Romans Chapter 6:1-11/Commentary

Romans Chapter 6:1-11

Outline of chapter 6:

I.

Holiness is the logical outcome of the life of a Christian: 6:1-23 A.

Since they died to sin to rise to new life: 6:1-14

B.

Since they have a new Master who is opposed to sin: 6:6-14

C.

Since service to a master logically means obedience to that master: 6:15-23 1

Romans 6:1 “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”

“What shall we say then”: “Then what shall we conclude” (Gspd). “A transition-expression and a debater's phrase” (Vincent p. 65). “What inference then shall we draw, that is, from the relations of sin and grace expounded in 5:20?” (Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 632).

“Well, someone might say, If God's grace so abounded over sin, why should we not go on sinning so as to give His grace the opportunity of abounding all the more? This is not a completely hypothetical objection, the Russian monk Rasputin..taught that as those who sin most require most forgiveness, a sinner who continues to sin with abandon enjoys, each time he repents, more of God's forgiving grace than any ordinary sinner” 2 “That question would naturally arise in the minds of the uninformed. Besides, some people would like to have an excuse to indulge in sin” 3 From other Scriptures it is clear that people have tried to justify sin on religious grounds in the past (2 Peter 2:19; Jude 4 “who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness”).

“Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”: 1 2 3

From: 'The Book of Romans', Jim McGuiggan p. 188 F.F. Bruce p. 134 Whiteside p. 128 1

“Continue”: “The verb means primarily to remain or abide at or with, and secondarily, to persevere. So better here, persist” (Vincent pp. 65-66). “The practice of sin as a habit (present tense) is here raised” (Robertson p. 361). “Shall we sin to our heart's content and see how far we can exploit the grace of God?”(Phi) “Paul's opponent draws what he thinks is a logical conclusion from all this. He believes fervently that Paul is undermining holiness by undermining the law since he makes acquittal independent of flawless performance, what follows is argument showing such thinking is false. The opposite is true” 4 From this verse some have argued that we are not teaching grace correctly unless people misunderstand us. Take a moment and read again Romans chapters 1 through 5. Now did Paul even come remotely close to teaching that unrepentant sinners will be covered by grace? God’s wrath is directed against all attempts to hinder God’s truth (Romans 1:18).

God’s grace did not automatically cover unrepentant Gentiles (1:32), or Jews (2:1-5). Grace never unconditionally covered any sinner (Romans 3:23).

Romans 6:2 “God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?”

“God forbid”: “This is Paul’s usual emphatic negative, ‘the strongest idiom of repudiation in New Testament Greek’” (Cottrell p. 381). “Horrible thought” (Robertson p. 361). “Perish the thought, is the reaction of a mind that is mentally, morally, and spiritually sound” (Lenski p. 389). Modern Application: How would Paul react to the preaching of the doctrine that says, “A Christian can never lose his salvation, no matter how he lives after his conversion, once saved, always saved”? “We who died to sin”: “We of all people!”. “How can such a thought of going on in sin arise in the minds of us, ‘who are such as died to sin?’

‘How shall we still be living in it?’ Logic? Sound deduction? The very thought of going on in sin for any reason is in itself a shallow contradiction. Only a fool confuses 'having died' and 'still being alive'” 5 “Died to sin”: Aorist tense, speaks of a completed act in time past.

But what does it mean to "die" to sin? Does it mean that the Christian is no more attracted by sin? No. 6:12 “do not let sin reign”; 6:13,16; James 4:7-8; 5:16; 1 John 1:8-10. The Christian is no longer to sin habitually or live in sin (1 John 3:6,9 “no one who is born of God practices sin”). “It speaks of the sinner's own renunciation of sin, his being immersed into union with Christ and it presupposes the rising into newness of life” 6 Prior to our conversion we were dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1), but at the point we became a Christian we died to the habit of sin. “Something happened to us that was so radical that it can only be called an act of dying” (Cottrell p. 381). From this book and other passages (1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 John 1:8-10), it is clear that in dying to sin this does not mean that the Christian is now immune from temptation.

