with whom I have become one. Volume two of
my biography opened with my resurrection. My old life having finished, a new
life to God has begun" (49).
Thus, Stott concludes that “our old self denotes not our lower self
but our former self, ‘the man we once were’ (
Prior to his conversion, Augustine lived
with a mistress. After his conversion, she met him on the street:
"Aurelio, Aurelio," she calls
out to him. He continues walking, ignoring her calls. She runs to him, grabs
him: "Aurelio, what is the matter? It is I." To which he responds:
"The matter, dear lady, is that it
is not I."
Was it Augustine? In one sense, yes. In
another sense, no. He was a new man. The old
man, the old unregenerate-in-Adam Augustine, had died to sin. The new man, the regenerate-in-Christ
Augustine, was alive to God. Although it would not have been impossible for him
to have gone back to his mistress, it would have been unthinkable.
The point is this: YOU MUST NOT GO ON LIVING THE
LIFE YOU USED TO LIVE, BECAUSE YOU ARE NO LONGER THE PERSON YOU USED TO BE.
(2) v.
10a - Christ didn't die to sin in the sense of ceasing to commit it (for he
never began sinning in the first place). He died to sin in the sense that he
bore its penalty. "We have died to sin in the sense that in Christ we have
borne its penalty. Consequently our old life has finished; a new life has
begun" (Stott, 43).
2) the
purpose of our solidarity with the
Savior - vv. 4b,5b,6b-7,8b,11b
Again, several verses are worthy of note.
(1) v.
6b – The phrase “body of sin” should not be rendered “sinful body,” for that
suggests the human physical frame is inherently contaminated or evil. Most
likely it means “our sin-dominated body” in the sense that the body is
conditioned and controlled by sin, “because sin uses our body for its own evil
purposes, perverting our natural instincts, degrading sleepiness into sloth,
hunger into greed, and sexual desire into lust” (Stott, 175). The phrase
"done away with" means to render impotent or powerless. It does not
mean become extinct or to annihilate but to be deprived of power. The power of
sin has been broken, not in the sense that sin is impossible for us, but in the
sense that it is no longer necessary. We now have a power by which to
experience victory (cf. Eph. 1:18-20). The Christian is not sinless, but the
Christian should sin less.
(2) v.
7 - Literally, "justified" from sin. "The decisive breach with
the reigning power of sin is viewed after the analogy of the kind of dismissal
which a judge gives when an arraigned person is justified. Sin has no further
claim upon the person who is thus vindicated" (
(3) v.
11 - This is something of a summary statement. The verb "consider"
has the sense of "to reckon." It does not mean that we are to pretend
or make believe. "It is not screwing up our faith to believe something we
do not believe" (Stott, 49). Rather we are to reckon with the fact that in
Christ we died to sin and that in Christ we are alive to God. Let your mind
meditate on this truth. The secret of
holy living begins in the mind (cf. vv. 3,6,11). Our minds are so to grasp
the fact of our death and resurrection with Christ that the very idea of
sinning would be abhorrent to us. “We are to recall, to ponder, to grasp, to
register these truths until they are so integral to our mindset that a return
to the old life is unthinkable” (Stott, 180).
c. what
we must do for God (duty) – vv. 12-14
1) the
responsibility of the saints – vv. 12-13
a) our
responsibility toward sin – v. 12
b) our
responsibility toward God – v. 13
1 - negatively
– v. 13a
2 - positively
– v. 13b
This exhortation in vv. 12-13 seems
burdensome. What hope do we have of success? The answer is found in v. 14.
2) the
reason for success – v. 14
This is not an imperative. It is not a veiled exhortation. It is a statement of assured fact. It
is a divine promise. Paul does not
say, “Don’t let sin have dominion over you,” but rather, “Sin won’t
have dominion over you!” Thus, v. 14a makes valid and relevant the commands of
vv. 12-13 and provides the encouragement and incentive their fulfillment. In
other words, obedience to vv. 12-13 is achieved by the assurance that God’s
grace guarantees the realization of what is contemplated in the exhortations. Sin is here viewed as a power, and yet
it will no more be our lord, for
another has taken possession of us. We will never again be left helpless; we
are now free and able (by God’s Spirit) to fight. Therefore,
“It is not a hopeless struggle in which
the believer is engaged, but one in which victory is certain. It is a joyful
confidence which the apostle here expresses, that the power of sin has been
effectually broken, and the triumph of holiness effectually secured by the work
of Christ” (Hodge, 205).
