Romans 6:1-4

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

¹ What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? [Those who sin so that grace can abound are referred to as “antinomians.” The word comes from the Greek “anti” (against) and “nomos” (law), and refers to the doctrine that it is not necessary for Christians to preach and/or obey the moral law of the Old Testament. These are people who believe that as Christians they are freed from the moral law by virtue of grace. One such example was the Russian monk Rasputin, the evil genius of the Romanov family. He held that as a person sins with abandon and then repents, that person will enjoy more of God’s forgiving grace than an ordinary sinner. To counter this recurring attitude in Christian history, some have adopted a form of “Christian legalism,” imposing the keeping of the law of Moses as part of their salvation over and above the requirement of faith in Christ.] ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? [Paul utterly rejects antinomianism. He knows a more excellent way. When a person yields his life to the risen Christ and the power of the Spirit, their inward being is radically transformed. A new creation takes place, a regeneration of the old self into a new self with a new nature.] ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [Life in sin cannot coexist with death to sin. One who thinks they can keep on sinning does not understand the gospel. In apostolic times baptism immediately followed a confession of faith. Faith in Christ and baptism were not two distinct events as they have become today in “Christian” societies. Baptism seals a believer’s “exodus” from the bondage of sin and his entry into a promised land of freedom in Christ.] ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into [his] death [our former sinful existence came to an end so that a new life might begin], in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. [When one is taken into the baptismal waters one dies, and as one comes out of the water they are raised from death and reborn into participation of Christ’s own resurrection life. Walking in newness of life is the quality of life which results from the impartation of Christ’s risen power to the believer.]