Romans 6:3 “Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”

4 5 6

McGuiggan p. 185 Lenski p. 389 McGuiggan p. 191 2

“Or are ye ignorant”: “Now this is important--Paul is here stressing what some saints might not have fully grasped” 7 “Anyone who can argue like that, says Paul, and when they do so it 'shows that he has not begun to understand the gospel. Life in sin cannot coexist with death to sin’” 8 Paul asks this sort of question often (6:16; 7:1; 11:2; 1 Corinthians 3:16). “It has the tone of mild rebuke, implying that you should know this, but just in case you do not, I will explain it” (Cottrell p. 382). “All we”: Indicating that all who were now Christians had been baptized. If baptism was not preached as a necessity (if it was an optional matter), then Paul's argument here does not make any sense. There is no argument in the passage at all, unless all Christians were baptized. “Who were baptized”: “When, it may be asked, did this all-important death (to sin) take place? The answer is: It is involved in baptism” (Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 632). Note: involved in this death to sin, repentance must also be remembered. “From this and other references to baptism in Paul's writings, it is certain that he did not regard baptism as an ‘optional extra’ in the Christian life, and that he would not have contemplated the phenomenon of an ‘un-baptized believer’” 9 

The New Testament commands one set of conditions for salvation for every one (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 10:48; 15:9)



The justification by faith in the book of Romans includes repentance 2:4-5; confession of Christ 10:9-10; and baptism 6:3-5.



If the faith that justifies is faith-only, then why did not Paul argue, “Or do you not know that all of us who at the point that we believed on Jesus, died to sin”? Why is baptism pictured as the specific time when we died to the old life if baptism has nothing to do with our conversion?

Various writers claim that the baptism under consideration is a “spiritual” or “dry” baptism only, distinct from water baptism, that is, that Holy Spirit baptism is the topic. The problem with this is that the baptism mentioned is a burial, for one arises out of this baptism and leaves it behind, and the baptism that is commanded for all men is water baptism (Acts 10, Acts 8; Acts 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21). Not every Christian in the New Testament was baptized in the Holy Spirit, but every Christian had under gone the baptism mentioned in this chapter.

“Into Christ Jesus”: Galatians 3:26-27; Ephesians 1:3; 1 Corinthians 12:13. “It would seem very clear that Paul understood a person to enter into Christ at the point of being trustingly immersed” 10 “To be baptized into Christ means to be baptized for the purpose of entering into a specific relationship with Him, or into a living union with Him. Baptized into Christ means baptized with a view to being united with Christ” (Cottrell p. 383). The preposition into has the connotation of movement from one space to another. Obviously, I cannot 7 8 9 10

McGuiggan p. 191 F.F. Bruce pp. 135-136 F.F. Bruce p. 136 McGuiggan p. 192 3

have a relationship with Jesus unless I am baptized into union with Him. “Were baptized into His death”: Paul now wishes that his hearers take a good look at the significance of baptism. “His death”: The death of Christ, and what type of death was it? It was a death caused by the hand of sinners! It was a death intended to atone for sins! It was a once for all death for sins (Heb. 7:27; 9:25-28). “Did teaching like Paul's lead logically to a life of continuance in sin? Not at all. The logic of this would be a hatred of that which slew the Master. If a person enters into union with Christ he endorses all that Christ endorses and repudiates all that Christ rejects” 11 In the background is the idea that in baptism one comes into contact with the benefits of Jesus’ death, that being contact with His blood and the forgiveness of sins. Compare Acts 2:38 which links remission of sins to repentance and baptism and Matthew 26:28 which links remission of sins with the blood of Christ.

Notice that there is nothing in this section that specifically mentions faith or repentance, yet they are also equally important.

Romans 6:4 “We were buried therefore with Him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life” “Buried therefore with him through baptism unto death”: A parallel is now drawn between the burial and resurrection of Christ and the death and resurrection of the Christian that takes place in baptism. “Therefore”: As a natural consequence of death.