As for the phrase, “for you are not under
law but under grace” (v. 14b), two views are possible. But first, be it noted
that this does not mean we as
Christians are law-less, as if to suggest that there are no divine mandates or
commands or principles or laws for us to obey. Rather, one of two options is
possible. First, Stott suggests that “law and grace are the opposing principles
of the old and the new orders, of Adam and of Christ. To be under law is to accept the obligation to
keep it and so to come under its curse or condemnation. To be under grace is to acknowledge our
dependence on the work of Christ for salvation, and so to be justified rather
than condemned, and thus set free” (181). Second, and more likely, is the view
of Schreiner. “Law” and “Grace”, he contends, “refer to different eras in God’s
redemptive historical plan. The term ‘under law’ designates the Mosaic era as a
whole, while ‘under grace’ describes the new age inaugurated through the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ” (326). The distinction between the two eras
is not between evil and good but between mere
command, on the one hand (= Mosaic era), and command plus power, on the other (= Christian era). See esp. Jer.
31:31-34 and Ezek. 11:19-20; 36:26-27. To sum up:
“To run and work the law commands,
Yet gives me neither feet nor hands;
But better news the gospel brings,
It bids me fly, and gives me wings!”
2. Free
for the Savior - 6:15-23
a. an
introduction - v. 15
1) an
improper deduction - v. 15a
The motivation of a person whose
relationship with God is governed by law is fear,
primarily of the consequences if he does not obey. When the relationship is
governed by grace, the motivation is love
and gratitude. Thus the objection
Paul must answer is this: "If we are under grace rather than law and know
with certainty that God will not condemn us for our sin, then why don't we take
advantage of the opportunity and sin all the more?"
2) an
indignant denial - v. 15b
b. the
principal truth - v. 16
Paul's point is simple: Everyone is a slave! Either you are the
slave of sin or of righteousness (cf. John 8:34; Lk. 16:13). You, being
purchased by the blood of Christ, are slaves of God and righteousness. You do
not belong to sin. It has no rights over you. You must not serve a master from
whom you have been set free.
c. our
past transformation - vv. 17-18
Note several things:
First, ironically, unbelievers deny they
are anybody's slave. But in point of fact "the man who imagines he is
free, because he acknowledges no god but his own ego, is deluded; for the
service of one's ego is the very essence of the slavery of sin"
(Cranfield, 323).
Second, the phrase "that form of
teaching" refers to a well-defined body of Christian truth consisting of
both doctrinal concepts and ethical precepts.
Third, instead of saying that this form
of teaching was delivered to us he says we
were delivered over to it. Having been delivered out of one form of slavery we
have been delivered into another.
d. our
present task - vv. 19-22
1) the
responsibility - v. 19
2) the
reason - vv. 20-22
a) because
sin leads to death - vv. 20-21
In your former state you had no concern
from righteousness; you were carefree in regard to the demands of God; the only
thing you reaped from that former way of life were things of which you are now
utterly ashamed.
b) because
sanctification leads to life - v. 22
e. a
conclusion - v. 23
Sin pays a wage, whereas God bestows a
gift. The wage sin pays is death. The gift God gives is eternal life.
Conclusion:
3 Principles for the Christian Life
1) THOSE
WHOM GOD CHOOSES, HE CHANGES. This is the remedy for passivity. Holiness is not optional, God
commands it.
2) WHATEVER
GOD REQUIRES, HE PROVIDES. This is the remedy for powerlessness. Holiness is not impossible, God creates it.
3) WHATEVER
GOD STARTS, HE FINISHES. This is the remedy for pessimism. Holiness is not fleeting, God completes it.