Eternity Daily Bible Study: No. 525 Romans 1-8 - A Righteousness That Is By Faith Verses: Romans 6:1-4 Topic: A New Way Of Life Date: 17th October 2005 Romans 6:1-4 HCSB What should we say then? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may multiply? (2) Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (3) Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? (4) Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life. Is grace a license to sin? No at all! Rather grace is an invitation to a new (and righteous) way of life! Paul tells the Romans that they have "died to sin", that is that the "sin life" came to an end when they repented of their sin and placed their faith in Christ Jesus. This is symbolically reflected in baptism, when the believer dies with Christ and rises again to new life. The expression "dead to sin" means "separated from sin". Just as someone who is sound asleep is "dead to the world" - that is unconscious of its activity and appeal, so the person who is "dead to sin" is unconscious of the activity and appeal of sin. Now at first that may seem to be wishful thinking because the activity and appeal of sin is present in the lives of all Christians. To understand what Paul means you first have to understand that there are two people the Bible calls "I". There is the "I" that you see in the mirror and there is the "I" that is seen by God and which inhabits eternity - your true self. These are different. Your true self is born-again, born of God, made of eternal stuff and is seated in heavenly realms with Christ Jesus, free from condemnation and dead to sin. Your "mirror" self is the old man, "born of woman" and inhabits this earth and bears the image of the earthly and will perish. It is closely tied to your physical flesh and is sin-indwelt. 'For I know that in my flesh dwells no good thing" (Romans 7:14-18) Your eternal self is the new man, who is "born of God" and is closely tied to the Holy Spirit and is made in the image of God (Colossians 3;10), and does not sin, not can it do so, because that which is born of God cannot sin (1 John 3:9). Because of this we are BOTH a sinful person and a sinless person! Which is why Paul can make the following extraordinary statements in which he claims that it is not his true self who is sinning: Romans 7:17,20,25 HCSB So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. ... (20) Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. ... (25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin. Paul says "I am no longer the one doing it"... which is strange because a video camera would show Paul sinning! Yet God would see Paul sinless, and even unable to sin, because God looks at the new man, not the old sinner, that is passing away. For the sinful person is temporary but the sinless person is eternal. [We will go into this in greater depth when we do Romans 7.] So our true self is dead to sin, and we know that, because we hate it when we sin, we do not agree with sinning, sin bothers us and distresses us. We have died to it and in our better moments we no longer want it as part of us. And indeed we will leave sin behind - either at our death or at the coming of the Lord whichever comes first. Sin will not bother us in heaven where we will be fully free to be our true selves. Since our real nature is no longer a sinful nature, then living the Christian life is not about having a license to sin. It is not about how much we can "get away with" and still go to Heaven. It is about leaving sin far behind us and living a new life in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul uses baptism as the point where the old life vanishes and the new life begins. Baptism and believing often happened on the same day (see Acts chapters 2, 8, 10,11, 19 etc.) so baptism became synonymous with the commencement of the Christian life of faith. At this point we die to sin and also rise to new life in Christ. The person we were before this point passes away and behold all things become new: 2 Corinthians 5:17 HCSB Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ASV Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. (Ihave given two translations as they both help bring out different aspects of this truth.) The old life animated by sinful impulses is finished and a new life animated by holy impulses is brought into being by the Holy Spirit. Thus the idea of continuing in sin is abhorrent, a step backwards, and a complete denial of what Christ had done both in us and for us. The Christian is "in Christ" and is identified with what Christ did. The Christian thus dies with Christ, rises with Christ and ascends with Christ, and is seated in the heavenly realms with Christ. (See Ephesians 2:4-7) Because we are Christ's body, where Jesus go, we go. If Jesus goes to the grave, those who are in Christ, go with Him, and there they die to sin. If Jesus rises from the dead, then those who are Christ's body and are in Christ, rise to newness of life. Now Christ is sinless and is separated from sin and cannot sin. So we who are in Christ must also be separated entirely from sin. Indeed through repentance and faith as expressed in baptism we died to sin. Grace may prevail over sin, but grace is not an excuse to continue in sin. Rather grace helps us to die to sin and to rise to newness of life. 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