“Buried”: One more proof (besides the meaning of the word itself) that the correct mode of baptism is immersion (Colossians 2:12), and that Holy Spirit baptism is not under consideration. Because one is not buried in the Holy Spirit. “Through the glory of the Father”: “By the Father's glorious power” (Wey) (Ephesians 1:19). It was the Father’s glorious power that was present when Jesus was raised from the dead, and such a resurrection also glorified God as well. “So we also might walk in newness of life”: The term walk means to “live an entirely new life” (Wey), (2 Corinthians 5:17). “So we too might habitually live and behave in newness of life” (Amp). “Lit., walk about, implying habitual conduct” (Vincent p. 67). “Newness”: “In life of a new quality” (Gr. Ex. N.T. p.

633). (7:6) Notice carefully how baptism stands between one and newness of life.

Obviously it is essential to salvation for one of the qualities of the new life is forgiveness. To walk in newness of life means to live a holy life, a life of obedience to God and His laws.

Thus grace does not encourage sinning, rather it does the exact opposite, and it encourages a new life. “Death to sin and resurrection to life create the possibility and ability of walking in the new, holy life; but we must take the responsibility of applying this new life-power to our daily conduct” (Cottrell p. 390).

In baptism one comes into contact with the benefits of Christ's death (a death designed to atone for sins, hence how could those baptized ever logically argue that they had the right to keep on sinning?). The result being a spiritual resurrection of the believer from “dead in 11

McGuiggan p. 193 4

sin”, to “alive in Christ” (Ephesians 2:1-9; Colossians 2:12-13). Hence baptism symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is not the outward sign of an inward grace, rather is the act that brings the believer into contact with the benefits of Christ's death and resurrection.

Romans 6:5 “For if we have become united with {Him} in the likeness of His death, we shall be also {in the likeness} of His resurrection” “For if”: Notice the choice and free will in the verse. People do not enter into Christ against their will, and neither were people predestined against their will for this. “We have become united with Him”: “To grow together” (Robertson p. 362). “An intimate and progressive union” (Vincent p. 67). Closely united to or planted together. “Likeness of his death”: He died to atone for sins, we died to the practice of sin, therefore we see the illogic reasoning of saying that the gospel message encourages sin. “Likeness of his resurrection”: This verse proves the legitimacy of the reference to a new life in the preceding one. “Union with Christ at one point (His death) is union with Him altogether and therefore His resurrection” 12 Clearly, baptism is essential, because one cannot enter newness of life, without being first baptized! All those claiming that baptism is not necessary to salvation, find themselves in the ridiculous position of claiming that one can become spiritually alive before dying to sin.

Or that one can be united with Jesus in the new life without being united with Him in His death.

Romans 6:6 “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with {him}, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin” “Knowing this”: “This we know” (Wey). “Since we realize” (Lenski p. 400). Paul further enlarges upon the idea of death to sin by reminding us that as Christians "our old man was crucified with Christ." “Old man”: Our old disposition, the old self, what we were before we became Christians. “The man we once were” (NEB) (Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:510). In these verses it is clear that the old man is the disposition, or frame of mind that gave rise and allowed all our former evil practices. “Crucified with Him”: Dying to sin, changing, repentance, and killing the old self is painful. “Lenski reminds us that crucifixion is ‘a violent, accursed death’. Thus when our old man died, he ‘was literally murdered in our baptism, he did not die willingly but was slain as one accursed of God’” (Cottrell p.

393).

At times you will hear Christians talk about a good moral non-Christian friend they are trying to convert. Often people will say about such a person, “Well all they have to do is get baptized?” That's all? They do not need to change anything else? Brethren, “killing the old

12

Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 633 5

man”, means putting to death the frame of mind that “lives for self”. Being crucified with Christ means living my life for Him, and not self (Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

“That the body of sin might be done away”: And why was the old man put to death? “The body of sin”: Is the house that the old man lived in. The flesh or body is called the body of sin or sinful flesh (8:3), because it is often used as the instrument of sin, and many offer their bodies as servants to sin (6:13). When I was outside of Christ, my body was the tool and servant of sin. When I became a Christian, my body became a tool for Christ (6:13; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Yet the expression does not mean that the human body is inherently sin because God created the human body as well as the human soul (Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Genesis 1:26). “Should no longer be in bondage to sin”: Paul is not talking about only those who formerly wallowed in sin. Anyone that sinned was in bondage to sin (John 8:34). Sin has ceased to be my Master when it has lost control of my mind and body, and we make that choice! (6:12-13,16-17) Remember, the human body is not the origin or source of sin, rather it is the victim of sin.

