6:1 What
shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How
shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all
of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His
death? 4 Therefore we have
been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness
of life. 5 For if we have
become united with Him in
the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that
our old self was crucified with Him, in
order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer
be slaves to sin; 7 for
he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall
also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been
raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over
Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all;
but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive
to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the
members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness;
but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments
of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over
you, for you are not under law but under grace. [NASB]
Points
to consider from this passage –
1. God’s grace is greater than
the amount of sin people commit. His grace abounds. He gives righteousness for every
sinner to cover all their sin through Jesus Christ.
2. Does that mean we can keep
on sinning because God’s grace will forgive us no matter what? It is your
decision to live the life Jesus Christ died to put into you.
a. If
you continue to sin because you say grace will always cover you, you are making
yourselves slaves to sin again instead of living the freedom Christ gives to
you through His resurrection.
b. When
we accept God’s gift of grace, we accept forgiveness and salvation as well as
newness of life – escape from the old life of sin, which entangled us in sin
from which we could not escape on our own. This new life is united with Christ
Jesus so we have the power of Christ to overcome temptations and sin to be free
from the entanglements in which Satan wants to keep us.
c. So
we understand since Jesus Christ rose from the dead to which Satan thought he
banished Him with crucifixion on the cross and since we have accepted His gift
of grace and salvation which gives us new life, we know we, too, are raised
from the dead and are no longer slaves to sin and the resultant death it brings
to us.
d. We
have the power to beat Satan and His schemes. We are alive to God in Christ
Jesus.
e. So
do not obey sin and its lust so that it continues to reign in your earthly
bodies, but give yourselves to God as alive from the dead. With God, sin will
not be master over you.
3. Then we can say with Paul, “Thanks
be to God that though you [I was] were slaves of sin, you [I] became obedient
from the heart to that form of teaching to which you [I was] were committed
[the teaching that enslaved you to sin], and having been freed from sin, you [I]
became slaves of righteous [which is freedom and results in sanctification, the
being made holy and pure by God].”
Considering
this passage from Paul and knowing he spoke the truth as revealed by God and
experienced by himself, will we continue to choose to sin after we have been
freed from it, from its enslavement. Make no mistake, choosing to sin imprisons
you. One step towards it leads to another and then another, then you become
blinded to the truth of God by Satan’s deceptions. Do not make that mistake.
Take on the new life Christ died to give you, the life of truth, grace, love,
and life. Do not let sin entangle you, then you can give thanks to God as Paul
gave thanks to God for the Roman Christians who gave their lives to Christ. The
life Christ died to give you is the taking on of His freedom of sin and receipt
of eternal life as well as His attributes. It is the becoming more life Christ
with each day. We each have to choose whether we will accept this gift from God
or if we will continue to walk in the blindness of Satan and sin still more.
What will you choose –
God’s love, grace, forgiveness,
and eternal life through Jesus Christ, who gives freedom from sin
or
Continuing in your old life
of sin, which leads to slavery to sin/Satan and death?
Choose life. Choose freedom
from sin.
Choose to live the new life
Christ died to give you.