Romans 6:7 “for he that hath died is justified from sin” “Died”: Any that is united with Christ in baptism (6:2-5; 8-11). “Justified from sin”: “Freed from sin” (NASV); side ref., “acquitted”. “As a dead slave is freed from his master so the believer who died with Christ is freed from all legal claim by his former master” 13 Notice how Paul links together dying with Christ (baptism) in this chapter with justification, therefore being justified by faith (Romans 5:1) includes the act of being buried with Christ.

Romans 6:8 “But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him” Romans 6:9 “knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over Him” Verses 9-10 give us the reason to believe verse 8.

“Dieth no more”: “Christ's particular death occurs but once” (Heb. 10:10). A complete refutation of the sacrificial character of the mass” (Robertson p. 363). Jesus’ death to sin was a ‘once for all’ type of death, in like manner our association with sin needs to end as well. “Death no more hath dominion over Him”: Jesus was put to death, but death could not keep Him (Acts 2:24). Death had its chance and lost. The point that Paul is stressing is the once for all nature of Christ's death in relation to sin. In like manner, we should consider ourselves (seeing that we identified with Jesus in His death in baptism) once for all dead to the life of sin.

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McGuiggan p. 197 6

Romans 6:10 “For the death that He died, He died unto sin once: but the life that He liveth, He liveth unto God” “The life that He liveth”: Having died such a death, Jesus now lives a certain kind of life. It is a life which is continually (“liveth”, present indicative) lived unto God. And what then is the logical result of dying with Christ? Clearly, a life lived for God and a life free from the bondage of sin.

Romans 6:11 “Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus” “Even so”: In this verse the application is made of all that precedes. “Reckon”: “Consider yourselves” (NASV). The verb does not mean "to conclude" in a mere logical fashion but "to reckon" with certain facts as facts so as to act on them because they are facts. Paul says: “Take it ever as a settled fact that you are dead to sin but living to God in connection with Christ Jesus” 14 “So you must think of yourselves” (Gspd); “So you too must consider yourselves” (Wms); “So let it be with you” (TCNT). “Dead to unto sin”: Thus severed from the bondage and mastery of sin. Free from the life of sin, free from obeying sin's every invitation and temptation. The context demands that we take this as dead unto sin for good, once and for all. This is how Christians must view their responsibility towards God, and the life I now live, must be one of unending living for God (Galatians 2:20). “Alive unto God”: “The life of a Christian need not be on merely of ceaseless conflict; it should be a life of ever more continuous victory” 15 “This verse does not simply say we ‘have life’ in Christ.

That is presupposed. This verse speaks of the human response to God which lines up with the work of God on their behalf. They are ‘to live’ unto God and not simply enjoy ‘life’ in God through Jesus Christ. The life which Christ ‘lives’ (active voice, not passive) is energy directed toward God and not something (simply) received” 16 “In Christ Jesus”: The only realm of spiritual life (Eph. 1:3).

As Christians we need to realize that we have moved on to something far better than our own life in sin. In Christ we have a new kind of existence. “In this new life we look upon sin as our hatred and defeated enemy, we look upon God’s law with loving reverence, and we regard obedience to His law not only as our duty but also as our delight. With all this being true, why should we even want to remain in sin, much less think that it is somehow our obligation under grace? The very thought is ridiculous. ‘For Christians to choose to sin is the spiritual equivalent of digging up a corpse for fellowship’ says Mounce (153)” (Cottrell pp. 400-401).

14 15 16

Lenski p. 408 Erdman p. 79 McGuiggan p. 200 7